Game Notes

  • Nebraska improves its record in season openers to 89-41 and have won 23 of the past 25 season openers.
  • Braden Frager made his Husker debut finishing with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting and five rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench. His 22-point effort was the third-highest scoring debut by a Husker freshman and the most by a Husker freshman in his debut since Bryce McGowens had 25 against Western Illinois in 2021.
  • Frager’s 22 points marked the 12th time under Hoiberg a player had at least 20 points off the bench
  • Rienk Mast posted his 27th career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds in his first regular-season game since the 2024 NCAA Tournament
  • Jamarques Lawrence tied a career high with five 3-pointers. It marked the fourth time in his career that he had at least five 3-pointers. Lawrence also had six of the Huskers’ 20 assists *-Sa
  • Sam Hoiberg tied his career high with seven rebounds. He also on two other occasions, most recently against Arizona State in the College Basketball Crown.
  • Nebraska went on three double-figure runs, including a 16-0 run spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second half. 
  • Nebraska has won five straight games dating back to last season.
  • Tonight’s win was the 200th Division I win for Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg. 

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the momentum shift between halves 
“I thought they did a really great job of bringing the physicality to the game, and we didn’t. They got four offensive rebounds before the first media timeout. We turned the ball over. They did a good job controlling tempo. We played right into their hands by taking shots. We got into a little bit of a rhythm late in the half and went on a nice little run to build a six-point lead. At halftime, we talked about our pace and we picked up and we pressured more. That’s what got us going. I thought we did a really good job of rebounding the ball in the second half and finding the open man. I think Sam (Hoiberg) had four or five defensive rebounds in a row and got Jamarques (Lawrence) two threes, I think and Connor (Essegian) one, in that stretch where we broke it open. Our running habits were much better in the second half. When we do that, I look forward to getting the analytic report that we’ll get tonight on our efficiency when we got out in transition in the first six to seven seconds of the shot clock, because that’s what appeared to be when we were at our best tonight.

On the slow start
“Obviously the ball wasn’t going in very well in the first half, I thought we had some good looks. We missed some easy ones at the rim. And I thought we, you know, 22 (Kenneth Chime) was playing volleyball with us in there, and we talked about that going in. We watched 10 clips of him blocking shots, and we continue to try to challenge him over and over. We didn’t play very smart in the first half, and they made us pay, and they capitalized on it, and they built, I think, a six-point lead at one point. But once we calmed down and got back to who we are, you know, we were fine. And I told them in the second media I said, ‘Guys, take a deep breath. Just relax.’ Everybody was so uptight, and you have a little bit of that and it’s good. We hit some adversity in this game, and we’re going to learn from it. You know, it’s always better to learn in a win. And we did a lot of really good things in that second half. I think we held them without a field goal, I want to say on 15 consecutive shots, if I’m not mistaken, I was counting them in my head, right? Yeah. But it was, you know, it’s just one of those games where, early on, it was just a rock fight, and then in the second half, we opened it up and got out. That’s certainly when we play our best basketball.”

On Jamarques Lawrence's play
“After a first game where he struggled against BYU putting the ball in the basket, I thought he was terrific. I thought he was honestly the difference in the game with his pace in that BYU game. But the ball wasn’t falling, he’s been shooting it well in practice. And you know, it’s good to see him making a couple at the end of the Midland game, and that carried over to this game tonight. But yeah, he got a really good rhythm. I thought his balance was really on point. And again, he ran the floor the way that we work on our habits every day. Once we got back to who we are we were fine. We just have to come out of the gate with better urgency, and it started on the glass. When they got those four offensive rebounds that really allowed them to dictate the tempo of the game. 

Senior Guard Jamarques Lawrence
On Overcoming a Slow Start
“Well, it wasn’t on offense for real. I mean they came in, they set the tone on the the glass off rip. We came out a little sluggish. That was really it, that led to some bad shots, some quick shots on our end, but in the second half we came out, we settled, and we stayed poised so that was that.”

On starting fast in the second half
“I think our pace as well. I think the first jump ball, we’re running out there, guys are gassed. I just think we push through the first four minutes. Get our pace going. And like I keep saying, just stop rushing, just take some more shots, use the shot clock well.” 

On Throwing the Alley-Oop
“I know Braden (Frager) is an athlete. He sprints the floor. I saw him sprinting, and we made eye contact. I had a feeling I was throwing it up. 

Redshirt Freshman Braden Frager
On his Husker debut 
“I feel like even just going back to that exhibition game against Midland, just seeing that ball go in the hoop kind of really helped out a lot with it. I don’t really go at the games differently depending on the opponent. I just want to go out there and play and have fun. I just kind of helped with the Midland game that I got it going that game.

On his Alley-oop
“Yeah, there was that little second there where I didn’t know if he was going to throw it and he ended up throwing it. It was kind of perfect.


West Georgia Head Coach Dave Moore
On the team’s game plan coming into the night
“We had some time to work at it. We worked on their stuff. We had a plan defensively. I thought we executed that plan in the first half. They had some shots they missed, they had some good clean shots that they missed, that they would normally make. They go 3-14 from three in the first half, and that’s why we’re in the game. When you watch the BYU game, that’s what they do. That’s how they make their runs, shooting the basketball, spacing the floor, sharing the ball. We knew we had to do a good job trying to take away rhythm threes. That was a big part of the game. We did that effectively in the first half, and we did not do it effectively in the second half.”

On playing in a Power Four environment
“I was disappointed with the effort in the second half. I thought at times we let it get away from us in terms of our effort, and Nebraska does a great job. They get out in transition, they really go and when they start making baskets, that fuels them even more in transition. We didn’t respond to that well. We didn’t have enough urgency in transition. We didn’t get matched up well enough, and that’s when they went on their big run. Three after three after three. That’s a disappointing piece of it. Obviously we’re up against a really good Big Ten team, and we are in our second year in Division one. But that shouldn’t affect our effort. In the first half, we had scrap, and we had fight. In the second half, we didn’t have as much of that, and the score reflects it. 

On expectations for Chas Lewless and Shelton Williams-Dryden
“Shelton, he’s a senior. He was our leading scorer last year, one of the better players in our league, preseason all league guy. We need him to be better than he was tonight. They did a good job with him, putting him in a crowd. We caught the ball in the mid post, which is really where he can operate. Chas is playing his first Division I game in almost a year and a half. He got hurt last year at San Diego, played the first two games at San Diego, and then didn’t play the rest of the season with a back injury. So he’s just getting his feet wet. He’s going to get better and better. He’ll shoot the ball better for us. He’s going to be our floor general. We’re really excited about Chas and what he can bet.