Nebraska took care of business on Saturday, defeating Southwest Minnesota State 79-38 to conclude nonconference play. The Huskers ended their nonconference campaign with only one loss, the first time since the 2003-04 season.
Coach Tim Miles, senior forward Tanner Borchardt and senior guards James Palmer Jr. and Glynn Watson Jr. all addressed the media following Nebraska’s win.
Here’s the full transcript from that question-and-answer session.
Head coach Tim Miles
On playing Southwest Minnesota State:
“I’d just like to thank Southwest State and Coach Brad Bigler. Obviously he means a lot to me and for him to come up a day before a league game and play us on the road where we knew scheduling a Division II would not hurt us in the RPI and the NET, and all those things matter. So I just appreciate those guys because that’s a bit of a sacrifice too. They want to do well in their league, they have aspirations. But I just really appreciate them making this happen.”
On how he thought Nebraska played against SWMS:
“I was proud of our guys. I thought they played with alertness on defense. We were very good on the ball … I thought our guys were very sharp. Their attention to detail was good and then fairly crisp on offense even though we didn’t make shots the first half. I thought we gradually got better as the game went on, shook the rust off so to speak.”
On Tanner Borchardt starting against SWMS:
"Tanner was great. He got us extra possessions at the beginning of both halves, and that first group, really until I subbed, was pretty sharp. I think it was 12-2 or whatever it might be and Tanner was a big part of that because we miss a shot, he gets it, and Tanner’s got better feet than i thin people realize. I think that’s from the old offensive line days at Gothenburg.”
On Isaiah Roby’s groin injury:
“It’s always a concern to me. He’s getting better every day, but you still have to go out and move. This game is about movement, so when you have an injury the way that he’s got it, you’re just concerned and I’m concerned, as anybody would be.”
On getting into conference play:
"I think they're ready. They're tired of me, they're tired of practice, so to speak, and they're ready to compete. I can't say enough about them. They look at it, they know where we want to be as a program and they're ready to compete."
Senior guard James Palmer Jr.
On if they accomplished what they set out to do before the game:
“I would say yeah. Shout out to them (Southwest Minnesota State). They were a good team and they could really shoot the ball. We just took care of business and it was a great win coming off the break."
Senior forward Tanner Borchardt
On when he found out he was getting the start:
“After shootaround today, probably like 9 o'clock or so. [Junior forward Isaiah] Roby was kind of limited during practice, so I already kind of knew. But I've been in the lineup and I've been preparing for this moment all season, so I was ready to go.”
On how he played today:
“I felt like I played great. I did my role, got rebounds and rolled to the rim.”
Senior guard Glynn Watson Jr.
On picking up the energy in the first half:
“We just shared the ball. We stopped playing one-on-one, things like that. We just needed to share it, take care of the ball and take open shots. We missed a couple open ones, but it's nothing we can't fix.”
On their excitement for the challenge of Big Ten play:
“Yeah, I'm ready to get rolling. We get to play at Maryland, they're a good team, then we got Iowa away after that. So we got two away games we have to get ready for and come out with the wins."
On what they learned from non-conference play:
“I think we can play with anybody. When we share the ball, there's not too many teams that can play with us. We just have to keep playing together."
