Tuesday was a tough day for a pair of former Husker men’s basketball players in the 2012 London Olympics, as both Australia and Nigeria suffered losses to a pair of teams ranked among the world’s best. Australia opened the day with an 82-70 setback to Spain. Aleks Maric started for Australia and grabbed two rebounds and had a steal in just over nine minutes, but was hit in the eye in the opening minutes and missed most of the first half. Elsewhere, Ade Dagunduro and Nigeria were not able to duplicate their win over Lithuania in Olympic Qualifying, falling 72-53. Dagunduro played just over three minutes, missing all three of his shots from the floor. On Thursday, winless Australia now faces a must-win game in their qualifying group against China, while Nigeria faces a daunting task in taking on the United States.

— Seamus McKnight, Nebraska Sports Information