Postgame Notes

• With the win, the Huskers improved to 12-2 on the season, and matched NU’s best 14-game mark since the 1990-91 team opened with a 13-1 mark.
• With the win, NU is 18-5 in its last 23 games dating back to Feb. 1, 2023
• The Huskers snapped a seven-game losing streak to Indiana dating back to 1999. The 16-point margin was NU’s largest against the Hoosiers since NU’s first win in the series in 1920.
• Nebraska’s 86 points marked the ninth time this season the Huskers scored 80 or more points. NU has now won 16 straight games when scoring 80+ points.
• Keisei Tominaga led NU with a season-high 28 points, including four 3-pointers. It was his third 20-point game of the season and 13th of his career. It was two shy of his season high set last season against Penn State.
• Brice Williams reached double figures for the 12th time this season with 15 points and a career high four steals. His previous nest was three steals set on three other occasions, most recently at Minnesota on Dec. 6. Williams is now five points away from 1,000 for his career.
• Nebraska finished with 15 steals, the second straight game with 15 or more steals. In addition to Williams, Jamarques Lawrence also had a career-high four steals in the win.
• Josiah Allick tied his season high with eight rebounds (also vs. Lindenwood).
• C.J. Wilcher with his third straight double-figure effort of the bench with 11 points, all coming in the first half. NU has had at least one double-figure scorer off the bench in 12 of 14 games.
• Nebraska matched its season high with 12 3-pointers in the win (also vs. Cal State Fullerton). It marks the seventh time this season that NU had at least 10 3-pointers.

Indiana Head Coach Mike Woodson 
On playing on the road
“When you go out on the road, you have to play differently than you do at home. You have to defend, you have to rebound, and you can’t turn it over. That was the biggest problem.”

On turnovers and what has been seen in practices
“Well, again, practice has been going pretty well. We preach a lot about not turning the ball over. That’s usually the way to lose basketball games. Over the last two years, we’ve been pretty good in that area. In the last two games, we’ve exploded the other way in terms of turning the ball over. That’s something that somehow, we have to fix it.

On what Nebraska did to turn the ball over
“I think a lot of the time, we were trying to create things that weren’t there. They put two on the ball, and that’s been pretty good for us. When teams put two on the ball, we’re able to pull it and get rid of the ball, and that pass leads to something good. Tonight, we tried to fight the two on the ball and we were throwing it away.”

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On forcing turnovers
“I thought we had great hand activity. That was a big emphasis coming in, trying to really take away their pocket with any of their pick and rolls, and I thought we did a really good job of it. I thought they got off to a good start, I thought they were a little too comfortable early in the game, but we turned that around once we started getting deflections. That got us in transition, that got Keisei loose a little bit. But you know, that’s a very talented team over there that was at the top of our league, so it was a really good complete win for us. I use the word consistency with our group. We talked about that from the day we got back from the break. I thought tonight was about as consistent as we have been for 40 minutes. We had a complete game. Shared the ball. Had eight turnovers. This is certainly a step in the right direction after the last couple of games. And I thought we had good movement on the offensive end, and got the ball to the right guy. It was great to see Keisei (Tominaga) get it going. I love that his family was in the building. It’s a special thing being away from his family for as long as he has the last few years.  For them to witness this event, I told them they need to find a place over here. He seems to be pretty good when they’re in the building. And then Rienk’s (Mast) parents were able to be here as well. The thing you have to understand about Rienk is that he had his surgery done the day after the Kansas State game and he’s really had a day and a half of practice. For him to go out there and probably play a few more minutes than we would have liked just because of the foul trouble, and the communication we had with the medical staff. He didn’t have a limit on his minutes per se, but we wanted to try to get him in and out as much as possible. We got him out of there early. That was by design. With the foul trouble in the first half, we had to have him out on the floor. He just does so much for us with his versatility on both ends. For the most part, I thought just the consistency. C.J. (Wilcher) going out and we did a great job finding him. Unfortunately, he went down with back spasms in the second half, but from start to finish I was really pleased with the effort that our guys gave.”

On the Impact of C.J. (Wilcher)
“Yeah, C.J. has been unbelievable for us. You look back at that North Dakota game we were in, and we were in trouble, and C.J. was the one guy that was making shots for us in that first half that kept us really in striking distance. You see him go out there tonight, without C.J. we didn't have a nine or ten point lead at halftime. He's just one of those guys right now that shoots balls with a lot of confidence. It was good to see him get it going again tonight and I hated that he got the back spasms because he was on his way to do a really good overall game. But you know, I just love the way C.J. is playing right now. I like the confidence that he's playing with. You got the floor over there in the right corner on the other end in front of Indiana's bench, but you know, he's doing a lot of things for us right now.”

On the importance of setting the tone and coming out the gate in the second half
“We talked a lot about that. We had a couple games, Creighton, Minnesota where it did not go our way, and it's been a big thing that we've talked about with our guys going out and trying to set the tone either getting back into a game or extending a lead. Tonight, to get it up to 15 right away and force a timeout, that was an important stretch. You hate to go out there and they score the first three buckets now you call a timeout, and they get confident, and they get a little swagger going, and now you're fighting uphill, but I was proud of our guys for coming out of the locker room and really played good aggressive basketball in that second half and really for the entire 20 minutes.”

Senior Guard Keisei Tominaga
On his play in the second half and finding his rhythm
“Once I started making the shots, I started moving well too. It’s what makes me special. I also have to start from the beginning. Once I get in rhythm, I have 100 percent confidence.”

On how special it was for his family to be in attendance
“It was awesome with my family here to show them a big win against Indiana. That was awesome.

Senior Forward Josiah Allick
On the overall defensive performance
“Coach had been telling us all week and we were aware that this was the best test we will have in terms of a team trying to win the game in the paint. We knew right away that everyone was going to be attacking us inside. They got an all-conference level big and extremely talented. Their four-man too. I knew I was going to have a big responsibility so coming into this game, I knew me and Rienk (Mast) were really going to have to set the tone in order for us to get any momentum going. Like obviously, we got out to a little bit of a slow start in the game where they were getting some easy ones, but then once everyone kind of got going and figured it out, it kind of got our offense fired up. That’s when he (Keisei) started going crazy. He had some amazing defensive plays himself, but every game I go into I’m just locked in on my defensive assignments and let the rest of the stuff figure itself out.”

On Keisei Tominaga
“One of the things that makes Keisei so special is that he can have a series of games where he hasn’t been like he was tonight, but the thing is you can’t ever go into a game thinking you can game plan around somebody else because as soon as you give him an ounce of confidence or space, you have to risk something like tonight happening, where he just takes over and then you’re basically SOL. Tonight he got to show what he is capable of with flashes of last year so I’m happy that it was against Indiana, a team where we really needed it. He’s out of town.”