The numbers speak for themselves. The slumping Kansas University women’s basketball team has lost six in a row, dropping the Jayhawks to 5-10 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12 Conference.

“It’s just really hard,” freshman guard LaChelda Jacobs said. “We’re right there on the edge. … We just need that extra push. We’ve just got to find out a way to pull it out in the end.”

KU will look to pull out its first conference victory when it entertains Nebraska University (13-3, 1-1) at 7 tonight in Allen Fieldhouse. The Cornhuskers, who lost their first conference game, 77-69, to Oklahoma on Saturday, have six players averaging at least six points per game.

“(They’re very) talented, very balanced,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said, “probably as balanced as they’ve been.”

Although deep, Nebraska is led by two players, 6-foot-2 sophomore forward Kelsey Griffin and 5-6 senior guard Kiera Hardy. Griffin averages 16.1 points and 8.4 rebounds, and Hardy, a two-time first-team All-Big 12 guard, averages 16.1 points.

“(Griffin)’s a very multi-talented, a very complete post player,” Henrickson said. “Hardy’s a scorer. She’s a playmaker.”

Hardy burned KU last year, notching 26 and 19 points, respectively, in Nebraska’s 73-61 and 65-57 wins.

“We didn’t defend Hardy worth a darn last year,” Henrickson said.

At least KU has several able bodies to defend her.

That was not the case a week ago. A sprained knee ligament forced Ivana Catic to miss last Saturday’s 71-64 loss to Baylor and limited Sade Morris during the same contest. But Catic has regained her health, and Morris started during Wednesday’s loss at Oklahoma State, scoring 11 points.

Freshman forward Danielle McCray also missed the Baylor game as part of a suspension for violating team rules; Henrickson declined to elaborate further. McCray, perhaps the most highly touted of KU’s seven freshman, returned to action against Oklahoma State with five points.

The 5-11 forward averages 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds and has not become the physical post presence the Jayhawks desperately need.

“She’s just not getting the job done,” Henrickson said. “She’s not boxing out. She’s not rebounding. Her footwork on her shot’s not right. She’s struggling to put it together at this level right now.”

The entire KU team needs to improve its 39.2 shooting percentage. To do so, Jacobs has focused on setting her feet and not twisting her body into each shot attempt.

Her form is not the only change for Jacobs. At Summit High School in Mansfield, Texas, Jacobs won three district championships and never experienced a lengthy losing streak.

“It’s definitely a new thing for me,” she said. “We definitely had a lot of success.”

KU’s six other freshmen are unaccustomed to this kind of drought, but the Jayhawks remain assured.

“We’ve been resilient,” Henrickson said. “The word everyone would use would be ‘frustrated,’ but no one’s devastated or given in.”