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Indiana’s sloppy play against Nebraska crystallizes narrow margin for error in Big Ten play

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Indiana’s sloppy play against Nebraska crystallizes narrow margin for error in Big Ten play


As Indiana men’s basketball’s night went from bad to worse on Wednesday, Xavier Johnson’s reaction said it all.

Nebraska outplayed IU for much of the first half at Pinnacle Bank Arena, and it turned into domination in the second half. With around seven minutes remaining, Cornhuskers guard Brice Williams banked in a 3-pointer with Johnson guarding him. And when the ball found the bottom of the net, Johnson just threw his arms up and then right back down to his side, exasperated.

It was that kind of night for the Hoosiers. Fortune didn’t find them, and they were wholly incapable of making their own luck in this contest. Nebraska ran away with an 86-70 win, its first win over Indiana in six years.

“We’ve been competitive off and on. I’ve just got to get us competitive for 40 minutes,” IU head coach Mike Woodson said after the game. “When we’ve got our fan base, we seem to play a little bit better. But it’s different on the road. You’ve got to do all the things right on the road to win basketball games. And we didn’t do that tonight.”

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Nebraska (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) deserves credit. The Cornhuskers appear to have their best team in the Fred Hoiberg era, and they contend for an NCAA Tournament bid. And they showed up on Wednesday.

But Indiana (10-4, 2-1) just had a litany of things go wrong.

For starters, IU’s veteran backcourt was completely outplayed. Johnson may have had rust to shake off after missing seven straight games with a foot injury, but he largely struggled on both ends of the court. Trey Galloway scored 10 points, but six came on 3-pointers later in the second half when the game was already out of reach.

Meanwhile, the Hoosiers couldn’t stop Keisei Tominaga (28 points), and Williams (15 points) and Jamarques Lawrence (12 points) caused issues as well. IU just let Nebraska’s guards dictate the game, particularly in the second half.

That was indicative of Indiana’s entire defensive effort on Wednesday. Nebraska, entering this game, ranked 68th in the country at 1.087 points per possession; NU scored 1.246 PPP against IU, including 1.364 in the second half. The Hoosiers allowed far too many easy looks to the Huskers, didn’t close out effectively enough on outside shooters, and compounded mistakes on top of each other, leading to many broken defensive possessions.

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“This team is not as good as we were defensively the last two years,” Woodson said. “A lot of it is because we do have new faces, but we’ve got to overcome that. I’ve got to get them over the hump. When it comes to defending and rebounding and not turning the ball over, that’s my job to do that. We failed in that area tonight.”

But perhaps the biggest difference in the game was turnovers.

Indiana averaged 12.3 turnovers per game entering Wednesday, which ranked 167th in the country and ninth in the Big Ten. But it’s been a big problem over the last two games. The Hoosiers turned the ball over 17 times last week against Kennesaw State, and they committed 19 against Nebraska. And those 19 turnovers led to 27 points; meanwhile, IU forced just eight turnovers going the other way, and scored just six points off them.

Nebraska forced 11.5 opponent turnovers per game entering Wednesday. The Huskers aren’t a team that routinely turns opponents over at a high rate. But Indiana made it easy on them, with a plethora of unforced errors.

“That’s just something we’re going to have to work on in practice. We need to get better at just holding the ball and protecting the ball,” center Kel’el Ware said. “It wasn’t nothing on Nebraska’s part. It was more of us throwing bad passes to each other. We’ve just got to take care of the ball more and make smarter passes.”

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Ware tied for a team-high four turnovers, along with Johnson and Malik Reneau. Galloway committed three. Anthony Walker finished with two. And Kaleb Banks and Mackenzie Mgbako had one each.

And that’s only the plays officially scored as turnovers. IU had plenty of other possessions that ended with a bad decision or a poor shot selection that weren’t marked as turnovers in the stat sheet, but were essentially also turnovers.

IU didn’t shoot especially poorly — 47 percent from the field (Nebraska shot 46 percent), 9 for 18 from 3-point range. The Hoosiers out-rebounded the Huskers. But when you give away as many possessions as IU did on Wednesday, it outweighs those positives.

Woodson said turnovers haven’t been an issue in practice.

“We preach a lot about not turning the ball over, because that’s (the difference between) winning and losing basketball games,” Woodson said. “Over the last two years, we’ve been pretty good in that area. The last two games, we’ve exploded the other way in terms of turning the ball over. Somehow, we’ve got to fix that. Because you can’t win, can’t beat anybody — especially on the road, you’re not going to beat anybody turning it over 19 times.”

