Learning is a process.

It was a forced shot. It was a missed floater. It was an ill-advised foul. It was this little spurt that allowed No. 7 Nebraska to rapidly erase Northwestern’s eight-point first-half lead.

These types of lulls made it simple for the Cornhuskers (22-3, 11-3 Big Ten) to overcome a valiant defensive effort from the Wildcats (10-16, 2-13 Big Ten), who lost 68-49 Saturday, just a few days after blowing a 16-point lead to No. 2 Michigan.

The Valentine’s Day defeat marked NU’s fifth straight loss, though it’s been a period of growth for the ’Cats, who recently started three freshmen: guard Jake West and forwards Tre Singleton and Tyler Kropp. 

“I am not sure there are any other teams in (the Big Ten) starting three true freshmen,” coach Chris Collins said. “We are paying for that a little bit, but that’s kind of part of the process. We’ve always been a developmental program.”

The ’Cats’ young lineups have shown greater scrappiness than the more experienced groups of the early season, which consistently allowed opponents to score around 80 points. Against Nebraska, they forced 18 turnovers, which led to 27 points, and held them to 45.3% from the floor on 24-for-53 shooting.

But NU couldn’t produce much from its halfcourt offense, as it was a somewhat uncharacteristically poor afternoon for senior forward Nick Martinelli, who still led the team despite scoring just 11 points on 4-for-12 shooting. 

Junior guard Jayden Reid added seven points on 3-for-7 shooting, and sophomore guard Angelo Ciaravino contributed nine points and four rebounds. 

The lackluster offensive performance was worsened by a poor shooting night; the ’Cats shot just 20% from behind the 3-point line.

“We are just not a very good shooting team, so that hurts us,” Collins said. “When we get them in rotation, we just don’t have very confident shooters.” 

NU trailed by one point at halftime, but Nebraska took a decisive lead midway through the second half as it compiled a 22-6 run to gain a 60-45 advantage.

In the first half, in which the Cornhuskers shot a mere 34.5% from the floor, the ’Cats opened eight and five-point margins, but both were erased in a similarly hasty fashion. Eventually, Nebraska found its offense in the second period, going a lights-out 60% from beyond the arc.

“Our inability to score started to affect us on the other end, which you gotta be stronger than that,” Collins said. “You gotta be tougher … We just weren’t able to put a full 40 minutes together.”

Nebraska forward Pryce Sandfort poured in 18 second-half points on a 29-point afternoon. He knocked down six triples while also securing six rebounds. Guard Sam Hoiberg added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The Cornhuskers couldn’t afford to lose this one, as they had lost three of their previous four contests despite starting the season 20-0. But it was also another valuable learning experience for the ’Cats, who appear less focused on results at this point in the season.

Next, NU will face Maryland on Wednesday.

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