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Nebraska men’s basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg met with the media on Tuesday following his team’s first official practice of the fall. The Huskers are coming off a 2021-22 season in which they finished 10-22 overall with a 4-16 mark in Big Ten play.
Here are some of the key takeaways from what Hoiberg and a couple of his players, Wilhelm Breidenbach and Emmanuel Bandoumel, said during the presser:
>> Hoiberg said he chose six players for a leadership group. Hoiberg declined to say which players were chosen, but he did say most of them are older players with one younger player.
Sam Griesel, Juwan Gary and Blaise Keita are examples of older new faces Hoiberg wanted to bring into the program in the offseason to help leadership. They know how to get things back on track once the slightest bit of adversity hits, because they’ve been on teams that have done it in the past — Griesel at North Dakota State, Gary at Alabama and Keita at Coffeyville Community College.
Keita led Coffeyville to a 26-3 record and the school’s first national title since 1962 in 2020-21, and he averaged 10.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
>> Hoiberg said this Friday’s Opening Night with Husker Hoops will be “more of an open practice in a 30-minute span.” It will give fans a feel about how well the team has been communicating. Last year, Hoiberg said, the Opening Night event had too much of an All-Star-game feel.
>> Quaran McPherson had surgery last week and “everything went great” with the procedure on his knee. As previously reported, it will be a season-ending injury.
>> Griesel has been on a load restriction this summer, but he made it all the way through Tuesday’s entire practice. Griesel will continue doing more as the season gets closer.
>> Bandoumel has impressed Hoiberg as a ball handler, which could take some of the ball-handling duties off Griesel when needed. Bandoumel has “a ton of experience” from his days at SMU.
>> Denim Dawson leads the team in deflections at practice, according to Hoiberg. Keita leads the defense in charges taken.
>> CJ Wilcher is in better shape. According to Hoiberg, the 6-foot-5 Wilcher, who shot 40 percent from 3-point range on 128 attempts last year, will begin the season 15 pounds lighter.
>> Does Hoiberg feel pressure, considering the kind of make-or-break season ahead of him as head coach at Nebraska?
“I feel pressure every day of my life,” he responded.
>> Breidenbach is back from his season-ending knee injury he suffered last season. He said he’s “full-go” right now and has been working out the kinks and knocking off the rust.
>> Breidenbach said that, rather than one person being the vocal leader like in the past, it’s more of a team effort this year. It’s not just Derrick Walker shouldering the leadership role.
>> What does Griesel bring to the team? Breidenbach said Griesel’s decision-making has been impressive. Also, the 6-7 point guard “doesn’t get sped up easily” and always plays hard.
>> Breidenbach said the coaching staff, which has two first-year assistants in Adam Howard and Ernie Zeigler, is “very helpful and very genuine people.” Zeigler is “very insightful” and does a lot of his coaching off to the side with players.
>> What does Breidenbach feel his offensive role is this season?
“If I have an open shot, I’ll shoot it,” he said.
Breidenbach also said he just wants to play good basketball and be a strong teammate. That means boxing out, rebounding the ball and facilitating.
>> It’s been pretty easy, the transition with all the new faces on the team, Bandoumel said. Why is that? It’s because he feels the players genuinely care for each other and want everyone to do well.
>> What do successful teams do right now so early in the season? It’s about building good habits, Bandoumel said.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” he added.
>> Bandoumel said Griesel looks “great.” Bandoumel likes how big Griesel is for a ball handler and is always in the right spot. His size allows him to play at his own pace, bumping off smaller guards who get too close and try speeding him up.
>> Rebounding and being more physical are two aspects of the game that Bandoumel said the team is really focusing on improving.
>> What was the first practice like?
“The energy was through the roof,” Bandoumel said. He added the players want to keep building on what they did in the summer.
>> The Huskers are six weeks away from opening their season against Maine on Nov. 7, and similar to the football program, the Huskers’ basketball program is entering a make-or-break season for the future of its head coach.
>> The Huskers face a difficult early schedule with several new faces in their program.
>> Tip-off times and TV providers for Nebraska’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge game against Boston College and its matchup with Kansas State in Kansas City were announced on Tuesday.
The Huskers will host Boston College at PBA at 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 30, and it will be shown on ESPNU. The Dec. 17 matchup in Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center will start at 6:30 p.m. and will be carried online on Big 12 Now, which is a part of ESPN+.
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