Huskers ready to regroup against Horned Frogs

There was definitely no shortage of things for Nebraska head coach Doc Sadler to be upset about following the Huskers' disappointing showing Wednesday's 69-55 loss to Saint Louis.

The most frustrating aspect of all, though, was something that couldn't be seen just from looking at the box score.

As Nebraska prepares for Saturday's 1 p.m. tip-off against TCU at the Devaney Center, one thing Sadler said his team had to do was start to show its opponents some basic respect.

Not as much in the sense of sportsmanship, but more so in realizing the Huskers just aren't good enough yet to think they can simply outplay quality opponents without following their game plan.

"I don't think we really understand or respect who other (teams) are," Sadler said. "We're not to the point that we can overlook anyone. Going back, I mean, we gave Saint Louis the basketball 27 minutes (time of possession) to our 13. I mean, that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous on my part and that's ridiculous on the players' part to not respect people more than that."

Sadler said the Huskers needed to show more patience on both ends of the floor, but especially on offense.

He said Nebraska took far too many rushed and contested shots against the Billikens, which allowed Saint Louis to control the tempo of the game and not have to work much on the defensive end.

All together, the Huskers shot just 40 percent from the field - including just 1-of-7 from 3-point range - and committed 14 turnovers.

However, the first thing Sadler did to open Thursday's practice was try to get his NU's attention on defense, as he made the team do defensive slides up and down the court for 14 minutes straight.

"I told them, 'Guys, how you feel right now is what you did the other night,'" Sadler said. "You're trying to teach them."

It was obviously an all-around disappointing night for the Huskers, who were looking to make a good showing in their first road game and first big test of the season.

Still, it wasn't as if Sadler or the players walked away without taking any positives away from the game. If nothing else, senior guard Sek Henry said the way the Huskers responded from an early 7-0 deficit to tie the game at halftime and how they never quit even when the game was out of reach was a reflection on the team's character.

"One positive I took was even though they did hit us (early), we still fought back in there," Henry said. "Even towards the end of the game, we were still trying to fight back in the game. That just shows that the whole team has a desire to win. We still fought. No matter what, we still fought."

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

One of the things Sadler was most upset about Wednesday's loss was that Nebraska rarely found a way to get the ball inside. Even if it were only for a moment before kicking it back out, Sadler said the Huskers needed to find a way to get the ball in the post at least 20 times a game. On Wednesday, they got it to the post just seven times. In two games this season, Nebraska has scored just two points in the paint. Look for NU to make it an extra emphasis to get the ball down low and attack TCU to the rim.

WHO'S HOT FOR THE HUSKERS

Henry was one of the few Huskers who shot the ball fairly well against the Billikens. Henry finished with a team-high 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting and hit all six of his free throws. He's now averaged 11 points in Nebraska's first two regular season games.

WHO'S HOT FOR THE HORNED FROGS

Sophomore guard Ronnie Moss has been shooting lights out through TCU's first three games, as he's averaging 20 points and hitting 45.5 percent from the floor. His 11 3-pointers on the year are a team high, and he also leads the Horned Frogs with 16 assists and four steals.