Nebraska Postgame Notes and Quotes: vs. Penn State

 

Nebraska Postgame Notes
*-Andrew White III finished with a career-high 35 points in today’s game. It was his second career 30-point game and topped his previous best of 30 against Abilene Christian on Dec. 5. His 35-point effort ties for 10th in school history.

*-Andrew White III tied the Pinnacle Bank Arena record for points, which was held by Shavon Shields (vs. Omaha in 2014-15) and Terran Petteway (vs. Minnesota in 2013-14). It also equals the most points by a Husker under Tim Miles.

*-White’s six 3-pointers were a career-high (previous high was 5 on two occasions, most recently at Rutgers on Jan. 10) and the most by Husker since Walter Pitchford had six against Tennessee-Martin on Nov. 28, 2014

*-Michael Jacobson posted his third double-figure effort in the last four games, finishing with 10 points and four rebounds in 18 minutes

*-Nebraska held Penn State to 54 points, which was NU’s best defensive effort in Big Ten play. The previous low was 56 at Rutgers on Jan. 10.

*-Nebraska finished with 11 steals today, marking the fourth time this year the Huskers had at least 10 steals.

*-Jake Hammond gave NU the best performance in conference play in his career with nine points, five rebounds and two assists. Hammond had just five points in his first eight conference appearances this year.

*-The win was NU’s 14th of the season, marking the 19th time in 21 years of coaching that a Miles-coached team tied or exceeded the previous season’s win total.

Nebraska Coach Tim Miles
On game overall
“Andrew White III had a phenomenal night. We really needed that, and he was a real shot in the arm. Second of all, I thought that we had key contributions by Nick Fuller and Jacob Hammond. You could really see a difference in the game with those two guys. Lastly, the separation in the second half. That was an important win. We needed that. We needed a shot in the arm, and we got one.”

 

On Michael Jacobson growth
“I think as he has gotten more confident and comfortable. I know his game, I feel strongly about what he can do. He is more aware of the energy and the force he has to play with. He has learned some hard lessons like at Purdue and he has also done some really good things for us. He was really good tonight.”

 

On Brandon Taylor’s (Penn State) and back-to-back fouls
“That was important because that is when we went on the run. Brandon Taylor is really a tough match up of us right now with out Shavon (Shields). Even with Shavon he is a tough match up. He is a big, physical player, and if he gets space he can really hurt you. Obviously we want him to play in a crowd and I thought the guys did a good job, but the foul trouble helped us.

 

On Jacob Hammond
“I believe with Ed (Morrow Jr.) being out there was no worry about the quick hook. That maybe gave him more security or confidence knowing that we are going to live with him out there. Go play hard and do your job and that’s important. Then he had success and he did things right, made some plays, that helps too.

 

Nebraska Forward Michael Jacobson:
On how it felt to see Shavon (Shields) on the bench for support
“It was good to see him back out there. He’s been progressing, so that is good. He is definitely the heart and soul of our team, emotional leader, physical leader and vocal leader, so it was good to see him out there and making progress. Hopefully he will be back soon for us.”

 

On if the team collectively picked it up a notch knowing Shields is out

 

“We kind of talked about it. Shavon is out, and we can’t do anything about it. He’s got to take his time and get better, and we’ve got to come together and find new ways to win without a big part of our team like he is.”

 

On how his game has improved:

 

“I would just say my confidence has built a little bit. I’ve been working hard with the coaches and watching film and doing individual workouts and trying to get better. I would just say overall my confidence has grown and I feel like I am playing more aggressive and just making the plays when I see them when they’re there.”

 

Junior Guard Andrew White III:
On if it was one of those nights where everything went in
“Yeah, my teammates did a good job of getting me open. My coaches did a really good job of putting me in a position to score points. I had an efficient night from the floor, but that is kind of what I expect to do just from an efficiency standpoint. It was good to get going, but more importantly my coaches just challenged me to have a really big game just because we were in desperation to win, so that is more important. I feel good about the 35 [points] but I feel even better that I could help put my team in a position to win this game, especially since lately a lot of people have made a lot of us being without Shavon, so that is more special to me than the 35 [points].”

 

On how the coaches challenged him to step up
“Well the past day or two at practice I had just been slow. I hadn’t practiced well and had just been fatigued all week. I have been fighting a little cold and a minor ear infection, so I just have not had the energy that I usually have. That was coming off a bad performance against Wisconsin, so in this situation the coaches tell me that I’m the guy and I have to lead the team now. The coaches were on me just this morning about having to do better based on the performance I had done in practice and going back to the Wisconsin game. They just challenged me to come out and have a big game on both ends of the floor because they knew they were going to need a lot out of me for us to win this game.”

Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers
"You just knew (Andrew) White was going to come out like that—he played terrific. Watching the Wisconsin game, you knew he wasn’t going to be held down another game like that. It’s just not his makeup. Coach Miles did a great job of getting him shots, and they played really well. They play hard, they play tough, they play with a lot of juice, and a lot of energy. Watson’s three at the end of the half hurt us. They stole the momentum away from us, and then Taylor picks up his third early in the second, and it was downhill from there. I felt like our team lost their leader or lost their dog. I was trying to rally them in the huddle—we did everything we could in the huddles to inspire. Sometimes it just goes like that, and it seems like that is a pretty common theme for us on the road. We aren’t shooting the ball very well on the road. So, credit to Coach Miles and credit to White for stepping up in the absence of Shields.”

You did hold White to 15 in the first half. What did you do different defensively?
“We just tried to take him out. We played a little bit of zone so he’s not cutting through as much or coming off of double screens. Watson and Benny (Parker) do a nice job of finding him and making us make mistakes, so we did a pretty good job there, but we need Payton Banks out on the floor. He got two early ones and got in some foul trouble. I had Josh Reaves on him [White] for a little while there, and he [Reaves]’s still young, but we did a nice job for that stretch of time there. The zone was taking him out to let somebody else beat us, but in the second half, nothing worked.”

Did Nebraska counter in any way second half?
“They just played harder. If you think about it, we had 17 turnovers. That means we didn’t have 17 attempts at shooting the basketball or getting to the free throw line or getting somebody in foul trouble. Seventeen opportunities. So when you have that many turnovers—and I knew the key to the game would be to take care of the ball. We didn’t take care of the ball, so I knew it was going to be this. And that’s exactly what it is because they are in transition, and they are really good when they are downhill.”