Nebraska's early 3-point binge sends Indiana basketball home from Big Ten tournament
MINNEAPOLIS — Indiana basketball's five-game win streak couldn't survive another matchup with Nebraska.
The No. 6 seeded Hoosiers (19-13) lost 93-66 in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals on Friday night at the Target Center to a No. 3 Nebraska team that won both regular-season matchups between the teams. The Cornhuskers (22-9) followed a similar script to those games by building an insurmountable lead from 3-point range.
Indiana coach Mike Woodson wasn't even on the bench for the end of the game. He was ejected for the first time during his collegiate coaching career after picking up his second technical foul with 5:20 to go and his team trailing by 28 points.
Kaleb Banks' hit a jumper with 24 seconds left to prevent it from being the most lopsided loss of Woodson's tenure (29 points).
Keisei Tominaga KO’s Indiana basketball in the first half
Indiana basketball got to see plenty of Keisei Tominaga’s celebrations during the regular season.
He had to reach deep in his bag of tricks on Friday night after signaling to the crowd with three fingers and putting his hand up to his ear as Nebraska went 12 of 20 from 3-point range in the half. The senior guard had 18 points and was 4 of 6 from long range in the half.
The onslaught started when he buried a ridiculous turnaround 3-pointer off one foot in the corner over the outstretched hand of Gabe Cupps with 6:45 to go in the half.
Tominaga made back-to-back 3-pointers to kick start a 17-0 run late in the half as IU went 1 of 14 from the field. The final possession of the half was him hitting a buzzer-beater right in the face of Mackenzie Mgbako to give his team a 50-27 lead.
Nebraska went into the half just two 3-pointers shy of tying their season-high. They averaged 13 3-pointers in two wins over IU during the regular season. Tominaga and Brice Williams each had 23 points and four made 3-pointers.
Indiana basketball's playmakers go silent
Mackenzie Mgbako, who was named Big Ten co-freshman of the year, was as aggressive as he's been all season. He frequently got to the free-throw line (7 of 7) by aggressively attacking the basket to overcome an off shooting night (4 of 14). He had a team-high 16 points, but he couldn't do it by himself.
Indiana starting guard Trey Galloway sat out for a second straight game with a knee injury while Kel'el Ware and Malik Reneau struggled with Nebraska's aggressive double-teams in the paint.
Ware's first field goal didn't come until there was 15:11 left in the game and that wasn't a shot that came in the flow of the offense. He had a wide open fast break after Nebraska turned it over right at half court. The NBA draft hopeful had eight points (3 of 10 shooting) after averaging 21.6 points per game during IU's recent win streak.
Reneau, who was 4 of 12 and turned it over five times in the opening round against Penn State, had nine points (3 of 8) and three turnovers. He fouled out with more than nine minutes left after not picking up his first foul until there was 4:26 left in the first half. It was the seventh time this season he fouled out.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Nebraska eliminates IU basketball in quarterfinals of Big Ten tourney