Improving Huskers 'Still Writing Their Story'

Some Big Ten Conference men's basketball teams have had five, six, seven or as many as nine days between their two "early December" games that have dotted the league schedule for a third straight season.
 
Nebraska, meanwhile, had all of 44 hours.
 
Making matters more challenging, the Huskers opened the Big Ten gauntlet with a heartbreaking, overtime loss at Indiana the same day they learned they'd be without one of their starting players. Turning around with one day of preparation to face a Purdue team that had routed defending national champion Virginia by 29 points only 11 days earlier appeared daunting, to say the least.
 
Yet Sunday afternoon at Pinnacle Bank Arena, you'd be wrong in identifying the underdog, shorthanded team coming off short rest.
 
A spirited, energized and focused Nebraska squad delighted a Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd by blitzing Purdue with a pair of 12-0 runs in the first half, and other big run to end the game, for a 70-56 victory.
 
"If we could've come back and won this game, it would've been a shame. It really would've," said Purdue coach Matt Painter, whose team's season-worst 30.4 percent field goal percentage included no fewer than four air-balled attempts.  
 
"I thought Nebraska, they played harder than us, they were more ready to play. For a team that played Friday night on the road, you'd think it'd be the flip of it. But give Nebraska credit. Those guys were hooked up and they played hard."
 
So on a cold, snowy December day, first-year coach Fred Hoiberg's crew proved maybe this won't be such a long winter after all.
 
Truth be told, that thought likely crossed the minds of many after season-opening losses to UC-Riverside and Southern Utah, and, oh, that 40-9 deficit only eight days ago at Creighton.
 
"Oh, they were awful at the beginning of the year. You watch them on film, you don't want to show it to your team," said Painter, perhaps the most honest, straightforward coach in the Big Ten Conference.
 
"Then you see that effort against Indiana and you're like, 'Ohh… I hope that team doesn't show up.' I was hoping the team that played Creighton would show up."
 
Painter didn't get his wish.
 
Behind point guard Cam Mack's 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists – the first triple-double in a regular-season game in program history – Nebraska proved that Friday night's close call at Indiana was no fluke.
 
"I'll say this. I was proud of them the other night," Hoiberg said of his team's 96-90 loss in overtime. "When you go out and battle like we did at Indiana, and first opportunity to play in the Big Ten is a road game, and we handled it so much better in a hostile environment than we did that game against Creighton, and I think – I hope – that was a turning point for us."
 
Hoiberg said his team had a morning film session after its 95-74 loss at Creighton, and had an open, honest discussion about a number of issues that nobody took personal.
 
"I think we've grown since that situation, and then to bounce back with that effort in Indiana – we would have loved to have won it, but we talked about one of the hardest things in this business is to put a tough, devastating loss behind you. For our guys to go out there and do that, to bounce back the way we did …"
 
Nebraska (5-6, 1-1 Big Ten) met Hoiberg's pregame challenge of making Purdue call the game's first time out. Painter did that after his team allowed a transition basket for a 9-2 Nebraska lead.
 
That margin grew to 12-2 before the Boilermakers responded with a 12-0 run, but Nebraska, which weathered a scoreless drought by guarding well and displaying defensive intensity, closed the first half strong with its own 12-0 run en route to a 34-23 halftime lead.
 
Purdue (6-4, 1-1) closed within two points and trailed 54-50 when 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms left the game with 6:10 remaining with what Painter said was a concussion. Haarms had a mere three points and five boards but had four blocked shots and altered many others, making himself a general nuisance defensively.
 
Nebraska closed with a 16-6 run, with Mack feeding Dachon Burke Jr. for a one-handed dunk in transition, then grabbing a rebound from teammate Kevin Cross in the final minute for his 10th rebound of the game, securing his triple-double.
 
"I thought those last 20 minutes we were phenomenal," Hoiberg said. "We had that little stretch where we didn't rebound it well, but overall the energy, the effort, guys going out there and playing for each other.
 
"We had 26 baskets and 22 assists. That's a big time stat. Only 11 turnovers against the fifth-best defense in the country, and a team that really climbs into you and makes it tough. Just a really solid overall effort."
 
Mack insists he didn't know he was approaching his milestone. Hoiberg, seated next to Mack in the postgame news conference, scoffed and laughed, claiming Mack most certainly did. Claiming innocence, a smiling Mack stood his ground, saying he truly didn't.
 
"Very surprised," Mack said of learning he'd become the first player in Nebraska history to have a triple-double in a regular-season game. "There's been a lot of great people to come through Nebraska. And for me to have the first triple-double, just give glory to God."
 
He credited his teammates for making shots after he got them involved.
 
"I wouldn't have gotten any assists if they didn't make shots," Mack said, with a nod to the toughest part of recording a triple-double. "So I can really appreciate my teammates for making shots and helping me out."


 
Mack, a junior college transfer, and native of Austin, Texas, is symbolic of Nebraska's team with his steady improvement over the first six weeks of the season. Painter, for one, has certainly noticed.
 
"You watch him on film, and he gets out of control, especially early in the season," Painter said. "We needed him to get out of control, and he didn't. He really showed poise tonight, and showed discipline. He handled the game. Obviously, he's not a prolific 3-point shooter, but he's selective, and all three of those 3s were huge.
 
"A lot of times you get those guys who are faster than hell, they're not great decision makers. I thought tonight he was great in his decision making. As you can kind of watch backwards on tape, you watch the most recent game going back, outside of maybe one game, you can see the improvements he's making in terms of his decision making."
 
Hoiberg, of course, has seen the same improvement, but said he's seen it throughout his entire team, a group that's trusting and believing in each other more and more.
 
"You know you have a really good point guard when they make tough plays look easy," Hoiberg said. "That's what Cam does. He's a guy that will look one way – he knows where he's making the pass, but he's looking the other way. So the no-look plays he can make, and sometimes that triggers another action."
 
Now, Nebraska has the opposite of a quick turnaround – a week-long break during finals week, with an awaiting game that historically, and understandably, doesn't produce the most aesthetically-pleasing play. So the Huskers' challenge is to remain focused and prove against North Dakota, and then TAMU-CC to close nonconference play, that they've truly turned a corner.
 
Because after that, home games against Rutgers and Iowa await as Big Ten play resumes.
 
"We have come a long way," said Burke, who scored 18 points. "I feel like this year has been a rollercoaster, but we're at a point now that everyone is just buying in.
 
"We just come in with each other. Buying into the coaches, watching film with coach, watching reads and just buying in with the team, the coaching staff, because it is all we have. We are just going to build on this." 
 
Painter, who went 9-19 in his first season at Purdue, in 2005-06, wasn't exactly ready to empathize with Hoiberg.
 
"Their story is not over," he said. "You know what I mean? They showed a great glimpse of what they can be on the road the other night, then they get a good home win – at least I think it's a good home win. They're still writing their story."
 
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.