The Hoosiers faced very little adversity in the first 16 games this season.
They cruised to a 15-1 record beating then-No. 1 Kentucky and then-No. 2 Ohio State, losing only a road game against a hot Michigan State team.
They were the surprise team that was taking the nation by storm. They soared into the top 10, had every major publication talking about Cody Zeller and every Indiana fan screaming the words ‘We’re Back!’ to anyone that would listen.
But in the matter of two games in only one week, some of that has changed. The Hoosiers lost back-to-back games to Minnesota and Ohio State, and now have their first losing streak of the season as they prepare to play at Nebraska Wednesday night.
The shots haven’t been falling for No. 12 Indiana (15-3, 3-3) like they were earlier in the season, but the Hoosiers’ biggest struggles have come on the defensive end. They have allowed at least 77 points in each of their last three games.
“I don’t think it’s anything major,” Zeller said. “I think it’s kind of getting back to where we were at in the beginning of the season, getting back to the fundamentals, getting into people – getting back to what we’re really about.”
Perhaps the solution for a struggling Indiana defense is a Nebraska team that doesn’t score the ball well. The Cornhuskers (9-8, 1-5) average only 61.1 points per game, and they’ve scored more than 55 points only once in six conference games.
Nebraska has been better of late with the return of Jorge Brian Diaz and Dylan Talley from injury. Diaz and Talley each missed five games, including the first three games of the Big Ten season. Since their return, the Cornhuskers have gone just 1-2, but their two losses were by only five points each in tough road environments at Illinois and at Wisconsin. Nebraska opened the conference season with a 24-point home loss to Wisconsin without Diaz and Talley.
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