Nebraska Postgame Notes/Quotes vs. Wisconsin

Nebraska Postgame Notes vs. Wisconsin

• Nebraska rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit to record its largest come-from-behind victory since the Huskers erased a 19-point first-half deficit in a 64-60 win against Iowa on Feb. 23, 2013. Overall, the 17-point comeback marked NU’s third-largest comeback since the start of the 1996-97 season.  It is the largest second-half comeback since at least 1997-98.
• Nebraska’s last two wins over Wisconsin have featured Nebraska overcoming double-figure deficits (also 10 at Wisconsin last season in Madison).
• The Huskers came back from an 11-point halftime deficit, the fourth time this season Nebraska has overcome a halftime deficit. Wisconsin had been 11-0 this season when leading at the half, and the Badgers had not lost when leading at the half since it lost a six-point halftime lead in a 62-57 loss at Iowa on March 12, 2021.
• Nebraska had two large runs to fuel the comeback. The Huskers scored 14 straight points as part of a larger 20-2 run in the second half and in overtime, Nebraska ended the game on a 12-0 run.
• Tominaga led Nebraska with a game-high 22 points, his third consecutive 20-point game. Tominaga tied his season and career high with five 3-pointers. Tominaga scored 17 of his 22 points after halftime.
• In the second half, Keisei Tominaga (13 points) and Sam Griesel (12) combined for 25 points. As a team, Nebraska held Wisconsin to 26 second-half points.
• Griesel filled up the stat sheet with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
• Derrick Walker scored 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. Walker had six of Nebraska’s 12 points in overtime.
• Blaise Keita played 20 minutes in the game, all in the second half or overtime. Keita pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, one shy of his career high.
• Jamarques Lawrence scored 11 points, one shy of his career high. It marked Lawrence’s second career double-figure scoring game.
• Nebraska out-rebounded Wisconsin, 43-37, and is now 5-0 in Big Ten play when out-rebounding opponents.
• Nebraska held Wisconsin to 36.2 percent shooting, the ninth opponent held to 40 percent shooting or less. 

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the game overall
I haven’t given away a game ball this year, but I gave it away to Derrick Walker for sucking so bad those first three positions (of the second half). That got Blaise (Keita) in the game. I’m just kidding. I gave it to Blaise. I’m so proud of him. He’s a guy that has gone through a lot this year with the injuries. He got hurt in the Queens game with a high ankle sprain. He has really struggled with that from a timing standpoint. We have been working on the big-big lineup for this exact situation, when they had two good post players. It allowed us to go one-on-one in the post. We slid Derrick to the four and Blaise at the five. Those guys held their ground. We found a way where we got out of rotation in that first half. For a kid like Blaise who has not complained one second since he got here, not one second has he ever went to my office and asked for more playing time, he just continues to work. The biggest thing I’m proud of is that we got our identity back today. Blaise was a huge part of that. Young guys made some huge plays. Jamarques (Lawrence) stepped up and hit that huge three. Sam (Hoiberg) made a huge steal. We rebounded the ball well. That’s the thing in the second half. Our rebounding allowed us to get out in transition and then we started running really complicated offense. I said just go find Keisei (Tominaga) and screen him. That’s what got him open and got him going. It got us back in the game. So again, proud of the guys for their effort and resilience. They could have folded when we got down 17, but they just kept coming. That’s the thing you love to see out of your team.

On the atmosphere and if this was one of his top moments (at Nebraska)
"The fun part for I think everybody was just how into it the bench, the crowd, the crowd was absolutely phenomenal today, and It's why you do it. We talk to our team all the time about there are gonna be runs, there is gonna be adversity and you need to fight through it. We knew Wisconsin was going to keep coming. They're one of the most poised teams in the country. Greg Gard does such a good job with that, but our guys found a way to keep composure, and when we went on that run, to see everybody, the excitement, to see how excited everyone was for Blaise, you should have seen the locker room after. Everybody came up to a man and hugged Blaise because of the type of kid he is and what he means to everybody. So it is definitely one to build on."
 
On the team facing adversity
"For these guys to continue to fight through everything that we've faced, the one thing that's been constant is the effort. These guys have continued to go out there and fight and stay together. You know everybody sees what they do on the floor, but what you don't see is what they do behind the scenes: the preparation and the attentiveness in the film session and growing from mistakes and trying to get better from that. And we've been on a heck of a stretch. I mean, we've played pretty much home-road, home-road, and hadn't had more than two days prep and we finish off with one more of those in you know third time in the east coast in the last two weeks so we got to find a way to battle through it. We get a chance to exhale a little bit after the game at Rutgers. I told our guys they need to enjoy it (tonight), they deserve to enjoy this one, but we've got a big day tomorrow to start preparing for a very good Rutgers team."

Nebraska Forward Derrick Walker 
On what flipped when NU went on a run
“We just picked our pace up. We know Keisei gets a lot of attention, so we’re just moving around, taking what the defense gives us. We just settled in on defense and made it a point to get stops and get rebounds. We played together, through everything – being down 17, we played together. We didn’t give up. We knew that this was a game that we could win, and we did that tonight.”
 
On the crowd and the fact that he only has
“The crowd was amazing tonight. They stayed in it, even when we were down 17. They support us, and I believe this year’s crowd has been the best crowd that I’ve seen since I’ve been at Nebraska. Thank you to all the fans that come out because this year they have really been on point. They’ve been here for us, they’ve supported, they’re loud and they cheer and they love us. They gave us a huge boost. When the crowd is out of it, it’s hard to continue to play because they’re a part of the team too. They did great, they helped us out a lot. It was loud – I remember at some point that it was so loud, probably one of the loudest I’ve heard in this building. It was a great feeling.”
 
On making his second layup in overtime (to go up 67-63)
“I saw an opportunity and so I took it. We needed to score and it did not necessarily have to come from me but it did. I was just happy that I made them. I was just happy that we could take the lead and get up a couple points while also getting stops. That opened up some shots from my other teammates. I was just happy I made the shots. We were in a close game. We were in overtime and someone needed to score. That is the only way someone is going to win the game. Whether it is me or somebody else I am just happy we capitalized on our moments and did what we had to do to finish the game.”

Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard
On if this game was one that the team should've been able to win
Absolutely. Defensively, talk about a complete change of personality in the second half from what we were in the first half for the most part to the second. Fouling too much. Too much dribble penetration. Too much of everything. A complete change of who we were and who we needed to be to be successful. 
 
On your hope coming out of the timeout and trying to get in the paint
We didn't finish in there though, either. I haven't seen the second half points in the paint or what we were in the paint, but the first half was not good. We were 4-13, and 3-11 at the rim, so the second half I don't think got any better. You have to finish in the paint. That's why we're not shooting enough free throws. You shoot six free throws because you're not going through contact. You're not finishing. You're avoiding it falling away, twisting, turning, doing everything but taking it through with some power towards the backboard. 
 
On how hard the situation is for the team and overall feeling
“We got what we deserved. I was really brutally honest with them. Like I said, it was Jekyll and Hyde between who we were in the first half defensively who we were in the second half. It started with too much fouling. We fouled too much in the first half. That gives the team confidence to get to the free throw line and then Tominaga, I'll give him credit, he's had some tough shots, but it's not surprising because that's how he plays. He plays off that momentum and they feed off that momentum. We didn't do a good enough job with him. I give Nebraska credit because here they have played well. They are very momentum driven and momentum reliant, and we fed them a lot of momentum. A lot of this was due to our undoing and our mistakes and our changing who we were in that last three quarters of the second half specifically on the defensive end, but some offensive things too. It started with what we allowed them to do defensively. 

NU Athletic Communications