Huskers get back to work after postponement

After Tuesday’s road game at Purdue was postponed for healthy and safety precautions, the Nebraska basketball team got back to work this week to prepare for Sunday’s home contest vs. Indiana.

Head coach Fred Hoiberg gave the latest on the Huskers following Saturday’s practice. Here’s a full recap of what he had to say…

***Hoiberg confirmed that Nebraska initiated the decision to postpone the Purdue game after one of its players tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.

Hoiberg said NU would be without one player for Sunday’s game vs. Indiana. With the Big Ten’s 17-day sit-out rule for positive tests, that player will likely miss the next five games.

***Hoiberg said every other player has tested negative since Monday.

***Hoiberg said the most important part of the decision to postpone was “the health and safety of our student-athletes.” He said he reached out to Purdue head coach Matt Painter and the Big Ten office about potentially postponing the game.

He credited Painter for being so understanding of the situation and willing to adjust as necessary.

***Hoiberg said there still was no makeup date set yet for the game. He noted that Nebraska and Purdue’s “bye weeks” did not line up, so the Big Ten would probably “have to shuffle some things around” with their schedules to make it work.

***Hoiberg said he was pleased with how NU responded in the second half of the Michigan State loss, cutting a 17-point deficit down to a two-possession game. In fact, he called that one of Nebraska’s best stretches of the season.

However, the challenge for the Huskers was not giving up those big runs to begin with.

Hoiberg said NU’s “lulls” early in second halves had been a theme all year that had to be eliminated for the Huskers to start winning.

***Hoiberg said Indiana was “a physical team that gets a lot accomplished in the paint and at the free-throw line.” He compared a lot of what the Hoosiers do to what NU saw vs. Ohio State, which the Huskers obviously struggled against.

***Hoiberg said IU forward Trayce Jackson-Davis had “really added to his game” since last season, especially with being able to attack off the dribble. Hoiberg noted that Jackson-Davis was the son of Dale Davis, who Hoiberg played with in the NBA. Hoberg Jackson-Davis had “the same temperament” as his dad.

***Hoiberg said Derrick Walker was obviously disappointed to have to wait another six days to make his Nebraska debut, and he was as excited as ever to finally get to play.

Hoiberg reiterated that Walker had a lot of work to do before he got into Big Ten game shape and wanted to temper any expectations that the junior forward could come in and be Nebraska’s “savior” this season.

***Hoiberg said Nebraska took Tuesday and Wednesday off completely, so this had been different than a normal off week. Hoiberg said the positive was that it gave the team a chance to rest physically.

But the Huskers also had to “go hard” the past two practices to catch up from the time off, and Hoiberg said there was some “rust” that needed to be knocked off.