Fastbreak: Huskers prep for first road test at St. John's

Here is a quick recap of Nebraska’s press conference on Wednesday previewing their first road game of the season at St. John’s on Thursday night…

***Head coach Tim Miles said freshman guard Thomas Allen was able to participate some during Wednesday’s practice but was still not full-go. Allen fell on his tailbone midway through the second half vs. North Texas and did not return to the game. He’s listed as questionable for St. John’s.

***Senior guard Anton Gill has missed the first two games of the season with knee/groin injuries, and Miles said Gill was questionable at best for Thursday night. Miles said they’ll continue to monitor Gill's status day by day and see how he progresses.

***Miles said St. John’s was a team that thrived on 3-point shooting and playing at a “chaotic tempo” through disruptive on-ball defense and high-tempo offense. As a result, he said the Huskers will likely try to slow things down and control the pace of the game in order to not play into the Red Storm’s strengths.

“Here’s the deal, we’re going to be opportunistic when we run no matter what,” Miles said. “But this is a team that the more the chaos, the better they are. We’re going to be cognizant of that.”

***Miles said St. John’s had “electric” guards and a lineup where “everybody shoots threes”, and junior forward Isaac Copeland said the Red Storm often times use a four-guard lineup.

***Considering St. John’s propensity to shoot threes, Miles said he’s overall been pleased with Nebraska’s perimeter defense so far this season. Miles said NU has done a good job eliminating the number of 3-point attempts teams have had by “chasing guys off the line”, but the issue is teams have still made those limited attempts at a fairly high clip.

“We’ve got to continue to do a great job and just limit the damage,” Miles said. “Obviously we want that percentage to go down, but if it’s not going to go down, then the number that they make has to stay down, and that’s been pretty decent so far.”

***Miles said he expects St. John’s to finish the year as a top-100 team, which puts a lot of value on getting a road win over a team of that caliber on the Huskers’ post-season resume.

***Asked if this game could be a tone-setter for the brutal stretch of the schedule starting at the end of the month, Miles said: “You look at the end of the month, I look ahead to noon.”

***Senior guard Evan Taylor was asked about Nebraska getting ready for its first road game of the season, and he countered: “Isn’t this the second one? We just went to Mississippi State?” Miles said that charity game vs. MSU was very important in giving the team a taste of how road games operate, especially their freshmen.

***Taylor said the one thing a team can always count on when they go on the road is the effort they put in defensively.

“Defense travels,” Taylor said. “Offense might not travel, but defense always travels, and that’s how we’re going to win the game.”

***Miles said a big point of emphasis the past couple days has been finishing better at the rim. He said his unofficial tally has the Huskers at only 19-of-50 on shots at the rim over the first two games.

Copeland said they really worked on that during Wednesday’s practice, and part of that was guys making better decisions on when to go to the rim and when to kick out to a teammate for a better shot.

***Miles said sophomore forward Isaiah Roby was a guy who’s going to keep filling up box scores, but Roby still feels like he’s far behind where he should be in his development. Miles said Roby was a lot closer than he thinks, and as his confidence continues to build the better and better he’s going to be.

***Copeland said his slow start to the season has been tough at times, but he knows he’s got a great supporting cast around him that has been able to pick up the slack during his early struggles. While he’s still trying to find his shot, Copeland said he’s found other ways to make an impact with his rebounding and his defense.

“On our team, we have a lot of scorers, so if your shot’s not falling we still have other ways to score,” Copeland said. “But you can’t lack on the other side of the (floor). Play defense, guard, and try to keep your man out of the game as best you can.”