Nebraska vs. Penn State Notes/Quotes

Postgame Notes
*-Teddy Allen finished with a career-high 41 points, the second-highest single-game total in school history and just the fifth 40-point game ever at Nebraska. His 41 points ties the school record for most points in a home game (41 by Aleks Maric) and breaks the PBA record (35 by three players). The top five single-game totals are below.
No.     Name, Opponent Date                                         Points
1.        Eric Piatkowski vs. Oklahoma (3/11/94)               42
2.        Aleks Maric Kansas State (2/13/07)                      41
           Teddy Allen, Penn State (2/23/21)                        41             
3.        Rich King Northern Illinois (2/18/91)                    40
           Jerry Fort Missouri (2/22/75)                                40
 
*-Allen finished with 41 points, eight rebounds and six assists, setting career highs in points (41), field goals (16), 3-pointers (six) and assists (six). He is just the fourth power conference player in the last decade to have at least 40 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a game per CBB Reference.

Power Conference Players Since 2011 with 40+ points, 8+ rebounds and 6+ assists in a game (per CBB Reference)
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma (at Kansas, 1/4/2016)
Ben Simmons, LSU (vs. North Florida, 12/2/2015
Trae Young, Oklahoma (vs. TCU, 1/13/2018)
Teddy Allen, Nebraska (vs. Penn State, 2/23/2021)

*-Allen also tied school marks for field goals in a game, matching the school mark by Marvin Stewart against Nevada on Dec. 14, 1970. Both players went 16-of-24 from the field.

*-Allen’s 41 points was the second 40-point game in the Big Ten this season (Luka Garza, Iowa vs. Southern, 11/27/20)

*-Allen’s 41 points and 16 field goals were the most ever allowed by Penn State to a conference opponent

*-Allen’s 28 first-half points is the most by a Husker in a half in school history. The previous record was 27 by James Palmer Jr. against Rutgers at the 2019 Big Ten Tournament

*-It marked Allen’s eighth 20-point game of the season and 11^th of his career. His previous career high was 26 against Creighton on Dec. 11.

*-Nebraska’s 53.6 percent shooting was its second-best performance of the season and highest shooting percentage in Big Ten play since shooting 57.7 percent against Iowa in 2018. NU’s best in Big Ten play this year was 49.1 against Michigan State on Jan. 2.

*-Nebraska shot a season-best 48.0 percent from 3-point range against Penn State. The previous high was 47.7 against Michigan State on Jan. 2. NU has hit eight-or-more 3-pointers in each of the past four games.

*-Nebraska’s 83 points were the Huskers’ highest total in conference play since scoring 90 at Indiana in the 2019-20 conference opener.

*-Allen’s six 3-pointers tied the most by a Husker this season (Kobe Webster vs. Georgia Tech)


 
Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the outcome of the game
“It all came down to too many turnovers and offensive rebounds. When you allow the other team to have 14 extra shots on goal, it is going to be tough to win. They scored 25 points off our turnovers. That's just puts your transition defense in a bind, in a really tough position, especially the careless ones that turn into pick sixes. That's what I thought a lot of those were. I didn't think our cutting was as good as it had been. Teddy (Allen) was phenomenal. He kept us in it that first half with the 28-point half. Then I thought he really made good plays when they started blitzing him and some really good rim rolls by Derrick (Walker) to get to the rim and fighting all the way back. I thought our urgency got to the point where it needed to be in those last 10 minutes when they got up double digits. We fought all the way back, got the lead, watched the last possession and had three options on it. Trey (McGowens) coming off, I thought he had the pretty good look at the basket. We had a hammer screen on the other end and then a crack back on Teddy on the strong side which I think looked like he had a pretty good chance of being open. But I thought Trey had a good look at it. Unfortunately, it didn't go down.”
 
On the mental mistakes made
“Especially defensively, I thought in that first half we just weren't getting matched up at all. We talked about this being a transition team and you have to close to their shooters and we have two guys running with the same guy or buddy running down the floor as opposed getting back and getting the basket covered and that's what got them in a rhythm. You look at the percentages, they shoot 40 we shoot 53, I believe it was. They just had way too many extra possessions. Mental mistakes with throwing the ball right to them and then a couple of reverting back to what we were dribbling in the crowd and dribbling in the pile. So, offensively to shoot those percentages, which it's been a while going back before the shutdown with Michigan State and Indiana we were up around those percentages. So it was good to see that ball going through the hoop and I thought our spacing and cutting got really good in those last 10 minutes. Unfortunately, we just couldn't string enough good stops together and when we did get a stop, we couldn't get the rebound.”
 
On Teddy Allen’s historic performance
“I thought that was the most impressive thing about it was just his all-around game. He went out and made the right play. He had eight rebounds and six assists. When you score 41 and have six assists, that's it that's a really hard thing to do in a college game. And again, to go back there and help on those rebounds, I thought he went back and had a rebound in a crowd when they got up 10 and I thought that's what kind of got us going. Then I think he came down and hit a three and then we just slowly chipped away. But that's what we're looking for - an effort play to try to string some stops together to get us going. He was really complete out there tonight and it was fun to see him get it going like that. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the win with the historic night that he had.”
 
 
Penn State Interim Head Coach Jim Ferry
Opening Statement
“I just thought that was a really hard-fought, great win on the road for our guys. I’m caught up in the game, but it must’ve been an enjoyable game to watch with both teams flying up and down the court, making plays. I thought it was really impressive for our guys. We’ve been in a lot of close games that went the other way, a bounce here or there or a missed shot. Our guys keep staying, keep playing, keep believing in each other and making plays. John Harrar was tremendous again tonight, Jamari Wheeler, those seniors really rolled us to victory today. Obviously, Myreon Jones really got it going in the first half and late in the second half too. Really impressive to see what Teddy Allen did. I’m really proud of our guys, I think we showed a little fatigue in the first half, a bunch of turnovers but I think we took care of the ball in the second half and it made a huge difference for us.” 
 
On how Penn State looked tonight coming off two losses
“I thought we looked a little fatigued obviously flying here from Iowa after a really tough battle, staying on the road that’s a really tough thing to do. You know what these guys haven’t given up at all this whole year. Yes, we were frustrated. We get upset when we lose a close game that we were up, but these guys just keep believing and they keep working. There’s a lot of love in this huddle, these guys keep fighting for each other and I think you saw that tonight. When they made that run back at us, they could’ve put their heads down and stopped and said here we go again, but they didn’t. They kept playing and kept believing in each other, I’m really proud of this group.”
 
On Myreon Jones’ career night
“MJ is a great kid, he’s a competitor, he’s a basketball junkie. He’s in the gym all the time. He didn’t have a great night at Iowa, he knew it, he put it on himself and you could see it the day after that he was disappointed. With someone like MJ it’s like c’mon man just go out and play and that’s what he did. He came out, he was impressive, he was looking for his shot, he got it going and it was huge. For MJ to score 29 points was vital because we couldn’t guard Teddy Allen. He was going off. I remember one point in the first half we were like this guy is going off but MJ has 18 too so we’re right in there let’s just keep playing. What I thought was really impressive with MJ is that we had to sit him down with a couple of fouls, when he had three fouls, then he came back in the game and made some really big plays for us and obviously making his free throws down the stretch was huge.”
 

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