Postgame Notes
*-With the win, Nebraska has now won seven straight games dating back to last season.
*-Sam Hoiberg finished with career highs with 18 points and tied personal bests in rebounds (seven) and steals (four). His previous career high in points was 15 on two occasions, most recently against Lindenwood in the 2023-24 season opener.
*-Nebraska held Maryland-Eastern Shore to 31.0 percent shooting, the third straight opponent NU has held under 40 percent shooting
*-Nebraska is now 22-1 at home in non-conference play over the last three-plus seasons. 
*-Berke Buyuktuncel tied his career high in blocks (three). 
*-Braden Frager tied his career high in rebounds (five). 

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the team's offensive performance 
“Well I thought the slow start had to do with the ball wasn’t going in the basket. I thought we had great looks and I thought our defense was really good. I think the numbers speak for themselves. They shot 21% in the first half, I think they had a 2-for-20 stretch at one point, and we built a 13 point lead at half time with not making anything. I credit our defense for building it up. I thought second half we did a good job attacking their feet and getting the ball in the paint much better than we did in the first half. The finish was very disappointing. They were 8-for-9 at one point after playing 33 really good minutes on the defensive end of the floor, so there is a lot we’re going to be able to learn from. Sometimes in games like this you think you didn’t play well when the ball doesn’t go in the basket, but then you look back and say well heck we’ll take those looks every day. The way that game ended I just didn’t like. It’s unacceptable for this group. I don’t think it’s something that is a common thing with this team. We talked about it in the locker room after the game. You have to have a killer mentality. In today’s climate every point matters. You have to find a way to finish off the games better than we did. I thought Leo (Curtis) was good. I did like Leo’s energy out there. I thought he got his hands on a couple balls, a couple good finishes, and knocked down his free throws. We have to finish the game much better than we did the last eight (minutes)”

On guys dealing with shots not falling
“I really did think we were locked in on the other end. We knew they were going to try and control tempo and they were going to muck it up and then they were going to slow it down. That was the fear on this team. That's what happened to Georgia Tech. That’s why they took Georgia Tech to overtime. It was a very similar offensive game. Georgia Tech couldn’t make anything and they take 25, 28 seconds off the clock and if they’re making their shots like they did in the last 10 minutes it’s a really dangerous game to play with a team that’s really going to try and go out there and control tempo. The other thing that contributed to our finish was we were taking the ball out of the net. When we got it off the board and pushed the ball down the floor I thought we had good efficient offensive, but those last eight minutes were taken out of the net on damn near every possession.”

On Sam Hoiberg’s performance
“I thought Sam’s (Hoiberg) defensive rebounding was huge in the first half. I think all seven of his rebounds came in the first 20 minutes. The steals, four steals, four assists, no turn overs, and it’s good to see him knock down a couple shots. Sam played well. I was happy with Sam’s game tonight.”

Senior Guard Sam Hoiberg
On offensive struggles early on
“We were missing a lot of good looks honestly the entire game. We knew we were going to get a lot of good looks this game, but just one of those nights where it's not going in the basket. I mean, look at Rienk (Mast), BK (Berke Buyuktuncel) were both 2-for-8, (Braden) Frager 1-for-5, Connor (Essegian) 0-for-5. That's not going to happen very often, but when it does, you got to guard, and I think we did a good job of that up until the last about eight minutes. A little sour taste in the mouth, but I think we did a good job showing we can keep a lead even if it's not falling.”

On getting the ball to the rim in the second half
“I think we like the looks we were getting. We knew we weren't getting in the paint enough, and we wanted to punch it inside. We're getting good looks in the first half when we did that, and I think we're just being opportunistic. We trust our offense. There wasn't a whole change in game plan, and then obviously started to fall a little bit, and wasn't great at the end, but we did have a good stretch there.”

On moving forward as a team
“When you talk about wanting to play March, these are the games you want to get, neutral games, possibly get Quad 1 wins early on is huge. The way we prepare doesn't change now. We just keep doing the same thing we've been doing. I think we probably didn't have the best preparation. We weren't as locked in as we should have been for this game, and that's why the score was what it was, but you don't apologize for winning. We're going to get back to preparing and being more locked in.”

Maryland Eastern Shore Head Coach  Cleo Hill Jr. 

On containing Nebraska from three
“We thought they shot the ball very well against FIU, they shot 17-34 or something like that (from 3-point range). So we wanted to get out on the shooters as much as possible, make them drive the ball, and they did a lot of that. But I thought we were solid. They missed some shots too.”

On playing in a Power 5 environment
“I thought some guys handled it well, some didn’t. There was a key stretch with 3:16 to go in the first half, we were down maybe five or six, and we missed maybe four layups. We got a couple of free throws, but they went 3-3 with three 3s. That opened the game up, I thought that stretch was crucial.”

On expectations for senior Trey Hall
“Senior leadership, he’s old. He’s one of our older guys, so we expect some leadership in those situations. Coming back and being down by six with three minutes to go, we expect his leadership whether it’s scoring, boxing out, rebounding, or making the extra pass. Those are the things we expect from Trey.”