Postgame Notes

• Nebraska has now won 16 straight games at home dating back to last season.
• Nebraska’s 96 points was a season high (86 vs. FDU) and the most since scoring 100 points in a four OT loss at NC State on Dec. 1, 2001. It was NU’s highest total in regulation since scoring 110 against Doane on Dec. 17, 2020.
• Connor Essegian finished with a career-high 29 points, bettering his previous career best of 24 against Michigan on Feb. 26, 2023, when he was at Wisconsin. It marked his third career 20-point game and first as a Husker. Essegian’s 29 points were the most by a Husker this season.
• Essegian set career bests in both 3-pointers (six) and assists (five). His six 3-pointers was the most by a Husker since Rienk Mast had six against Ohio State on Jan. 23, 2024.
• Essegian’s five assists were a career high, as his previous best was three on two previous occasions, most recently on Dec. 6, 2022
• Essegian’s 29 points is the most by a Husker off the bench since at least 2004. It is the ninth time under Hoiberg that a Husker reserve scored at least 20 points.  It was the fifth time this season that a Husker reserve reached double figures.
• Nebraska finished with a season-high 13 3-pointers, including 10 in the first half. NU’s previous season high was seven.
• Nebraska posted its fifth double-digit run of the season, as Brice Williams had 10 of his 21 in the spurt.
• Nebraska’s 24 assists was a season high and most since dishing out 25 assists in the win over Doane in 2020. The last time Nebraska recorded 20 or more assists was against Indiana last season in the Big Ten Tournament.  NU posted a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio with 24 assists and 12 turnovers.
• Nebraska finished with 10 steals, the fourth time in six games with double-digit steals.
• Brice Williams reached double figures for the 10th straight game dating back to last season with his 21-point effort. It is the longest stretch of his career. Williams has three 20-point games this season and six in NU’s last nine games dating back to last season.
• The 54 first-half points is the most since scoring 54 against Doane on Dec. 17 2020, most vs. D-1 team since scoring 55 in the first half against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 6, 2018.
• It was the 10th time under Fred Hoiberg where Nebraska scored at least 50 first-half points.
• Braxton Meah (12 points on 6-of-6 shooting) and Sam Hoiberg (nine points) also finished with season highs in points
• Nebraska got 51 points from its bench in the win.

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg

On defensive struggles
“We have to play with that edge. I didn’t think we had the same edge that we had the other night in Omaha, and we have to find a way to get that back. We're playing a really, really good basketball team on Sunday that is second in the nation in three pointers made right now and we have to be better. We have to have better hands, we have to have better attention to detail, our closeouts have to be more on point, and we have to get that back and sustain that for the rest of the season.”

On successful shooting night
“It's a confidence builder. You see what happens when the first couple go down, it's the domino effect that goes on to the rest of the team. It’s just a confidence builder. And Connor (Essegian), I thought our guys did a good job finding him. Brice (Williams) hit the one in transition, and that’s what happens, you get a little heat check there after you make a few. I just thought our guys were on point in the press offense and we wanted to play with numbers and keep our spacing on the back end of it. I thought our guys did a great job of that. The North Florida game, we’re going to see quite a bit of zone, and hopefully this confidence will carry over to Sunday. You have to go into games trying to find what you can do to expose a certain defense. Tonight it was getting out fast, the other night against Creighton we wanted to slow it down and control the tempo, so just based on the opponent, that will determine the tempo and the pace that you want to play with.” 

On the team’s mentality
“It’s been a good week for us obviously with the Creighton win. Last year, we had a game that we won on the road at Kansas State, and we followed that up against North Dakota and they were up 16 on us in the first half. We talked a lot about that the last couple days, so I really did like our start. I thought we had the right mentality going into it, I thought we did a good job going out there and playing with energy, and playing with physicality. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put them away, again we have to keep that edge for 40 minutes. That being said, there were a lot of positives in this game tonight. We’re going to enjoy tomorrow, a lot of them will be over at my house for Thanksgiving, and then we’ll get back to work on Friday and have a two day prep for an early game on Sunday. We have a lot of work ahead of us for a really good basketball team.”

