Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg met with media on Friday to preview the Huskers' upcoming home game vs. Michigan State on Saturday night.
Here is a full recap of what he had to say...
Head coach Fred Hoiberg
***Hoiberg said he and his staff have discussed changing things up a bit offensively to try and help fix some of the many problems Nebraska has had with the ball lately.
With an assist-to-turnover ratio that's currently right around 1-to-1 and the team shooting just 40.8 percent from the field, Hoiberg said they've talked about "putting in a whole new set, a simple set that has more structure to it and more control of who we get the ball to."
***That being said, Hoiberg also said NU was just 4-for-19 on "open" 3-pointers at Ohio State, and they missed seven other "semi-contested" threes. Even more, the majority of the attempts were from guys they want shooting the ball.
"To me, this game is so much about confidence," Hoiberg said. "When you have it, you're on top of the world. When you don't, that rim looks like a little thimble up there, and that's what it looks like for a lot of our guys right now."
***Hoiberg said another problem for Nebraska has been that when the 3-pointers aren't falling, they don't have many other options to create scoring without a true offensive post threat.
Not only was NU 5-33 on 3-pointers at Ohio State, but it was also 8-of-19 at the rim.
"When you're missing threes like we did and then you're not finishing at the rim, it's not a very good recipe," Hoiberg said.
***Hoiberg said one of the more successful actions this year had been the pick-and-roll, which has led to a lot of good 3-point looks and some shots at the basket.
That has led to the majority of NU's paint touches through the roll man. Hoiberg hopes that would become an even more effective strategy once Derrick Walker - "who is arguably our best finisher in the paint" - joins the lineup in two games.
***Hoiberg said Teddy Allen was another guy they could use more as the roll man in pick-and-rolls, and possibly even some with Dalano Banton.
***With all of the talk about what Nebraska can change going forward, Hoiberg also warned about "the knee-jerk reaction to a butt-kicking" where you think "we've got to change everything that we're doing."
He said that thinking was common after a performance like the one NU had at Ohio State, but the Huskers still had to stay true to who they were and who they want to be.
***Hoiberg said the most disappointing aspect of Wednesday night's loss wasn't the shooting, but how his team quit defending, and then the game blew open.
He said the Huskers once again let their offensive struggles impact their defensive effort, and that can't happen with a team with such a small margin for error right now.
Hoiberg said it was the defense that kept them in other games where they didn't shoot well, such as Creighton, Wisconsin, and Michigan. But the Ohio State game was the first time he felt the defensive energy wasn't where it needed to be to win in the Big Ten.
***On Michigan State being 0-3 to start Big Ten play, Hoiberg said the Spartans had gone through some of the same struggles NU had lately, losing some close games late and then getting blown out by Minnesota.
Hoiberg said that was more of a reflection of what the Big Ten was this season than an indictment on MSU, as even teams as talented as the Spartans would struggle if they didn't bring it every night.
***Hoiberg also pointed out that Michigan State lost three games in a row last year and went on to become one of the best teams in the country.
***Hoiberg said MSU was another physical team that would present many of the same challenges as Ohio State. He said Nebraska had to get back in transition defensively and battle on the glass on both ends to have a chance.
***Hoiberg said he went to bed at 9:45 p.m. on New Year's Eve after not sleeping much the previous couple of nights. After the team got back to Lincoln around midnight on Thursday, he said NU "went really hard" in practice that same day. He said the Huskers were "sore" and "ornery" on Friday but still had a productive, attentive practice.
***Hoiberg said Walker was getting extra work individually before/after practice to get as caught up as possible leading up to his debut next week at Purdue. Walker has been working with the team more and more recently, but Hoiberg said it would take some time for him to get where he needed to be physically and mentally.
***Hoiberg said Banton had been putting up really good numbers going into the Ohio State game, but he obviously struggled shooting vs. the Buckeyes. Overall, Hoiberg said he'd liked Nebraska's offensive pace, but there still wasn't the "organization" they needed.
He blamed himself for that and said it also had to do with Banton sitting out for a year, Trey McGowens playing primarily off the ball at Pittsburgh, and Kobe Webster also playing more of the two Western Kentucky.
***Hoiberg said, "the hardest part of being a coach is distributing minutes," and that was something Nebraska was still trying to figure out. He said they usually want to play 8-9 guys and try to get the rest of the scholarship players to accept their roles for that season.
But with Walker joining the mix next week and the rest of the roster's inconsistency so far, finding the best lineups to start games and finish them was very much a work in progress.
