LINCOLN, NEBRASKA - UC Santa Cruz closed their New Year's Midwest trip with a hard-fought 80-78 loss at Nebraska Wesleyan.
The game showed the teams to be on pretty even levels as the lead changes numbered 7 in each half. UC Santa Cruz finished the first half with a higher field goal percentage (44.8% to 43.2%). However, Nebraska Wesleyan managed to pull off a 6 point lead to finish off the half.
UC Santa Cruz started off the first half strong with two successive threes by Calvin Keyes and Tyler Kessinger to go up by four at 18:43. At 11:13 the Banana Slugs were down 7 points at 13-20, but a little jumper from DeBrine at the free throw line got him seven points. Kessinger cut the Prairie Wolves' lead in half at 8:09 with a three making it 19-22. Nebraska Wesleyan hasn't been able to make good on any opportunities for over 2 ½ minutes and Kessinger comes in with a runner and a floater as UC Santa Cruz storms back with a 1-point lead in the 7th minute. after to cut the lead in half with a three making it 22-19. Zach Granberry closed with a three at the 15 second mark but the half finished with the Banana Slugs trailing 37-43.
 
The Banana Slugs continued to give the Prairie Wolves a difficult time in the second half.
Zino Okah pulled a nice little 15-foot turn around jumper to start the Slugs off. At 18:40, UC Santa Cruz tied things up at 43-all as a backdoor cut from Keyes allowed him to make the layup. The Prairie Wolves had yet to score in the 2nd half, and ended up being outscored 12-2 in the opening five minutes after Kessinger's two consecutive threes. With 12:59 to go, NWU trailed 55-54 and the Banana Slugs were 8 of 15 shooting in the half (53.3%) at that point. The end of the second half started to fall in NWU's favor as they took a 7-point lead with 1:50 to go. UC Santa Cruz continued to dig as they closed it to a 5-point lead with a layup by Avri Finch after he won the rebound. They closed in on the 5-point differential as Kessinger made a three pointer with :03 seconds left but NWU held onto a 2-point lead with a final score of 80-78.
 
Kessinger ended the game with a season-high 24 points, and was 6 of 9 from three-point range. Overall, UC Santa Cruz shot 10-24 (41.7%) from long range,  which is what kept the Slugs in the game. Zino Okah and Avri Finch also finished with double digits at 12 and 10 points respectively. Finch also had a team-high of 13 rebounds for his third-straight double-double.
 
The Prairie Wolves (7-6) were led by Jack Groeteke's 17 points.