Huskers gearing up for Creighton rivalry

Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg and junior guard Trey McGowens met with media on Monday to preview the HUskers’ annual in-state rivalry game vs. Creighton on Tuesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

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

***Hoiberg said “one of the great things about sports” were rivalry games, especially in-state battles like Nebraska vs. Creighton. While he was still new to the Creighton series, Hoiberg said he had plenty of experience in this type of rivalry from his days with Iowa State vs. Iowa.

Hoiberg said the “whole state gets jacked up” for this game, and the Huskers were excited about the opportunity and would “learn a lot about ourselves” on Tuesday night.

***Hoiberg said there is potential for players to get “too hyped” for a game like this, so they needed to focus on doing the things that make them good. Hoiberg talked to the team about the game’s importance to the fans and about staying focused on themselves.

***Hoiberg said there was no doubt NU needed to be better than what they’ve been through the first two games, but he added that there were still plenty of things they could build upon.

***Hoiberg again stressed that Nebraska had to move the ball better on offense. He said the Huskers got “dribble happy” too often, and then the offense immediately became stagnant.

Hoiberg said better passing and decision-making were heavy emphasis over the last two practices, especially getting into the paint and making plays rather than settling for contested mid-range shots.

***Hoiberg said Nebraska was more physical against Sam Houston State than they were vs. Western Illinois. Now they had to carry that over against a big jump in competition against an opponent that was very long and athletic.

***Hoiberg said both Nebraska and Creighton were “still trying to find” themselves early in the season, and it was a “unique time” for this game to be played in the schedule.

***Hoiberg said he had a good, long film session with Alonzo Verge Jr. on Sunday and that Verge “took it very well.” Hoiberg said Verge understands the point he’s trying to make is not about taking away aggressiveness, as Verge can get into the paint and had a “scorer’s mentality.”

The issue was that NU needed Verge to take on a new role from what he’d played the past four years, and Verge had fallen back on some old habits after some early struggles and tried to “take the game over by himself.”

***Part of Verge’s problem was that he missed some “great opportunities” on some missed layups and “got in his own head” and started pressing. Hoiberg said Verge needed to “survey the floor” better and just make the simple plays early in possessions.

***Hoiberg said Eduardo Andre was “terrific” vs. SHSU and was the key to NU winning the game. Hoiberg said Andre would “absolutely” be in the rotation moving forward.

***Hoiberg said the Huskers couldn’t “get shocked” by Creighton’s speed transition game. He said the big runs the Bluejays went on in the previous two meetings directly resulted from their play in transition.

***Hoiberg said he was “really pleased” with Wilhelm Breidenbach vs. SHSU, even though his numbers “didn’t jump off the page.” Hoiberg noted that Breidenbach was on the floor to finish the game and played well alongside Derrick Walker in the frontcourt.

***Hoiberg said Lat Mayen was still working his way back after missing a lot of practice from battling various injuries this offseason.

***McGowens said even though he’d only played in one Nebraska-Creighton game, he understood its significance in the state a little bit more.

“We’re the two big schools in Nebraska,” McGowens said. “We kind of share fans – Jayskers, I guess. We’ve’ got to try to bring it home for Husker fans.”

***McGowens said he put a lot of honus on himself to be a more physical rebounder vs. SHSU, and he got eight defensive rebounds. “I’m the hustle guy; defender, rebounder – that’s my goal,” McGowens said.

He added that he and assistant coach Nate Loenser set a goal for him to average six rebounds per game this season and fell way short of that vs. WIU because he was standing around watching and waiting for guys like Walker to get the board.

***McGowens said he talked to Verge about getting NU’s shooters involved over the last two days in practice because they hadn’t seen a lot of looks in the games. McGowens mentioned Keisei Tominaga specifically as someone who needed to get more involved.

***McGowens said his young brother Bryce was “hard on himself” despite scoring 25 points against WIU because he missed many easy shots he thought he should have made. Trey said Bryce was constantly pushing himself to get better.

“That’s the kind of person he is.”

***McGowens said he’d already gotten “a little amped up” for the Creighton game, and he even “wrote some stuff” on the team’s locker room whiteboard about the rivalry to get everyone excited.