Postgame Notes:
• Nebraska snapped an 8-game losing streak against Michigan dating back to the 2017-18 season with its 79-59 victory. Michigan had won 16 of 17 previous meetings dating back to when Nebraska joined the Big Ten

• The win marked the fifth opponent this season that Nebraska snapped a losing streak of seven games or longer (Michigan State (11), Kansas State (7), Indiana (7) and Northwestern (7).

• With the win, the Huskers improved to 17-8, which equals NU’s best 25-game mark since joining the Big Ten (2017-18). The last time NU had a better record thru its first 25 games was in 1991-92 (18-7)

• Keisei Tominaga led the way for the Huskers with 19 points, his 11th game this season with 15+ points. Tominaga had 15 of his 19 points in the first half. He is averaging 19.0 points per game across his last three contests.

• Josiah Allick tied or set season bests in both points (16) and rebounds (eight) in the win. Allick’s previous high point total was 15 against Northwestern while he had eight rebounds on three other occasions.

• The Huskers finished 9-23 from the three-point line against the Wolverines, raising their season total to 237 which is the fifth most in program history in a single season.

• Nebraska had a pair of double figure runs (13-0, 13-0) in the first half and now has 19 double-digit runs this season.

• Rienk Mast had a career-high eight assists, topping his previous best of six set two other times, most recently against Northwestern on Jan. 20

• With the win, Nebraska improves to 15-1 at home, which is the most home wins since going 16-1 in 2017-18.

• Nebraska held Michigan to a season-low 32.3 percent shooting. The Wolverines’ previous slow was 33.8 percent at Purdue

• NU controlled the paint against Michigan, finishing the contest with a 38-18 advantage down low.

 

Michigan Head Coach Juwan Howard:
On defensive effort
“I give Nebraska a lot of credit. They were ready and came out and set the tone early with their offense. They got cuts to the basket and open shots from three, and we just did a poor job defensively. We didn’t come out with the energy and effort in the beginning of the game like we needed, especially being on the road. We gave Nebraska confidence in seeing the ball go through the basket whether it was on paint touches or some of their open threes. Looking at the stat sheet in the first half, Nebraska had 20 points (in the paint) in the first half and that explains that they were the most aggressive team.”

On Nebraska’s performance
“I expected them to come out with the energy and the effort they displayed today. They were playing at home and have had a lot of success here and are playing really good basketball under Coach Hoiberg. When you drop a few games as a coach you get into the lab and start finding out solutions. You ask yourself,’what can you do to get your team ready night in and night out.’ I thought from the beginning of the game they were really good as far as being able to run their actions. We slowed them down a little with our zone but then they came out in the second half and made a few layups against us off of it which was a nice counter. Overall, I wasn’t too pleased with how we played but you have to give Nebraska credit, they did a heck of a job.” 

 

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg Quotes:
On the intensity throughout the game (opening statement)
“Yeah, it’s what it’s supposed to look like. The big lineup paid off. I know it wasn’t very pretty the other night at Northwestern, but I thought Josiah (Allick) was the guy that really brought it early in that game and that first possession, he goes out and gets two offensive rebounds and just soared out there. It was great to see. I thought that really set the tone for the game, when he went out there early and got us those extra possessions. We really challenged him on doing that. We have not been a good obviously offensive rebounding team, and we should be better with Josiah and Juwan (Gary) on the floor together, and I think we got 16 of them out there tonight. Very important when you look at the bottom line, and then I really thought we were sharing it early, and got that thing moving around, and our pace was phenomenal. It was a disappointing end to the first half. We started turning down open shots and trying to go into the crowd and make some circus layups, and that got them right back into the game. The confidence that they built at the end of the half was very dangerous, and instead of finding a way to keep that thing at 30, and there’s no doubt, now it’s 20, and they come out second half, go on a run, and now you’re ten or 12. That thing’s a dogfight, so I was proud of how they came out of the locker room and responded. I think we pushed them to 26 pretty quickly at the beginning of the second half, and then we just kind of held them the rest of the way, but really, really good effort. It’s what we needed, and this off week is coming at a good time for our guys.” 

On Brice Williams in the second half
“He was terrific, and I thought his early energy guarding the ball, we wanted to pick up and apply some pressure, and I thought Brice did a really good job trying to make them uncomfortable and start their offense a little bit further out on the floor. We’ve talked about this. That’s a talented team. Of their 12 league games going into this one, they’ve had a lead at halftime in 10 of them, and Illinois, they were down by one, so this team has been getting of to really good starts, so it was important for us to come out and establish ourselves early, and again, I give our guys a lot of credit for doing that.”

On the first fifteen minutes
“It was a phenomenal stretch of basketball, and I just love the swagger that our guys were playing with. The important thing with what happened to us last week is our guys did a great job responding to adversity, and that’s what this business is all about. We had two tough losses: Illinois in overtime and then got our butts kicked at Northwestern, so to find a way to bounce back, this was a very important game leading into our bye week to come out and get right and do a lot of of really good things and play really solid game of team basketball, and I think we had 18 assists tonight. First half, that thing was popping out there, and it’s certainly something we can build on. We’re playing a completely different team that’s I think 12th in the country in turning teams over, so it’s going to be a tough game, a big game of prep for us, and we’re gonna have to come out and play well because Penn State’s as hot as anybody in our league.”

Brice Williams
On the team’s intensity tonight
“I couldn’t actually sense it. I didn’t know what direction it was going to go energy wise, I just knew we were all focused, and that was the biggest deal all week actually. When tip off happened we were all locked in, the intensity was there, obviously we got up but the tone wasn’t set by our offense it was set by our defense.” 

On Josiah Allick’s impact
“Jo was mad at himself about Northwestern. How he didn’t have any rebounds, so he came out today trying to set the tone. He did. He set the tone for the game on the glass, and then the rest of us kind of followed. Jo had something to prove to himself.”

On the defensive performance tonight
“Just pressuring the ball, I actually know him. Just growing up I used to watch him just because he played for Team Loaded. Just pressuring the ball, getting them out of their offense because if they can walk down and set up where they want to set up then their offense is going to be easy, but if they had to deal with pressure and have eight seconds come off the clock it just speeds up their offense and makes them more antsy.”