Nebraska 64, Illinois 63

What happened

The Big Ten basketball gods have been cruel to Illinois basketball this season. Three overtime losses — and, now, add a buzzer-beating loss.

James Palmer Jr. hit a running three with 00.3 seconds remaining to give Illinois its latest (and still incredibly painful) late-game gut punch.

The Illini (10-9, 0-6 Big Ten) have lost their first six games of conference play for the first time since 1999 — and had chances to win all of them in the final minute of regulation.

Apparently, a redeeming storyline wasn’t the Illini’s fate.

With Michael Finke — who hadn’t scored in double digits nor hit a three during his first five Big Ten games — sank a go-ahead three through a foul and hit an additional free throw with six seconds remaining to give Illinois a 63-61 lead.

But Nebraska rushed it down the court, and Glynn Watson passed it to Palmer who took one dribble and hit the game winner.

Palmer led Nebraska (13-7, 4-3 Big Ten) with 24 points, while Evan Taylor added 13.

Finke — who had his second double-double of the season (16 points, 10 rebounds) — scored 15 points in the second half. He went 2-for-3 from three after starting Big Ten play 0-for-12 from beyond the arc.

Trent Frazier led Illinois with 19 points (7-14 FG) and five assists. He dished to Finke for the late go-ahead three. Leron Black had 13 points and eight rebounds but was limited to 23 minutes due to foul trouble.

The Illini again relied heavily on Frazier and Black to carry the burden offensively, until Finke got hot. But besides the top-three, the rest of the Illini shot a combined 4-for-28 from the field (14.2 percent).

Illinois outrebounded Nebraska 46-29, but Nebraska scored 24 points off 16 Illini turnovers. Da'Monte Williams, who turned it over late in overtime losses to Maryland and Iowa, again had crucial turnovers on back-to-back possessions with under two minutes remaining.

Illinois (which shot 39.0 percent, including 3-for-18 from three) struggled mightily early, missing 10 straight shots after Frazier’s opening-possession three. The Illini mitigated the damage by holding held Nebraska without a field for 4:22. The Huskers got to the free throw line 10 times in the first 10 minutes though, sinking seven of those attempts, to claim a 17-12 lead. The Illini then switched to a zone defense and forced five straight misses to take a 7-0 run and 19-17 lead.

But Nebraska responded with a 9-1 run to take a 26-20 lead. TheIllini then scored five unanswered points in the final two minutes to cut the deficit to 32-30 at halftime, and that momentum carried over into the second half.

Illinois outscored Nebraska 10-2 to take a 40-34 lead. The 15-2 run was sparked by defense. From the 2:15 mark of the first half to the 15:19 mark of the second half — a stretch of 6 minutes, 56 seconds — Nebraska scored just two points.

But the Cornhuskers quickly erased the deficit — and built its biggest lead — with a 14-0 run to take a 48-40 lead.

Then Finke got going, scoring 13 points over the last 10 minutes to give the Illini a chance to win.

But the Illini — which have lost 9 of 13 — are finding new, excruciating ways to stack L’s.

What it means

The Illini are the Big Ten’s worst team. There’s no questioning that right now. Yet -- and no one wants to hear this, I know -- they are so close. The first six games include three overtime losses, one last-second defeat and one game in which it led in the second half. They have lost six Big Ten games by 33 points, and that includes two 10-point losses on the road. You are what your record is, but the Illini are much more competitive than the record states. There are no 20-plus point blowouts like in years past -- just more excruciatingly close losses. This will go down as a painful season. Brad Underwood must recruit better players. Mark Alstork hasn’t lived up to offensive expectations, Aaron Jordan is regressing hard and Kipper Nichols is infuriating. But the Illinois coach also needs to get more out of those veterans, and some of his freshman (Williams and Mark Smith) must grow up quickly for this season to be a stepping stone to future success. This team couldn’t avoid growing pains, but the repetition of the same mistakes is a huge concern.

What’s next

Illinois travels to Wisconsin for an 8 p.m. Friday tipoff (FS1). The Badgers (9-9, 2-3 Big Ten) could be under .500 by then as they play at No. 3 Purdue on Tuesday. Under third-year coach Greg Gard, the Badgers finally have taken a step back (at least to this point) after losing a special senior class of Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koennig, Vitto Brown and Zak Showalter. Ethan Happ (16.8 points, 8.6 rebounds) has had to carry even more of the load. Freshman guard Brad Davison (12.1 points) is the only other Badger averaging double-digit scoring. The Badgers are back to their old ways. They rank last in the Big Ten in tempo and average possession length (longest). Wisconsin is the best defensive rebounding team in the conference, though and is holding conference opponents to a 31.2 percent three-point percentage (second-best in the conference).

Box score