Junior guard Connor Essegian

On knowing when it was going to be a big night
“Honestly, I wasn’t really sure. I just let the game come to me again. Just playing. We knew this defense was going to trap a little bit. There was going to be a lot of kickout stuff. Credit to the guys for being able to find open looks. It was good to be able to get the big fella (Braxton Meah) going too, being able to find him and getting him to go to the basket.” 

On offensive success
“It definitely doesn’t hurt to have a night like this for the team. To be able to score 96 points as a team is pretty good. It definitely boosts a lot of guys, the energy is going into it with that. We really have got to lock in on the defensive side of things. If we can score but we can’t defend, it usually doesn’t end very well.” 

On South Dakota’s defensive pressure
“We’ve seen a defense like that before. It got to us a little bit before so we’re going to go back and we’re going to learn from it. The second half we did way better, I think Coach (Hoiberg) said we only had two turnovers in the second half. Being able to build off that, looking at what we were able to do right and what we did wrong and comparing the two is going to be huge for us to really lock in. We have a good team coming in here for our next game.” 

On sharing the ball being a focus
“Just trusting each other. Having a trust that we build between each other in practice just playing together and going against the scout team, and just moving the ball and sharing the ball, and finding a love for each other in succeeding. That definitely helps when you’ve got a team that wants each other to succeed and assists just happen naturally, and playing together happens naturally.”

Senior center Braxton Meah

On knowing about any advantages going into the game
“It wasn’t anything particular. Teammates were finding me, I was getting open on the cuts, pick and rolls, it was to my teammates basically. They're the ones who did it.”

On slip screens and rolling to the paint being apart of the game plan
“Yeah, kind of. You saw when B.K. (Berke Buyuktuncel) was in, they would double, the big would help a lot.”

On comfortability in offensive role now
“It took a minute trying to understand everything. There’s a lot Coach Hoiberg puts into his system, so it just took me a little while to figure it out. We’re getting there.” 

South Dakota Head Coach Eric Peterson

On the halftime deficit
“The hard part going into that game was that they were number two in the country in getting to the free throw line. All they wanted to do was drive it, try to get fouled, and get to the rim. They haven’t shot like that all year and if they do they are going to win a lot of games. So we had to make an adjustment obviously. Letting #0 get going hurt us, he should not have 29 points. I thought he played great, but he’s a shooter so we have to be there on the catch and we have to challenge shots. We didn’t do that, we let him get going, we played against him when he was at Wisconsin our first year. We have to do a better job on him and I thought #4 and #9 going down for them really hurt them, those are two good players, two starters for them. It just felt like the same thing with Iowa, we were making baskets but we just couldn’t get back in the game, and I think we cut it to 12, and it's frustrating. You hold them to 42 in the second half, and you do that in the first half, you make a couple free throws, it’s a different game. We just didn’t have a great start. The first 9 to 11 minutes weren’t great and we adjusted. Now in league play, we can't have games where the first nine minutes, we’re not showing up. They’re a good team, they’re a Big Ten team obviously, but I have high expectations for us too and expect us to be in the game.”

On Chase Forte
“When your point guard doesn’t show up like he should, that’s an issue. He was -25 in the first half. I just didn’t think he was with us. I challenged him at halftime, told him he wasn’t going to start the second half, and he had to play better. At the end of the day, what I told him is that he has to believe in himself. I believe in him. A light switched on and he was great for us in the minutes he played in the second half. I didn’t play him much in the first half because he wasn’t very good. You earn your playing time. Could’ve gone a lot of different ways. I praised him in the locker room after the game. I just told him I’m proud of him. He’s a senior and he’s a tough kid. I think he took that personally.”