HUSKERS TAKE DOWN NO. 1 PURDUE, 88-72

Rienk Mast added 18 points while C.J. Wilcher and Juwan Gary added 16, and 12 points, respectively. Mast help limit reigning national player of the year Zach Edey to 15 points and seven rebounds.  Brice Williams nearly posted a triple double with nine points, 11 rebounds and a career-high nine assists, as Nebraska had 22 assists and just nine turnovers.

Nebraska trailed 28-25 with 4:15 left in the half before taking control of the contest. NU outscored Purdue, 16-2 to close the half, including the final 11 points highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from Tominaga and seven straight points from Sam Hoiberg off the bench to give the Huskers a 41-30 halftime lead.

The Huskers would never trail again but had to withstand several Purdue spurts in the second half. The Boilermakers hit eight of their first nine shots after halftime and pulled within 54-52 after an Edey basket with 13:24 remaining.

Nebraska responded a run of its own, as Wilcher scored eight of his 16 points in an 11-0 spurt over the next 1:31 as his second 3-pointer of the run gave NU a 65-52 lead with 11:53 left. Purdue eventually got within 68-62 after a Lance Jones basket, but a Wilcher 3 and a Gary layup stretched the lead to 11 and NU kept the Boilermakers at bay the rest of the night.

Mason Gillis led Purdue (14-2, 3-2) with 16 points off the bench, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range to lead five Boilermakers in double figures.

Nebraska hits the road to continue Big Ten play, taking on Iowa on Friday, Jan. 12 at 8:30 p.m. (CT) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. The game is set to be televised on the Big Ten Network, with radio coverage provided by Huskers Radio Network.

Game Notes

• Nebraska picked up its fourth win in program history against a No. 1 team and first since a 67-51 win at Missouri on Feb. 6, 1982. Nebraska improved to 4-13 all-time against the nation’s No. 1 team.
• Of the four wins over No. 1 teams, two belong to the Hoiberg family as his grandfather Jerry Bush knocked off No. 1 Kansas State, 55-48, on March 3, 1958.
• The win was the fourth ranked win for Fred Hoiberg at Nebraska and first since a win at No. 7 Creighton on Dec. 4, 2022.
• Nebraska hit a season-high 14 3-pointers on Tuesday, topping the previous season high of 12 done three other times this season, most recently at Wisconsin last Saturday. NU is now 8-1 when hitting at least 10 3-pointers. Nebraska went 14-of-23 from beyond the arc, hitting a season-high 60.9 percent. The last time NU shot at least 60 percent from 3-point range was Feb. 27, 2022 at Penn State (13-of-20)
• Nebraska handed Purdue its largest loss since an 82-58 loss at Michigan on Feb. 10, 2002.
• Nebraska’s 88 points was its highest in Big Ten play since a 93-70 win at Penn State on Feb. 27, 2002. It is the most points NU has scored against Purdue since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12 (previous high 83, on Jan. 29, 2017).
• Nebraska shot 50.9 percent, becoming the third team to shoot over 50 percent against Purdue.

 

 

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg

Opening Statement

“I think the thing that gave us the chance was the start. Purdue was so fast out of the gate, and you look at the game against Illinois, it was 22-6, and it’s a hard team to fight back and get down early. We came out and threw the first punch, and that was important to set the tone for this game and go into halftime with the lead. Then, they came out and hit eight out of ten (to start the second half). We knew they’d go on a run. It’s who they are. It’s why they’re the number one team in the country, and I thought the resiliency that we showed and the fight that we showed when we called a timeout and hung in there and then went on a little run – they finally missed a couple. We got out. Sam (Hoiberg) had a nice steal and got a layup in transition to force a timeout, but I just thought the hustle plays our guys made all game long, that’s really what stood out to me, and everybody that stepped on the floor, I thought made a positive contribution, and those are the fun ones, when you have everybody that plays contribute to the win. I’m happy for our guys. I talked to them, going into this game, about being part of teams that have knocked off the number one team in the country. I had a couple as a player, and I had a couple as a coach at my previous stop. There’s nothing like it, to go out and get this win, and I talked to our guys about there will probably be people coming on the floor and to enjoy it with the fans, and now the challenge: you’ve got to move on. We play in two days, which I think feels like about the 18th game in a row we’ve had two days of prep, but we’ve got to get over this one quickly, but I did tell our guys to enjoy it, to have fun. It certainly shows what we’re capable of. I thought both ends, we were really good for the most part, besides that run that they went on in the second half, but overall, start to finish, I was really pleased with the effort.”

