Postgame Notes

• Nebraska improved to 3-0 for the first time under Fred Hoiberg.
• The Huskers had their longest run of the season in the second half, using a 17-0 run to pull away after Rider had cut the lead to 47-46. Nebraska has had double-figure scoring runs in each of its first three games (10-0 vs. Lindenwood; 12-0 vs. FAMU, 17-0 vs. Rider)
• Nebraska held Rider scoreless for a 9:11 stretch in the second half. The Huskers forced the Broncs into 12 consecutive missed shots during the scoreless stretch.
• The Huskers out-rebounded Rider, 47-34. Nebraska posted a +13 advantage on the glass against a Rider squad that ranked 37^th nationally in rebounding margin last season.
• Rienk Mast posted his second straight double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. It is his 22nd career double-double (20 at Bradley; 2 at Nebraska) and second straight as a Husker.
• C.J. Wilcher led Nebraska with 13 points, including 11 in the first half. Wilcher also grabbed five rebounds, one shy of his career high.
• Josiah Allick had 10 points, his second double-figure scoring effort in the first three games.
• Keisei Tominaga scored nine points in his season debut, after he missed the Huskers’ first two games. Tominaga hit consecutive 3-pointers to trigger Nebraska’s 17-0 spurt.

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg:

On what he learned about the team’s fight and resilience
“Well, the biggest thing, as I told the guys, the message in the locker room was, every night, defense has to be our constant, and we’ve talked about that all year. There are going to be nights where the ball does not go in the hoop, like tonight, and you have to be able to continue to guard on that other end. You can’t drop your head. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You gotta keep going out there and defending at a high level, and that’s exactly what our guys did. I believe it was nine minutes where we held them without a point, and Keisei hit the two threes to take the lid off the basket, and then, I think we went on a 17-0 run after that. Defensively, I was really proud of our guys for continuing to go out there and battle. It’s not easy. I'm telling you from experience. When the ball doesn’t go in the hole, to be able to have the mindset to continue to defend, continue to communicate. It's a physical team. We knew we were going to get a battle on the glass, and this team outrebounded Marquette the other night, and I thought we did a great job of hitting first, creating that rebound area and going up and finishing the possession with two hands.”

On the challenges of Rider’s defense
“We saw some of it the other night in the game last week where they were swarming it, and we didn’t take very good care of the ball. We did a great job in our first game of limiting contested rim twos. We got back to taking those again tonight. When you are in there getting your shot blocked that’s going to fuel transition going the other way. We have to be better decision makers. We are over-penetrating. When we are getting in there our decision-making you know Rienk (Mast) tried to Magic Johnson behind the back with a behind the head pass rather than just going up and finishing and taking the layup. Those are things we need those points you know we have to get them in a close game. Every one of those matters. We need to grow and get better in those areas. Jamarques (Lawrence) made a great play in the second half that fast break layup that got us with his pace going down the floor. Those are the possessions we need. Into the paint come to a jump stop, make the right play and finish with a basket.”

On Keisei Tominaga’s threes sparking the scoring run
“That’ll show you Keisei’s confidence. You get that thing from behind the backboard in that corner over there after missing the previous four or five in a row that were open so for him to continue to hunt his shot, for guys to continue to look for him, that’s a play we put in this morning against their zone baseline out and it was good to see our guys execute it.”

Nebraska Player Quotes:
On the scoring run in the last nine minutes
C.J. Wilcher: “I think part of it is just rotations and talking and rebounding ultimately. Thinking about that last stretch, we were able to string together a few rebounds and get out in transition and Keisei (Tominaga) hit a couple threes towards the end of his time being in the game so I think that just gave us a little spark and we just kept it going from there.”

On Wilcher’s performance when starting vs. coming off the bench
C.J. Wilcher: “I don’t think anything really changes. My role stays the same. Just come in, make shots and be solid on defense. Be a leader.”

On leaning on the defense when shots aren’t falling
Jamarques Lawrence: “We knew like tonight we didn’t shoot the ball well. That team was really solid on offense too so we were just not worried about offense, it was just a heavy defensive night for us so just really focusing on that.”

On facing an aggressive defense
C.J. Wilcher: “I think a lot of it is playing on two feet. They swarm when we got into the paint. They’re very handsy and aggressive on the ball so I think it was just playing on two feet and sticking to our offensive principles like pull behind and playing off two and pump fakes, just being consistent in those things. I feel like I’m very redundant in the few words I say with being consistent and things like that but it’s really that. Coaches harp on those things.”

On preparing for a lot of games in this stretch of the season
Jamarques Lawrence: “I would just say staying locked in. Stony Brook, one day to prepare so just staying locked in with whoever we play. I think we just get better consistently at our principles. What can we do better? Focusing in on ourselves, I think that’s big.”

Rider Coach Kevin Baggett
On initial takeaways
“We played a whole hell of a lot better than we played in the Marquette game the other night. Gave up some costly threes when the game was in the balance. I'm encouraged by our guys. I thought we battled with some calls out there that could have gone our way, hope they had gone our way. We gotta box out better because they started to go over and get some offensive rebounds which kind of blew the lead a little bit.” 

On having a seasoned lineup and what to expect moving forward
“We just have to continue to play as a team. You know, the veterans understand what we're trying to do. We got to bring the other new guys and young guys along and again, we're gonna get better as time goes on. That's why we play these games. We’re better tonight then we were the other night. So I just want to see our guys continue to get better to get to league play.”