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Notes:
*-Tonight’s attendance of 15,987 is the second-largest crowd at Pinnacle Bank Arena
*-Walter Pitchford set career bests in points (19) and 3-pointer (6). His previous career high in points was 18 at Michigan State on Feb. 16, 2014.
*-Terran Petteway’s eight assists is a career high (previous high was four at Northwestern on Feb. 8, 2014) and the most by a Husker since Bo Spencer had nine against Central Michigan on Dec. 20, 2011.
*-Nebraska’s 10 3-pointers was a season best and the most since hitting 11 against Minnesota on Jan. 26, 2014
*-Nebraska has now 11 straight at home and is 19-1 since moving into Pinnacle Bank Arena.
*-Nebraska’s bench outscored UT Martin, 18-4, including a season high seven points from Moses Abraham.
*-Tarin Smith’s turnover with 10:56 left was his first of the season (73 minutes)
*-Benny Parker tied his career high with nine points against UT Martin
Nebraska Coach Tim Miles
On Walter Pitchford
“He’s really worked hard to get his rhythm shooting. I know Kenya Hunter worked with him, I worked with him, and Kenya saw that he was dropping the ball a little bit and got him to tighten up his release and his shooting pocket. Then we ran some stuff for him early too. I thought that was critical and we got him going.”
On offensive efficiency
“It makes it hard for opponents, no doubt. We had a lot of good things going for a while offensively. I thought both teams looked a little tired. When you look at it, we got the lead then they just started draining the three’s. I really liked what we were doing for a long time on offense. We just still turn it over a little too much.”
On limiting opponents offensive rebounds
"I think that was probably a season low for us. I wasn’t surprised they came back (in the second half), they’ve done that against Arkansas State. They were down 18, came back and won. I thought we did some really good things to build the lead to where it was.”
On Moses Abraham
“He’s doing better and better. You can see his numbers have increased. When he comes in, it’s a significant difference with our defense.”
On playing Florida State Monday
“They’re a physical team. They’re a really aggressive defensive team so I think it’s about being fresh. I like the matchup because it’s going to test how well we handle the ball and how we do against pressure. They’re really well coached. They have a great program. They’ll be ready to go. We love the Big Ten/ACC challenge.
Nebraska Forward Walter Pitchford
On how it felt to get a few to drop tonight
“It really wasn’t any different. All the games that we have won have felt good so far. If the shot drops or not its about the team. It’s us always. That’s where we are at.”
On whether he changed anything with his shot
“Some nights they go in, some nights they don’t. I would have to say just putting a little extra time in at the gym and just making sure to concentrate more for the little things here and there just tweaking the little things. That’s about it though.”
On how big it was to see the first one go down
“It was nice. Everybody always says you shoot the first three. I’m proving them right again. It was a good feeling, obviously. I don’t know how many shots I missed, I don’t concentrate on that. I came in to this game today just to contribute for the team and to this victory. It was great.”
On the three being more open tonight
“We moved the ball really well. The shots that I got my teammates were wide open and they passed up the shot to pass it to me. They were just trying to get me going and I appreciate them. I love those guys.”
On how much better Nebraska is when they’re hitting threes
“It’s another offensive weapon for us. I feel like I am back and ready to contribute. It’s hard for teams, you saw it last year.”
On what he is expecting from the Florida State game
“It’s a tough, physical team. They are going to be ready, and we are going to be ready.
On the focus put on offensive rebounding
“A great deal. You have got to love it. That’s one thing we are working on. You can’t just teach it, it has to be a love inside of you. That’s the big thing at practices. We challenge each other just getting after each others heads for the boards because that’s the way we are going to get better for games.”
Tennessee-Martin Head Coach Heath Schroyer
Opening Statement
“Nebraska is very good. Tim has done a great job since he has gotten here—I've known Tim for a long time, this team plays to his personality. They are disciplined, very talented, a lot of offensive weapons and they really space the floor well. Obviously when Pitchford is hitting threes, they are impossible to guard.”
On shooting, overall
“We have been pretty good offensively so far this season. We have shot 50 percent on the year, and I thought we got pretty good looks tonight, when guys stepped up and made them. Pitchford came out and hit his first three 3's. It makes them really hard to guard when that five-man can start knocking down shots and spreading the floor.”
On the play of Twymond Howard
“Tywmond is a warrior. He has played well all year and just brings a great energy and a great motor to our team and he plays extremely hard. He got into foul trouble in the second half.
On Deville Smith
Deville, we have been waiting for him to kind of break out a little bit. He (Smith) really played well, especially down the stretch when we really needed some of our key guys to come through for us. He (Smith) has been in a big shooting slump up to tonight. It was good to see him find his rhythm offensively and make some really big time baskets.”
On his expectations for the team, in Ohio Valley Conference
“We have to keep getting better. It is one thing for this team that we have done up to this point is we have continued to get better. There is a resiliency with this group. We played hard. We have to just keep getting better at what we do. We have to defend better and this is the first game we were out rebounded, I didn't think we did a good enough job on the glass tonight. We had only five offensive rebounds, and I think that had to do with Nebraska. They did a great job of being physical. I was really impressed with Rivers, I thought he did a great job on the glass for it---it was not as if he was grabbing all the rebounds, he just kept us off the glass.”