Nebraska Postgame Notes and Quotes: vs. UAPB

Head Coach Tim Miles Quotes
Opening Statement

“I thought our defense was solid the whole night, despite a poor shooting effort. I thought Arkansas-Pine Bluff did a good job of chasing us off the 3-point line early. That seemed to get us off kilter, which is a good prep for our next game. I thought Glynn Watson was really good late in the first half to stretch the lead where I think it was 16 at halftime, where they finished the half and didn’t score for seven or eight minutes. I thought those were all kind of key moments.”

On Glynn Watson Jr.
“Glynn (Watson Jr.) can be a good player on both ends as he gains more and more strength and confidence. I think what you saw tonight was the confidence. Like OK I can do this, I can get to these guys and make the plays I need to make, and he did. His line was very solid and when I look at his efficiency, it’s excellent, there’s no turnovers almost no negative points. He was an efficient guy.”

On playing better offensively against Cincinnati
“I think we both had the same game tonight. I saw their score too. It’s just that time of the year. We’ll be ready for Cincinnati and if we’re not it is going to be a bloodbath. It will not be pretty because they are a very talented team. They are nationally ranked and I think they shoot it a little better this year.  Their press is really difficult to go against. I would say it’s like Villanova’s on steroids. They stay on you and make it a very physical game. That will be great for this team to see who steps up to the challenge.”

On preparing for this road trip
“I think we know what to expect. I don’t think they’ll be any mystery as to the quality of the competition. I think once we see them on tape and see their length and athleticism, it will be a startling difference from what we’ve seen the last three games. I think the guys will be ready to play.”

On the slow start tonight
“I remember telling Benny (Parker) to pick them up full court like four possession in to the game and usually you only do that when you want to get something going. I think both teams were feeling the load of playing a bunch of games in a short amount of time. But you really try to do it defensively so that way it leads into easy offense. No one can run good half court offense all night unless they are exceptional, and we are not at that point obviously. You just try and get your defense a little more hopped up and aggressive. I thought Benny (Parker) was good in that way.”

Glynn Watson Jr.

On his comfort level
“A lot and just getting comfortable playing with my teammates. The first game I kind of came out a little nervous and didn’t really play my game. After that kind of got adjusted and just been trying to play my game.”

On the impact of the game

Play my role and do what coach Miles wants me to do. I’m just trying to get better defensively. I have been slacking a little bit Coach Miles told me and I tried to come out get a couple steals and get the team going.

On Learning from Villanova game

We can’t let a team get a big run on us like that and big drought. I think they went on a twenty-one and zero run or something like that. We got to make sure we don’t let a team get a big drought like that we were up seven. We have to stick together and execute our plays. We have to stick to our game plan.

Andrew White III

On Glynn Watson's Effort
“I think he did for sure. This was a good game for him to kind of get his confidence up. We kind of hit a slow spurt again tonight, which is good preparation going into the next game because early in the season some teams get straight blow outs and it is good to know that there will be some testy games going forward. I think that was a good opportunity for him to kind of lead the team, lead the bunch. When you are the point guard the ball is in your hands and I think he made good decisions and I think he grew up a little bit before our eyes in that little spurt of time.”

On Arkansas-Pine Bluff's Zone
“They were really active. Those guys had a lot of length out on the perimeter, very, very athletic team. They were just playing really high on the wings and they read there scouting reports because they were out on Jack (McVeigh), Shavon (Shields) and myself trying to prevent guys from getting shots off. I think they were just really urgent trying to get a spark early and zone is their bread and butter so you can tell that, that is something they really emphasize to capitalize on that length they have out on the perimeter. 

On His Offensive Performance
“My team relies on me to score and personally my big thing is to be efficient as I can. Even though I am in a position where I can put up a lot of shots I try to be as efficient as possible. Like you said I didn’t have a great offensive game last game, foul troubles got me sped up a little bit and tonight I didn’t have the best three-point shooting performance. My coaches challenges me all summer just to figure out what I would do when three-pointers aren’t falling, so I think they would be pretty proud of my effort and my performance giving that I didn’t have my best shooting day. That is kind of what it is all about, everything is new for me, I have never been a target on a college scouting report. So every game regardless of the outcome I’m learning new things.

Arkansas Pine Bluff Head Coach George Ivory
On how he felt his team did tonight…
“I thought we played a lot better than we did the last couple of games. We took care of the ball better. I thought we missed a couple of open people on drives and made some unforced turnovers that we shouldn’t have made, but overall I thought we played hard.”

On what he liked most from his team tonight…
“Their determination to play hard even though you’re playing against a good basketball team. We got down early and they kept fighting. In every game we have, we’re going to have to learn how to execute the offense and do defensive assignments. I think we did a little better with that.”

On how they can use this game moving forward…
“Some of the areas we were weak in… I thought we were weak in rebounds. They did outrebound us tonight, but we got better in it over the last couple of games. And looking at the assists, I thought that we just need to pass and surely do it more. Overall we’re going to take this as a challenge, going into these kind of areas, like in the Big Ten, and playing and executing what we do for the future.”