Notable quotes from Nebraska’s 74-66 loss to Northwestern.
Tim Miles on preparation for Northwestern:
“I decided to make it a one-day prep, in terms of we played Thursday late, came back in the afternoon, we watched tape of us like we would normally, just shot and stretched, but we didn’t walk-through anything on the floor. We went back and watched tape just to get ready. Yesterday we had a really good practice. Our focus was good and then we had one action they ran [that] they got us on three times that we defended six times yesterday perfectly each time but you get out there and you get hit in the mouth and pretty soon you forget. Other things start to bother you and you don’t do your job. That was disappointing.”
On Nebraska’s offense:
“I just felt like our offensive execution was poor all night. Seems like we made shots [but] we didn’t run offense, even early when we got up 12-2 then we had a big run. You know, the only time we got transition is when we went 1-3-1. The other times transition we either pulled it out or turned it over.”
On a potential “hangover” from the Iowa game:
“I’ve dealt with 20-year-olds for a long time now and if you can figure them out, write a book and you’re going to make a billion and retire. I don’t know. I know we weren’t nearly as good as we have been for a long time.”
Northwestern head coach Chris Collins on getting a win over Nebraska on the road:
“It’s great to win on the road. I mean, you guys know. Nebraska’s got two big road wins and they earned them. We had to earn this one today and it was a happy locker room. Our guys feel good about what we did today.”
On Nebraska fans and the environment at Pinnacle Bank Arena:
“I’ve just got to say I love playing here just because of the fans here. You guys should be really proud. Coach Miles and what he’s built is just a great environment for college basketball and I know the students weren’t here but their fans, they were loud [and] it was red. You guys have some of the best fans which is cool, so to come in here and play in this kind of environment and to come back from the deficit we had, I thought it showed a lot of toughness and that’s something we’re trying to build within our team.”
Michael Jacobson on coming back right before halftime:
“That was awesome. It was good because I think we were down 10, 11, 12 or something like that. It was good to get it back and get in front right before the half and take some momentum away from them but it’s a long game. There’s still a half of basketball left and clearly it was not the deciding factor there.”
On whether or not the team was tired after the Iowa matchup:
“I don’t want to make any excuses. Everyone has quick turnarounds. It’s a long season for everyone, so I don’t know. I don’t think so. I think we just got away from ourselves a little bit and what we do and not to discredit anything they did. They did a good job on positional defense; they sat in those lanes and kind of forced us to take some outside shots. I think that hurt us.”
Evan Taylor on Northwestern’s defense:
“I thought their defensive game plan was good but we kind of got timid on offense. We’ve got to kind of stray away from that.”
