Michigan basketball hoped that its upset victory earlier this week over Wisconsin was the beginning of a new trend.

Instead, it was an anomaly.

The Wolverines returned to their losing ways in blowout fashion, 79-59, on Saturday at Nebraska.

U-M (8-16, 3-10 Big Ten) got punched in the mouth in the first half, as Nebraska fueled a raucous crowd with a 29-3 run. By the time Michigan got up and started punching back, it was down by 30 points early in the second half.

A 12-2 spurt eventually helped U-M get within 19 on a Nimari Burnett layup early in the second half, but Nebraska answered with a 7-0 run, pushing the lead back to 26 as the Wolverines had no more threat in them.

Burnett scored 18 points to lead a short-handed Michigan — still without leading scorer Dug McDaniel in road games — while Tarris Reed just missed his third career double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, Terrance Williams added nine and Will Tschetter and Jaelin Llewellyn each scored eight.

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Keisei Tominaga scored 19, Josiah Allack had a Nebraska career-high 16 points and eight rebounds, Bryce Williams added 13 and Rienk Mast finished with 11 points, six rebounds and eight assists.

Nebraska outscored Michigan in the paint (38-18), off of turnovers (12-5) and won the rebounding battle, (43-39).

Michigan had won eight straight games over Nebraska and was 15-1 since the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten. U-M has now lost 11 of its past 13 games with a trip to top-10 Illinois next up on Tuesday.

Won't go down without a fight

Michigan gave up a quick 7-0 run in the second half, but refused to go down without a fight.

Burnett made a layup, Reed hit a pair off free throws, then Burnett made a tough baseline jumper. After another Allack bucket, LLewellyn hit a 3-pointer to get Michigan back within 19 points, before Bryce Williams jarred 3-pointer of his own to extend Nebraska's lead back to 22.

That's pretty much how things would go, the lead in the mid-20's most of the way and every time Will Tschetter would drill a long ball from the corner, or Williams would make a put-back score, Williams would drive the bucket or the Huskers for a layup.

Nebraska made five shots in a row at one point, Williams had four in a row himself, to go up 68-43 with just more than nine minutes to play.

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U-M would make one more run. Tray Jackson made a pair of free throws, Llewellyn made a layup then Tschetter made a layup and deep three, before Burnett made a corner 3 of his own as part of a 12-2 push to get U-M within 15, 70-55, with less than five minutes to play.

It was too little too late.

Out of it from the start

Nebraska entered play as the worst offensive rebounding team in the Big Ten, though that wasn’t clear based on their activity early and often. The Huskers grabbed three offensive rebounds in the first four minutes, two by Josiah Allack which he finished for put-backs, as Nebraska got out to a 12-7 lead by the first media timeout.

Things only got worse, much worse, out of the break, as U-M was outscored 7-0 in between timeouts. After a Llewellyn foul led to a pair of Bryce Williams hit a pair of free throws, George Washington subbed in at point guard and the offense lost all of its continuity.

The freshman missed a 3-pointer from the right wing, then was blown by on defense by Tominaga for a layup. After a Tschetter turnover after he couldn't save a loose ball, Tominaga buried another mid-range jumper to give the Huskers a double digit lead.

Jack Hoiberg, son of Huskers coach Fred Hoiberg, nailed a pair of free throws before Terrance Williams missed three and Allack made another layup to cap a 13-0 Nebraska run. Though Reed seemed to momentarily end the drought with a bucket, the flood gates opened once more, and even more ferociously.

Jamarques Lawrence drilled a step-back 3, then two possessions later Nebraska got multiple offensive rebounds which finished with a Tominaga step-back 3 over Tschetter, before the sensational Husker guard dropped off a bounce-pass for an easy Mast layup as part of a 21-3 spurt in just 6:57 of play to put the Huskers up 30-10.

However it was one of those days and the Huskers never relented.

Llewellyn turned the ball over on the first play out of the timeout and on the other end CJ Wilcher drilled a long ball from the top of the key. On the next possession, the ball went through Burnett's hands for a second consecutive turnover, one of eight in the first half, before Mast drilled yet a wide-open 3-pointer.

Reed appeared to have a point-blank layup on the other end on the following possession, however Mast swatted the attempt, before he got then got an offensive rebound on the other end before he got the ball to Tominaga for a floater as Nebraska went on a 29-3 run in 8:30 of game time and had 10 assists compared to one turnover in the opening segment.

Though Burnett made a 3-pointer from the top of the key to finally stop the Huskers run, Tominaga would respond with a deep 3 of his own before Juwan Gray threw down a thunderous dunk − Nebraska had a 20-6 advantage in the paint in the opening 20 minutes − which made it 43-13 Nebraska, the Huskers' largest lead in the opening 20 minutes of a game vs. a Big Ten foe since joining the conference.

At that point Nebraska had made 13 of 18 shots, so perhaps it was simply water finding its level, as the Huskers it missed their next seven attempts from the field nine of the last 10 of the half, which allowed U-M enough time to string together a 12-2 finish in the final 5:05 of the period.

After making just 6 of its first 25 shots, the Wolverines made their final three attempts from the floor which ended with a Llewellyn 3-pointer as time expired to cut the deficit to 45-25 at the break.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball no-shows at Nebraska, gets blown out, 79-59