Head coach Tim Miles, sophomore forward Michael Jacobson and sophomore guard Glynn Watson met with reporters on Wednesday afternoon to preview Thursday night’s Big Ten home opener against Iowa.
Here is a brief recap of what they had to say…
***Miles said the season was far too young for Nebraska to start feeling overly good about its 2-0 start to league play. He said the focus now is playing better at home, especially with two straight huge games at PBA.
***Miles wasn’t sure why Nebraska has generally played better on the road than at home this season, but said it might be that with a young team it was easier to keep the focus on the game when the players were all together on road trips.
***After the win at Maryland, Miles said he wanted his team to play with a “Blackshirt mentality.” That goes beyond just the black alternate jerseys the Huskers wore for that game. Miles said it’s about having the same physical, defensive mentality that the football Blackshirts pride themselves on.
***Miles said it was a delicate balance in terms of maintaining consistency with a young team just because of the inexperience. He said they have to walk a fine line between building confidence while also letting the team learn through failure.
***Miles said winning can definitely be contagious, but so can losing. Once you’re exposed to either one, it can take over a team, so NU must stay on the right side of that by “locking in daily habits for success and not deviating from them.”
***Nebraska’s three-game winning streak started with a close victory over Southern, a game that didn’t exactly leave fans feeling great about the outlook for the team.
But Miles said “I’m not going to apologize for that game,” saying the Huskers were in a slump and playing a good team that was making everything that night. To be able to pull out a desperately needed win under those circumstances was huge, and it’s fueled their recent turnaround.
***Miles was asked if he ever could could have expected Nebraska would be 2-0 to open Big Ten play. “Those two? No.” Miles said if anything he thought NU could have gone 1-1 because he felt they matched up well with Maryland, but after beating Indiana that all changed.
***Miles has been on a Twitter hiatus since the loss to Gardner-Webb. He said he doubted it would end anytime soon, though he admitted he had some withdrawal. “But I bounced back,” Miles said.
***Miles compared Iowa’s offensive tempo to what Nebraska saw earlier this year vs. Creighton. He said the Hawkeyes play 10 guys and “just keep coming at you” with scorers.
***Miles said he’s worked on multiple zone defenses in practice the past few days. Along with the 1-3-1 they ran vs. Maryland, he said they’ve done some 2-3, Triangle-and-Two, Box-and-One, and others.
***Nebraska has lost its past five meetings against Iowa coming into Thursday night’s game. Miles said it was obviously important to get a win over the Hawkeyes for several reasons.
“The last thing I need is another Creighton on my hands,” Miles said. “I’m serious.”
***Jacobson, a native of Waukee, Iowa, said he knows several players on Iowa’s team, including star senior Peter Jok. Though he grew up cheering for the Hawkeyes, Jacobson said it was only a little extra motivation to play Iowa, and he wasn’t making an overly big deal about it.
***Jacobson said that when a team has a week like Nebraska just had, you have to fight against getting comfortable and “thinking you’re good” and don’t have to work as hard. He said the team has already talked a lot about that this week.
***Jacobson said the Huskers always knew they were better than their record coming out of non-conference play, which helped them stay positive going into the Big Ten slate. He said the tough schedule they played in non-conference will definitely help prepare them for what they’re going to see in the league.
