Postgame Notes & Quotes -- Northwestern

Nebraska Post-Game Notes

• Nebraska played in its fourth overtime game of the season, falling to 1-3 in overtime games. The four overtime games ties the school record, set most recently in 2007-08. NU falls to 63-50 all-time in overtime games.
• The Huskers tied their season high with 12 3-pointers, marking the third game this season with 12 threes. With the 12 3-pointers, Nebraska has made 236 threes this season, moving into fourth place on the program’s single-season 3-point list.
• Nebraska had a season-high 16 steals in the game, eclipsing its previous high of 15 on Dec. 29 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The 16 steals were a Pinnacle Bank Arena record and the most by a Husker team since recording 16 against San Jose State on Nov. 16, 2008.
• Dachon Burke Jr. tied his season high with five steals, as one of five Huskers with multiple steals. He also had five steals against George Mason
• Yvan Ouedraogo grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds, matching the Pinnacle Bank Arena record first set by Maryland’s Bruno Fernando on Feb. 6, 2019. Ouedraogo leads Nebraska with a Husker freshman-record 191 rebounds this season. Ouedraogo’s 19 rebounds is the most by a freshman since at least the 1986-87 season (Brian Conkin had 17 vs. Kansas State, 2/14/01). Ouedraogo’s 19 rebounds is the most by a Husker since Aleks Maric had 19 against Missouri on Feb. 24, 2007.
• ???????Ouedraogo also scored 11 points to go along with his 19 rebounds, posting his third double-double of the season and second in three games. He is averaging 8.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game over Nebraska’s last six contests. Ouedraogo’s three double-doubles equals the most ever by a Husker freshman.
• Haanif Cheatham led Nebraska with 20 points on Senior Day, his 12th career 20-point game and fourth this season. It is NU’s 11th 20-point game of the season.
• Dachon Burke Jr. had 19 points, including 18 in the second half and overtime.
• Cam Mack had seven assists, giving him 179 assists this season, as he tied Charles Richardson Jr. (2006-07) for the third-most assists in a single season in Nebraska history.
• Nebraska finished the season with an average attendance of 15,605, breaking the school record for highest average attendance (15,569, 2014-15).

Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Fred Hoiberg

Opening Statement
“Obviously, you don’t have to look much further than the turnovers and the free-throw shooting. I’m disappointed. I thought we played hard. We were active defensively forcing 16 steals and 20 turnovers. It was very uncharacteristic for us to turn the ball over 21 times. I thought a lot of those were unforced. With the free throws, it’s contagious. I’ve been around this game long enough to know that they’re contagious. When you miss some early, it gets in your head, the tempo gets quick, and you don’t trust your stroke. We’ve been working on it a lot and have gotten better. These last few games, we haven’t been setting the world on fire, but we’ve been shooting 65%, Then you have a game like this where if you make a couple more you get a huge win for us and our fans. They’ve continued to show up. We know it’s not like that most arenas when you’re struggling like we are. I feel bad we couldn’t get this for the fans. I feel bad for Haanif. I thought he was terrific on his Senior Day. It’s a game he’ll remember for the rest of his life. Haanif went out there and played terrific in crunch time at the end of the game. Unfortunately, when you miss that many free throws, you’re going to have trouble winning.”

On Yvan Ouedraogo’s performance
“I continue to see growth with Yvan. You can see his growth and his confidence. 10 offensive rebounds and 19 total as a 17-year-old in the Big Ten is pretty impressive.”

On the next two regular season games
“We just have to continue to go out and compete every night. I give our guys credit. All year long they’ve come out and for the most part, have played with great effort. We have two tough road games against Michigan and Minnesota to finish then we’ll have a really tough game in the Big Ten Tournament. We’re going to go out and continue to fight and hopefully shock somebody.”

Haanif Cheatham Quotes

On an explanation on free throw shooting:
“Like I said, I think it has been a problem for us all year. I don’t know what was different today. Probably just wasn’t going into the rim. 8 for 30 (free throws) is unacceptable. You aren’t going to win games like that and it showed today. I think free throws are all a mental thing. Especially when everyone feels like the room is quiet and everybody is watching down on you. It can be a real mental thing. You just have to find a way to block it out, including myself and the whole team. But to go 8 for 30 is unacceptable, and you know it’s something we can’t do. It was a problem for us in the beginning of the year. I think we fixed it kind of got better with it. But I guess today I don’t know what came back and haunted us just the free throw monster or something came back and told us we aren’t making nothing. So it happened today you just got to find a way to fix it for the next two games.”

On his two late 3-pointers to get the game to OT:
“I think we just realized that the time was winding down. Just try to get a shot up see what happens. Coach put really good plays at timeouts. We weren’t able to execute but it is something we have to work on and find a way to win the next two games and finish strong.”

On his Senior Day:
“The journey is always ups and downs. When you realize what you have done and realize how much people respect and accept you it’s a good feeling. My mom always told me growing up no matter who you are talking to the CEO or the janitor always treat them with respect. Growing up that’s the man I am today and that’s the man I am going to continue to be. And to see that and be accepted and respected out there is a great feeling.”

On Huskers fans:
“When they say there is nothing like Nebraska, they really mean it. We had a really really tough season but they came and showed out every night. Every afternoon, every night, you know they came and had PBA rocking. Even through our downs and that is something. When people say there is no place like Nebraska, they really mean that and they stand by it.”

Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins

On his general thoughts on the game:
“Needless to say, it was a big win for us. I thought you had two teams out there that it’s been a while for both of us to taste winning and you had a couple of teams really fighting to get that done. Although the play at times, with turnovers and missed shots, you could tell it mattered to both teams. I was really proud of our group to gut it out. We had a lead there in the second half, and we’ve had our struggles finishing games. They get it to overtime on us and we come out and score the first seven on us in overtime. I was really proud of our group.”

On Nebraska’s free-throw struggles:
"I don’t know, I’ve probably not [ever seen a team shoot that poorly from the free-throw line]. Obviously you feel for those guys. I’m happy we won, but sometimes shooting can be contagious. Sometimes you have games where everybody’s making and it’s kind of contagious, especially with free throws. Because if you have guys walk up and you miss then it gets in everybody’s head and the crowd starts groaning a little bit. We were fortunate, definitely, to have them shoot that way. They haven’t been great there, but this was obviously lower than normal."

On whether he told his team to foul down the stretch:
"We didn’t want to intentionally foul, but a couple times Ouedraogo had clear paths and we were able to get back, and those are good fouls. No matter if it’s a guy who’s struggling or not, especially late in games. You never want to give a team easy baskets. We said if they have a layup or have something easy, we need to try to make them earn it at the line, especially at the late stages in the game."


 

NU Athletic Communications