Playing without a significant member of their team for the first time in two seasons, Fred Hoiberg’s Huskers (2-2) picked up some much-needed confidence in dominating Idaho State (1-3), winning 78-60 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
In their first full-game action without team leader Trey McGowens, the team’s most experienced player in a Nebraska jersey, the Huskers adapted their approach against a lesser opponent. That allowed for some kinks to be worked out, some roles to be re-defined, and some improvement to be realized.
Junior Derrick Walker started strong, scoring Nebraska’s first points on a pair of layups, then taking a charge on defense. Walker led all players with 14 points on 5-5 shooting from the field and was 4-5 from the line.
“We wanted to get Derrick going a little bit,” head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He only got two shot attempts in the last one. He does so many little things for this team, so to get him going a little bit is big for our team because he was so good in the preseason.”
Despite the strong start from Walker, an early lull followed when five straight missed shots allowed the Bengals to take a 12-9 lead. That’s when four players from the Husker bench stepped in and grabbed control of the contest.
What followed was a 15-2 NU scoring run during which they made 6-7 shots overall, including three 3-pointers. The Huskers never looked back, leading the rest of the way.
“Coming off the bench, you’ve got to bring energy – match the energy if it’s high, don’t let it drop off, or if it’s low, go in there and bring a spark,” freshman Wilhelm Breidenbach said. Two of the 3-pointers in that run were his, leading to a career-high 9 points.
Hoiberg saw the spark as well. “I thought when they went in the pace really changed, we got that thing up the floor and hit four or five shots in a row,” the head coach said. “We felt if we secured the rebound, we could get some transition opportunities, and that’s what I thought that second group did such a good job of and found the shooters when they were open.”
NU passed the ball well almost all game long. Freshman Bryce McGowens, who scored 6 points and led all players with 7 rebounds, drove the lane and kicked out to junior Lat Mayen who buried the Huskers’ first 3-pointer. Nebraska started 7-15 from deep, finishing 8-23.
After an ugly offensive start in the first half of Tuesday’s loss to Creighton, ball movement was a key in Friday’s win. “It gets everybody involved, everyone’s playing within a rhythm,” Breidenbach said. “When we moved it, everyone got involved, everybody was happy to get back on defense, play with some more energy”
Although they ended up with 18 assists on 31 made baskets at the final horn, the Huskers had dished out 17 of them by their 26th made field goal with still 9:45 to play.
Also helping from the bench was freshman CJ Wilcher, whose ten points included a pair of first-half triples. Wilcher leads the team in threes and 3-point shooting percentage through four games. “I feel really good, my confidence is high. That’s really all I need,” Wilcher said. He is now 7-16 from deep on the year, good for 43.8%.
After enjoying a 41-31 halftime lead, NU started things off with an Alonzo-Verge-to-Bryce-McGowens alley-oop, then established Walker as they did to start the first half. After Verge missed a quick shot, senior Kobe Webster came in and ran the offense through the post. Walker scored the next five points on a pair of free throws and a 3-point play.
Webster, after not playing in the first two games, had the highest plus-minus of any Husker against Creighton with +5, and tied Wilcher for that honor against Idaho State with +24. Webster also led the team with 28 minutes, passed out a game-high 5 assists, and scored all 7 of his points in the second half.
“Kobe has experience in the system,” Hoiberg said. “When things are maybe not going great out there, he can calm us down, he can get us into the offense and get us moving. Alonzo had a really good stretch to finish the game off for us, but Kobe gives us great stability.”
While the senior point guard Verge did contribute 11 points and a pair of assists with no turnovers, he played only 11 minutes in the first half and just 7 in the second, giving way to Webster at the point.
The loudest crowd reactions seemed to be for freshman Keisei Tominaga. He scored a layup almost immediately after entering the game, giving NU the lead for good at 13-12. He somehow got a reverse layup to fall as he crashed to the ground to extend the lead to 21-14, forcing a Bengal timeout.
Later, he got the sparse Friday night non-conference crowd to their feet one final time with 5:13 remaining, when he buried a deep 3-pointer from the left wing while being fouled. Although he missed the free throw for a possible 4-point play, it was the last loud highlight of the evening.
“Keisei shoots the heck out of the ball, and we all know that, so we were all trying to hunt, get him shots today, get him some in-game makes and get his confidence back up,” Wilcher said of Tominaga, whose 11 points were a career-high.
Freshman Keon Edwards, a transfer from DePaul, started in place of Trey McGowens, who will miss 6-8 weeks with a broken foot suffered in the first half of Tuesday’s loss to Creighton. Edwards finished with two points and one foul in 15 minutes.
Hoiberg noted the loss of Trey’s floor presence, but also pointed out others as leaders while gaining another coach on the sidelines. “Trey and Derrick have had the two most consistent voices for us, and Kobe I’d put in that category as well,” Hoiberg said. “I still heard (Trey) over there louder than everybody else. He’s going to continue to go out there and lead and be positive.”
Nebrasketball hosts Southern on Sunday at 3pm.