Huskers catching their breath after grueling return

Head coach Fred Hoiberg met with local media on Friday to recap the crazy past two weeks and preview Nebraska’s upcoming home game vs. Purdue on Saturday.

Here is a full recap of what he had to say…

***Hoiberg said the reason Nebraska’s bigs didn’t play much in the two losses at Maryland was mainly due to the small lineups the Terrapins used and needing to match up defensively.

He also said Derrick Walker was still struggling with his conditioning coming back off of COVID-19, which is why he played a total of just 21 minutes in the two games.

Hoiberg said Walker, Eduardo Andre, and Yvan Ouedraogo were “going to have to be a big part” of the rotation going forward, especially against Purdue’s talented frontcourt on Saturday.

***Hoiberg said Purdue’s low-post duo of Trevion Williams was “as good of a big as anyone in the country.” The combination of Williams and 7-foot-4, 285-pound freshman Zach Edey off the bench would be as tough of a challenge as NU has faced this season.

***Purdue gives either Williams or Edey a paint touch on almost every offensive possession, and Hoiberg said Williams’ versatility as a scorer made him such a difficult assignment.

Combine those two in the paint with skilled 3-point shooters around them, and Hoiberg said it makes Purdue so hard to game plan against.

***Hoiberg said Nebraska had three players “limp off the court” on three straight possessions during live game plan work on Friday.

The good news is that none suffered any injuries that will keep them out on Saturday, and Hoiberg said the second back after a long road trip was always the hardest in terms of recovery.

***On freshman Eduardo Andre, Hoiberg said he was really proud of Andre’s work to improve his game and his conditioning this season.

Hoiberg said Andre usually simulates the opposing big during scout team work, which gives him a lot of touches in practice. Hoiberg thought that helped both Andre’s development and his in-game conditioning while also giving him a strong understanding of opposing game plans.

Hoiberg said he’d been impressed with how well Andre has been running the floor and thought NU’s shooters had benefitted from the freshman’s presence on offense. Hoiberg said Andre’s “commitment to rolling” off screens and playing well in the high-post game with Walker had been two great additions.

Has a chance to be special with his physical tools. Grew up playing soccer, which is why he has such good feet.

***Hoiberg said Trey McGowens would be the first one to say that he’s struggling with his confidence a bit right now.

Hoiberg said he wanted to focus on things like ways to get McGowens closer to the 3-point line on his shots and waiting to gather the ball a bit on his drives.

Hoiberg said McGowens had been doing a good job of attacking the rim, but he had been making his shots more difficult by picking the ball up too early on his drives.

***Hoiberg was asked about comments made by Michigan head coach Juwan Howard about how Nebraska and Michigan were in different spots right now as programs and had different priorities for the remainder of their regular-season schedules.

Hoiberg said as far as NU was concerned, all of the games it’s had to play in such a short window were still valuable, as “the more games we can play, the better we’re going to be.”

Hoiberg said his biggest concern was the grueling schedule “affecting our long-term health” with potential injuries, but he felt it was more important for the Huskers to play games and develop together as a team.

Hoiberg said he would always do what he felt was in the best interest of his program, “and I’d expect every other coach to do the same.”

***Hoiberg said the second game at Maryland was as poor as Nebraska had been defensively in a long time, and a lot of that had to do with mental fatigue.

He thought the Huskers weren’t talking well enough and were out of position on defense far too many times in that loss. Hoiberg said it was just as important that his players stayed fresh mentally as it was physically.

***Hoiberg said, “I feel great about our future” with the incoming 2021 recruiting class and the continuity Nebraska was building with the current roster this season. “Hopefully that will pay some benefits” next year.

***Hoiberg said senior forward Trevor Lakes was going to play more in the upcoming games.