Nebraska Postgame Notes/Quotes vs. Maryland

Nebraska Postgame Notes vs. Maryland

• Nebraska won its third straight overtime game to improve to 3-1 in overtime contests this season. The three overtime victories are the most for the program since the 1986-87 team won a school-record four overtime games, including the third-place game of the NIT Tournament.
• Nebraska also won three OT games four other times (1949-50, 1955-56, 1979-80, 1983-84)
• The Huskers’ four overtime games this season are the most since the 2019-20 team also played four OT games.
• NU scored 70 points, the first time Maryland had allowed 70 points in 10 games. Entering the game, the Terrapins were allowing an average of only 57.2 points per game over their last nine contests.
• Nebraska went 19-of-25 from the free throw line, setting a season high with its 19 made free throws.
• The Huskers held Maryland to 33.3 percent shooting (23-of-69), the third-lowest opponent field goal percentage of the season and the lowest since NU limited Iowa to 26.0 percent shooting on Dec. 29.  NU has now held 10 opponents to 40 percent or lower from the field this season.
• Nebraska had a season-high eight blocks, topping its previous high of seven.
• Derrick Walker had 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists. His 23 points were a career high, topping his previous high of 22 points, which he achieved in road games against Creighton and Minnesota earlier this season. It was the fifth 20-point game of Walker’s career, all of which have come this season.
• Walker’s career-high scoring output was fueled by a 9-of-11 effort from the free throw line, as he set career highs in free throws made (8) and attempted (9), both set against Northwestern in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament.
• Keisei Tominaga scored 20 points, his fifth consecutive 20-point scoring effort. Tominaga is the first Husker to have five consecutive 20-point games since Tyronn Lue scored 20 points in seven straight games during the 1997-98 season.
• Keisei Tominaga has been in double-figures for 10 of the last 11 games (all but the first game with Maryland on Jan. 28).
• With Walker and Tominaga each topping the 20-point mark, Nebraska had two players score 20 points in the same game for the first time since Alonzo Verge Jr. (25 points) and Bryce McGowens (24) each had 20-point efforts in a four-overtime game at NC State on Dec. 1, 2021.
• Sam Hoiberg scored nine points – including four in overtime – and tied his career high with six rebounds and two steals.
• Blaise Keita led Nebraska with eight rebounds in only 16 minutes. In his past two homes games (Wisconsin and Maryland), Keita has grabbed 19 rebounds in 39 minutes.
• The win marked Nebraska’s 100th win inside Pinnacle Bank Arena.  The Huskers are 10-3 at home this season, its highest win total since 2018-19.

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On being down eight in the second half
“The one thing I did see in the huddle I thought we were hanging our heads a little bit. The big message when we went through a really rough patch when we had foul trouble by Sam (Griesel) and Derrick (Walker). Those are two guys we obviously run our offense through. Jamarques (Lawrence) was battling a little bit of an injury so we had some very unorthodox lineups out there that have not really played together a lot, but we hung in there and even though they went on the run they did not separate to the point where we could not come back. Once we got those guys back in the game and the big message to them was get your heads up. Get that swagger back that we were playing with and get back to doing what gave us some success. Guys just made play after play, and I was really impressed with how they kept fighting. We were down eight with I think about seven minutes left. Free throws finally won a game. I have not came into these press conferences and said that very often. Derrick (Walker) goes nine-for-eleven from the line, unbelievable. I am just really pleased with how those guys kept their composure, found a way to get back in it and just made huge plays down the stretch.”

On defensive effort and getting going offensively
“Jahmir Young is one of the toughest covers in this league, an all-league player. This team is playing great basketball right now. I think Sam (Hoiberg) defended that last possession well, he still is capable of making that shot, but I think he did as best as he possibly could contesting one of the best players in the league. Then those two plays in overtime. The charge he took, then the steal after the timeout to put us up three, just huge plays. It’s rewarding to see when guys who work as hard as Sam does, as Jamarques (Lawrence) does, as Blaise (Keita) does, for it to pay off. Blaise was unbelievable again for us. We thought we could play big-big for stretches in this game when they played (Patrick) Emilien or (Julian) Reese together (with Donta Scott). I thought Derrick (Walker) did a great job on Scott as well. Guys just really stepped up; Keisei (Tominaga) got loose. They were all over him and did a great job covering him and taking away the three. He hit that huge one to start the overtime and get us going. Defensively, I thought that was where we won the game. Offensively, it got rough out there for a stretch, and Derrick got us going. He was terrific in that nail ISO. He just makes great plays. We missed some good looks Derrick got for our guys, and to knock those free throws down were huge.” 

On the “next man up” mentality
“It’s really what this team has been about since the injuries. Keisei played 42 minutes, didn’t have a foul and didn't have a cramp. Jamarques (Lawrence) got banged up a little bit. Blaise (Keita) is hopefully going to be okay since we have time between games, but he re-injured the ankle. It’s going to be an important stretch for us, take tomorrow off and get back on Tuesday, get a good skill day then start watching film on Wednesday for Minnesota. Our guys deserve to enjoy this. Three in a row now, all great wins. Coming back from a big deficit against Wisconsin, to get a huge road win in a tough environment and then coming back again tonight. All three wins, it takes resolve and mental toughness and couldn't be more proud of this group.”

Nebraska Forward Derrick Walker 
How the team has overcome injuries and players have stepped up
“You know we have battled injuries as a team, since that has happened the theme has been when your number is called, step up. Sam (Hoiberg) has been doing an unbelievable job of it, Jamarques (Lawrence) has been great, Denim (Dawson) has been great, Blaise (Keita) has been great. That's the type of team we have, where anybody can come in and affect the game in a positive way. I’m proud of these guys. I'm proud of them for making plays. We’ve seen him (Sam Hoiberg) in practice, he plays hard. We have to tell him to tone it down a bit, but he plays hard, and he deserved to get that steal. He puts in the work, and I’m just so proud of him.”
 
On the team's mindset down eight in the second half
“We’ve been in this situation before; we know the weapons we got. We had to take a moment to tell ourselves that it's only eight, we’re fine, let's pull ourselves together. We had to do it on the defensive end. We came out fouling, kind of careless with the ball, and kind of let them do what they wanted, and they took momentum. We knew we had the game and momentum back. We came out, started playing harder, started getting stops, started scoring the ball, we started being tough. That's what we preach, being tough.”

Maryland Head Coach Kevin Willard
On overall execution
“We were trying to get downhill a little bit, and we had a couple looks. We just did some things that we usually don't do. Just too many turnovers."
 
Willard's thoughts on the issues at the start of the game
“I wish I could put my finger on it. We got a couple of good really open looks to start. We got to go inside to start and then it just seems like it takes us a little bit of time to kind of get into the flow of the game.” 
 
On being worried about coming back from this game
“You beat Rutgers, you beat Penn State here, and Wisconsin, they're playing really good basketball. We had our respect. We knew it was gonna be a tight game, we were up seven (eight) then we had two monster turnovers that killed us."

NU Athletic Communications