Nebraska already had its back against the wall coming off of arguably its worst performance of the Fred Hoiberg era in Tuesday night’s loss to Michigan and then having to travel to take on a red-hot Auburn team in Atlanta on Saturday.
Well, the hits kept on coming on Thursday, as Hoiberg announced that the Huskers were dealing with a viral infection spreading through the team and would also be without freshman forward Wilhelm Breidenbach due to a knee injury.
Hoiberg said NU couldn’t even hold a full practice on Thursday morning after two players were sent home with illnesses and two others had already tested positive for influenza A.
The good news was that there hadn’t been any positives among the players that had tested for COVID-19 so far, but Hoiberg confirmed that at least two Huskers - in addition to Breidenbach - would not travel to Atlanta.
Nebraska is expected to provide an update on their health situation before the team’s scheduled 8 a.m. flight on Friday.
“Other than that, we’re great,” Hoiberg said.
The Huskers were already without assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih, who announced he was taking an indefinite medical leave of absence on Monday due to lingering health issues.
Hoiberg said several players dealt with illness in the 102-67 blowout against the Wolverines. Freshman Bryce McGowens did not practice either of the two days leading up to the game, and freshman Quaran McPherson - who is redshirting this season - was kept home.
Hoiberg said NU had followed all of the NCAA, Big Ten, and CDC guidelines for COVID-19, and the hope was that payers would start feeling better by Thursday night.
“It’s just one of those things that happen over the course of the season as far as illnesses are concerned,” Hoiberg said. “Right now, it’s affecting a lot of our players… The other night, I could see it in the locker room. Guys were just stone-faced in the huddles. There just wasn’t that same pop or energy or urgency that I thought we had grown from over the season.”
After a dismal 5-of-35 shooting performance from 3-point range against Michigan, Hoiberg had hoped to make some schematic changes to the offense to better play to the team’s strengths.
The illnesses put those plans on hold for the time being, however. The Huskers will hold a practice at the Atlanta Hawks’ facility on Friday, but Hoiberg said that would primarily be devoted to game plan installation for Auburn.
“I was going to, and then we couldn’t put a team on the floor today,” Hoiberg said. “There were a lot of things that we were going to do to make adjustments, but we weren’t able to get any of that done, and I doubt we’ll be able to get it done on a one-day prep.”
As for Breidenbach, he had his right knee scanned on Wednesday night and would meet with Nebraska’s team doctor on Thursday afternoon for further evaluation.
Breidenbach is already out against Auburn, and Hoiberg expected he would “most likely be out for a while.”
“The guy who I really thought battled through everything was Wilhelm on both ends of the floor,” Hoiberg said. “He was diving on the ground; he was very vocal in the huddles; he was all over the place. He was the one guy I thought that did that…
“So we’re going to miss that energy. I think he was really starting to understand it and get comfortable out there.”
