Nebraska players and its head coach met with the media Tuesday night after the Huskers' season-opening win over Mississippi Valley State, 106-37.
Guard James Palmer Jr., guard Glynn Watson Jr., forward Nana Akenten and head coach Tim Miles all fielded questions from the media after a game in which Miles said there won't be much to nitpick on film.
Here's the full transcript from their question-and-answer session postgame.
Senior guard Glynn Watson Jr.
On whether the Huskers answered any questions about their 3-point shooting with a 15-for-37 performance?
"Yes, but it’s just the first game. That wasn’t a good team so we’re just going to keep working each and every day."
On whether his performance — 19 points (7-10 FG, 5-7 3P), three assists, three rebounds, no turnovers — was a glimpse of what's the come from him this season?
"I’m just doing whatever. Whatever the team needs from me, I’m going to be aggressive. Coach Miles wants me to be aggressive, so that’s just one thing I’m going to do, be aggressive more and try to get my teammates open shots."
Senior guard James Palmer Jr.
On if he's ever won a game by that many points?
"No."
On how you keep the intensity in such a lopsided game?
"At halftime we just preached to finish the game strong and not worry about the score."
On if it was nice to see new guys like Akenten break out a little bit?
"It’s great. [Nana]’s been working all summer on his overall game, not just his shot, and tonight was his night."
On whether they feel there's anything to work on after such a large win?
"I mean, we’ve just got to work on everything. That was a good win for us to get our feet wet but we’ve still got to get better in our overall game, offense and defense."
Sophomore forward Nana Akenten
On how it felt getting to play big minutes and being able to catch fire from the field (18 points, 5-for-11 from 3-point range)?
"It’s always fun. First off, all glory goes to God, but my teammates kept encouraging me, my coaches as well. I was just out there having fun."
On whether it felt like shooting practice with the open looks the Huskers got?
"I had a lot of open shots. I missed a few of those but once again, the team just kept encouraging me and I just had to keep getting them up."
Head coach Tim Miles
On the game as a whole and what he liked?
“I’ll start with just the team mentality. I thought the guys respected the game and played hard throughout the game. Then, I look a little bit about how the young guys did. I thought that Brady Heiman did a very nice job and Nana Akenten, too. I think people can see what we saw in [Akenten]. He’s never really had a chance to show out so it was good for him to get some reps up and down the court. You can see why we like him. And then I look at those other guys. Like how is Glynn going to respond to what is going on? I thought Glynn was really good. James Palmer Jr. put up a great line. After that, were we solid defensively? Just checking the boxes. We did a lot of things right tonight. Sometimes after a game like this, you don’t feel good, whatever, but, I thought our guys just hung in there and kept doing the right things for a long time.”
On whether tonight helped ease his concerns about shooting?
“No. I mean, we're day by day. I like the way we shoot it, I have seen us do it in practice, I know what our numbers are in practice. I think it is going to be one of those things where we are going to have some tough nights, but we are going to have some good nights. Like, even Brady put one up late, and I am fine with that even though the end result maybe wasn’t what we hoped but I think he has got to be able to take those because he is going to end up being a stretch-four, stretch-five kind of guy for us.”
On the team's approach?
"They just approach things very business-like and sometimes I feel like they're casual. That bothers me, I'm not casual. So, that's just a little bit them and it's on to the next and we're happy to play well, get the win and now we're ready to go get Southeastern Louisiana."
On looking at the film and what he takes from it?
"I mean, I'll grade it, but I think the things I'll look for are like discipline. How'd you play when you're tired? How do you play through that moment? It's going to be things like that, so if I nitpick, that will be it but it won't be… it'll be stuff like that."
On Palmer's performance (17 points, 4-8 FG, 8-11 FT)
"I thought James was really good. I thought he was on the attack, downhill. I thought we gave him a little bit of help. We were able to mix defenses and work on some things. We actually had probably as many possessions tonight as we had in practice on some of that stuff, but that's alright too."
On whether this was the earliest he has ever put his jacket back on in a game?
"Yeah, probably. It's been a while. Now, I've been around a long time. I've been on the other side of this thing too. I've got a lot of respect for Mississippi Valley State and those guys. I know they've got a tough road [game on Friday], I know they're on their way to Lubbock. We appreciate them being here. We're looking forward to Sunday."