 

On the final buzzer

“This is a special win, and again, the thing I’m really happy with is it shows what we’re capable of, to come out there especially after a tough loss. Wisconsin handed it to us the other day, and what I told our guys in the locker room is, we won it on Sunday when we got back in the gym. We learned from the mistakes that we made, and that’s the thing that you love as a coach, when your guys respond like they did today for the entire game for 40 minutes and execute what you preach to them. Did I enjoy it? Hell yeah I did. I’m gonna enjoy it, but I’m gonna go home, and I got to start watching Iowa now. Like I said, I wish we had five days in between this one, so I could really enjoy it tonight, but we’ve got a game coming up. We’ve got to get a plan put together, and we’ve got to get our guys ready starting tomorrow.”

 

On the importance of the win

“It’s a great win. It’s a huge win for our program, but we’ve got a lot of work left to do. I think that’s the way we all need to look at this thing. This can’t be the highlight of our year. We have to build off this one. We bounced back from a tough loss. Now, we’re gonna see how we handle a big, emotional win like this, and we’ll know tomorrow. We’ll know tomorrow in the gym. We won’t go long. We probably won’t do a lot of live reps, but we’ve got to get the game plan in and have a really good mental day and get our guys ready to go.”

 

Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter

On coming back from Nebraska’s 13-0 run

“That’s probably the difference in the game, right? We had a couple good fights there in the second half to where we closed it to within single digits. I think one time we got it to two, and then they pushed it right back to double digits, around 10, 11, 12. And that was big. Zach (Edey) obviously went out at that time and we had to play better. The other night, Zach got two fouls against Illinois and we played really well without him. From a scoring standpoint, I think we were like +7 while he was out. Obviously here, we weren’t. When you’re put in that position in the second half, you’re not going to make runs if you can’t stop somebody. We had to do a better job defensively. To their credit, their shot-makers made some tough ones. We had some breakdowns and they capitalized on them and then other times when we did some good things – I thought (CJ) Wilcher and (Keisei) Tominaga made some really, really tough threes and (Rienk) Mast is a good player. I thought he really played well. I like their team. I like how hard they play. They’re together, they can hurt you in different ways. I like their system, I like the stuff they run, they cut, they move, it’s real basketball. It was tough for us to guard.”

 

On what’s different between Nebraska now vs. a few years ago

“To me, it always starts with personnel. Obviously, it’s your players, but it’s the connectivity of your players. They have good pieces together. Sometimes you can have good individual pieces, they just don’t blend well together. They blend well. They have good roles, (Brice) Williams can score on a given night, but he can also play-make. Like, tonight, he gets 11 rebounds. It’s fabulous. I don’t know him personally. I always think that’s a big deal, getting the right guys. (Keisei) Tominaga is such a threat, a huge shot maker. And Wilcher really helps. When he goes and makes shots for them, he really, really helps them. I like (Josiah) Allick and how hard he plays, I like how (Rienk) Mast plays. Juwan Gary is a stud. He has 18 rebounds at Kansas State. I think they have good pieces, but like, Juwan Gary has now been here for two years. Tominaga has been here for three years. I know their centers, both of them just got here, but they have some experience, they have good roles. (Fred) Hoiberg did a good job. Look at their bench. I think they were 10-for-12 if I remember correctly. They made their free throws. They didn’t turn the ball over. That’s a recipe for success right there, when you get good bench play and you get your guys like Mast and your Tominaga and those guys to really play well and make those shots.”

