Nebraska falls to Memphis despite a Derrick Walker double-double in season debut

The Nebraska men’s basketball team lost their second straight in Orlando, falling to Memphis 73-61 Friday night at the ESPN Events Invitational.

In a game that the Huskers trailed by three at the half, it was turnovers and sloppy play that made the difference down the stretch. Nebraska turned the ball over 20 times and 13 times in the second half alone.

“Obviously we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board on some things,” Fred Hoiberg said on his postgame radio show. “We get a day tomorrow and we play the late game on Sunday, so we’ll get an opportunity at the shoot around. But we’ve got to get this situation fixed right now.

“Obviously we’re getting crushed by pressure. It wasn’t too big of an issue early in the year and we played pretty efficiently. And now all of a sudden against longer, more athletic teams, it’s really bothering us. (When you have) 20 turnovers, 13 in the second half, you’re not going to win many games.”

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Friday’s game was tied 2-2 five minutes in as both teams struggled to find their footing offensively. Nebraska (1-for-6) and Memphis (1-for-5) were a combined 2-for-11 from the field at the first media timeout. Then the floodgates looked to have opened for the Tigers.

Memphis put together an 11-0 run and jumped out to a 14-4 lead, its biggest lead of the half. Nebraska started the day 1-for-8 shooting and 0-for-5 from behind the arc. The Huskers’ slow start looked to be a continuation of Thursday’s finish against Oklahoma where the Huskers had a 6:21-long drought and shot 9-for-26 from the field and 1-for-9 from deep in the second half.

Nebraska had a similar drought at the start of Friday’s game, going 6:13 between its first two buckets. But slowly but surely, Hoiberg’s group clawed back.

Nebraska cut the deficit to 14-6 at the midway point and then 16-12. Derrick Walker trimmed the deficit to four — 23-19 — with back-to-back buckets. The Huskers made six of their final nine three-point shots in the half and had it tied with 45 seconds left — 30-30 — thanks to a three from Juwan Gary.

Memphis took a 33-30 lead into the locker room at halftime, a win considering how Friday’s game started for those in scarlet and cream.

The other story of Friday’s game was the return of Walker. Walker, who missed Nebraska’s first five games with what Hoiberg called a “medical condition,” changes the dynamic of Nebraska’s offense. The 6-foot-9 senior forward generates offense and pressure like nobody else on Nebraska’s roster. Especially in the paint.

Walker played 17 minutes in the first half — the most on NU’s roster — grabbed a team-leading six rebounds and had six points. Walker also added an assist and was called for no fouls in the first half. He finished his season debut with 15 points and 12 rebounds in 35 minutes. However, Walker also turned the ball over nine times.

“Derrick’s going to be fine,” Hoiberg said. “First game back after a long layoff and he’s a guy that we’re going to have to run offense through and be a guy that can give us some relief of that pressure.”

Walker’s 15 points only trailed Emmanuel Bandoumel, who finished with 18.

“We put the ball in his hands some in the second half and it was good to see him step up and knock down some shots. We’re gonna need that out of him,” Hoiberg said of Bandoumel. “But again, the story of this game is turnovers. You can’t turn it over 20 times and expect to be in it.”

Down by three coming out of the break, the Huskers turned the ball over four times in the first five minutes and had eight turnovers in the first eight minutes of the half. The Tigers’ athleticism and experience took over as well and Memphis extended its lead to as much as 15 at 61-46.

Nebraska (3-3) finished the day 22-for-51 and 9-for-24 from behind the arc. Nebraska was also 8-for-12 at the free throw line and also shot the ball decent in the second half (45.5%). However, the Huskers were unable to overcome the Memphis pressure and their turnover issues.

“We’re going to go back to the drawing board tomorrow and put a couple of actions in to hopefully relieve some of this pressure that we’re seeing every night,” Hoiberg said.

Nebraska (3-3) will face Florida State on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

Recent Nebraska men’s basketball coaches Fred Hoiberg

FRED HOIBERG

Years: 2019-present

Record: 24-67 (as of 2021-22 season)

KENNETH FERRIERA, THE WORLD-HERALD Tim Miles

TIM MILES

Years: 2012-19

Record: 116-114

BRENDAN SULLIVAN, THE WORLD-HERALD Doc Sadler

DOC SADLER

Years: 2006-12

Record: 101-89

JEFF BEIERMANN, THE WORLD-HERALD Barry Collier

BARRY COLLIER

Years: 2000-06

Record: 89-91

JEFF BEIERMANN, THE WORLD-HERALD Danny Nee

DANNY NEE

Years: 1986-2000

Record: 254-190

JEFFREY Z. CARNEY, THE WORLD-HERALD Moe Iba

MOE IBA

Years: 1980-86

Record: 106-71

THE WORLD-HERALD Joe Cipriano

JOE CIPRIANO

Years: 1963-80

Record: 254-196

THE WORLD-HERALD Jerry Bush

JERRY BUSH

Years: 1954-63

Record: 81-132

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