In their final Big 12 season, the Cornhuskers are third to last in the conference and have lost three of their last four games.
Nebraska started the season 13-2 until stumbling into league competition.
“I think our team’s better than its ever been, but it’s not good enough to just show up,” head coach Doc Sadler said on Jan. 24.
Sadler’s team started off with a single-digit defeat against Missouri, which was then ranked No. 15 in the nation, before losing to Kansas 63-60 in Lawrence. Nebraska appeared to be a contender for the second or third spot in the North division in mid-January.
But the Huskers kept sliding and have not been able to string together consecutive victories since that loss to the Tigers. Their most recent games were a defeat at Kansas State on Feb. 2 and then a 20-point blowout loss against Kansas at home over the weekend.
“Right now, when we’re so far removed … we better not start looking beyond today’s practice at 1:30 or we’ll be in trouble,” Sadler said.
Nebraska plays at Baylor on Wednesday.
Selby still sidelined
The preseason conference freshman of the year Josh Selby missed his second straight game for Kansas on Monday with a foot injury.
Selby hurt his right foot in practice a week ago and then aggravated that injury versus Texas Tech on Feb. 1.
“We’re talking about minor stuff going into our Texas Tech game last Tuesday,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “It became more sore after that.”
X-ray and MRI results were negative but team doctors remain worried about a “hotspot” on the bottom of Selby’s foot, which Self explained, “means he could play on it but if he were to roll it or something there could be a chance [that] there could become a line there, or a fracture.”
Self expects Selby to be back in practice this Thursday.
“We are erring on the side of caution in this particular case,” the coach added.
Paralyzing parity
With Missouri’s loss to Kansas on Monday night, there are now six Big 12 teams with a conference record of either 4-4 or 4-5, creating an extensive logjam in the middle of the standings.
“It’s all mumble-jumbled right now,” Missouri coach Mike Anderson said on Monday. “I’ll think you’ll start seeing the truer picture in probably the next two weeks.”
Texas A&M and Oklahoma each sit at .500 in conference play while Missouri, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Colorado are 4-5.
“Parity sometimes gives the appearance of mediocrity and that’s not the case at all,” Self said. “There’s good teams and certainly winning on the road is a bare.”
Only Texas (8-0 Big 12), Kansas (8-1), and Baylor (5-4) have winning league records.
