Stats & coverage � Box score

Jan. 15, 2003
 
Huskers Fall to Aggies in Defensive Battle, 53-52
 
Head Coach Barry Collier
Opening statement
"I thought that both teams battled hard tonight. A&M attacked better, and (Bernard) King had and excellent game, especially off the dribble. (Tomas) Rees had a couple of big three’s. I’m proud of the way that our team fought. We didn’t execute enough to win. One basket wouldn’t have changed that. A&M got just enough done to win."

On the final play
"We set up a play to run in case they came out in a man or a zone. After Nate figured out what they were in, we just flattened and gave him space to shoot. Time just ran out. He needed an entry to the right side, then we dropped to the isolation play and time ran out. In the timeout, we talked about the play, but Nate just hesitated a bit."

On NU’s shooting tonight
"Most of it had to do with A&M’s defense. In the first half, our shooting woes ran from about the 12-minute mark until about four minutes left when we stopped attacking inside and took some more outside shots rather than attack the basket. In the second half, they played good defense and kept us outside and we didn’t execute well enough to get ahead."

On Nate Johnson’s play overall
"The big thing is that some of the perimeter shots that he got, he wasn’t able to hit. It’s going to come around. I think that he’s improved. He did an excellent job tonight, he only had two turnovers and he played the whole game."

Junior Guard Nate Johnson
On the final play of the game
"We were trying to see if Texas A&M was going to drop back into the zone or go man, and we just couldn’t tell. As we were trying to figure out their move, we ended up killing time and I tried to get the ball up to get us the final point. It was less time than I thought it was. I thought we had at least two or three seconds to set up our play and get into it. But, sometimes the ball just bounces the other way for the other team.

On Texas A&M
"I really credit them with the game they played tonight. We did what we were supposed to, but in the end we had a communication problem. We were thinking two different plays. But at midnight we get to start all over again tomorrow.

Senior guard Brennon Clemmons
"Playing a Big 12 game is always big. We needed the win tonight. It’s always tougher to win on the road so we really needed this win to help us through the rest of the season."

"We really played hard tonight and didn’t ever give up. We could have let them stay on the run for a while, but we hung in there. We had our chances to win the game, but it wasn’t just one shot that gave us the loss. There were several times in the game when we could have scored. I could have made the free throws, so it wasn’t just one shot."

Texas A&M Head Coach Melvin Watkins
Opening Statement
"It felt good to get a win because this is a tough place to play in. For our guys to come in here and get a win, we feel good about it, especially in the Big 12 Conference. You have to give Nebraska credit. We got the lead, but they kept getting back into the game. We were very happy to come in here and get a win."

On Texas A&M’s Defensive Effort
"I was really pleased with our defensive performance tonight. We feel that’s what won the game for us. We’ve struggled with that at times during the season. We wanted to show that we can play defense, especially the half court game. Our guys stepped up to the challenge. Tonight, we really didn’t shoot the ball well, so our defensive had to step it up."

On the Final Shot
"We thought that would be what Nebraska was going to do. We expected Johnson to take the final shot. We felt that it needed to be a contested because he has made some big shots for Nebraska before."

Forward Bernard King
On tonight’s game
"It’s very big to come in here and get a win, especially in the Big 12. It really means something for us as a team to come in here and get a win. We have struggled in the past on the road and it was good to play well, especially after the opener against Oklahoma State."

Nebraska postgame notes:
** The Huskers shot a season-low 33.3 percent (19-of-57) from the floor against Texas A&M. NU’s previous low was 35.4 percent (23-of-65) against Ball State in the third game of the season. NU been held under 40 percent shooting only four times in the first 13 games of the year, but have been limited to that mark in the past two games.

** Nebraska held Texas A&M to a season-low 31.5 percent (17 of 54), marking the 10th time in 15 games that Nebraska has held its opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field.

** Junior Andrew Drevo finished the game with 14 points and eight rebounds. He nearly had a double-double in the first half when he collected 11 points and seven rebounds.

** Sophomore John Turek recorded his fifth double-figure rebounding effort of the season, and third in the past four games, with 10 rebounds tonight. He added four blocked shots, just one off his career high, and moved into eighth place on the NU career blocked shot list, as he now has 67 in the past two seasons.

** Freshman Jason Dourisseau had a career-high four rebounds in 25 minutes of action. He topped his previous best of three on three occasions, the most recent coming against Lipscomb. Senior Brennon Clemmons had a season high with seven rebounds, after having six against Texas-San Antonio.

** Junior Nate Johnson made his first start at point guard this season after starting 13 games at shooting guard, while freshman Jason Dourisseau made his third overall start of the season, taking over at the two-guard spot. The game was the first this year without guard Jake Muhleisen, who is out for the season after fracturing his hip socket last weekend at Kansas.

** With tonight’s loss, NU is now 3-3 in games decided by five points or less.

** The Huskers’ 11-0 run from 6:43 to 1:42 remaining marked the seventh double-figure run NU has recorded this season. NU now has 15 runs of at least eight straight points this year.

** The win was Texas A&M’s first in six games at the Devaney Center, as the Aggies improved to 1-5 in the building.

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Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.