Nebraska Postgame Notes/Quotes vs. Michigan

Nebraska Postgame Notes:

*-Cam Mack reached double figures for the 19th time in 21 games, finishing with a team-high 19 points. Mack’s five 3-pointers tonight is a career high, topping his previous best of four against Rutgers on Jan. 24. He had had 19-or-more points in three of the Huskers’ last four contests
*-Mack finished with nine assists, the and climbed into Nebraska’s single-season top-10 list on Tuesday. He moved past Tyronn Lue (136, 1997) and Cookie Belcher (138, 1999) into ninth place with 142 assists.
*-Kevin Cross reached double figures for the seventh time this season, the most since Glynn Watson Jr. had 16 double figures games in 2015-16, finishing with 17 points off the bench.
 *-Cross matchedhis career with three 3-points (also at Wisconsin, at Northwestern).
*-Haanif Cheatham’s 17 points were his highest total since scoring 17 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 29.
*-Nebraska’s 16 assists matched NU’s highest total since Dec. 15.

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg

On if Michigan's second-half run had to do with Nebraska not making shots
"No, I think it was more than that. I thought our flow was really good that got us that lead. We were scoring but we just had trouble getting stops so we couldn't extend it. I thought the offense was creating some really good opportunities, when it was in Cam's [Mack] hands we were getting a lot of good things accomplished. When we went through that drought, I think we had a 1 for 12 stretch and it goes from a two-point lead to a 10-point deficit pretty quickly, the ball stopped moving. A couple of possessions never shifted sides and didn't get across, and we had been having pretty good possessions all night long; we were shooting high percentage and shot it well from behind the arc. We missed a couple of layups in that stretch, we missed a couple right at the rim, but then we just took some out of character shots and missed a couple opens three's. Again, the looks that we were getting were based on player and ball movement, when we stopped doing that and stopped getting the ball in the right guys’ hands, the quality possessions weren't as good. That's when they went on their run and started controlling the tempo and getting the ball inside. Their advantage tonight was in the paint. It's unfortunate because I think we had a really good rhythm going and when we stopped it almost sucked the energy out of our group, and you got to find a way to keep going and stay together, keep fighting together."
 
On what has been causing Nebraska to fall behind in the last six games
"We have stretches, it's every game. We had a three-minute stretch against Rutgers where we didn't do the job in transition after doing it for a majority of the rest of the game. We've struggled coming out of the gate with energy. Tonight we got the lead in the second half we were scoring the ball and took the lead so the energy was much better coming out in the second half. Then that eight-minute stretch where we weren't getting the same type of possessions that we had the majority of that game, it cost us and it's costing us games. We have these droughts and lulls and that's what is digging the hole and it's hard to keep the energy to get out of that hole and sustain the energy once you get out of it."
 
On holding the ball for Kobe
"It was a no-brainer. Juwan and I both played against Kobe and to honor him before the game and have the two possesions was absolutely a no brainer."
 

Senior guard Haanif Cheatham

On the challenge of Michigan’s size
“I think that’s been a problem for us all season—size, rebounding. Offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding. That’s been a problem for us, something we’ve been battling. It’s something we’ve been watching film on, worked on in practice.  I think these next ten games we have to go all out, leave it all on the court for forty minutes, no matter what.”
 
On the general feeling after six losses in a row
“I think that we’re at a point where we have to go all out. We came in this season knowing we would have ups and downs, every team has it. Right now we’re in a tough stretch. I think it’s something that we have to focus on, have to pull together for these next ten games instead of pulling apart. Put it all in the works and competing forty minutes straight.”
 

Sophomore guard Cam Mack

On the last ten minutes
“I felt like the ball just didn’t move, and we got a little stagnant and our defensive intensity didn’t pick up when we weren’t scoring. We just have to go back and watch film.”

On second half droughts
“I think we just need to come together more instead of everybody fading away, everybody trying to make a superman play. I feel like we should all just buy in together and listen to what Coach (Hoiberg) is telling us because he’s a great coach and we need to buy in and listen to him more.”
 

Michigan Head Coach Juwan Howard

On being able to win while being short handed
“It was a huge win for us. We came here short handed without two of our best players, with Zavier Simpson at home and Isaiah Livers injured. It’s good to get a road win. Seeing the guys that haven’t had the chance to play like CJ (Baird) stepping up and giving us some minutes. Adrien Nunez, who hadn’t played in awhile, was able to give us a spark. It was a total team effort. I’m proud of all our guys.”
 
On what he focused on most while scouting Nebraska
“Well I knew that this team was second in the Big Ten in 3-pointers made, second in the Big Ten in transition points. I know they play fast. They have very good shooters out there on the floor. They have a big (Kevin Cross) who is dynamic. We got to see that tonight. He can take shots on the outside. He can put the ball on the floor and drive it to the basket and finish. We tried our best to try to make sure we didn’t give up open shots to some of their best shooters. Unfortunately, we did. Fred (Hoiberg) has done a great job. He’s been a great coach for many years. I’ve watched his success when he was at Iowa State. I would cheer for him. I’ve always been a big fan of his. As a person, he is one of the strongest guys that I’ve been around. He’s also one of the smartest basketball players to ever play the game. It doesn’t surprise me. He’s been around coaching and has had success in Chicago as being the head of the Bulls and now here being the head coach at Nebraska. Fred’s going to do big things at Nebraska. I know I’m always going to be finding a challenge when I’m coaching against Fred.”
 
On the shot-clock violation they took in honor of Kobe Bryant
“I went over to Fred and told him ‘I want to hold it for Kobe.’ He said ‘Well good, we’ll do it too.’ I thought that was beautiful because Fred and I both played against Kobe. Yes, I saw NBA teams do it, and I thought it was very respectful to give the respect to the man who has given so much to the game of basketball and inspired all of us. Not only that, he made a lot of us, including Fred and myself, some heartaches and pains playing against him. Seeing how he is one of the best competitors and winners in NBA basketball. It was challenging to play against him each and every night. I really enjoyed seeing his passion for the game, but what impressed me most on top of that was I knew he was a family man. Watching him coach his daughters’ game, that right there was a beautiful moment seeing how much love he had coaching his daughters games and seeing how much of an exceptional talent she was at age 13. She had a chance to be special. She got the genes from her dad and her mom. I just had to do it for Kobe. Our team was all for it. I told them when Nebraska’s starting lineups were being announced. I said ‘This is what we’re doing for Kobe.’” I’m still hurt by it. I can’t believe it.”
NU Athletic Communications