Postgame Notes & Quotes: Ohio State

Nebraska Postgame Notes

• Yvan Ouedraogo grabbed a team-high six rebounds – all in the second half – to set the Nebraska freshman rebounding record. He has 172 rebounds this season, surpassing the previous record of 169 set by Aleks Maric in the 2004-05 season. Ouedraogo has grabbed six or more rebounds in each of the last four contests.
• Dachon Burke Jr. led Nebraska with 13 points. He has scored in double figures in each of his last six Big Ten Conference games.
• Cam Mack, who missed Monday’s game at Illinois with an illness, scored 12 points against Ohio State, marking his first game in double figures since Feb. 8 at Iowa. Mack leads Nebraska with 21 games in double figures this season. Mack now has 172 assists and is seven away from third place on NU’s single-season chart.
• Ohio State’s Kaleb Wesson went 10-of-13 from the free-throw line, establishing Pinnacle Bank Arena opponent records for free throws made and attempted.
• Nebraska hit a season-low three 3-pointers against Ohio State, as the previous low was five on three occasions.

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the effort tonight
“I thought the effort was there in the first half. I thought we went out there and tried to do the right thing defensively. They obviously hit their shots early- five of their first six, four of those by [Duane] Washington Jr. who had been driving the ball. We talked about closing out on him with the drive, and he was going up and shooting it without any hesitation, but I thought we were there on those closeouts. They were 5-6 (from three) to start and 1-18 the rest of the game. I thought in transition we did a solid job. On the boards, they had four offensive rebounds in the first half. I thought we did a lot of good things, even though they scored 43 points. Give Ohio State credit. They came out in great rhythm and great pace in their offense. In the first half, we give up scores in the paint, and in the second half we gave up seven in the early minutes before we called the timeout. I thought the resistance on the drives was what was disappointing which opened it up for them in the second half. I thought we played our best half at Maryland when we had a 13-point deficit there. To be able to fight back on the road against the number one team in our league, we talked about coming out with that same mentality. It just wasn’t the same. We lost the second half by five and the first half by 16. Defensively in the first half, we limited them in places we wanted to limit them. The second half was too easy for them.”
 
On if the offensive struggles the past couple weeks is a sign of fatigue
“I don’t think so. I think we had 44 shots in the paint area but a lot of those were forced. They had nine blocked shots the first time we played them, and they had nine tonight. We talked a lot about working hard on probing in the paint or making the pass to the corner or kicking it out for spacing. I thought too many times we were trying to challenge at the rim. I thought a lot of those 44 shots weren’t great shots. We’ve had times in games this year where we’ve struggled to finish but they were the shots we want. Tonight, a lot of those were forced.”
 
On if there is any lack of motivation
“I don’t think it is a lack of motivation. I think when things get tough, that’s when we see guys start to drop their heads a little bit. I know it’s human nature when you go through struggle like that especially with as long of a slide as we’ve had with guys who haven’t dealt with that that much. When things are going well, you can see the enthusiasm. We almost get a “Here we go again.” mentality when things start to get rough. We have to find a way to fight through that in these last three games and the Big Ten Tournament if we have any chance of winning. In practice, that’s where you see it. If we weren’t giving any effort in practice, I would be worried about this group, but they still come in to work. When you come out in the game, hopefully you can consistently put effort in 40 minutes. For the most part of the season, our guys have had great effort. Our guys, especially some individually, have gotten better. When things get tough, you can see it. You can see the heads drop. You can see it in the huddles. It’s just not the same energy. We have to find a way to get past that.” 
 
Nebraska Junior Guard Thorir Thorbjarnarson 
On the shooting struggles being a result on an off night for Nebraska or Ohio State's defense
"A little bit of both I think. I don't think I got an open look until three minutes left on the clock, so they were doing a really good job guarding me, but also we got some good looks, but the ball wasn't going it. It's hard when they get five three's right off the bat of the game and have to dig yourselves out of a hole."
 
On what he is looking to for motivation
"Personally I can say the Big Ten Tournament, it doesn't matter how the season ends every team gets a shot. With three games to go, we just have to try to get some momentum going into that, and we have a perfect opportunity on Sunday. I think that's going to be a key game for us to head into the tournament in Indianapolis.”
 
Ohio State Head Coach Chris Holtmann
On his general thoughts on the game
Obviously, I have a lot of respect for Fred and this team. When you look at how they’ve played and their games, they’ve been really close and touch-and-go for a lot of the second halves. Fred and them do a great job of spreading you out and making it difficult for you to guard. We were really concerned about playing here, in Lincoln, with a great fanbase. So I feel good about this win. I thought our older guys led the way.
 
On Nebraska’s three-point shooting
They can shoot it from so many different spots. They hit eight in the second half at our place. I thought Fred made some adjustments in the second half at our place that just made it really difficult for us and spread us out. We didn’t always have great attention to detail. It was obviously a concern.
 
On how he feels going into the end of the season
I feel good about it. It’s all on our older guys, it’s really a credit to them. You’re led this time of year by your older guys, your captains. They’re the ones who deserve the credit. We’ve got a really quick turnaround.

NU Athletic Communications