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Without a marquee non-conference win on its résumé, Indiana came into the restart of Big Ten play with a narrow margin for error. The highest-rated non-conference opponent, per KenPom, that the Hoosiers beat was No. 133 Morehead State — and they needed a big second-half comeback to escape an upset that night. They’re teetering towards falling out of the top 100, themselves.

Losing to Nebraska, even in blowout fashion, isn’t a result that extinguishes any NCAA Tournament hopes for Indiana. Not in early January, by any means.

But the Hoosiers can’t afford to exhibit many more performances like this one and still get to where they want to go in March. Because you won’t win many games by playing like that.

And particularly in conference play, Indiana won’t be able to get away with the types of mistakes it got away with in several non-conference games.

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Nebraska softball team hits four homers en route to series win over No. 7 Bruins

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Nebraska softball team hits four homers en route to series win over No. 7 Bruins


LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Athletics) – The No. 9 Nebraska softball team hit four home runs, including three in the second inning, to down the No. 7 UCLA Bruins by a score of 8-4 on Sunday afternoon at Bowlin Stadium.

With the win, the Huskers clinched the series over the Bruins and moved to 26-6 on the season with an 8-1 mark in Big Ten play. UCLA fell to 29-5 (10-2 Big Ten).

Hannah Camenzind accounted for three RBIs and two hits for the Big Red, as she knocked a three-run homer as part of the Huskers’ six-run second inning. Alexis Jensen and Ava Kuszak contributed the other two home runs in that inning. Jordy Frahm was 2-for-4 with a homer and Lauren Camenzind went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Jesse Farrell also added two hits.

Jensen (13-2) threw six innings with four runs and six hits, along with five strikeouts, to claim the win in the circle. Frahm threw a scoreless final inning to close out the win. Brynne Nally (2-1) took the loss for UCLA.

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UCLA loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first, but NU worked its way out of a jam and only allowed one Bruin run.

Frahm tied the score, 1-1, in the bottom of the first on a solo shot to center field.

In the bottom of the second, Farrell singled and Jensen hit a 273-foot homer to score the both of them. Frahm singled and Coor walked to set up an H. Camenzind homer and Kuszak hit a solo shot immediately after to give the Huskers a 7-1 advantage.

UCLA added a run in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 7-2.

Farrell singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth and advanced to second on a throwing error. Kacie Hoffmann singled to send Farrell to third and Farrell crossed the plate on a Lauren Camenzind RBI single to extend the lead to 8-2.

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The Bruins knocked a two-run homer with no outs in the top of the fifth but the Huskers retired three of the next four batters to earn the 8-4 win.

Nebraska is set for a midweek game against the Creighton Bluejays in Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday, March 31. The contest will start at 5 p.m. (CT) and will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard across the Huskers Radio Network.

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No. 24 Nebraska wins slugfest over Indiana

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No. 24 Nebraska wins slugfest over Indiana


A windy day led to a wild slugfest at Hawks Field Saturday, but No. 24 Nebraska baseball knocked off Indiana, 12-7, clinching the conference series for the Cornhuskers while running Nebraska’s home record to 11-0.

The Huskers scored three runs in the first and two in the fourth to build a 5-0 lead. The Hoosiers answered with three in the sixth and one in the seventh to cut the NU lead to 5-4. Nebraska took control of the game with seven runs in the bottom of the seventh to grow the lead to 12-4. IU scored one in the eighth, but drew no closer.

Drew Grego was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Dylan Carey drove in five runs and hit a home run, while always drawing a pair of walks. Case Sanderson was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a pair of walks. Jeter Worthley added a 2-for-4 showing with an RBI and a walk. Carson Jasa (5-1) earned the win, throwing 5.2 innings for NU. He allowed four hits while striking out 10 and walking five. For Indiana, Owen ten Oever was 1-for-3 with three RBI. Cooper Malamazian was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The Huskers aim for the sweep Sunday at Hawks Field against Indiana. First pitch is slated for noon with pregame coverage at 11:30 a.m. on KLIN.

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No Kings protests return to Nebraska, draw hundreds and thousands

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No Kings protests return to Nebraska, draw hundreds and thousands


LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) – Hundreds of Nebraskans protested against the Trump administration Saturday along Nebraska Parkway in Lincoln, and thousands protested near Northwest Radial Highway in Omaha as part of No Kings demonstrations statewide.

