Nebraska Postgame Notes vs. New Hampshire

*-Nebraska improved to 13-0 on the season, extending the best start in school history, and has won a school-record 17 straight games dating back to last season.

*-Nebraska completed non-conference play with a 11-0 record, the first time since the 1928-29 season that NU went unbeaten in non-conference action in the regular season.

*-Nebraska improves to 31-2 in regular-season non-conference action over the past three seasons.

*-Nebraska held New Hampshire to just 15.4 percent shooting in the second half, including 0-of-15 from 3-point range. UNH did not have a field goal for the first 10+ minutes of the second half. On the night, UNH shot 32.1 percent, the sixth time in the last seven games NU held its opponent under 40 percent shooting.

*-Pryce Sandfort led NU with 19 points, the seventh time he has paced the Huskers in scoring this season.

*-Ugnius Jarusevicius made his Husker debut on Tuesday, finishing with seven points, two rebounds and two blocked shots in 10:31 of action. He checked in for the first time this season at the 13:55 mark of the first half

*-Sam Hoiberg grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, topping his previous high of seven set five previous times, most recently against New Mexico on Nov. 20

*- Nebraska had runs of 11-0 and 12-0 in the second half and now has 16 kill shots (10-0 runs) this season.

*-Nebraska set season bests in both free throws made (27) and attempted (35). The 27 made free throws was the most since Nov. 22, 2023 when NU went 28-of-31 against Duquesne.

Senior Guard Sam Hoiberg
On offensive adjustments
“We didn’t have much adjus0tments on offense. We scored 41 points in the first half so we were more focused on defense. Our game goal is to keep them under 8 threes and they made 8 in the first half so we really locked in on defense, and I think that kind of took care of itself. There wasn’t a huge adjustment offensively, just keep the ball moving and keep getting to the foul line which we did well but it was mainly on the defensive side where we adjusted. 

On defensive adjustments
“Just got to pressure them, make it tough. They were moving the ball quicker then we were moving. We had to rotate better, just make their threes tough, they were getting too many open looks.” 

Senior Forward Ugnius Jaruševičius
On getting back on the court
“It felt good. It's been a while since I’ve got to play basketball. But I enjoy as much as I can, nothing’s promised so I try to enjoy as much as I can.”

On first substitution into the game and the standing ovation
“It was great. Trying to enjoy as much as I can. I missed a lot of games. Try to soak in all the experience I can. It feels amazing playing with a  big crowd, 14 thousand people here today. Just grateful. 

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
On a tough shooting night and getting downhill
“That was a big part of the game plan. They do a good job, when you look at their analytics, at taking away the three, and we really stress to our guys to get downhill and get paint touches. I thought we had some good looks again. We're just not shooting the ball great right now. I'm confident that we're going to take the lid off. This team shoots it too well. Just need to get a little more confident from outside. That being said, I really was proud of how the guys attacked and got to the line 18 times in the first half when the ball wasn't going in the basket. That was the big question people had about this team is, could you win ugly, rock-fight type of game. I think we've shown we've been very efficient inside the arc, and we're gonna have to continue to do that. And it's only going to get tougher with the size of the of the teams we’re playing against. So just, keep hunting it, working on that confidence, and those shots are going to fall. But I was really pleased when you look at what we did in the paint tonight, getting to the free throw line 35 times. We had to do on a night where the ball wasn't going in from the outside.”

On message on focusing tonight
“Believe me, we stressed that they had to be focused. Coming into this one, that New Hampshire team has played three of its best games of the season. Their last three, including their last one against St Louis, who is top 30 in the NET. They had a two possession game with a couple minutes left. So we knew coming into this one, if we took them lightly, we'd be in a hell of a battle at the end. You saw what they did in the first half. They make eight threes. I thought our urgency on our closeouts was much better. I thought our rotations were crisper in the second half. They made eight threes in the first shot 47%, they shot 15% in the second half, and that was all because of the urgency that our guys showed on that end. I thought our hand activity was really good in forcing turnovers and in getting out in the break. And then the other thing in the first half, we're taking the ball out of the net. We didn't have as much flow. And then in the second half, we really got it going in transition, either when we turned them over or got it off the board. And then I was really happy with our offensive rebounding.”

On Ugnius Jarusevicius’ first game of the year 
“He (Ugnius Jarusevicius) shook a lot of rust off tonight, and it was good to get him back out there in the second half. He was ready. He felt great. And it was good to see him knock down that three and have a couple nice takes to the basket. We're going to need him (Jarusevicius). You know, Leo (Curtis) gave us good minutes, even though it's only a couple minutes, those are very valuable for him. We're going to need that size and length. Michigan State's big, big, big. A lot of times (Coen) Carr at the three, and then they've generally got two bigs in there at all times, and all are very skilled. That's the theme. That's what we're going to see every night for the remaining 18 games of our schedule. I'm proud of our guys for accomplishing something that hasn't been done in this program, I think, since the 1920s. To go out there and now put this behind us and start focusing on the next one. It's going to be a mental day tomorrow. We've been doing a lot of rebounding drills in preparation for what's for what's ahead.”

 

New Hampshire Head Coach Nathan Davis

On the gameplan for Nebraska defensively

“First of all, let me say, they’re really good. Obviously we wanted to guard at the three point line. That was a big deal, with half their shots coming from three. They shoot at a high percentage, that was a focus. At the same time, I do think they probably missed some of them that they normally make. But I do think our guys did a pretty good job of trying to get out there. 

 

On playing in this environment

“Overall, the more experience we’ve had, the better we’ve been. Especially with having nine new guys, one guy in the rotation that played at all last year. Learning new roles and stuff we’re just trying to build on. Playing at a place like Clemson, playing St. Louis a couple of weeks ago. We played at Providence, we showed we’re capable of competing. But against teams like this, it’s really hard because they’re really good and they take advantage of mistakes you make. They’re well prepared. They obviously adjusted in the second half. They were really trying to run us off the line. They’re big and athletic and give them a lot of ground.”