Postgame Notes and Quotes: Michigan

Postgame Notes
*-Nebraska is now 1-1 all-time while playing on Christmas with today’s loss
*-Teddy Allen finished with a game-high 25 points, his fourth 20-point effort of the season and seventh of his career. He had 21 points in the first half, his first 20-point half at NU.
*-Nebraska falls to 0-3 against ranked teams this season.
*-Michigan shot 50.8 percent, just the second opponent in nine games to shoot over 50 percent against the Huskers this season.
*-Lat Mayen has recorded multiple blocked shots in each of the last two games. He has five in the last two games recording seven in his first 24 career games
*-Nebraska matched its season low with eight turnovers (also vs. Doane). It is the third straight game and sixth time in nine games that NU had 10 or fewer turnovers
*-Dalano Banton also reached double figures for the ninth straight game with 17 point.
*-Trey McGowens tied his season high with three steals (also vs. McNeese State)

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the team's mentality
"It's going to take us getting one of these wins in one of these games to give us some confidence to know that we can do it. When the defense shifts in front of the other bench in the second half, I think we got quiet. Our communication wasn't as good or where it needed to be and then we got it. One we got a little swagger going, I thought Trey (McGowens) defensively shifted the game and turned the game around with his activity and his hands and that turned into transition and got us into attack mode and then all of a sudden, we started talking again. We have to have that. We've got to be able to go out, not only when the defense is in front of our bench when the coaches can help with the communication, but we've got to do a better job overall in the second half. We're capable of doing it. I do think we have a great group of guys that talk, but that can't only happen when things are going well."
 
On the team and momentum.
"You have to give them credit. They came out with better energy to start the second half. I am proud of the guys not folding and getting right back into the game and giving ourselves a chance. Again, it's going to take us getting over the hump and hopefully getting some confidence and see what it takes to win these games. We're capable. We're more than capable. You don't want to be labeled a first half team and say, 'Oh, we were close.' You can't be a here we go again in the under seven-minute media timeout to where you have a close ballgame that's all of a sudden opened up. You just got to stress the importance of every single possession. You never know which one is going to be the one that determines the outcome. A lot of these games are going to be close, so we've just got to continue to stress the right things and get better in practice and hopefully carry that over into the games."
 
On the team needing to move the ball in the first half
"First of all, with Teddy (Allen), he was exhausted. He needed a blow. That's why we had to get him out at that time to get him a break. He'd gone hard, obviously he had it rolling even when he was tired, he still hit a three when he has to come out. But that's where we've got to get the movement going is when you had a guy like that who had a game going as well as he did. He goes out of the game, then we've got to move. Down the stretch, again, I put that on me. I've got to get us better looks. I've got to get us more opportunities, better execution. We had a couple plays where we didn't execute the right way that we have to get better at. I put that on me the last four minutes of the game where we didn't get very good shots. Unfortunately, we missed a couple at the rim, and we missed a couple shots as well that hopefully we'll make when we take the floor against Ohio State."
 
On playing a Christmas game
"It felt like a normal game. There's been nothing normal about this year. These guys, it's most of their first time away from their family on Christmas. Even staff. I had a couple staff members say they've never played a game on Christmas. In the NBA, I coached twice on Christmas Day. It's different; it's unique. I am glad the Big Ten decided to play. I think with our guys not going home, it would have been very difficult to be sitting in their apartments with no family to celebrate Christmas with. I think it was a good decision to come out here and play the game. Obviously, we would have loved to have a different outcome, but our guys were excited about this one. They were excited when they saw it on the schedule that we had the opportunity. This was before the NBA put their schedule out. We thought they were going to push their season into the New Year. It's something where I think it was a good experience for our guys to get the opportunity to do it. We'll bounce back tomorrow. Our big thing right now, and I know this is every coach across the country, is just trying to keep your team occupied. As occupied as possible so they're not just sitting around not being able to go out. Not being able to see friends or family really outside of our bubble. It's not easy, but we just have to do the best job we can to keep our guys spirits up. Try to keep their confidence going and do everything we can. The great thing about our team is they love to play. They love being in the gym, so they're doing plenty of things in basketball to keep them occupied."
 
Michigan Head Coach Juwan Howard
On Chaundee Brown’s matchup with Teddy Allen
“It shows you that Chaundee (Brown) is not here so just be an offensive-minded individual. Because he started in the ACC for Wake Forest and he decided to come to Michigan because he wanted to be a part of and do something special this year. What he's given to the team has been nothing but leadership. He’s been a giver. It just shows the type of character he has to take the challenge and guard the other team’s best player. He did a phenomenal job of making everything tougher for Teddy (Allen).”
 
On the difference between the team’s first and second half shooting performance
“I told the guys, ‘Hey, they are going to fall. Keep shooting them.’ They were great open looks. Sure enough, in the second half, those same shots, they started making them. It was inspiring to watch. It was great to see our bench feeding energy to the group.  That’s what this is all about. A total team win.”
 
On how he feels about the team’s performance after being off for 12 days
“I'm impressed with how our group handled themselves during that stretch. It's not easy. Sometimes your mind can get lost on what is important. Our guys, despite you what we've been facing with this pandemic, they've been able to win each day. To come out and play with the long layoff, I wasn't worried with the first half. Nebraska’s a good team. They have a well-coached group. So, in the second half, we just did a better job defensively.”
 
On the team’s rebounding performance
“We’ve been drilling it throughout the year. Our guys are really focused on limited teams to one shot at the basket. It’s something that we improved on thus far from last season. It helps to have Hunter (Dickinson) in there be able to protect the paint and then also when a shot goes up, go after rebounds. But Franz (Wagner) has been phenomenal on the boards throughout this year. He's averaging seven plus a game. This guy has been doing it for us on both ends of the floor and that's special. I think that needs to be talked about more than anything. He's a two-way player that’s all about winning and doing it the winning way for the team.”
NU Athletic Communications