Postgame Notes & Quotes: Michigan State

Postgame Notes & Quotes - Michigan State 

Postgame Notes
*-Nebraska started its seventh different starting lineup of the season tonight.
*-With six assists, Cam Mack now has 170 assists for the season and passed Brian Carr (166, 1986-87) for third place on the Huskers' single-season chart.  Mack has 14 assists and no turnovers in his last two games combined.
*-Nebraska blocked six shots tonight, matching a season high. NU also had blocked six shots in the season opener against UC Riverside.
*-Yvan Ouedraogo reached double figures for the fourth time this year with 10 points.  It marked his first double-figure effort since Jan. 14.  With seven rebounds tonight, Ouedraogo became just the fifth Husker freshman to record at least 150 rebounds in a season. He tied his season high with two blocked shots (vs. George Mason on Nov. 26).
*-Dachon Burke Jr. finished with 21 points, his team-high fourth 20-point game of the season. Burke also hit four 3-pointers, matching his season high (also vs. Indiana and Purdue).
*-Haanif Cheatham had a career high five steals, topping his previous high of three against Northwestern on Jan. 11.
*-Nebraska's 11 steals is its most since having a season-high 15 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 29.
*-Michigan State's 22 turnovers are the most committed by a Husker opponent this season.

Head Coach Fred Hoiberg

On the second half letdowns
“It’s kind of the same ole’ story for us. We played with tons of energy in that first half. The things we needed to do after that first initial wave, we did the rest of the half and that allowed us to be right in there. They hit a three to give them a lead right before halftime. I thought we played with incredible energy and togetherness. We got the ball in the right guy’s hands. Obviously, [Dachon] Burke had it going. In the second half, we came out and had three threes hit every single part of the rim and bounce out. Then we miss two layups, and we’re done. It’s just kind of that same thing. We struggled to recover from that. We start pressing and have bad possessions then we don’t get back in transition. We’re trying to chase it down and get it all back at once. I think we cut it back to seven, then they hit a three. we turned it over, then they hit another three to push it up to 13, and we never threatened after that.”

On his son, Jack, getting the start for Michigan State
“That is really cool of [Tom] Izzo to give him that opportunity to come out there. Obviously, he had a lot of family here tonight. We had a post-up call for Jervay [Green] on the first play, and I envisioned having Jack guarding Jervay like I was going to go right at my kid. I’m proud of him. He did a phenomenal job. That step-back at the end of the game, he’s kind of mastered that shot. He hit a big one on CBS last year against Ohio State. Obviously, we wanted to go out and play consistently and win the game, but when you strip that all down and have the family component to it… We had both sets of his grandparents were here. His aunt and uncle from Omaha were here. Obviously, his twin brothers and his mother were here. It was a really special moment for all of us. I’m sure we’ll be sitting around and he’s coaching and I’m retired drinking a beer and talking about this moment.”

On how he balanced the frustrations of the game with the joy of having his son play against him
“There were frustrations. Obviously, I got heated out there a couple times. The frustration of not being able to hang in there and pull together when we go through those tough stretches, teams will bury you. It’s happened to us too many times, and that’s the frustration. We are who we are. We have to go out there and have two good practices leading into this game on the road. For whatever reason, we have been playing well on the road. We’ve given ourselves a chance against the top teams in this league.

Freshman forward Yvan Ouedraogo 

On defensive difficulties in the second half
"I mean I don't really know what the difference was, it's been like maybe seven games when we are coming back in the second half not with the same energy and the same pace. We just keep going, but when we have a bad stretch, we just stop playing, and that's maybe the problem. We've got to figure it out."

On finding motivation during a losing streak
"It's kind of hard to find a motivation, but we just keep trying by going hard in practice, be focused, try to be here for each other and that's all we can do so we are going to keep doing that and expect to win the next games."

On how much more comfortable he is at this point in the season
"I think right now I'm not stressed when I'm playing, I'm more free, and I think I've improved my game a little bit since the beginning of the season, so I am more free and comfortable in my game."

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
On his general thoughts on the game
"I give Fred a lot of credit because of that first half. He’s under a tough situation here where you lose that many games in a row and you get no players back, and he’s played everybody tough. We watched the Maryland game, did an unbelievable job there. He did an unbelievable job against us. Every time we pulled away, he found a way to get some shots and make some plays. I can’t be too excited about us. Kyle Ahrens was big for us. He did some really good things. When Xavier and Cassius struggled, Kyle played really well, but other than that we struggled. I’m not demeaning what they did because he’s got a tough situation and it’s going to take him a year or so to get him back."

On using smaller lineups
"That was the game plan early in the year, but Kyle just wasn’t able to do it. Even tonight, he hurt his back a little bit. They played with three, four small guards the whole time and it’s just hard to cover with bigger guys. We did some good things. We tried to get the ball inside, they did a great job of doubling, we did a poor job of passing. I’m so disappointed in the turnovers—they had sixteen points off turnovers, it felt like sixty."

On Jack Hoiberg starting
"I didn't tell Fred. I talked about it with my staff two days ago, and I talked myself out of it because you don’t want to interrupt—we’re not playing the greatest right now. But as I was riding here, believe it or not, I said to myself, as a coach, in this day and with all the social media, a coach can never do what he wants to do. He’s always got to do things for everybody else.  So I told my staff I’m going to start Jack because it’s the right thing to do. This kid has given me almost three years, every single day. For Jack, the kid’s a pretty good player. I’m so proud of that kid and what he’s done, the kind of student, the kind of person and the kind of player. Every day he brings it. It wasn’t just do it for Fred, it was do it for Jack because it’s the right thing to do. Even if we had lost it would have been the right thing to do."

Michigan State Guard Jack Hoiberg

On learning he would be starting tonight
“That was pretty cool. I thank Coach Izzo for that. He called me in 40 minutes before the game and told me. I had no idea. He said he had been thinking about it for a few days. It was cool to be out there in the starting lineup.”

On competing against his dad for the first time
“It was weird. It didn’t really feel like it when I was out there, but I’d look down over at their bench and realize that this was the first time I’ve ever been not rooting for my dad’s teams. It was fun. It was a cool experience.”

On how bad he wanted to make a shot in front of his dad
“I was glad I got to go back in and try to hit a couple of shots.”

NU Athletic Communications