COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nebraska has another game it will kick itself for letting get away when it comes time to pick postseason tournament fields.
The Huskers got a first-team All-Big Ten effort from guard James Palmer — a career-high 34 points — but No. 13 Ohio State rallied in the final four minutes to claim a 64-59 victory, its 13th in the past 14 games.
A one-point loss to Kansas, a two-point loss in overtime at Penn State and Monday night’s setback could haunt Nebraska (14-8, 5-4) in March.
A more immediate fact that will haunt NU is the team’s shooting aside from Palmer. The 6-foot-6 junior hit 11 of 18 shots, including 5 of 11 3-pointers and 7 of 8 free throws. All other Huskers were 10 of 36 (27.8 percent) from the field.
Palmer’s 34 points were a career high by nine; set an opponent record at Ohio State’s Value City Arena; and matched the 16th-best all-time school scoring performance.
“James Palmer was spectacular,” NU coach Tim Miles said on his postgame radio show. “We just kind of got out of his way.
“When you’ve got a guy with that much talent — he was co-player of the week in the Big Ten, which is no easy task — and then you come out with a monster night like that …”
But the wayward shooting of fellow Husker starters Glynn Watson (1 of 9), Anton Gill (2 of 8) and Isaac Copeland (2 of 7) — including a combined 3 of 15 on 3-pointers — kept Nebraska, which led by seven points in the first half, from perhaps building a much bigger lead.
“I thought we had some great looks the first half,” Miles said. “The ball was all over the rim with Anton, Glynn and Copeland. It was doing everything but going in.
“I didn’t think we took bad shots. They were open looks. They just didn’t go in.”
Nebraska, down 24-22 at halftime, fell behind by five points twice in the first six minutes of the second half. But Palmer got hot, scoring 12 of the team’s 18 points in one stretch to regain the lead 49-46 with 7:06 left.
Ohio State went back up 55-54 on Keita Bates-Diop’s layup with 4:08 left. That made it 14 of the past 16 points for OSU by Bates-Diop — the Big Ten’s leading scorer — who led four Buckeye double-figure scorers with 20 points.
Nebraska then scored only one field goal the final four minutes, and that was a Palmer 3 with 10 seconds to go.
That blackout and a 6:56 stretch in the first half without a field goal were too much to overcome.
“The margin of error is so slim,” Miles said, “to beat a very, very good team on the road.”
The Huskers missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3:29 left, lost the ball on a baseline drive with 2:40 to go and then inexplicably let the shot clock expire with 1:35 left after calling time with nine seconds left in the possession.
With all that, Nebraska was still within four at 60-56, but could get no closer to Ohio State (18-4, 9-0).
The game’s first eight minutes couldn’t have gone much better for Nebraska, despite missing at least five open shots.
The Huskers went up 7-4 on a 3-pointer from Copeland, 12-5 on a 3 from Palmer and 14-7 with 11:58 to go on a layup from center Jordy Tshimanga.
The Buckeyes took their first lead at 17-16 on a lob dunk from Bates-Diop with 5:21 to go. Nebraska scored the next two baskets, but OSU took the lead at halftime 24-22 on C.J. Jackson’s 3-pointer with 39 seconds left.
Nebraska stayed overnight in Columbus and will fly Tuesday to Rutgers to prepare for Wednesday’s 6 p.m. game against the Scarlet Knights.
