Nebraska vs. Indiana Postgame Notes/Quotes

Nebraska Postgame Notes

• All five starters had at least 10 points for Nebraska. That marked the fourth game this season that at least five Huskers scored in double figures and the first time that the entire starting lineup all reached double figures. 
• Nebraska had 16 assists and only nine turnovers in the game. The Huskers finished with more assists than turnovers for the second time in Big Ten play, while the plus-seven assist-to-turnover ratio was Nebraska’s second-best mark against a Division I opponent this season. Nebraska’s 16 assists was its highest total since Dec. 17.
• Lat Mayen hit a career-high five 3-pointers to finish with a career-high 15 points. Mayen’s previous career highs were three 3-pointers and 13 points against McNeese State.
• Derrick Walker, making his Nebraska debut and the first start of his collegiate career, finished with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting. The 10 points matched his career high, as he also scored 10 points at South Carolina during his freshman season at Tennessee in 2017-18.
• Teddy Allen had a game-high 21 points, marking his sixth 20-point game this season and his second straight 20-point effort. Allen has been in double figures in 13 straight games dating back to his freshman year at West Virginia.
• Trey McGowens dished out a season-high six assists, as his previous 2020-21 high was three on two other occasions.
• Dalano Banton had seven assists and no turnovers, the fourth time with at least seven assists. It marked the first time he didn’t commit a turnover.
• Nebraska trailed by 15 points with 15:53 remaining, but came all the way back to take a three-point lead with 7:21 to play.

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the first half
“That’s where we lost the game. When you get down 18 points like we did, you expend so much energy climbing out of that hole and ultimately that is what did us in. We got some actually pretty good things accomplished offensively in the last four minutes. We missed two layups right at the rim. We missed four free throws, so we did a good job at getting to the line and Lat (Mayen) got a really good look on a play that we just put in yesterday. A really good look at a three and we will take that every day of the week especially the way Lat was shooting the ball tonight. I thought execution-wise we were better than we have been. We just have to convert. That will come as hopefully we gain confidence to know we can win. The execution down the stretch will lead to those baskets. Again, it was those first six, seven, eight minutes of the game and the rebounds. We got a really good stop. Lat had a great contested shot in the corner. Unfortunately, the ball bounced right back. I think it was (Jerome) Hunter and he laid it in. It was a two-point game and then it went to four. They called the offensive fall on Teddy (McGowens) but looking back at it we will see what it was, first the hit on the arm or him sweeping the leg. Again, just have to find a way to convert and execute down the stretch, get the win and gain confidence to know we can do it.”
 
On the slow start
“The thing about Derrick (Walker) coming back for the first time, he was gassed a couple times up the floor and that’s his first action in two years. I thought Derrick was phenomenal. I thought he did really good around the basket. I thought he had really good rim rolls. We lose both of those challenges which was an issue and tough. One was a clock issue, so if they would have known that it might have been reversed. So there are some things that I thought we did really well after that initial coming out. I don’t know if it was so much flat but we were trying to take away (Trayce) Jackson-Davis and some of their shooters that had not been shooting the ball unfortunately knocked down some shots in that first half. Second half, they go 2-for-11 from the 3-point line. But the second half it was offensive rebounds and too many free throws for them. So big stretches I thought we were as good as we have been all year and those are certainly things we can build on. Got a hell of a stretch coming up with Illinois coming in and going back on the road for the first time in a while to play at Maryland. But I like where our team is right now because of how they are competing through the highs and the lows and adversity. We are competing through adversity so much better than we were earlier in the year.”
 
On rebounding
“With Yvan (Ouedraogo) out of the lineup for an extended period of time, now we are going to have to find a way with smaller lineups to be able to compete on the glass. Shamiel (Stevenson), I thought he gave us great minutes tonight and a lot of those minutes were at the five. When we are small like that we have to do an unbelievable job every time at hitting first and making physical cutouts rebounding the ball. When we rebounded tonight, we were great in transition and did a phenomenal job with that. Early in the game we were great on the glass. They kind of ended the first half, I think their first three baskets were off offensive rebounds and that carried over into the second. We are going to have to play some makeshift lineups right now with Yvan out and as Derrick works his way back into shape. But I thought Shamiel really battled Trayce Jackson-Davis. I thought he was out there fronting him. I thought we did a good job with our back side and weak side help, but we have to find a way to  clean up the glass.”
 
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
On Indiana’s overall performance
“Good win for our team. We had to deal with a lot of uncomfortable situations there late in the second half. We put ourselves in a tough spot not being able to one, consistently get the ball to go in the basket when we had good shots, and then two, obviously being organized and getting back. Our effort getting back and then our effort on the ball as they sort of spread the floor and started to drive became problematic. The big thing is finding a way to regroup, to organize yourselves, and be in the same situation that you were in in Wisconsin the other day and win the game. That’s what I told our team going into the last three minutes. We were in this situation the other night and we found a way not to be able to execute or get the stops. I think tonight we got a couple key stops; we were able to execute and we made a couple of free throws and were able to win the game. That’s the most important thing because right now in this league, every one of these things counts.”
 
On the team’s offensive rebounding performance
“It was a big emphasis coming out of the Wisconsin game. I think we played 50 minutes in that game and maybe had one or two offensive rebounds which is unheard of, especially with Trayce (Jackson-Davis) and Race (Thompson) in the game. But its second efforts. I think sometimes these guys are playing a lot of minutes and it’s hard. We talked a lot about it in the last three days, especially playing against Nebraska who changes up their defenses. I thought tonight we had some big ones. A big key to the game is us outrebounding them and not turning it over but eight times in the game. I was proud of the second efforts.”
 
On what went well in the first half and what didn’t go as well in the second
“We got some good looks in the second half. They didn’t go down. They definitely were obviously surrounding the paint with five players. They also trapped the post most of the night and tried to make other guys beat them. In the second half, when we really went through our rut and struggled to score, I thought later in the game (Aljami Durhan) made a couple of big plays. Then Trace (Jackson-Davis) sort of emerged when we needed him the most. Teams are going to do that. I do think right now we're getting a little bit more confident handling it and also think we have some more guys with confidence right now, offensively, that feel good about shooting the ball.”
 
On Nebraska’s defensive strategy
“I would say Nebraska is probably the first team that had the extreme level of let the other guys shoot it type of a feel. I think they did that to us a little bit last year as well. They decided not to guard some guys. They decided to leave guys just wide open. Sometimes that's a funny feeling when you miss one or two. Sometimes, as a player, when you're being left open and you miss a couple, it starts to play games with you. But you got to continue to take them. You have to continue to take the good ones in the rhythm on the inside out. We knew that was coming. But I thought just in general it was a very tight, very soft approach on the ball. Try to keep everything underneath you and try to feed the post the best you can and get it in as many times.”

NU Athletic Communications