Postgame Notes and Quotes: Rutgers

Nebraska Postgame Notes
- Haanif Cheatham finished with a team-high 16 points. It was his ninth double-digit effort in the last 10 games.

- Cam Mack finished in double-figures with 11 points, along with six assists. Mack has at least five assists in 10 games this season. With his six assists, Mack has 91 total through 14 games this season. His 6.5 average is on track to rank third in school history and would be the highest since Brian Carr in 1986.

- Dachon Burke Jr. finished with five points and five rebounds. With his five points, Burke brings his career total to 983. He needs 17 points to reach 1,000 career points.

- Thorir Thorbjarnarson set a career high with five assists. He had four against Butler in the first round of the 2018 NIT. 

- Yvan Ouedraogo finished with four points and four rebounds. He is averaging 7.8 points and 8.4 rebounds over the last five games, dating back to Dec. 13.

- Nebraska had made eight three-pointers against Rutgers, bringing its season total to 117 in 14 games. The 8.36 season average is on track to rank second in school history and the highest since 2001-02. 

- Rutgers picked up its first win in Lincoln. Previously, the Scarlet Knights were 0-4 against Nebraska in Lincoln.

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the physicality of Rutgers
“Give them credit. They’re the most physical team we’ve played to this point. We talked a lot about that leading into this one and how important it was to try to keep them out of the paint as much as possible, and they got in there way too often. They make five threes a game and they hit five tonight, two early and three spread out over the rest of the game. Too often, defensively, we allowed them to get into the paint where we either had to help with the big or they were spraying it out and driving us out on long closeouts. Once they shot it, whether they made it or not, we had no chance of getting it off the glass, just too big and too physical. When we go out there with a defensive mindset and a defensive mentality, we have a chance to win, and when we don’t, we don’t give ourselves a chance. We have to find a way to correct it, get more consistent, on that end of the floor. It’s on me that we’re not more consistent right now and that starts tomorrow.”
 
On Rutgers’ 18-1 run in the first half
“Well we didn’t make shots tonight, that’s something that happens. It happened against Purdue, and in that game we kept guarding and had our best defensive stretch of the season. Tonight, we got off to a good start, obviously. We were hitting shots and getting out in transition. We were moving the ball and then when the ball stopped going in the hoop. I thought we were chasing down rebounds and got away from being solid on the defensive end. That allowed them to break us down on gambles late in the shot clock. We have to stay solid, take it one possession at a time when we dig ourselves a hole like we did. This is about coming back tomorrow and getting our guys and minds right because we have a heck of a game coming up on Tuesday. We have three days to get better.”
 
On Nebraska’s effort
“It’ll be interesting to see how it looks on film. I don’t know if it’s strictly an effort thing as opposed to just getting out of character when we got in that hole and they went on the big run on us. A lot of it is just staying in front of the ball. It’s tough to defend when you’re giving up blowbys. It just opens up so many things when they’re getting to the rim whether they’re converting or not. The most offensively rebounded shot is the layup and we gave up too many paint touches today. We have to get back tomorrow and make corrections.”

Senior Guard Haanif Cheatham
On not hitting shots
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we had a 10-8 lead. I think just the shots we weren’t hitting kind of messed us up on our offensive flow and defensive end. I think we had plenty of opportunities to extend the lead, get up to probably eight. [We] just couldn’t hit shots. One of those nights. Like Coach [Fred Hoiberg] and Cam [Mack] said, we’ll be back in the gym tomorrow and be ready for our next game against Iowa.”

On the difference between Indiana and Rutgers
“We were hitting shots I’d say [against] Indiana. All of the shots we took, a majority of them went in. Tonight, some weren’t falling like I said. In the game of basketball, you’re not going to hit 100 percent of the shots you take. It was one of those nights, and we’ll be back in the gym. We’ll be back, watch film, get back to who we are defensively and offensively and be ready for Tuesday night.”

Sophomore Guard Cam Mack
On the size and physicality of Rutgers
“I mean Indiana was physical. We played them to the wires. [Tonight,] we’re not hitting shots and physicality and easy leak outs, easy boards, it’s just tough to win, but like coach [Fred Hoiberg] said, we’re going to come in tomorrow. [We’re] not going to dwell on it. We’ve got a big game Tuesday. Come in, work and get straight to it.”

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell
Opening statement
"First of all, great environment, obviously. I have tremendous respect for Coach Hoiberg  He's a great coach who I've known for a long time. He does a great job and they've been playing really well. They're a dangerous basketball team, and we haven't played well here in the past either, so I'm just pleased with our 40-minute effort tody. Getting a road win in this league is really tough to do, so I'm pleased with that, but that's a really good basketball team, well-coached, and I think he's going to do a really great job here."
 
On making an effort to get Myles Johnson the ball and feeding the ball inside
"It's always a game plan for us. Actually, Ron [Harper Jr.] is usually around the basket a ton too, Akwasi [Yeboah] got some baskets. We like to really share the game and see our box score and see that a lot of guys get shots up. We wanted to attack and share the game, and that's what we did, and we did a good job. Offensive rebounding wise, they really hurt us. They hurt us all night with that, and we are a really good rebounding team, so that's something we struggled with, I think we were giving so much help and we weren't closing out on our block outs. We shared the game, and that's what we do and are glad that those guys produced when we got them the ball."
 
On Fred Hoiberg
"Fred's doing a great job. The Indiana game in overtime, he beats Purdue one of the best teams in the conference. You know it takes time, and he'll do a great job. You got to figure your team out; you have to see what their habits are, you got to see who can play when the lights come on. There's a lot of things that you try to figure out like rotation, especially when you have a whole new team. He's a great coach, and he's got it pretty figured out. This league will challenge you; it challenges you on many levels."  
 

NU Athletic Communications