Nebraska head coach Tim Miles and sophomore forward Edward Morrow met with reporters on Friday afternoon to discuss the Huskers’ home game against Louisiana Tech on Saturday night.
Here is a overview of what they had to say…
***Miles said this was an “exciting weekend” for his team for a couple of reasons. First, the Huskers will see a big jump in competition on Saturday night against a Louisiana Tech team Miles said has “a real chance to win Conference-USA.”
Second, Nebraska will honor the 1996 NIT championship team during the game. Miles said they don’t have anything formal set up as far as the former players from that team talking with the current Huskers, but said there would definitely be plenty of interaction with guys like Erick Strickland, Andy Markowski, Tom Wald and others.
***Asked what makes Louisiana Tech so good, Miles said first it’s the Bulldogs’ “tremendous” athleticism and how they use it to apply constant pressure on both ends of the floor. On offense, LaTech is averaging 81.0 points per game and loves to push the tempo in transition at every chance.
On defense, the Bulldogs are averaging 11.0 steals per game, and Miles said they turn teams over on almost 25 percent of the total possessions, “which is an extraordinary about of times.” Miles said conversion defense was going to be a big deal in keeping Louisiana Tech under control.
***Because of the way LaTech pressures the ball for 94 feet, Miles said he was looking forward to seeing how his backcourt responds to the challenge, particularly point guard Glynn Watson, who comes in leading the Big Ten with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 10-to-1.
***After two relatively easy match-ups to start the year, Miles was asked if Louisiana Tech was a natural progression in competition as the season schedule moves on.
“We have just jumped off the cliff of progression,” Miles said. “We are going throw these guys in the boiling hot water and see what happens.”
***Miles said the Huskers “don’t have a choice but to buy into team balance this year”, meaning NU will continue to rely heavily on its bench all season.
***Miles said he met with Anton Gill earlier this week and just talked about Gill's early struggles this season and how to get him back on track. Miles said he wants to make the game "simpler" for Gill, including using "a simple game plan" when he's on the court to allow Gill be play more on the attack.
***Morrow said the team was looking forward to their first test of the season against Louisiana Tech on Saturday night.
“Tomorrow we’ll find out what kind of team we’ll really have,” Morrow said.
***Morrow said the biggest difference between his play this season to last year as a true freshman has mainly been finally being able to stay healthy. While his confidence has improved and he’s worked hard on diversifying his game, but simply being able to stay on the court has helped him more than anything.
***Morrow said if Nebraska were to hold a team dunk content, he would pick himself as the clear winner. Who would be his top competition?
“I’d say Isaiah Roby,” Morrow said.
***Miles confirmed that Morrow broke a rim at Pinnacle Bank Arena during their practice the day before the opener vs. Sacramento State, "which basically ruined practice."
