Going Deep: Williams' Crew Building Confidence

Amy Williams admits she sounds like a broken record when she talks about the increased confidence level of her Nebraska women’s basketball team.

That’s somewhat ironic given her comments Tuesday night came after her Huskers missed 18 of 35 free-throw attempts against a ranked Iowa team.

Teams aren’t supposed to beat ranked opponents – or very many opponents, period – when shooting 48 percent on free throws.

Somehow, Nebraska did.

So Williams, rightfully so, credited her Huskers for finding a way, for believing, for remaining confident.

It’s a 180-degree turn from last season’s seven-win team, and a major reason why Nebraska (13-6, 4-2 Big Ten Conference) is on track for postseason play in only Williams’ second season as head coach.

Go ahead. Play the broken record. Let’s hear those scratches.

“This is going to be very, very helpful with kind of giving us another shot in the arm,” Williams said after Nebraska’s 74-65 victory over No. 20 Iowa. “We had a really tough loss in here a couple of nights ago against Michigan (in overtime), and then to actually get over the hump and get the win and come away with that, I think that will give us another shot of confidence as we head into the rest of Big Ten play.”

No, these Huskers don’t always make it easy, or look pretty. That doesn’t bother Williams, provided they keep finding ways to win.

“I think a lot of that comes from what Coach Stuart has done with them and the confidence he’s instilled by pushing them beyond what they thought they were capable of,” Williams said, giving a nod to strength coach Stuart Hart.

To wit: Williams pointed to a stretch of the first half against Iowa when players were calling for subs, yet lack of dead balls kept those subs waiting at the scorers’ table for a longer period of time.

So those still in the game kept grinding.

“I thought we did a really good job of sucking up right there and finding ways to make big baskets when we were fatigued and tired and continuing to push tempo,” Williams said. “That gave us a little stretch right before halftime that was really important in the game.”

Fans who’ve watched this team can – and do – appreciate the camaraderie and playing for each other. That, and the hustle and grit these Huskers show, whether it’s fighting for a loose ball, taking a charge or winning another 50-50 play that makes a difference, although might not show up in the stat sheet.

“Those are things we really value and we want to honor and reward,” Williams said. “Our team has bought into that and I think they’re starting to really see how those plays can make an impact.”

 

On The Rise

While the new-look women’s team has made significant strides, coach Tim Miles’ men’s basketball team is also catching more eyes of the casual fan.

That’s in large part because of vast improvement of overall athleticism on this roster.

Anybody who saw 6-foot-8 sophomore Isaiah Roby practically leap over a defender who’s a foot taller than him knows what I’m talking about.

Granted, Roby didn’t convert what would’ve been the most talked-about dunk in Nebraska history. In fact, Roby had an unusually hard time converting any dunks, period, in the Huskers’ 65-64 victory Monday over Illinois.

But he also skied for many of his team-best 10 rebounds, and he blocked two more shots to push his season total to 33. That’s not quite on Kimani Ffriend/Venson Hamilton/Mikki Moore levels — they typically had season block totals in the 80s — although Roby is on pace to have more blocks than any Husker in the last decade.

Andre Almeida had 39 and Jorge Brian Diaz had 38 in 2010-11, and Diaz had 41 in 2009-10 – numbers Roby will surely pass with 12 games remaining. Before that, you have to go back to 2008, when Aleks Maric blocked 57 shots.

As a team, Nebraska has blocked 118 shots, already more than last year’s team. With newcomers Isaac Copeland and Duby Okeke boosting the team’s overall athleticism, it’d be easy to see this team challenging the 1996-97 team for most blocks in school history.

That team, featuring both Hamilton and Moore, blocked 202 shots. These Huskers are on pace for 188, which would be second most on the school charts, just ahead of the 1995-96 team.

Nebraska (13-7, 4-3 Big Ten) hosts No. 23 Michigan on Thursday at 8 p.m. It’s well-known that Michigan remains the only Big Ten team the Huskers have yet to defeat since joining the conference in 2010-11.

But more important that jumping that hump for Nebraska is simply defeating a ranked team. The Huskers could use some postseason resume-building victories, and Thursday night will be among the few opportunities remaining for such a win.

 

Look Who’s No. 1

Younger Nebraska fans may have a difficult time remembering when the men’s gymnastics team would draw large crowds to the Devaney Sports Center and even sell out the place for the NCAA Championships.

Nebraska last won the national title in 1994 in Lincoln, finished second in 1995 and third in 1999.

Not until last season did the Huskers even return to the finals of the NCAA Championships. In between, the sport lost teams nationwide, and fan interest slowly dwindled.

But on the strength of last season’s sixth-place finish, Nebraska is back, finally, to where it once lived – at the top.

Nebraska is the nations’ No. 1 team this week after scoring a 407.7 at the season-opening Rocky Mountain Open. The Huskers knocked off Ohio State, now ranked No. 3, and the Buckeyes come to Lincoln on Saturday for a Big Ten dual at 7 p.m.

It’s one of only three home meets for the Huskers, who return home Feb. 10 and finish March 24 against Minnesota and Iowa.

Pictured above are the 2018 seniors who have led the program back to the top under coach Chuck Chmelka.

Spring Game Set

It’s official: The Nebraska football team will have its annual Red-White Spring Game on Saturday, April 21. Kickoff is 11 a.m. at Memorial Stadium, with TV arrangements to be determined.

Yes, this is a week later than most Spring Games, and yes, the 11 a.m. time is earlier. Of course, it’s also a new administration with Director of Athletics Bill Moos and the beginning of a new era with first-year football coach Scott Frost.

Reserved tickets are $10 each and go on sale Feb. 6 for season ticket holders, and on Feb. 7 for the general public. With the insanely high interest in Frost taking over his former team, expect a hot ticket. The largest Spring Game crowd on record is 80,149 in 2008, and capacity to Memorial Stadium has since increased to more than 89,000.

Will this be the first year the Spring Game sells out?

Or is a better question not if, but how soon?

Stay tuned.

Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.