Men's Basketball Notes and Quotes vs. Southern

Nebraska Postgame Notes

*-Freshman Jeriah Horne led Nebraska with a career-high 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Horne had just 14 points in his first 10 appearances. Horne's previous season best was eight points vs. Mary on Nov. 15.

*-Anton Gill matched his season high with 10 points (also vs. Dayton) *-Nebraska got a season-high 38 points from its bench (previous high was 30 vs. Mary).

*-Evan Taylor tied or set season bests in points (eight) and steals (four).

*-Nebraska 81 points was its highest output since scoring 83 in the season opener against Sacramento State, as the Huskers are 3-0 this year when scoring at least 80 points.

*-Tai Webster finished with 10 points - all in the second half - and has been in double figures for 13 straight games.

Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles Opening Statement

“I’m proud of these guys. I thought they played hard, and we played with better pace. We withstood a very good effort by an excellent Southern team. They have a lot of potential to make the NCAA tournament.  Quite frankly our bench was excellent. They were 14 for 25 and when you see a guy like Jeriah Horne gets 18 and guard Anton Gill gets 10, those two guys go six for nine from three. That’s a great deal of help for our offense.”

On Jeriah Horne’s performance... 

“We played [Jeriah Horne] and he came through. I credit his patience. We played small, so we got out rebounded and there were some things we gave up on the interior, but he got them back in bunches. We still have to figure out where he fits in the rotation, but I was very proud of him and that’s going to hopefully build his confidence a great deal.”

On the freshmen performances...

“We had a really hard practice yesterday where we challenged everybody. No one in particular and in film today I thought we were to the point again on just watching practice yesterday and they responded. All three of [the freshmen] played well and gave us a lot of help.”

On tonight’s win going into Big Ten play...

“It was huge. It was one of those things where they banked in a couple of three’s. You’re sitting there like we’re not getting a break. These guys are making everything, and I thought our guys played alright defensively. Our second half defense wasn’t where it should be, but at the same time, everybody felt good. Everybody felt like they accomplished something in practice yesterday. It was very physical, hard practice. I thought we played harder today. I think we can at least rest our head on our pillow tonight knowing the way we have to win. The way we have to play is to go all out, give extreme effort, run harder, play harder and good things will happen.”

On the team’s energy tonight after Sunday’s loss...

“It came from the loss and that slap in the face of reality and a really good hard practice. These guys just really believing ‘We can do it, but we have to play a certain way.’ It was from the get go when I thought that these guys were hitting tough shots. They were hitting tough shots. We stopped three straight times and went down four straight possessions. We hit a deep three and then something weird happened and we threw it to them and they got one. We probably gave them 12-15 points in the first half counting that 3-pointer at the buzzer.  So, I thought ‘Holy Cow’ but, they never lost energy. The crowd was there and was great, they really supported the guys, and I really appreciate that. But I thought these guys just kinda believed. Like ‘If we play hard, were going to win’ and you have to believe that regardless of who’s name is across whether that be Gardner-Webb, Indiana, Maryland or anybody so I thought that was a good step forward. We got to keep encouraging them and building them up and understand that there’s going to be some discomfort, pain to the game, the physical style we have to play to be successful.”

On what the team has to improve on entering Big Ten play...

“Our offense no doubt and our second half defense isn’t up to our standards. Those are our two things more importantly. I’m excited for conference play.  think those two things mostly. 

 

 

Southern Coach Roman Banks

On close competition in the second half…

“We had our second unit in, trying to buy a little time to rest our starters since they were getting a lot of minutes to come back and close it out. I thought they did pretty good. they made some tough baskets. Obviously, with that group, we got into the one-and-one too early. They shot something like 30 free throws. I think that the lesson here for us is to keep people off of the free-throw line so they won’t get that so early in the game. Our thought process is to try and keep them out of there until the second half of the second half, or the second half of the first half, and they got there way too early. I thought that we competed, I thought that we had some opportunities. We had our second group out there trying to buy time. Tre’lun had ankle problems so we had the freshman Brendon Ganaway out there for more minutes than normal. So we had to have other people come in the game, and they were a little bit more seasoned with their second groups than we were.”

 

On Tre’lun Banks shooting…

“He is one of our main players and he can control the show for us. He is going to score big, some nights he will have more assists, some nights he will do both. He is the veteran guy that has been starting since he was a freshman. We have a lot of new players and now people are coming around that are helping him out some. So now, our game will be built around Tre’lun Banks, Jared Sam and Shawn Prudhomme. Tre’lun obviously brings in the most experience so we are going to go as he goes in controlling the tempo. It’s not really his points that affect the game, its everything else he does to keep control.

 

On Shawn Prudhomme performance…

“I think that they know that Shawn is a shooter for us in the style of ball that we play. I suspect every night that when people do a scouting report, he is going to be one that they scout. And I think they did a good job of running him off the line. They stopped us in transition and we like to get in transition. It was two teams that like to get in transition, who can stop whom the most, is what was going to be important. They did a good job, Coach Miles did a good job, they are a well-coached team, real disciplined. They did a good job, and I still want Shawn to take some opportunities as well. If anybody needs to force a couple, that would be him.”

 

On last minute strategy and Jeriah Horne…

“If we would have gotten a stop, we thought we could come back and get a quick one, and then foul. Because we were scoring off of the ball screen. After we didn’t get a steal early, we played it out, and I thought we played pretty good defense. Horne made a shot. I thought he traveled first, but he made a shot. Horne had a big night. As a coach, that’s what you want. We mentioned him in [in the scouting report], we mentioned him, but we didn’t talk about him. He stepped up big for them tonight, and he was a guy that pulled in shots. And when you need to win ballgames like that you need other people to step up and he was a huge factor for them tonight because that’s where their scoring came from.”

 

 

Freshman Forward Jeriah Horne

On improvement and minutes played tonight...

“I think just staying with it in practice and trying to get better and better. My teammates were with me the whole way, and they can share that. And I stayed engaged, in practice and everywhere so whenever I got my chance I was ready for it. “

 

On getting the green light to shoot...

“I’m just used to playing in the system. Coach Miles has been telling me to look for the shot and to take it when I know I have it open, and I’m glad that he trusted me to shoot the wide open shot.”

 

On successful shooting night...

“My teammates help me all the way. They help me to be patient, trust the process, and eventually I got my chance.”

 

On last-minute shot to seal victory...

“I knew the shot clock was running down, and it was a wide-open shot, and I’ve shot that at practice multiple times, so it felt natural.”

 

Sophomore Guard Glynn Watson Jr.On the importance of win over Southern...

“It was very important. We knew we had to get the win and that’s what we got. We executed, we played like Coach Miles wanted us to play, we made some mistakes but we still did some good things and Jeriah made some big plays and made some big shots for us also.”

 

On dwelling on loss to Gardner-Webb...

We have to get past it. Big Ten play is about to start up and we have to get past it and look ahead. We are at .500 right now but we have to look ahead. We have Indiana and Maryland coming up and they are two big games and we need to get those W’s.”

 

Junior Guard Anton GillOn playing with confidence…

“I just tried to stick with it, to stay aggressive and be ready. That was the biggest thing for me, staying with it. For me I just wanted to play as hard as I could and just have fun. I think I have been stressing a bit this year. So I just told myself whatever happens, happens, just go out there and play the way you know how to play and that’s what I tried to do.”

 

On shooting the corner three…

“It’s definitely a lot easier, I’ll say that. Sometimes you get caught in a tough spot, and you think about it a little bit, but after you hit that first one, you just relax and you really get into the flow of the game and I think that really helped me tonight.”