Nebraska Postgame Notes/Quotes vs. Wisconsin

Nebraska Postgame Notes

• Bryce McGowens scored a game-high 23 points, including 17 in the second half. McGowens posted his team-leading sixth 20-point game of the season, tying Jerry Fort (1972-73) for the second-most 20-point games by a freshman in school history. It marked the 12^th 20-point game by a Husker in 2021-22.
• Lat Mayen had a season-high 11 points, marking his first game in double figures this season and his 12th double-figure scoring game in his Husker career.
• Alonzo Verge Jr. had 11 points, his team-leading 16th game in double figures this season.
• Derrick Walker tied his season high with four assists, as he also had four against NC State and Auburn
• Trey McGowens made his first start since Nov. 16 against Creighton
• Nebraska was 14-of-17 from the free throw line, as the Huskers’ 82.4 percentage from the charity stripe marked its second-highest percentage of the season. NU has shot better than 80 percent from the free throw line in back-to-back games, as the Huskers are 31-of-38 (81.6 percent) in their past two games with two of their top three percentages of the season.
• The Huskers had an 11-0 run in the second half to cut the Badger lead from 18 down to seven. The McGowens brothers had all 11 points in the run, with Bryce scoring eight points and Trey adding three points.
• During the run, the Huskers held Wisconsin without a field goal for a 6:22 stretch.
• Nebraska held Wisconsin to 36.8 percent shooting in the game, the Badgers’ fourth-lowest mark of the season and worst mark since Dec. 11. The Badgers had shot at least 41 percent from the field in eight consecutive games entering tonight.

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
On Wisconsin’s Offensive Boards Leading to 3-pointers
“The first half was awful, and a lot of those offensive rebounds led to threes. We did a much better job in the second in both those areas. Nine offensive rebounds in the first half and four in the second. Nine threes in the first half and one in the second so we did a much better job in the two areas that killed us in the first half.”
 
“I thought we were off and running, and we were going to have a good half and then we got stagnant. We took a couple bad shots and they went on a run and that has kind of been the theme. We have to find a way to fight through is when teams go on runs. We are not going to go back and get it individually. You have to continue to do things that have made us successful.”
 
On Chucky Hepburn
“He is a phenomenal kid and a great family. So I just expressed my condolences to him (after a friend’s death over the weekend) and let him know how sorry I was and to keep doing a great job. He was phenomenal especially early in the game. We knew he would be charged up coming back to play in front of his family in this building where he won a state championship. He is a world-class kid and I certainly wish him the best.”
 
On Trey McGowens’ health
“We were very closely monitoring his workload and where he was catapult system that he had on. He has really had four practices and with everything he has dealt with the injury and then what happened last week so he is a warrior. He is going out there and you hold Johnny Davis to zero points in the first half that tells you everything you need to know about Trey as a competitor. He means so much to our team. He is certainly going to help us on Saturday with the size that we were exposed with at Rutgers the last game.”

Nebraska Freshman Guard Bryce McGowens
On Wisconsin’s three point shooting
“I feel like they got a lot of their three-point shots off of offensive rebounds so we cut down offensive rebounds (in the second half). We have to do a better job at rebounding on defense.”
 
On holding Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis scoreless in the first half
“I feel like we are locked in defensively from the start but as the game went on we gambled a lot defensively. Leaving a lot of three-point shooters open, and they hit some tough shots.”
 
On Nebraska’s second-half run
“The people who were on the floor we kept the energy high. We were like ‘the game not over’. On made shots and missed shots, we emphasized running. If you saw the second half we ran and played with pace and space. which we should play with every night and what we stress so that last stretch that is how we played and it turned out good.”
 
On Nebraska moving the ball
“Being static. We cannot be static. When we move the ball great things happen, so we just have to play team ball.”

Wisconsin Coach Greg Gard
On how Chucky Hepburn has handled everything leading up to this game
“I can’t get inside his mind, but I’m sure it was emotional coming here and playing here. It was going to be emotional anyway just because it’s a chance to come home where he won a state championship, but you then obviously have the events this week. I think as he’s gone through the week it’s been easier but as he mentioned he’s teammates have been great. We’ve tried to support him with as much support and resources as possible and just being present. I think these guys love the game of basketball and when they can get a chance to compete, I think it’s very therapeutic.”
 
On how his team looked overall
“Good in stretches. I just didn’t think we were good defensively early. I thought it was going to be a race to a hundred but then we settled down. Actually, I thought our bench got us on track defensively. I thought we finished out the first half better defensively and then the second half I thought we were good until that little flurry.”
 
On the success of 3-point shooting
“I think you move the ball, share it and don’t over dribble. Play inside out and then you got Wisconsin’s leading 3-point shooter shooting a lot of the threes.”

NU Athletic Communications