Nebraska Falls to Pittsburgh at the Buzzer

Pittsburgh, Pa. --- Despite shooting better than 50 percent in the second half, the Nebraska basketball team couldn't hit its final three shots in the closing seconds of the game, and fell 52-51 to Pittsburgh Saturday night in Fitzgerald Field House.

Trailing by one, senior guard Cookie Belcher took the dribble to the right side and took a shot in heavy traffic with seven second remaining. The rebound went left to Kimani Ffriend, who took a fade away shot with four second left from the top of the key that hit off the back of the rim. Senior Craig Wortmann got a hand on the rebound and tried unsuccessfully to tap it in as time expired.

The one-point loss dropped the Huskers to 2-2 on the year with both losses coming on the road. The loss also extended NU's road-losing streak to 14, with its last true road win coming on Feb. 10, 1999 against Kansas (64-59).

Neither team got on the board until Pittsburgh got a bucket at the 16:18 mark. Junior Cary Cochran got the Huskers going a few seconds later with a three-pointer at the 15:38 mark. Nebraska added six more to stretch its lead to 9-2 early on. But Pittsburgh answered Nebraska's run in the closing minutes of the half. The Panthers went on an 11-0 run and outscored the Huskers 18-4 over the final 7:00 of the half to take a 29-24 lead into halftime.

Pittsburgh opened the second half with a bucket by senior Ricardo Greer to stretch its lead to seven, which was Pitt's largest lead until it went up eight with 7:29 remaining in the game. Belcher and junior Cary Cochran pulled the Huskers to within four before senior Isaac Hawkins made a layup with 4:16 remaining. A Ffriend jumper followed by two free throws by Belcher cut Pitt's lead to two. The Panthers' Julius Page then knocked down a baseline jumper at 1:48 to pull Pittsburgh ahead 52-48. The Huskers took the ball back down the court and dumped it underneath to Wortmann to move within two. Senior Steffon Bradford brought the game within one after hitting the second of two free throws with 51 second remaining. A Pittsburgh miss allowed NU a final chance at the win, but NU couldn't pull it out following the three attempts.

Ffriend led the Huskers with 18 points, and added two blocks and three steals. Belcher also secured double figures, scoring 14 points and dishing out a team-high four assists. Julius Page came off the bench to lead Pittsburgh with 15 points.

The Huskers will be back in action next weekend when they host the 14th annual Husker Team Classic on Dec. 8-9. Nebraska will kickoff the tournament with a 6:30 p.m. contest against UMKC on Friday, Dec. 8.

QUOTING NEBRASKA HEAD COACH BARRY COLLIER
--(GENERAL THOUGHTS) "I thought Pittsburgh played great defense tonight. We struggled to score the ball and missed some high-percentage shots at times. But I'm proud of the team and how they hung in there. We gave ourselves a chance in the second half."

--(ON BELCHER'S SHOT WITH SEVEN SECOND REMAINING) "Most shots he gets are pretty good. He drew a crowd as he always does. But I thought we did a good job on that possession, we just didn't get it in the bucket."

--(ON PITTSBURGH'S DEFENSE LATE) "They did a good job defending the ball late in the game against the dribble penetration. They pressured our shots pretty darn well."

--(ON HOLDING RICARDO GREER TO SEVEN POINTS) "We wish we could have shut him down on more shot. But our guys had good awareness of where he was all game."

--(ON USING A SEVEN-MAN ROTATION) "Our seven, without foul trouble, is our best group we can put out there. But when you play other teams with great depth, it gives you problems and it did tonight."

POSTGAME NOTES
-The Huskers scored 24 points in the first half, their lowest total since a 22-point performance on Feb. 8, 2000 against Colorado in Boulder, Colo.

-Pittsburgh only went to the foul line one time with that coming at the 9:09 mark in the second half.

-Junior Cary Cochran hit the first shot of both halves (both three-pointers) and finished with eight points.

-Senior Cookie Belcher hit double-figures in scoring for the fourth straight game (14 points). He also collected two steals giving him 281 for his career which is tops among NCAA active players.

-The Huskers shot less than 50 percent (40 percent) for the first time this season.

-Senior Kimani Ffriend finished with 18 points giving him three games in double figures in three games played.

-Senior Steffon Bradford finished with 11 rebounds, including eight in the first half, giving him three games rebounding in double figures