Nebraska Postgame Quotes: Nov. 6

Nebraska Coach Tim Miles
Opening Statement
"First of all I thought Coach (Brad) Bigler and his team did an outstanding job. They came out, and they were much looser and aggressive. They did a great job of defensively. Terran wasn't going to get driving lanes and they tried to muck it up for Shavon early on. They did a really nice job of their game plan and knew exactly who they needed to stop. We were still trying to figure out numbers because they had six new guys out there. We went and started trapping them and that stopped the bleeding for a while. We kept chess-matching it and did a really good job of matching their guys to ours. I really thought we only had two guys who took rhythm shots all night and that was David Rivers and Tai Webster. Although Shavon got 29 I thought it was a jerky 29. I really compliment Brad and  Southwest Minnesota State on the job they did tonight."

On Walter Pitchford
"Walt [Walter] had a good mindset he just didn't want to take bad shots. I kind of refused to run a lot of actions for him. I made them run a bunch of different offenses so I didn't really help him out.”

On Tai Webster's performance tonight
"He has looked that way all fall, too. I think the World Cup games really helped him. I thought Pettaway really helped him out too. He looked like that guard that we always thought he could be, and I think he could play both the one or two spot. But you can see why we think he can play some two guard tonight."

On what to take away from tonight
"It was a good learning experience. We knew they were going to have a young team, but we also knew they were going to get a smart team who was going to know their stuff. You know what you are going to get when you play Brad and Southwest State. I just commend those guys on tonight. They were having a lot of fun today, they came out loose and ready to play. While our guys were really serious. They were quite in the locker room and maybe too serious. Matt Davison asked me, "Who is going to be the voice when things go bad?" Which is a good question because Shavon thinks a lot and Terran gets frustrated. But I think it is our team defense. Once our team defense got really solid, that is when things started to turn around for us. That is good because we know our calling card and we know what it has to be."

On Terran's performance
"I will have to watch the tape and look at his shots. Now I also didn't do much for him tonight. I tried to make him figure it out for himself. So we will have to talk about those decisions. I thought we were better because our halfcourt defense got better."

On David Rivers' consistency
"There is no doubt David has done a great job at his role. He doesn't require any attention and he is a teammate that is always there for you, always picking everybody up. He isn't afraid to take an open look. He knows which shots he can take and make. He is really active. He is the one guy who will always make efforts on the glass. We have to get Moses Abraham going that way too."

On his relationship with head coach Brad Bigler
"I told him he did a great job. I am proud of the way he coached his team. I just thought he coached an excellent game. Brad is so grounded in the right things, he has been through so much on a personal level that he has his guys right where he wants them. I admire him and respect him, as a kid who played for us and as a coach."

Junior Guard/Forward Shavon Shields

On his injury
“I’m good. I bruised it pretty good, but other than that I’m fine.”

On what Head Coach Tim Miles said at halftime
“Our shots weren’t falling. We held them at under a point per possession, which was kind of our goal, but we weren’t getting out the shooters. We were kind of out of sync on offense. It was our first time back playing all together and playing in front of a crowd. We just need to play with more urgency and execute more and get better shots. But we kind of got it going and picked up our sense of urgency in the second half.”

On what the team learns from the exhibition games
“Playing different people than the ones you play in practice. In practice they’re absolutes on defense and stuff like that. They kind of threw us a different look. Terran (Petteway) was hesitating, I was hesitating, Walt (Walter Pitchford) was hesitating. I think the only two or three that weren’t hesitating were Benny (Parker) Tai (Webster) and Dave (David Rivers). So they just kind of threw a little wrinkle in there that we weren’t used to. We just have to adapt to it and not let frustration get the best of us. I mean in the exhibition you have to learn from it. Like any exhibition, you have to learn from it. It’s good that we got the win. We know what we need to do. See what we need to do. We just have to go from here.”

Sophomore Guard Tai Webster
On if he has worked on letting the ball go more
“Definitely. Especially during the summer. I just put up thousands of shots. Every day just different situations. Hopefully I can transfer that over this season.”

On his confidence level after he makes a few shots
“They were kind of staying off of me toward the start of the game. Once one or two went in though, you just notice they start to come off on you. It just opens up driving lanes and passing lanes for other people, too.”

Southwest Minnesota State Head Coach Brad Bigler
Opening Statement:
“First of all, thanks for being here. When we get these opportunities from a Division II standpoint, it’s just very nice to have this opportunity for our guys. I’m very thankful for Coach (Tim) Miles for letting us come over here. I’m very blessed and appreciative of everything he’s done, not only for myself but also for our university. And just the overall support he’s given and the difference that he’s made on our campus while he was there. So I’m very thankful, appreciative and just happy to be here.”

On the difference between the first and second half
“I don’t know. I think they might have put something in the Gatorade. We got a little nervous in that second half. But that’s okay. We have a lot of young guys on our team and a lot of guys in new roles. It was an opportunity for them to face some adversity. We’ll get better from it. There is a lot of easy corrections. There will be big payoffs later with that. It’s okay. Nebraska is obviously a very talented and athletic team. They woke up a little bit for the second half and got a lot of turnovers for touchdowns as I like to call it. They really did what they were supposed to do.”