Nebraska vs. Michigan State Notes

Notes
*-Terran Petteway has a season-high 32 points, topping his 27-point effort at Wisconsin on Jan. 15. It was his third 30-point effort of his career. 
*-Tai Webster tied his season high with 13 points off the bench. He also had 13 against Central Arkansas on Nov. 18
*-Today marked the fifth time this season that both Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields scored at least 20 points. NU is 4-1 in those games.
*-Leslee Smith, who made his first start of the season and second of his career, had season bests in points (seven), rebounds (seven) and minutes (30). Smith’s 30 minutes today was a career high. 
*-Nebraska’s 79 points is the Huskers’ highest scoring game since putting up 80 points on Omaha on Nov. 25.
*-The Huskers set season highs in free throws made (29) and attempted (37).
*-Nebraska had 17 points off the bench, which was its highest total since Dec. 10.
*-Michigan State’s 77 points in the highest totaled allowed by the Huskers this season, topping the 74 points by Incarnate Word on Dec. 10. MSU is only the second team to score more than 70 points against the Huskers.

Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles

On atmosphere

“The atmosphere in Pinnacle Bank Arena was is always good, but in January and February when we get Big Ten opponents, it’s phenomenal. Our fans are so great and certainly tonight with the cause and the Harriman family, especially Avery. The strength and resolve they’ve shown and the lessons they’ve shown our players. It was such a neat night”

On Walter Pitchford

“I thought Walt (Pitchford) deserved to get kicked out. After seeing it, he made a mistake. I know he’s sorry for that mistake, but you don’t do that. That’s uncalled for. Walt will learn from that.”

On his thoughts moving forward

“I’m very happy. We’ve done a nice job at home since the Indiana game. We’ve played really tough. I think our offense is getting better. We made our free throws when it mattered.”

On Tai Webster’s attitude change

“What I see is Tai (Webster) playing his butt off. I thought he used to play with a little bit of cool to him, and you can’t be cool and play. Unfortunately, he worked his way out of the rotation. I told him ‘you have to figure out what works for you, and until then, you aren’t playing.’ He’s playing his butt off and that’s what matters.”

On Leslee Smith’s increased playing time

“I thought his energy was okay. He had to come out only once. We’ll just see how sore he is tomorrow.”

On progress

“I’m never sure what to expect, so we’re just going to keep working hard, put our nose to the grindstone and overcome any obstacle that comes in our way and just not let it affect us.”

On getting outrebounded

“We got them in some other areas. We got to the foul line more because they fouled, but we were going to get there anyway. We turned them over a little bit more. We shot the ball better.”

Avery Harriman
On what he thought of the win tonight 
“It was great. I saw many “Avery” shirts, I was so impressed by it. I couldn’t believe everyone wore my shirts, but I was so proud. Thanks for everyone for wearing my shirts.”

On what was going through his head when the crowd chanted “Avery Strong” during the pregame introductions.
“My head says… It about exploded.”

Nebraska Players Tai Webster, Terran Petteway, and Shavon Shields 
On the student section and the emotion behind the game
Shields: “I think in general the crowd was great tonight. It just added that extra “umpf” that it was his (Avery) night. It was great to support him and his family and all that they have been through. That was a little added “umpf” tonight and energy, so it was really nice.”

On having Coach Tim Miles laying out to the team that this game would be a big game in getting the team to the NCAA tournament
Petteway: “Yes sir, we don’t really like him (Tim Miles) to sugar coat anything so once it’s like that we know what our job is. We have to come out and execute and that is what we did tonight and we got the win.”

On if this is the way they want to play as a team and can play
Petteway: “I guess you could say that. But we were just out there doing what coach told us. Walt (Walter Pitchford) went out early so we knew we had to bring energy and guys came off the bench again like Tai (Webster) and gave us great minutes again. So hopefully we can take that to Michigan and get another win.”

On how it changed things with David Rivers and Walter Pitchford out of the game
Petteway: “The bench play had to be big that night. We couldn’t have just me, Shavon or just our starting five scoring or whatever you want to call it. They came in and gave us great minutes. Tai hit a big three and then Smitty (Tarin Smith) came in and played his butt off so that was good.”

On his confidence in the last couple of games
Webster: “Just accepting the role that I have. It was just an attitude adjustment for me, just accepting and taking everything that I can get and working as hard as I can and always trying to be the hardest working player on the court no matter what it is. The most rebounds or whatever. Work as hard as I can and hopefully the game will come through.”

On if the attitude change started in the last game against Minnesota 
Webster: “Yeah definitely. Coach told me to establish myself on defense. I just tried to bring big intensity with the defense and do what I can.”

