Nebraska vs. Rutgers Notes/Quotes

Nebraska Postgame Notes
*-Nebraska’s 21-point win was its largest in Big Ten play since a 87-63 win over Rutgers on Feb. 6, 2016. Prior to tonight, NU’s last 20-point win in Big Ten play was a 72-52 win over No. 23 Michigan on Jan. 18, 2018.  NU led by as much as 30 in the second half, while its 18-point halftime lead was its largest in conference play since the 2015-16 season.
*-Lat Mayen finished with a career-high 25 points, including 20 in the first half. His previous high was 16 against Illinois on Feb. 12. Mayen hit his first seven shots from the floor, including four 3-pointers. 
*-Mayen’s 25-point game is the Huskers’ 11th 20-point game of the season. He was the fourth Husker to have a 20-point game this season
*-Nebraska shot 51.9 percent from the field, becoming only the third Rutgers opponent to shoot over 50 percent this season (also Ohio State and Illinois).
*-Nebraska has now shot 50 percent or better in each of its last three home games, the first time its happened since the 2013-14 season.
*-Thorir Thorbjarnarson tied or set season bests in rebounds (seven, tied), assists (five, tied) and steals (four). 
*-Nebraska out-rebounded Rutgers 38-28, as the +10 was its best effort in Big Ten play and matched its best performance against a Division I opponent in 2020-21 (also McNeese State). It is the first time NU has out-rebounded a conference opponent by 10 or more board since the 2018-19 season.
*-Nebraska had 19 assists for the second straight game, matching its highest total in Big Ten play this season.
*-Nebraska finished with 11 steals, the sixth time NU has reached double-figures in steals
*-Nebraska held Rutgers to 51 points, its second-lowest total of the season, and just 38.6 percent shooting. 
*-Nebraska has held seven of its 12 opponents to under 40 percent shooting since returning from its pause on Feb. 6.
*-Nebraska held Rutgers to just 3-of-23 from 3-point range, the lowest by a Husker opponent this year.
*-Derrick Walker finished with a career-high 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting. It marks his second straight double-figure effort.
*-Trey McGowens reached double figures for the 15^th time with 12 points and dished out five assists. Over the last two games, McGowens is 9-of-12 shooting and with 10 assists and three turnovers.
 
Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On Tonight’s Performance
“That was a lot of fun. It was great to see all of the work that our guys have been putting in pay off in a game like that. It’s the exact effort and consistency you need to compete in this league and win in this league. You have to have 40 minutes of consistent basketball, and I just thought we came out of the gate with such a great mentality of sharing the ball. We had 14 assists on 16 baskets in the first half. That thing was flying around. It started off with Thor, we kind of ran a special play to get Lat (Mayen) shaken out of the single side. He made a perfect, on target pass for Lat to get going and I think the next possession from the baseline, drifted Lat to the corner with great spacing and hit a second one. Then, he was off and rolling from there. I thought Lat cutting and movement when they started to overplay him and pressure him was phenomenal and Derrick (Walker) just made huge plays for us all night. Trey (McGowens), another really efficient, overall game. Kobe (Webster) was rock solid out there and really everybody contributed from top to bottom. Shamiel (Stevenson) banged up his knee a little bit, hopefully he will be okay. It’s great to see guys make opportunities. Trevor (Lakes) hit that big three in the first half and Elijah (Wood) getting a dunk there in the end. And then Eduardo (Andre), it shows what he certainly can become with his potential. I just thought from start to finish that was our most complete game that we’ve played.”
 
On what sparked the team’s performance
“We’ve showed flashes and that’s the one thing obviously we’ve been stressing all year - the overall consistency. Just the ball movement in the first half kind of set the tone. And then defensively, I really thought the activity that we had with our hands, you know forcing turnovers and getting deflections, led to several transition opportunities for our team. This Rutgers team is one of the best defensive groups in the country and when they really got out and pressured, we started playing through Derrick and had some really good cutting to loosen it up a little bit. Defensively, rebounding that’s what Rutgers does. Held them to six offensive rebounds and I think three until about five minutes left. If you do that, it gives you a chance. The way we shared the ball shows what we’re capable of and what this system is capable. I am just really proud of how we came out and played through, and you know again this is 12 games in 24 days for us and we continue to come out and compete like we are says a lot about these guys.”
 
On the team’s confidence
“The biggest thing is to win two in a row and string together back-to-back games with the big emotional game against Minnesota behind us and find a way to get the energy levels back up where they needed to be tonight. We’ll have a huge challenge with Iowa with the way they are playing right now and finish up against Northwestern, who is playing very good at this time. We just want to continue to take positive steps. That is what this is all about. Continue to get guys opportunities. I love Eduardo’s development; what he’s doing out there. It’s good to see Trevor get an opportunity. Biggest thing is to continue to find a way to teach and for our guys to learn through this incredibly difficult stretch we are on and at the same time save their legs so they can go out and play with the effort they did tonight.”

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell
Opening statement
“I really thought going into this game that our guys were locked in, and we certainly didn’t play that way. One of their strengths is defending the three, and I think we took our season high from three-point land. We got to be a lot better, obviously. Tip of the hat to Nebraska. Nebraska has been playing really well. I was really worried about this game. They have been in a good rhythm and (Lat) Mayen starts out the game and makes every three. Really got them off to a good start. Fred (Hoiberg) does a really good job at moving people around. They got threes. They got layups. They outrebounded us. It was every area tip of the hat to Nebraska. They outplayed us in every area.”
 
On being behind the whole game
“They got every 50/50 ball. We just didn’t have the energy that we needed. When you aren’t playing well and you aren’t making any shots, you better do all the other things. They got the loose balls before we did. They got more long rebounds than we did. They out rebounded us. They took us out of what we wanted to do. We have to play better. And you can’t go on the road in this league and play like that. Our guys know that.”
 
On his emotions
“We had our two best practices of the season leading into this. I knew they were playing really well. They had been in a lot of games and they are in a good rhythm. I think when you play as much as they have, they are in a good rhythm. We tried to mix up some of our defenses, but we couldn’t get stops. We couldn’t get to the free throw line. Another huge key for us. Getting to the free throw line especially when we aren’t making shots, but we didn’t do those things. In this league if you play like that that’s going to be the final score.” 
 
On the execution and effort:
“Yeah, we weren’t good in any area. Again, we had our two best practices of the season. And it probably wasn’t even close. So, I thought they were in a good place. The ball went up today and they hit a barrage of threes and we really just couldn’t tough through it. Tried some different combinations and then Paul (Mulcahy) got hurt and couldn’t go back into the game. Tried to play a couple of different guys. A couple of guys got into foul trouble. Clifford (Omoruyi) was good off the bench. He gave us some really good energy but obviously I didn’t do the job that I needed to do to have them ready to play a league road game.”

NU Athletic Communications