The Gophers men’s basketball team was responsible for handing the Nebraska Cornhuskers its first conference win Wednesday night. The Cornhuskers led the whole game and gave Minnesota trouble en route to a 78-65 win.

This time, a double-digit deficit was too much for the Gophers to overcome at any point of the game. Not much was going right for head coach Ben Johnson and Minnesota’s offense. The Cornhuskers saw its lead grow to as many as 20 points.

A combination of first-half issues led to another double-digit deficit against Nebraska, who are the only team below Minnesota in the Big Ten conference standings. Sophomore Jamison Battle was held scoreless and senior Payton Willis scored two points as Minnesota went into the half down 32-21.

Battle came alive in the second half, but it was too little, too late. After not making a shot, Battle got hot and hit five three-pointers on his way to a team-high 21 points. Willis added nine more points in the second half as well.

The Gophers average 9.4 turnovers a game, third in the Big Ten, but ran into a turnover problem 15 minutes into the game. With just under five minutes left in the first half, senior Luke Loewe committed his third turnover of the game. That brought the team’s total to 10, and that number continued to climb.

When all was said and done, the Gophers turned the ball over 18 times total, and Nebraska made them pay. The Cornhuskers scored 25 points off those turnovers and had 21 fast-break points compared to just two for Minnesota.

That wasn’t the only issue for Minnesota in the first half. The Gophers came into Wednesday shooting 36.4% from deep, the fifth best in the conference. Five shooters combined to miss all nine three-point attempts in the first half.

In the second half, Minnesota finally figured out the deep ball. Again, it was too little too late, but the team shot 7-12 from deep, with many thanks to Battle.

The Gophers are back at home Saturday when they face Penn State and look to get back on track.