Back in November, No. 1 Nebraska women’s volleyball made the long trip to Galen Center, bringing along droves of Cornhusker fans who packed the arena, and proceeded to throttle USC in a 3-0 sweep.

Saturday afternoon, there was another beatdown of the cardinal and gold, but this time it was men’s basketball’s turn to face the Huskers’ wrath.

Behind a sea of scarlet in the crowd, the No. 12 Cornhuskers (25-4, 14-4 Big Ten) took down the Trojans (18-11, 7-11), 82-67, further narrowing USC’s NCAA Tournament chances. The Trojans are currently on a five-game losing streak, a feat the team has achieved each of the last three seasons.

While the Trojans have remained just barely inside ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology predictions for some time, the Trojans are now projected to be one of the first tour teams out. With two games left on the schedule, the Trojans have no room for error, but the players maintain hope.

“I still think we could have a successful season. I had that positive mindset coming into the season. I still have that positive mindset now,” said graduate forward Terrance Williams II in a postgame news conference. “We can change the trajectory of the season very quickly.” 

Elders get it done in the first half

Though the final score was lopsided, the Trojans started off hot: They led by 5 at halftime after holding a lead for much of the back end of the first half and were holding the Huskers to a .353 field goal percentage, which would’ve been their second-worst tally this season.

USC shot over 50% in the first half thanks to effective performances from graduate guard Kam Woods, graduate forwards Chad Baker-Mazara and graduate forward Jaden Brownell. Woods facilitated, dropping 7 points, three rebounds and a team-high four assists in the first half, while Brownell had 8 points, including two 3s off the bench.

Like last Tuesday’s loss against UCLA (19-10, 11-7) and most of the season beforehand, Baker-Mazara was once again the main offensive weapon for the Trojans early on. His 14 first-half points — including an astounding midrange jumper with his entire body falling backwards — and four made free throws led all players.  However, he only played three minutes in the second half because of an unspecified injury.

“He said he couldn’t go,” Head Coach Eric Musselman said in a postgame news conference.

Although lineup mainstays like senior forward Ezra Ausar, sophomore forward Jacob Cofie and freshman Alijah Arenas — who didn’t start for the first time since his debut — collectively shot just 1-for-5, USC ended the first half up 5 points, looking like it had a real shot at upsetting the usually-dominant Cornhuskers.

“[In] the first half, I thought we played as good as we probably could,” Musselman said.

Cornhuskers heat up, explode

But the game’s rhythm quickly changed hands once the second half began. After star Husker junior forward Pryce Sandfort converted on a 4-point play early in the second half, Nebraska took a 39-38 lead, its first since midway through the first half.

Across the next 10 minutes, the Cornhuskers stormed ahead on a 22-6 run, led by Sandfort, who finished with 32 points on nearly 60% shooting, quickly putting the game out of the Trojans’ reach for good.

Though Sandfort was the obvious man of the match, the entire Husker offense contributed, including 14 second-half points from redshirt freshman forward Braden Frager and four rebounds from senior guard Sam Hoiberg.

With Baker-Mazara’s absence, USC struggled to fight back offensively. Arenas was able to turn it up a bit in the second half, scoring 14 in the second, but the majority of his points came with less than five minutes to go, and the game was already long over. Brownell and Woods shot a combined 2-for-8, and the team didn’t make a single one of its nine 3-point attempts.

That lack of offensive capability was compounded by USC’s lack of presence on the glass. The team grabbed five total second-chance rebounds across the game, compared to nine in each half for the Huskers. 

“We didn’t rebound the ball,” Musselman said. “[With] our athleticism and our length, we should be able to rebound the ball better than what we did tonight.”

Even with seven fewer offensive boards in the first and a season-low 25 total rebounds, the Trojans were able to contain Nebraska’s high-powered offense at the start by holding them to an inefficient shooting percentage. But when the Huskers caught fire, matched by a revered defense — one Musselman said Husker Head Coach Fred Hoiberg is known for — USC was unable to recover.

“They trap the box every game from the baseline, and they kind of force you to play on the outside,” Musselman said. “They do what they do, and they do it really, really well. That’s why they’re 25-4.”

Despite the loss, there were still bright spots in the lineup. Arenas, who had five turnovers against UCLA, didn’t lose the ball a single time, and Brownell’s 10 points are his most since the team’s match against Michigan (27-2, 17-1) on Jan. 2. Additionally, four Trojans scored double-digits for the first time since four games ago against Ohio State (18-11, 10-8). 

The Trojans only have two more regular-season games, but both will come against teams that USC has already lost to this season. Musselman’s squad will fly to Washington (14-15, 6-12) to face off on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., before they end the regular season hosting UCLA on Saturday at 6 p.m.