Penn State men’s basketball (7-10, 4-9 Big Ten) has hung with nearly every conference opponent it’s faced, but the Nittany Lions have often failed to get the ball to bounce their way in several heartbreaking losses.

That struggle came to a head against Nebraska Sunday afternoon. The Cornhuskers, who were 0-9 in the Big Ten entering the contest, scored just one basket in the game’s final nine minutes. Thanks to that drought, Jim Ferry’s squad managed to take a one-point lead in the game’s final minute.

Nebraska retook that advantage thanks to a converted layup with just over 30 seconds to go, and a play drawn up for Izaiah Brockington failed to get the Nittany Lions back on the board. With that, Penn State dropped the third of its last four games.

“The guys have really executed very, very well,” Ferry said. “We’ve gotten really good shots, [but] we just haven’t made the shot. We do situations in practice all the time, and we do execute.

“The other day, Myles Dread had a wide-open look and, in-and-out. Today, Izaiah Brockington used a screen and got all the way to the rim and didn’t finish it.”

That wide-open look for Dread was earlier last week in Penn State’s loss to Michigan State on the road. The Nittany Lions held a slim lead over the Spartans in the final minutes, but Tom Izzo’s squad managed to storm back while Penn State’s offense fell quiet.

Dread’s look from three rimmed out with 30 seconds remaining, but the junior guard even earned one more look in the final moments that didn’t fall either.

These past two defeats are now highlighted mainly because of the fact they’ve largely eliminated Penn State from NCAA Tournament contention. Entering the trip to East Lansing, Ferry’s group had a real chance at dancing this March with seemingly winnable contests left on the slate. Now, however, with a less-than-stellar conference record, the Nittany Lions won’t be anywhere near the Big Dance barring a miraculous run in the Big Ten Tournament.

While the losses to the middling Spartans and struggling Cornhuskers are ugly, Penn State has also had heartbreaking defeats against some top-tier Big Ten competition. The Nittany Lions fell on the road to No. 3 Michigan by just four points in their first conference game, lost Indiana by two, and dropped a game with No. 4 Ohio State by just four.

It hasn’t necessarily been a standout season for Penn State, but a few stronger finishes against some of the top teams in the nation would elevate the group to much more than just battling at the bottom of the conference.

Ferry still has confidence in his group, and likely for good reason. Outside of Illinois, a team that clearly has the Nittany Lions’ number thanks to size mismatches, the team has truly given itself a chance to win against every opponent.

As nice as that may sound, however, Penn State is simply running out of time to sneak into the NCAA Tournament. There are five games left in the regular season, but that slate starts with a visit from the No. 4 Buckeyes and a trip to No. 11 Iowa.

Even as tournament talk continues, the Nittany Lions will try to take it game-by-game and let the chips fall as they may.

“Of course it hurts to lose,” Dread said. “We can’t allow ourselves to lose to Nebraska twice. If we play the same way we played tonight on Thursday, we’ll lose again. We have to get past this one. We lost, it stinks, but we have to move on.”