Nebraska Postgame Quotes: vs. Southern

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
On pushing through to the end of the game
“We responded so much better this time around [to adversity]. Last time, I think we got down 4-6 (points) and then it got to 15 or 18 right away when they caught fire. Those guys were hitting shots all over the place on us, but we found a way. We tried to throw a little zone on them but it didn’t work. Jervay [Green] was the one who said ‘stick with them, don’t help. Don’t switch.’ He did a really good job contesting (on Micah Bradford). Not very often you give up 25 offensive rebounds and miss 18 free throws and win a game, but give our guys credit for finding a way. It’s certainly better to win, and learn from a win, then a loss.
 
On their rebounding
 “I thought they were more physical than us, especially in the first half. They were getting all the loose balls and we tracked the 50-50 balls, they were the first to the floor on a lot of those. You have to go out there and establish that early. That just breeds confidence. Then we got up by 11 and it was great to see the ball go in the basket for Matej [Kavas] tonight, but they got right back in. A lot of it had to do with loose balls and rebounds. 25 [offensive rebounds] is just way too many. You are not going to win too many games when that happens. You have to find a way to do it with 5 guys. We talked about it from the first day we met, that rebounding was going to be an issue for our group, but we have to find a way to compete better than we did tonight on the glass.”
 
On junior guard Jervay Green
“Jervay is a guy that can play all day. I would like that. Jervay is just a guy that can go out there and compete at a high level. Whether he’s making shots or not, he’s always going to impact the game because of his defense and defensive intensity. Haanif [Cheatham] did a great job last game against Douglas Wilson with South Dakota State. I know he had a big game last night against Arizona. The best match-up for us tonight was Jervay on [Micah] Bradford. We can learn with this group, but we closed out with our hands down to a kid that had 27 points (at the time) a couple times. It’s inexcusable. You can’t do that. Again, I give our guys credit for finding a way to win a hard-fought game.”
 
On the personality of the team
“I can see it in the huddle that they’re engaged. In the game a couple weeks ago I could see heads down, not pouting, but hunched over shoulders. Tonight, those guys were engaged, and they kept going and kept fighting and kept battling. That’s growth. That’s growth for a group. If we can continue to do that and again, find a way to battle on the boards, and make a free throw here and there, we’re going to have a chance. We scored 93 points and missed 18 free throws. We did a lot of good things tonight, but rebounding is a huge concern and a huge area that we need to get better on."
 
Junior Guard Jervay Green
On handling adversity tonight
“It was great. The team responded beautifully. We got in the huddles and there was no complaining, no nothing. We were just lifting each other up. Even Yvan when he wasn’t in the game. You could see he was frustrated, so we picked him up, and look, he got a dunk. We told Matej to keep shooting. If we just keep going like that, we are going to be fine.”
 
Senior Guard Matej Kavas
On what was different about tonight’s shooting performance for him
“Coaches and teammates always tell me to just keep shooting. I don’t worry about the past. I just look to the future and keep shooting.”
 
Freshman Forward Yvan Ouedraogo
On if he entered overtime looking to be assertive
“Yes, because I was on the bench almost all of the second half, so I was on the bench, and I was like ‘If I’m going on the court, I’m going to go crazy. It was just like that.”

Southern Head Coach Sean Woods
On his general thoughts on the game
“I’ll tell you what, our team is growing. We grew tonight. We didn’t finish the course, but with 13 new players, coming into a hostile environment, we got better today. That’s all we want to do is get better going into our conference games. We’ve got to learn to win these games when we got them down on the ropes.”
 
On how it went down the stretch and into overtime
“We made a couple key mistakes. It’s hard, when you’re on the road like this, with everything. I tip my hat off to our guys. I tip my hat off to Fred because he kept his guys in it. It was a great test for them also. But our guys are getting there, and I’m liking what I’m seeing.”
 
On whether Nebraska switching to a 2-3 affected them
“Not really. We scored almost every time down the court against that. So 2-3 doesn’t bother us, that’s why they got out of it, because they couldn’t stay in front of us. But we drove, and we got what we wanted inside and also got a few offensive rebounds out of it too.”

NU Athletic Communications