On keeping a positive mindset
Webster: “It’s tough. It has actually been a really tough experience for me. That is definitely something new. Like I said, I’m having a lot of fun now. I’ve had more fun now than I’ve ever had playing basketball at the moment. But I mean it has been tough to keep a positive mindset but I’ve been working hard during games to keep a positive mindset and work it out later.”

On the importance of the playing that came from the bench
Shields: “They were huge. Leslee (Smith) was aggressive on both ends of the floor and gave us great minutes. You could kind of tell in practice the previous weeks they have been kind of behind just trying to catch back up. I think they are finally starting to get there. They really helped us tonight.”

On what happened when Michigan State was able to get back in the game for a while
Petteway: “We started fouling and in the first half we didn’t foul at all, and they started knocking down three’s so that really ignited the run that they went on and that is how they got back into the game.”

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening Statement 

"Back in the first half, Pettetway came down and that is what he does, he hits them in succession--he hit two tough shots. They weren't guarded, but they were long shots. Give him credit--that kind've broke it open. When you have 11 turnovers, and you miss 11 free throws and at least one front end of a one and one, you just aren't going to win on the road against good teams. Unfortunately. I thought when (Pitchford) got ejected, it was a strange game, with the fouls and the things that went on. Here is a team that shoots 62 percent (in Big Ten play), you have to give them a lot of credit because they made every free throw and shot their best percentage of the year. We did a helluva job on the boards considering they started to bring in more size in the lane. Dawson did a great job, Trice was put in a situation where he had to take a lot of shots because Valentine was in foul trouble much of the first half. They deserved to win it, and they deserved to win it more than they did. I think the positive I take out of this game for me---there was none. If I really stretch my imagination, I guess I would say that we never quit and came back and found a way to make it a game." 

On foul trouble in first half, if he considered subbing players back in

"I would have, but Valentine was struggling so much, I had him out but we were just missing wide open shots. It was wide-left and wide-right, the way Petteway can drive, I just didn't have enough people to guard him. So maybe I could have, if you look at it, as you look, Valentine still played 28 minutes. I had Dawson in there, I had Trice in there, just about the whole way. It was really only Dawson, and I definitely couldn't do that with my bigs. Even Colby, he goes up there and he is a very good free throw shooter, and he bricks two free throws. Maybe I second guessed, that but wasn't something I thought about too be honest with you." 

On why he thought the Pitchford ejection effected his team. 

"I just thought in a little way it energized them, and the calls went different after that, I think they normally do. We had a gameplan going in with him, nothing major, just we didn't respond I think. I think those big guys did a better job of setting picks. Yet the whole thing came down to our offense, missing shot after shot that were good shots and turning the ball over that they get layups off of. Missing free throws was big also. You can't do that on the road and win.. I don't know how we scored 77 points with all the missed, all the bad turnovers and all the missed free throws." 

On cutting the deficit down to under 10, then Shields and Petteway's run

"They were difficult to deal with, but as somebody said there was some tendencies that we picked up on that we did not cover. I just don't know why that happened, but I thought the most impressive thing was when they went to the line at the end, this is a team--Petteway is shooting 44 percent in the league. Give him credit, as a team they are shooting 63  percent and when in time, you learn something about the character of your team when you can step up to the line and make big shots. Give them credit they did." 

On the second half comeback, does that make the first half that more frustrating 

"It makes the first half more frustrating, What really has been frustrating is we have practiced good, felt good about our preparation, felt good about our mindset our guys had. As soon as a couple things go wrong for a couple of these guys, they look very unconfident. Valentine should never do that because he works harder than any player I have ever coached. So your confidence should never be rattled when that happens. If you have a scorers’ mentality and you don't make shots, it affects the team. To his credit, he did bounce back in the second half. He had 11 points and some rebounds. If you look at his stat line you thought he had a helluva game, without those turnovers. That is the thing, in the first half with 11, four or five turnovers led to layups. Makes those shooting percentages go up higher." 

On turnovers, was it the atmosphere, energy, etc, 

"I think it was a great atmosphere, and let me say one thing, I just got the chance to meet Avery and I commend all of you that are involved in this incredible thing. We went through something, similar, with a girl named Lacey (Holsworth), that kind of touched the hearts of the world by the time we got done. What you were doing for Chris, That is phenomenal. That was awesome, but did that bother us? I thought the problem was mental toughness on our part. We have played everywhere in the world with this program, that is not a shot at Nebraska, this arena was really good. I don't think that had to do with it, I think it was more of our mental makeup which I am disappointed with.