Nebraska Postgame Notes/Quotes vs. Minnesota

• Nebraska won its fourth straight Big Ten Conference game, its first four-game winning streak in conference play since the 2017-18 season.
• The Huskers never trailed in the game, marking the fifth time this season and second time in Big Ten Conference play that Nebraska won a game without trailing.
• Nebraska scored 78 points, improving to 12-1 this season when scoring at least 70 points. Nebraska has scored at least 70 points in each of its last six games.
• NU came away with a season-high 13 steals, eclipsing its previous high of eight. The Big Red recorded double-digit steals for the first time since totaling 12 steals against Minnesota on Feb. 9, 2022.
• Fueled by the 13 steals, Nebraska outscored Maryland 21-5 in points off turnovers. The plus-16 advantage was a season best for the Big Red. The 21 points off turnovers were the most the second-most points off turnovers for the Huskers this season (most in Big Ten play), while Minnesota’s five points tied for the fewest points off turnovers by a Nebraska opponent this season.
• Six Huskers scored in double figures to mark the first time Nebraska had six players score 10 or more points in a game since a Nov 25, 2020 matchup against McNeese State.
• Sam Griesel led all scorers with 19 points. He scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half, going 6-of-11 from the field in the final 20 minutes.
• CJ Wilcher had 12 points and six rebounds. His six rebounds were a season high and tied his career high.
• Jamarques Lawrence added 11 points, one shy of his career high. Today marked Lawrence’s fourth career game in double figures.
• Keisei Tominaga saw his streak of five consecutive 20-point games snapped, but he reached double figures with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Defensively, Tominaga had a career-high four steals.
• Sam Hoiberg scored 11 points off the bench and tied his career high with six rebounds. Nine of Hoiberg’s 11 points came in the second half.
• Derrick Walker rounded out the six Huskers in double figures with 10 points, and he also led Nebraska with seven rebounds and four assists.

Nebraska Forward C.J. Wilcher
On having success at the rim
“I give credit to Keisei (Tominaga). He provides a lot of gravity. In our pace and our offense and our flow has gone really well in the past couple weeks and past month honestly so we just had open driving lanes that we took advantage of.”

On six players scoring in double-figures
“We all play basketball. We all have played at a high level before. It is just taking advantage of opportunities when your number is called.”

Nebraska Guard Sam Griesel
On six players scoring in double-figures
“I think that makes teams really tough to guard. On teams that I have been on, in my years of college basketball have a team like that where anyone can go 15 or 20 a night that is when you have something special. Obviously we have had several guys step up in the last few games and I think that is a big part of our success and hopefully we will be moving forward as well.”

On when Minnesota was cutting into Nebraska’s lead
“We knew in the first half we ran some actions that got me open and got me going a little bit in the first half. From that point on, it was just my teammates pumping confidence into me. That is what this group is all about. Any night any of us can have 15 20 points. It does not matter. We do not care who gets the credit. All we want is a W at the end of the day. That is what is special about this group. I think that is a little bit rare to find this day in age with social media and everything, but this group showed a lot of resiliency tonight, and I am just proud of everyone.”

On tallying up the steals today
“Honestly coaching staff. They are on us every practice, defensively having our hands up. That was a huge emphasis for us early in the year and that was a big emphasis for this game. We kind of brought that back into practice with some drills and stuff like that but big credit to the coaching staff and then I honestly think defense is all about your will and we were able to grind it out tonight.”

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
On finishing games expected to win 
"We need everybody right now with all that were facing, and you know the thing that I've been most impressed with this group is they just don’t panic. We had an opportunity to put it away a couple times, but Minnesota hit a few threes and they got a loose ball and hit a three off it and now it's six, but we came down and we executed. We were able to continue to get the ball to the right guy and finish the job and make enough free throws there down the stretch. I thought Sam, what do we call him? Sam H. I guess, I thought he made some really good plays, some loose balls, got out in transition and made his free throws. Again, just really pleased.  Jamarques was great early. C.J., I thought was excellent all game long. Just, again, everyone that stepped on the floor contributed, and that’s what it’s all about." 

