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Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles
Opening statement
“I was happy with the guys tonight. I thought they played hard. I thought they established themselves defensively early and did some really good things against some stuff that’s kind of hard to guard. Obviously, we got to their three-point shooters the way we had to because there’s just too many guys out there that will shoot them and can make them. They shot 37 or 38 percent as a team last year. But the whole time I was watching, I kept thinking, “we can get better at this, we can tighten that up,” and I think that’s the encouraging part is that our room for growth and improvement, there’s a lot there. So that’s an encouraging sign for a coach.”
On how he feels about the defense
“We’ve been alright. We’ve been a little soft in practice. We foul a little bit too much, but I thought tonight wasn’t awful. I think we had four offensive fouls, maybe. Illegal screens, three of them for sure, maybe an over-the-back once or twice. So on some of our turnovers, which we had 11, I think at least three or four of those are an offensive fouls.”
"Our ball handling was decent, but truly those three bigs were all fouling and we got to get those guys going, and they’re all young and undersized. That’s an area of concern. We did some unique post doubles I thought tonight that helped because we’re going to have to give those guys some help. But we handled their screen and roll actions pretty good and I was really pleased. Guys were in two places at one time, especially those four upperclassmen, I thought Tai, Andrews, Shavon and Benny.”
On what he saw from Andrew White III tonight
“I was just happy that he went out and he was aggressive and really didn’t do anything he can’t do. He just went out and played and we have an opportunity for him to be that kind of player that he certainly had hoped to be at Kansas, but Kansas brings in NBA after NBA guy. Those guys are good, so we were able to get him into a role where I think he can focus on being a good defender and a really good offensive player.”
On how he thought the freshmen played
“I thought Glynn (Watson Jr.) was really tight. I explained to Glynn how to relax his entire body during one of the timeouts. I don’t know if he was buying it but I thought we needed to deflate the air out of him. Even though he hit a bucket, he just never really settled in, but he will. You can see flashes of him of what we see in him. I thought Ed Morrow performed pretty well. Jack came out, I thought he rushed some shots. Missed two threes that were wide open that he probably shouldn’t have taken and should’ve made the extra pass. That’s the one thing we didn’t do at times and we’ll get better that way. Jake Hammond in the second half I thought looked like the kid we recruited. He was up above the rim on some plays, did some things. Michael Jacobson is still recovering, still not 100% but we have him out there and that was good. Of those younger guys, Morrow did a nice job. And a late game, obviously Jack played volleyball and did alright. One of his airballs I thought he was trying to get an assist, but I don’t think you can do that.”
Junior Guard Tai Webster
On his expanded role for the team tonight
Yeah for sure. Those guys like Shavon and Andrew, we know what we are going to get from them every night. They are great scorers and stuff but they need someone to back them up not only on the defensive end but the offensive end as well.
On Offensive Confidence
“I had a lot more confident, but at the same time I feel like we move the ball around well. I feel like there is more opportunity as well going around for everyone not just myself tonight.”
On Offensive Pace
We were definitely trying to get up and down. We are a pretty small team obviously, and wanted to try to exploit some of those advantages we have and playing faster. I think we are doing a great job moving the ball around.”
On defense
“We knew from the start that they were going to come out shooting, and they are a great shooting team. It just worked for us I mean a couple of those would have went in (early) it could have been a different game.”
Junior Guard Andrew White III
On his overall game
“Regardless of your opponent you got to find something to get better at, something to work on and something to look forward to for the next game. I think our focus today was to finish spurts, like playing four-minute spurts and be as effective as possible in those spurts. The big emphasis was moving the ball, there were a lot of guys that could have gone and got shots individually tonight, but we still wanted to stick to our principles and move the ball and let everybody get involved. I think this game was a good opportunity to see how versatile our team could be. I think we had a pretty balanced effort on scoring and defensive end tonight, which is encouraging. Specifically I think Tai Webster really improved a lot, he is really going to be an x factor.”
On the team’s defense
“I think we did a pretty good job of guarding the ball. Even though the score was a little lopsided this team really did move the ball. They crashed the boards. It was a better team than the score indicated, so a team like that, a couple shots going early and you might have a game.”
On emotions
“I was revved up for this like it was an actual game, I actually didn’t know this wasn’t a game until yesterday. I saw Northern State was on the schedule, I was preparing for it like a game. Regardless of who you are playing, regardless if you’re home or on the road you have to be ready to play. And although this was an exhibition, for all of us, it’s never too late to give a good first impression. I am just looking forward to the opportunity of playing.”
On the jitters of the freshman
“I think they settled in pretty well. You can’t really prepare for this; you can practice and do all you want in the summer. You can’t prepare for your first college game, there are thousands of people in the stands, and the lights are a little brighter. You can’t really simulate that. Throughout the course of the game those guys learned how to have fun.”
Northern State Head Coach Paul Sather
Overall thoughts
“We’re just trying to find our identity from a team standpoint. Turnovers led to easy baskets for them. Offensive boards led to easy baskets. It really kept us away from just keeping our poise and composure on either side of the floor and it just affected us too much. For us in trying to find who we are right now as a team, we don’t handle it so well. That’s something that we have to continue to get better at. We just didn’t handle that adversity the way we needed to. I was impressed with how they played. I though Nebraska defensively and from an athletic standpoint, we did a nice job honestly.”
On how to use it as motivation
“We can’t get caught up in what the score is. I do think we had some really good possessions. We’re a very good three point shooting team. I want to go back and watch the film. I don’t remember too many shots that were just bad, awkward, fade-away shots. I think a lot of them were pretty balanced, good looks. We had long athletic kids coming at us but we had great looks at it. Our turnovers just led to baskets. On the defensive side of it, we have to develop a spine for us. We have to develop some backbone so we can get stops. When we did get stops, they got the offensive boards and put it back in. Like I said, we might have gotten them to miss some shots, but then you have to close the possession. We just didn’t. So where do you go? You learn. You get better and improve. Hopefully they can understand that it’s about getting better and not who is making the mistakes.”