 

On why Rienk Mast was so hard for Zach Edey to guard

“I think he’s hard for everybody to guard. The other night against Wisconsin, he’s 2-for-7 from three, he just missed them. One was probably a bad one, but the rest, he just missed them. He makes a couple of those, maybe that game unfolds a little differently. Around the rim, he can go over either shoulder. He actually prefers to go over the right shoulder with his left hand a little bit more. So we can get in there and we can double and run at him and do things if we want, but with their skill, we didn’t think that made a whole lot of sense. And so, we wanted him to have to score over him (Edey). He made good plays, did some really good things, made a couple threes. He didn’t turn the ball over. He’s just a good player. Very experienced, tough.”

 

Nebraska Players

On what they’ve noticed leading up to tonight

Rienk Mast: “Mainly determination. I think everybody came in and was like ‘Okay we dropped one but we have another opportunity on Tuesday.’ Nobody was hanging their heads. Everybody came in hungry and dialed in to the scouting report and I think today showed that we’re a very good team. This was the best team effort that I’ve seen probably in my career.”

 

On Rienk Mast’s matchup with Zach Edey

Rienk Mast: “It doesn’t get much bigger than that. Number one team, reigning National Player of the Year, I just see that as a challenge. Luckily the shots were going in in the beginning and it gave the team a little spark and everybody started believing, ‘hey there’s something there today’ so yeah, rise to the moment and I think everybody did that today.”

 

On making his return from injury tonight

Brice Williams: “I’ve been in the training room more than I’ve been in my apartment the past couple days. I didn’t want to let the guys down. Obviously I wanted to play in a big moment like this because I haven’t ever experienced it. It was so electric in there. The energy was out of this world and I’m glad I didn’t miss it but at the same time, I just wanted to be there with my teammates. We all work hard and I can fight through a little bit of pain for them. It takes everybody to win, it’s not just one person so we just leaned on each other night.”

 

On what this win means

C.J. Wilcher: “It’s a great thing to see because ultimately again I give all glory to God, giving me opportunity to be a part of this game but to see the growth of our program, growth of this staff, the adjustments made throughout the years and to be a part of this is a great experience. It’s kind of like full circle. From where we came from my first year to now so it’s a great experience.”

 

On fans storming the court

C.J. Wilcher: “It was dope. I’ve never experienced that. It kind of got too hot though I had to get out of there.”

 

On the plan against Zach Edey and the defensive effort

Rienk Mast: “My plan was to be annoying. I kind of did a little fist bump because he was already complaining to the refs before the first media timeout. Just being annoying, being on his body, playing physical with him, I mean he’s about as big as it’s going to get. For me personally, that was kind of my plan and for the team, just be aggressive on him. Our game plan was pretty much to double team him on the catch and make the pass out and finding the open guy really tough and kind of rotate out of there so I think we did a great job on the backside of running and rotating and scrambling around. I give all of these guys a lot of credit because at the end of the day, I just have to put my hands up and make the pass tough. They actually have to run around and get the guys.”

 

On the whole team effort
Brice Williams: “It will make us hard to stop as the season goes on. We have a lot of experience. We have old and young guys which is good but we’re so deep, we’re so talented shooting, shooting off the charts. You can’t stop it. It can be anybody’s night and that is what you saw out there tonight and that’s what everybody’s going to see as the season goes on.”

 

On court storming

Brice Williams: “The scene was crazy. Like C.J. says, it gets too hot and it gets a little hectic. I almost fell twice and I was like yeah I have to leave. At that point it can get dangerous and there was a lot of people but at the end of the day, it was fun and it was something fun to be a part of. I’m going to remember it forever. We haven’t beat a number one team since 1982 or something so I mean it was justified.”

 

On turning around and going to play at Iowa

C.J. Wilcher: “Kind of like we did today, it wasn’t as quick of a turnaround but we kind of had our focus on this game. I think it’s the same thing. We enjoy tonight and everybody has their fun but tomorrow morning we go to practice and it’s time to lock in on the scout and our principles again.”

 

Brice Williams: “Yeah we’re not preparing every day to beat Purdue. We’re competing for a National Championship, well first a Big Ten Championships and then a National Championship. Celebrate tonight like C.J. said but never get too high and never get too low. Just keep moving forward. That was a big win but that’s not all we’re here to do.”