Nebraska vs. Wisconsin Notes/Quotes

Nebraska Post-Game Notes
*-Lat Mayen reached double figures for the fourth straight game, finishing with a game-high 14 points. His four straight games in double figures in a season-best. He also hit a pair of 3-pointers, the fifth straight game with multiple 3-pointers. Mayen also grabbed seven rebounds, his highest total since Dec. 1.
*-Nebraska held Wisconsin to 32.3 percent shooting, the third straight opponent NU has held under 40 percent. It is the first time since the 2017-18 season that the Huskers have held three straight conference foes under 40 percent.
*-Dalano Banton grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. It marked his second double-digit rebound effort and fourth by a Husker this season. Banton has had three career games with at least 10 rebounds and two have come against Wisconsin (also 2018-19 when he was at Western Kentucky).
*-Teddy Allen finished with 11 points, the 13^th time this season he has reached double figures.
*-Nebraska is now 0-6 against ranked teams this season and hosts sixth-ranked Illinois on Friday.

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the game:
“The first nine minutes of that game is exactly what we have stressed. These last several games with all the turnovers that we have had problems with. I think 18 in the first two games was moving the ball and trusting and making the right plays and making the right reads and I thought we did that as well as we have all year and that’s exactly what the system looks like when you go out and make baskets and get eight assists on those plays. I think we had 10 assists at halftime and three in the second. The movement just wasn’t the same and then we tried to go on our own driving into the pile again and turning the ball over. It’s got to come to a point where it clicks. I’ve never been a guy to slow it down and stop and run an action every time down. I love the flow when the defense is disorganized getting back into the play and trying to get something accomplished in the possession. But right now we are just not making good enough decisions when those opportunities present themselves. I hate to throw up the stop sign and get into something every play but that is probably what it is going to have to come to for a while until we can figure out our turnover issues. And it’s not just the turnovers. It’s the going in and throwing up crazy shots and expecting to get a call. We are not getting them. We just have to find a way to trust better keep the movement and good things happen whether you make the shot or not. We are getting good looks when we move the ball, and we just didn’t do that for a long enough stretch. It’s the whole thing when we are out there in the flow you have to continue on with those things that are giving you solid possessions. And then we just lose value of the ball and lose value of the possession. Bad shots lead to good offense for the other team.”
 
On the turnovers:
“Frustration shouldn’t lead you to throw the ball out of bounds or throw the ball to the other team or jump up and then try and make the pass. Kobe Webster after the game the other night. He was great. Got in the huddle and said guys every day we do three to four simple play drills and then for whatever reason we are just not carrying that over right now. And we had gotten much better at taking care of the basketball before we got shutdown. Now we are just going back to bad habits. And when our timing is not probably where it was before the break, It is leading to bad possessions and turnovers. I think we scored eight of 12 to start the game and all eight of them were assisted. That’s what this thing looks like when its humming. It was the best stretch that we had and as I said I was so encouraged. It was leading a great energy on the defensive end. We were all over the place. We built a nine point lead against a phenomenal basketball team. An old experienced basketball team. And then we just stopped doing what was leading to success on the floor. Unfortunately we aren’t going to have a ton of time to work on these things but we are going to have to get something accomplished tomorrow. Maybe we do a game. We probably won’t have great legs against Illinois but I got to get something accomplished with this. Getting more consistency on the offensive end because right now defensively we are doing a good enough job we just aren’t scoring the ball enough.”
 
On Lat Mayen:
“You see how important it is to have Lat on the floor. He picked up the two quick ones in Minnesota and we got him back in there. Unfortunately he got a third right away so second half you saw what he could do. I think he had 13 of his 15 in the second half. In the game against Indiana right before the break he hit five threes and that just loosens things up for everybody. Tonight he goes out and hits shots right out of the gate. I thought he had some other good looks in the second half. I thought we got the ball to him with space where he got some good open shots. We will take those all day long with him. He is such a good shooter. He works on it extremely hard.”
 
Wisconsin Coach Greg Gard
On a lackluster shooting performance 
“I thought there were some good looks, not always. I thought we played a little quick at times, but Nebraska to a degree kind of mucks it up a bit in terms of how they crowd the paint. I thought in the second half we did a little better job of being more consistent in the paint, and we got to the free throw line and got to the bonus quick so that was good to see.”
 
On Jonathan Davis and Trevor Anderson
“I thought both guys did a good job of breaking people down and making plays. Obviously, Johnny [Davis] was big from the left wing a couple times. Just as we ran action and they scrambled, and we got them to spread out a little bit he was able to break people down and make plays, and Trevor did some of the same things. That was important as we got that separation there in through part of the second half.”
 
On how Wisconsin handled the zone defense
“At times, okay. At times I thought we had decent looks out of it or against it. I thought there were a couple times we took some quick ones, and we could’ve done a better job with shot selection. The key there was in the second half to get to the bonus so quick, to get to the foul line and have a lot of stoppages minimized what they could do in transition and allowed us to get our defense set more consistently.”
 
On how crucial it was to leave with a win
“I think it is crucial to get any win. This league isn’t easy regardless of the record of anybody or who it is, you watch and really follow everybody through our league. They’ve played some teams tough here, and they’re coming through their COVID pause and that’s disrupted some of the rhythm they had going this season, but there’s no easy games in this league. You’ve probably heard that from all other 13 coaches. You take them all one at a time and take a deep breath and exhale when you get one on the road or at home because I think this year home and road is kind of a coin flip in terms of environment. Just do what you need to do to get through that game and worry about the next one when that time comes.”

NU Athletic Communications