On defense and turnovers 
"I thought we had good hand activity, and you know obviously were trying to do everything we can to protect Derrick early in games especially. That’s where the double teams are coming. I thought we had really good, physical chest-to-chest double teams when we came with hands. That’s what created some deflections, and that’s what got us out into transition and that’s what built us a little bit of a lead early in the game. We thought that was very important to jump out early in these games, get off to a good start. We built that thing up to nine or ten, and that’s kind of where it stayed all game long, between six, and when we got up, that one small little stretch at 14. You know, I think stayed around 10 all game and that early stretch we had, where we were able to create some easy baskets in transition was, I thought, imperative for the way we needed to come out and play this game."

On stringing wins together 
"It’s a team that’s stayed together very well. It’s got leadership that I think is important when you're trying to string games together like this. Griesel, obviously, and Derrick are huge in that area. I know the guys talked a lot about in the press conference a couple days ago, Emmanuel still leading and talking to his team so that’s where it starts. If you have good leadership out there and you win a couple in a row, now you know you can do it. That gives confidence to your players. We’re going to have a hell of a challenge on Tuesday. We know that. It’s going to be very emotional for our seniors.  

On getting back to basketball 
"That was my message to them after the game. I’m proud of them, love how we’ve continued to come out and fight, but we’ve got to get over it quickly. Now, this is a short turnaround. We’ve had some time between the last couple games with a bye week this week to exhale, but you know, I’ll tell you this: our preparation was outstanding. I know sometimes you look at a record, I know some teams have probably done that with us the last couple of years, but you got to come out and compete every time you step on the floor in this league. Again, in talking to the guys, I said, you know, we’re not going to come down and have a letdown. We’re going to come out with great energy, and that’s what they did, and that’s what it’s going to be about. I said the preparation these next two days are as important as any two days we’ve had all year. I promise you this, with the group, the way they work, I know they will come into the gym tomorrow, we’ll go at 11:30 a.m. and they’ll be ready to move past this one and move on to Michigan State. Obviously, you want to finish off your home season in a great way. I can’t believe how fast this has gone. Some years feel like two years. This thing has just flown by, and we’ve got one more home game and it’s important for our seniors to enjoy it, have fun with it and go out and play well." 

Minnesota Coach Ben Johnson
 On the fatigue of the team's recent stretch and performance of this game:  
“I thought we did a handful of good things, and it just came down to the turnover battle. We had 19 turnovers, and they scored 21 points off our turnovers. That's not a recipe for having success on the road. That's the disappointing thing because I thought there were other phases where we did a pretty decent job. I thought Jay (Jayden Henley) did an unbelievable job on Tominaga. He's been on a tear and to hold him to nine, thought that was phenomenal. So, a lot of good but you can't turn the ball over 19 times” 

 On if you felt you were just a stop or two away after a run: 
“We could never just get that one or two consecutive stops. We would get one, but we couldn't get two or the third. Credit those guys who did a good job of either driving it downhill or posting it. I thought we were able to do a pretty good job on Walker, but I thought Grisel was able to just turn the corner and it's tough when they set it with guys that can shoot. There's not so much help you can have. They were taking advantage of it and just got physical and got to the room.”

On Minnesota's resilience and fight: 
“I think they battled again. We knew it was going to be a long week, and we knew we were going to be tested obviously here. Nebraska is one of the hottest teams in the league. Obviously, it's never easy to play here. I did think that was a small victory and they didn't stop. They kept showing up and that's what we continue to talk about. You got to give yourself a chance and we're able to climb back in it and get it to about a two-possession game at six. Again, just either couldn't get a stop or took an okay shot not a great one. As you guys know in this league, you have to be detail oriented and when you can smell blood, you have to be able to make the next right play, whether that's a stop or execution offensively and we just couldn't do that today.”

NU Athletic Communications