The Nebraska basketball team (8-5, 0-2) travels to Columbus Tuesday night for the first time as a member of the Big Ten Conference, looking to hand No. 6 Ohio State (13-2, 1-1) its second conference loss of the young season.
It will be the first time the two schools have met on the hardwood in nearly 23 years. The Buckeyes won the last meeting, 85-74, in the second round of the 1989 NIT tournament and lead the all-time series 4-2, including winning the last three consecutive meetings.
The transition into Big Ten hoops hasn’t been kind to Nebraska and the front end of its conference schedule couldn’t be any more difficult.
It’s the third straight conference game for both schools, but for Nebraska it’s the third straight game in which they face a top-20 opponent.
They previously lost by double-digit margins to No. 18 Wisconsin (12-3, 1-1) and No. 10 Michigan State (13-2, 2-0), respectively.
The Buckeyes were upset last Saturday night by the surging, then-ranked No. 12 Indiana Hoosiers (13-1, 1-1), who also knocked off the No. 1-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in the month of December.
OSU has the second-best scoring offense in the Big Ten, scoring nearly 79 points per game, while Nebraska is ranked 11th in the same category, scoring nearly 64 points per game.
The Buckeyes will be heavy favorites Tuesday, but an upset for a second-straight game would give OSU its second conference loss of the season — as many as it suffered all of last year.
If the Cornhuskers do pull off the upset, it will be OSU’s first loss at the Schottenstein Center since Feb. 17, 2010, when Purdue knocked off OSU. A victory would give the Buckeyes a 35th straight win in Columbus.
Tuesday’s game will be televised on Big Ten Network and tip-off is set for 6:36 p.m.
