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*-Glynn Watson Jr. finished with a career-high nine assists which matches the most by a Husker during the Tim Miles era. Terran Petteway also had nine assists at Maryland last season. Watson’s assists were the most by a Husker freshman since Cookie Miller had nine assists against Maryland-Eastern Shore on Jan. 4, 2008.
*-Nebraska’s 22 assists were the most by a Husker team under Tim Miles (previous high was 19 on two occasions, most recently against Delaware State on Nov. 19) and the most since dishing out 24 assists against Rhode Island on Nov. 20, 2011.
*-Michael Jacobson finished with a career-high 13 points, bettering his personal best of 11 set twice, most recently against Rhode Island on Dec. 13, 2015. Jacobson has been in double figures in consecutive games, the first time that has occurred in his career.
*-Ed Morrow Jr. had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and a career-high seven rebounds. His previous high in rebounds was six, on three previous occasions. In all, Nebraska’s freshmen combined for 39 of NU’s 87 points today.
*-It is the seventh time this season Nebraska has scored 80 or more points.
*-Nebraska improves to 8-0 on the season when shooting 50 percent from the field.
*-Shavon Shields finished with 17 points and went over 1,500 career points in his career.
Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles
On what went through his head during the Shavon Shields’ injury
“You see him in the air and as soon as his hip hit the kid’s shoulder and his feet go way up, you know it’s not good. I was worried for him and scared for him. When I got there, I think Michael (Jacobson) said ‘he’s out coach’. It just seemed like he was out for a long time. Then when I talked to him we just tried to reassure him that everything is good. R.J. and Dr. Clare asked him all of the right questions. I wanted his mom out there because I knew how she would be. I wanted her to feel like she was getting the information so I asked her to come out. He (Shavon Shields) asked were we in transition, he has no recollection of it so there’s obviously some concussion type or memory-loss there.”
On what he said to the team in the huddle following the injury
“I updated them. I reassured them that I’m hopeful that worst-case scenario is ruled out. It sounded like with use and feeling and sensation and all of those things. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not a lot of other things that could be a problem. I just told them that exactly that but only faster. So I said let’s just finish this game. Let’s get back in and get stops and run an offense that takes a long time to score so we could burn clock. Everyone was concerned. The referees and officials were asking, the kids were worried and at that point you just try and get through the game as quick as you can. The game feels so unimportant.”
On whether any players spoke up in the huddle
“No, no one did. Even my mind would drift off, even at the under-four timeout I was thinking what am I doing, how am I going to get there, and how do we get our information to see how he’s doing and what can we do for him. I didn’t play Benny (Parker) because they are really close, and I didn’t think he was in a mentality to play. This could be a significant injury and hopefully for his welfare and his future it’s minimum. But he’ll get the right care they’ll get him in a good spot.”
On the game
“I thought Shavon (Shields) played well. Andrew (White III) played really well. The key to the game was the three freshmen. Ed (Morrow Jr.) getting ten (points) and seven (rebounds), Michael (Jacobson) getting 13 (points) and five (rebounds) and of course Glynn (Watson Jr.) had all but a double-double if he can make a lay-up. But he had eight points and nine assists and that was very important. He needs to find people, and he did a better job of that. I thought we were flat early. I thought Rutgers is an improving team.
I admire Coach Jordan. I’ve been through those seasons but those kids were on the attack and they’re running their offense better. That’s why we had to go zone because they were going to get anything they wanted. We have not come off those wars, like Michigan State, we came out and were flat against Michigan until we started pressing and running around. Tonight I tried to cycle everyone in and out and we got no spark from anyone until we went zone. I thought we got some confidence and got in transition. We had 19 points on 12 possessions in transition, which compared to the other night, which was almost 18 possessions and nine points so obviously we were much better in that way.”
Nebraska guard Andrew White III
What’s it like to play basketball after something like that happens?
It’s a little distracting, just because that’s a teammate, that’s another human being, and we sat for maybe five minutes or so and that’s when it starts to sink in emotionally, but at the end of the day, that’s just kind of the risk we take. I’ve been in a couple falls like that and when you’re on the way down it feels like it takes forever to land so I knew he was in trouble just by the look when he jumped before that guy. It’s tough to get back to ball, luckily we were in a pretty good playing position and we were just able to close out the game, In that situation you just want to win the game and get to our errors and stuff later. It’s more than this game, obviously.
Did you talk to him at all?
On the court, he dropped and he was away from me- I couldn’t see his eyes and guys were kinda huddled, trying to pull him up and I just told everybody just to give him a minute just because I knew what it was like. You want 30 seconds to kind of take a deep breath, so I waited 30 seconds or so and then when I went to pick him up that’s when MJ (Michael Jacobson) told me he was out. So, at that point, R.J. (Pietig) came over, but it was such a quick event that I can’t recall it perfectly either.
How scary was it?
Oh really scary, just because I think most basketball players go through a fall like that, it’s just a matter of how serious it is when you land. You can hit a back, you can hit a shoulder, head, neck, so it’s very serious just because that’s a player, he was doing his job, that’s just kind of the risk of it, but yeah a very scary moment.
On switching to zone…
I think it just kind of breaks the rhythm of what’s going on. They had a really good one-on-one player on their team and just by coming up the court and seeing a different look, it just helps to kind of changed the flow of the game. I think we got some shots and we were able to get out to their shooters and for it to be such a wide zone I think we did a pretty good job rebounding out of it so I think it was a good mix up for that rebound offensively.
Rutgers Head Coach Eddie Jordan
Opening Statement
“First of all, our hearts and our concerns go out to Shavon Shields and his family and his health. I spoke to Tim (Miles) as they carted him off, and Shavon had feeling, his eyes were alert so that’s a good sign, and we hope he recovers very soon.
As far as we’re concerned, I like the way we started the game. We did a lot of good things early. Tim threw a zone at us, and we got stagnant and didn’t make fundamental plays that were there in front of us. They got on a big run and that was pretty much the game.”
On Nebraska’s coverage
“I really thought they were coming out with zone in the second half and they did not. The cushion was there. Corey (Sanders) has been having a breakout the past four games. Our emphasis is for our young guys to get experience, understanding how to play in a great arena like this in the Big Ten. We get everyone back and hopefully healthy next year. We have pretty good prospects coming in and hopefully this time next year we’re singing a different tune.”
On if he prepared for more zone in the second half
“I did. We talked about we have many different zone offenses and our man offense actually leads into the zone. It’s just making one read. They came out with the man. Again, Corey was scoring well for us but no one else could really find a type of rhythm.”