Protesters along Nebraska Parkway in Lincoln on March 28, 2026. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)(Nebraska Examiner)

The third iteration of No Kings protests organized border to border gatherings to vent displeasure at President Donald Trump and his administration’s policy decisions. The Lincoln protest was held on the Helen Boosalis Trail between North 27th Street and North 56th Street.

“I don’t like what’s going on … I know it’s not the world I want to live in,” said Ford Kloepper, a 17-year-old Lincoln resident.

Kloepper said people his age are going to take the “brunt” of Trump’s “mistakes.” He pointed to the recent U.S. conflict in Iran as a motivator to protest for him, as he doesn’t want to get “drafted into a war in the Middle East for no reason at all.”

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Many of the protesters, much like previous demonstrations, held anti-Trump signs with slogans like, “Trump lies” and “Stop Trump, save democracy.” Others held American flags and wore costumes. Volunteers from different groups gathered signatures for ballot initiatives and at least one candidate. One of the petitions sought to let voters decide on a state constitutional amendment requiring larger majorities to repeal or change any law passed by voters. Volunteers for nonpartisan U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn collected signatures to get him on the November ballot. 

People gather at the Omaha No Kings protest. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
People gather at the Omaha No Kings protest. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)(Nebraska Examiner)

Organizers planned 18 protests across Nebraska. In Omaha, the rally was held at Gallagher Park, with thousands of protesters filling the sidewalks and grassy areas near the intersection of Maple Street and the Northwest Radial. 

Organizers said the spot let protesters draw attention to historic Benson and all of the restaurants, galleries and coffee shops that have made the neighborhood a cultural destination since 1887.  Among the crowd filled with a variety of ages and races was Lorin and Elwin Moseman, waving signs that said, “End Wars Before Wars End Us” and “No Kings No ICE.”

It was the Mosemans’ third anti-Kings rally, and despite the chill of the day, they said they wouldn’t have missed it. 

“It could have been an ice storm,” said Elwin, who was motivated in particular by “the Epstein files and Trump being in them, this stupid war we’ve got involved with Iran.”

His wife, Lorin, said she came to “stand up for democracy.”

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“I want to show up, stand up and speak out about our country,” she said, decrying “leadership incompetency from the very beginning.”

She said the nation needs a presidential job description and interview, and she was not short on words to describe her disgust and disappointment about current leadership: “Shameful, disgusting, exhausting.” 

“We’re in a broken world,” she said.

Nearby, a bundled up woman in a wheelchair held onto a sign that said, “I’m mad about everything.”

Lorin and Elwin Moseman of Omaha were among the thousands of protesters who participated in...
Lorin and Elwin Moseman of Omaha were among the thousands of protesters who participated in the Omaha demonstration on Saturday. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)(Nebraska Examiner)

Sara Peterson led buses carrying about 75 protesters from First United Methodist Church of Omaha. She said people felt a sense of unity and joy seeing the chanting crowd, which she said reflected her group’s makeup — diverse in age, ethnicity and political party.

“We’re not alone,” she said “It’s an exciting day to be a part of.”

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Peterson called the rally a “tangible sign of people coming together … for democracy.” Her group included church members and their friends — some of whom never participated in such a protest or rally before but felt the urge and were nudged “out of their comfort zone to take back our country and democracy.

Since the return of Trump for a second term, the anti-Trump group has organized national protests. Nebraska, much like the rest of the nation, saw multiple demonstrations throughout 2025. 

The group also bought ads in local newspapers ahead of the Saturday protests. Nebraska Republican Party chair Mary Jane Truemper had no immediate comment on the protests.

As Election Day gets closer, political observers have wondered how organizers might harness the political energy, whether the demonstrations might signal a coming wave of change at the polls, or whether momentum will fizzle after the crowds go home. Some have argued Democrats and progressives are good at mobilizing people for large-scale protests but have lagged conservatives in building local infrastructure to affect sweeping policy changes.

Back in Lincoln, Erik Betts, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln student, said the political winds are in Democrats’ favor, and he feels the possibilities are endless, even in a reliably red state. He said he thinks Osborn could beat Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, and he hopes the “blue” wave might be large enough to beat Nebraska 1st Congressional District Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, a former speaker of the Legislature. 

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“We need to really show up this time …We’ve got to take this motivation … and make a difference,” Betts said. 

Betts said events like these help him stay hopeful because it reminds him that he is not alone.

“When you are in your own house and just scrolling on social media, it’s easy to feel just defeated,” Betts said. “So I come out as much to show support for everyone else, to feel that maybe a bunch of people agree with [me] and things can change.”

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Aaron Sanderford for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com.

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