Nebraska Postgame Notes/Quotes vs. Western Illinois

Postgame Notes
*-Bryce McGowens scored 25 points in his Husker debut, the most ever by a Husker freshman in his debut. The previous high for a Husker in his debut was Joe McCray, who had 23 in the 2004-05 season opener.  McGowens 25-point effort was the 10th highest scoring effort by a Husker freshman in school history.
*-Alonzo Verge Jr. posted his first career double-double with 26 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. His previous high in rebounds was eight against Oregon when he was with Arizona State last season
*-It marked the third and fourth 20-point effort by a Husker in their debut, while Verge’s 26 points is the most by a Husker in his debut in the last 50 years.
*-Bryce McGowens became the 11th Husker true freshman to start a season opener since 1995 and the first since Yvan Ouedraogo in 2019.
*-Nebraska falls to 6-1 all-time against Western Illinois

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
On how to make offense flow better
“You got to move the ball, and we have moved it. That was the disappointing thing. It was my biggest concern with what happened when adversity hit us, and obviously we didn’t handle it well tonight. When the ball wasn’t going in the hoop early, I just felt we tried to do it individually and go one-on-one and that’s disappointing that it came to that. Where the first two exhibition games, I thought we had great movement, we were sharing it and we had really good possessions, we didn’t have a lot of adversity in those first two games. It hit us square in the face tonight, and we didn’t handle it well. Again, it’s a learning opportunity for our group to grow from it and be better the next time we’re on the floor Friday.”
 
On Nebraska's last look
“Well Alonzo had a lane to the basket, I thought he had three guys open as he drove down, but I’ll have to take a look at it. We got the play where we wanted it, to get him downhill and attacking. I’ll go back and take a look at it and see what the options were.”
 
On Bryce McGowens’ debut
“Bryce kept us in it there, I thought he did a good job of attacking, and getting himself to the free throw line. 12 free throws is great for a debut. I thought he battled and competed out there, but unfortunately he’s not going to be happy. He obviously wants to win and it doesn’t mean anything.”
 
On response to the loss
“From what I've seen out of them and how we bounce back from disappointing days, I’m confident that we’ll bounce back the right way tomorrow. We have to. Again we’re playing a good team on Friday, and we need to grow in a lot of areas. I think we’ll grow from it, I hope we grow from it. I still like this team a lot and think we have good days ahead, but we have to learn from this one and not have a duplicate performance.”

Nebraska Forward Derrick Walker
On the struggles with ball movement
“That was all on us. Rather we let what they did affect us or not, we only had six assists for the game. That’s not like us, and we need to focus on that. It’s the first game so we have to go back and chop the film up and get better.”
 
On what they can do to get the ball flowing a little better on offense
“Just execute and move the ball. We can’t let it stick. Hoiberg always talks about point five basketball. If you have a shot take it. If you have a lane, take it. If not, get the ball out of your hands, and we did not do that tonight. For now, we have to emphasize moving the ball on both sides of the court.”
 
On WIU’s offensive rebounds and second chance points
“I did not think that it was going to be that lopsided. I actually thought we were going to come out and be a lot better on the offensive boards today. It’s just toughness. We have to toughen up. At some point, we have to say we're tired of letting people come in and get our boards. We have to toughen up as a team.”

Western Illinois Coach Rob Jeter
On his overall thoughts of the game
“We played like Leathernecks. We were tough. We were down four, and you just say things to try and get your team ready. I just said ‘alright guys they’ve got to miss a free throw or a shot and you come down and make a three and maybe we’ve got a shot to get this done.’ It happened with two threes. Really proud of the team. It was a little sloppy at times, but it is the first game for both teams. The way we responded on the offensive glass and won that battle because it was going to be a battle either on offensive glass for us or in transition for them. I thought we won that battle. That was key.”

On stopping the transition offense
“That was key. The first thing on the board was transition. We can’t let them get out and run. We can’t let them outscore us and get those spurts. I thought we did a nice job with that.”

On Trenton Massner’s play
“He’s been struggling the first two exhibitions. He really hasn’t found the flow, but tonight we needed him. He showed why he was an all-league player. He stepped up. I thought all our guys did, especially KJ (Lee). He made a great play. He got two defenders on him and threw it back to Luka. I’m really proud of the entire team. We came in ready to play. We didn’t play very smart. We had some turnovers down the stretch but we found a way.”
NU Athletic Communications