Men’s Basketball

The intensity and effort that defined Northwestern during its close-game losing streak seems to have faded.

The Wildcats (10-12, 1-8 Big Ten) went quietly against the Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-9, 5-5) Tuesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena, losing 76-60 for their first double-digit defeat since Jan. 4 against Wisconsin.

“They kind of wore us down,” coach Chris Collins said on ESPN radio after the game. “We got tired, and that was the difference.”

Forward Terran Petteway stole the show for Nebraska. The Big Ten’s third-leading scorer shot early and often, finishing the night with 28 points on 8-of-16 from the field, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. It didn’t matter where he shot from, either. Petteway sank a pair of extremely long threes in the first half and scored seemingly at will against NU’s defense the rest of the night.

All the attention on Petteway opened up easy baskets for the rest of the Cornhuskers, with the team shooting 63 percent from the floor. Forward Walter Pitchford and guard Shavon Shields took turns playing sidekick, contributing 14 and 11 points, respectively.

“I was really disappointed with our defensive effort tonight,” Collins said on ESPN radio. “You cannot allow a team to shoot 63 percent from the field and expect to win on the road.”

The Cats were still only down 35-33 at half, but then Nebraska took control on defense.

The Cornhuskers came into this contest boasting the conference’s second-best points allowed per game total and lived up to that reputation, limiting the Cats to 60 points on 46 shots.

In the second half, NU mustered a measly 27 points on 40 percent shooting and went more than six minutes without a point in one part of the second half as the Cornhuskers offense allowed the home team to quickly pull away.

NU had to fight for every offensive look and simply couldn’t keep up. Junior center Alex Olah was the team’s leading scorer with 16 points, but 13 of those came in the first half. Nebraska cut off Olah in the second period, shutting down the Cats’ only post presence and short-circuiting their offense in the process.

“I thought Nebraska really turned up their defense, give them credit,” Collins said on ESPN radio. “Alex had it going a bit … but we went dry a little bit there.”

Guards junior Tre Demps and freshman Bryant McIntosh found it almost impossible to turn the corner on pick-and-rolls and were repeatedly turned away at the top of the key and forced to reset the offense. The pair combined for just 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting.

The only recourse was to let it fly from 3, which NU did for a disproportionate 27 of its 46 attempts. The Cats made just 11 of those and couldn’t make up for the misses on the glass, grabbing just six offensive rebounds.

The only bright spots besides Olah were freshman forward Scottie Lindsey and senior guard JerShon Cobb. Lindsey played extended minutes as a starter and sank four of his eight 3s, while Cobb was a perfect 3-for-3 from long range while adding four assists and three rebounds.

“Scottie hit some shots for us,” Collins said on ESPN. “It’s very important for our future for (him) to develop into a good player at this level.”

Firmly entrenched at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, a late-season turn-around doesn’t look likely for NU. The Cats will return to action Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, for a rematch against the Badgers.

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Twitter: @BobbyPillote