Postgame Quotes - Northwood

Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles

On rebounding:
"I think when you look at the rebounding situation, I think you have to really credit, firsts of all Northwood. I think (Northwood head coach) Jeff Rekeweg had those guys really hustling. (Trey) McBride and (Brad) Schaub were really quick to the ball. We kept saying, '15's (Schaub) out-working us, 2's (McBride) out-working us.' And that's something that we can't allow. The first half, I thought that they just worked harder on offense than we worked on defense, and you can't play that way."

On the team's struggles:
"You're going to find out one way or another, and it's better to win and find it out. That's got to be unacceptable to us. If you're a Nebraska basketball player, you need to be tough-minded, and play your butt off, and anything less than that is just not acceptable. I can understand getting beat, but I don't like being out-hustled."

On his message to the team at halftime:
"I hope I don't have to change my version of 'chewing them out.' I think [Isaac Copeland's] a first-timer on that one (laughs). There's varying degrees, and let's say that would've been a 'simmer.' But at the same time, I just said, 'They're out-playing us,' and I thought we did a very good job (in the second half), we got to their three-point shooters. When they banked in three (three-pointers) in the first half, I thought, 'Oh my goodness, here we go again.' But we were contesting shots, so I could live with that, and if we worry about the behavior, contest those shots, the right things will happen, and really, until I think they squared up Nana (Akenten) late in the game, did they hit another one, so I thought that was good, because you worry about that."

On Nebraska's offense without Glynn Watson Jr.:
"I thought we really missed some plays where we just threw it to the wrong guy or the wrong way. We've known that. And Evan (Taylor) tweaked an ankle and blew out his shoe in the last eight or nine minutes of the game, so we held onto him, too. But, at the same time, I think it was good for Thomas (Allen). Thomas is a good scoring guard. He's a smaller guard. He's not really a true point, but he's trying. What he does is score, and you could see that he could do that tonight."

On Watson's injury:
"We go to practice (on Monday), and he had a bursa that swelled up on him over the weekend on Saturday. He went down pretty good, and felt OK. But then on Monday, he had done a workout on Sunday, that just kind of agitated him again. He didn't do much. So we just decided at practice, 'Nah, let's not do it.' It wasn't what we want, but at the same time, we have to learn how to play without guys. That's why these games are important. To get out and kind of get your butterflies out of your stomach."

On James Palmer Jr.:
"I love James. First of all, he's a bright kid. He's great to be around. I love being around him, and he can score, there's no doubt. He can score on all levels. He can make threes. He didn't take contact as well as he had been even in practice. He can get to the foul line and make it there, too. He can do a lot of things. It's just him and trying to take that next level. Take it up a notch and be a two-way offensive and defensive player, not that he's not a good player, but like anybody, he's got to adjust to that time off and have your concentration ready to go. I think Copeland's pressing a little bit, shooting the ball. He just needs to see the ball go in some. I mean, everybody's cheering for him every time he shoots it. He's just got to get out of his own way some."

On what he would like to see out of Copeland as the season gets started:
"I would say that he's another guy that can attack the rim, and he can shoot from outside. He's great in the high post. We put him in the high post I guess early, but he's great in the high post, and there's a lot of things we can do with him that we didn't do tonight. Play to his strengths."

On if he feels like the team is farther along at this point in the season than in years past:
"It's hard to tell after tonight with all the guys out, but at the same time, I think we know more about ourselves. We have a better awareness of what we are and what we are not, and we know this team has a penchant to turn it over a little bit, and that's got to end, sooner rather than later. And they were better in the second half. I think we had nine quick ones, and we ended up with 15. I think there was eight or nine minutes left in the first half, and we had nine. You just can't turn it over like that."

Junior Guard James Palmer Jr.

On making the ‘tough buckets’ when they are needed:
“I think in the flow of the game. I think we need a little more of a spark and that’s what I try to do.”

Junior Forward Isaac Copeland

On trailing in the first half:
“It was clear that we came out really flat. They crushed us on the boards, and we weren’t moving hard on offense. Coach (Miles) chewed us out during halftime. We came out with more energy to come out with the win.”

On his first game at Pinnacle Bank Arena:
“It was cool. I spent most of last year on the bench in these situations. Now that I can come out and playing a full game, it was great. It was a different side of things, I enjoyed it.”

On being ready to play for the rest of the season:
“Yeah I think we are. We just have to play above the level of our competition. I think tonight showed us that we have to come out ready to play every night like it’s the top one or two teams in the country, like the teams we are going to see in Orlando (at the Advocare Invitational) and during the Big Ten play. We have to come out ready to play.”

Freshman Guard Thomas Allen

On starting in today’s game:
“It was good. Glynn (Watson Jr.) hurt his knee, so he sat out the last two practices and I stepped up. It was fine. I wasn’t nervous.”

Northwood head coach Jeff Rekeweg

On playing at Nebraska:
“I mean to get back to these fans and the people here is awesome, so definitely worth the trip. We won’t play against guys that size in our league, but it was a great experience for our players, an opportunity to learn some more, learn a lot and play in front of the nicest facilities in the country, I believe, and the best fans in the country.”

On team’s attitude:
“I was very pleased. I was really pleased with the effort. We talked about before the game about controlling what we can control and effort is one of those that in our programs are non-negotiable. Effort and attitude are two non-negotiables. No matter what’s going on, we control those. I was pleased. We were the first ones to the ground, every loose ball. It certainly meant a lot to our guys, and we wanted to be the ones delivering the first punch, not reacting to the physicalness of the game. I thought our guys did a good job with that.”

On Nebraska’s team performance:
“Obviously they’re missing three big parts to their team. I mean (Glynn) Watson Jr. makes a big difference. I tell you, (James) Palmer. He’s the real deal. They’ve got a lot of pieces, and those bigs, even though I wouldn’t say they’re the most skilled, but they do a heck of a job taking space, a great job for screening for their players. I was really impressed with them. Their energy, they communicated well. I’m now talking as an alum, I’m excited about this team. I’m excited about Coach Miles and his staff has gotten done this year, hopefully they can stay healthy, but they certainly have the makings of a solid, good Big Ten team.”

On team’s performance:
“I thought we did a good job of sustaining the early run and then there was another one we called, they got a six-point lead. We called a timeout. I thought we did a good job there. I never saw them drop their heads. I never saw our guys really blink. Most of that first half, obviously we kept it within a one-possession, two-possession game, if we could’ve just banked in three more threes in the second half, we could’ve kept it a lot closer. But, no I did. I thought our guys got a little rushed with the physicalness of the play and the pressure. I thought we succumbed to that more the second half and when we did have what we felt like open shots, we heard it. You saw guys open shot, kind of hesitate and you can’t do that against a team like that. You can’t do that ever. I thought that was what hurt us in the second half.”