Stats & coverage � Box score

Feb. 1, 2003
 
Huskers Fall at Home to Kansas, 81-51
 
Nebraska Head Coach Barry Collier

Opening Statement
“I thought that both teams really came out and had an aggressive first half. We weren’t scoring that well, but I was pleased that we were making Kansas take shots that they normally wouldn’t have taken. Kansas was a lot more diligent and they were able to come out in the second half and put the game out.”

On the first half
“I think one of our main problems in the first half was that we turned the ball over too many times. We were in a good position in the first half and really aggressive, we just didn’t anticipate Kansas coming off the boards as aggressively as they did.”

On NU’s play
“In any situation where you’re dealing with good defensive teams you have to knock the ball out to get it done. We weren’t able to get much done. Kansas really did a good job on the boards. Shot-wise, I think that if you’re able to get in the mid- 40s you should have a chance in this league. Those are our goals, and the only way to improve our shooting is to continue to shoot.”

Guard Brennon Clemmons
On the game
“It’s tough to take any loss. It hurts, but you have to correct your mistakes and work on the things that you do wrong in the game and move on.”

On NU’s play
“Our shots weren’t falling and we didn’t play good defense. I thought that we gave them too many shots and we didn’t communicate. We have been struggling with second chance-shots. We’ll give them second and third shots. We’ve been working on that in practice but we just haven’t gotten it done in a game.”

On the team’s thoughts coming into the game
“Our mindset was to win and to play hard. We can beat any one here at the Devaney Center. Home is home. We had high expectations coming into the game. We wanted to come out and play hard and give the fans something to cheer about and get a win.”

Kansas Head Coach Roy Williams
Opening Statement
“I would call this a workman-like effort today against Nebraska. We had a really nice three-minute stretch during the middle of the first half that opened the game up for us. Nebraska made the decision to go box-and-one on Nick and gave us the outside shot today. We didn’t shoot as well today but we made some plays.”

On Nebraska’s zone defense
“Nebraska did a good job of not letting up and getting into our fast-break game today. We need to be better at our half-court game and Nebraska made us do that day. If a team is going to face-guard Nick (Collison) and Kirk (Hinrich), we need guys like Jeff (Graves) to produce more in the paint.”

On Nick Collison’s play
“That’s the second straight game against Nebraska that he didn’t shoot the ball as well. He did a good job on the back boards and blocking shots. We need scoring out of Nick for us to be successful.”

On Shooting 20 three-pointers
“I don’t like to shoot that many three’s in a game. Just because their coach wants us to shoot that many time doesn’t mean we have to. We need to do a better job of moving the ball around to get open shots.”

NOTES:
** Today’s attendance of 13,054 was a season high, surpassing the mark of 12,238 against Creighton in December.

** Today’s game was the second this week for the Huskers against a nationally ranked squad. Nebraska is now 1-5 against ranked teams this season, as the Huskers defeated 20/17 Minnesota on Dec. 8, before falling to No. 20/19 Creighton, No. 14/13 Kansas, No. 25/25 Missouri and Kansas today.

** Junior forward Andrew Drevo recorded double-figure points for the fifth time in seven league games this season. Drevo had 10 points in the first half before finishing with 15. He nearly added his second straight double-double with seven rebounds. Drevo hit 3-of-12 from three-point range, just one attempt less than the NU record of 13 in game (Cary Cochran vs. Baylor, 2002).

** Freshman Wesley Wilkinson hit a three-pointer in the first half, ending a streak of nine straight misses from downtown over the past 13 games. The last time Wilkinson hit a trey was in NU’s victory over nationally ranked Minnesota.

** The Huskers limited Kansas to just 43.1 percent from the floor. It was only the fifth time KU has been held under 45 percent shooting from field this year.

** Junior guard Nate Johnson had a season- and team-high four steals today, as the Huskers finished with nine, one short of the season high. Johnson added four assists, which was just one off his season high of five two times. He was held to single digits (eight points) for the first time in a conference game this year.

<< Previous Page

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.