| Stats
& coverage � Box score |
Dec. 1, 2002
Huskers Stifle Roadrunners 69-53
Nebraska postgame notes/quotes:
** Nebraska collected its 22nd consecutive home-opening victory dating back to the 1981-82 season with the 69-53 win over UTSA.
** Nebraska shot a season-high 53.2 percent from the floor, the first time in 11 games dating back to last season that the Huskers shot better than 50 percent from the field. The last time NU shot 50 percent or better in a game was on Feb. 2, 2002, was when NU was 26-of-46 from the floor in a 99-82 win over Kansas State on Feb. 2, 2002.
** Nebraska held the Roadrunners to 32.2 percent shooting, the fourth straight game that the Huskers have held an opponent under 50 percent shooting. NU has held its last 10 opponents to under 50 percent shooting dating back to last season.
** NU placed four players (John Turek, Jake Muhleisen, Andrew Drevo and Jason Dourisseau) in double figures in the win, equalling NU’s total number of players in double figures for the first three games.
** The victory was head coach Barry Collier’s 225th career coaching victory. His record now stands at 225-165, with a 29-33 mark in his third year at Nebraska.
** Sophomore guard Corey Simms made his second consecutive start, and the second of his career, against UTSA. Simms played 23 minutes, scoring six points with three rebounds.
** Nebraska set a season high with 41 rebounds, and outrebounded its opponent for the second time in four games.
** Sophomore John Turek had eight points in the first half, bettering his previous season high of seven points against Centenary. He finished with 12 points, after collecting 13 total points in the first three games. It was the third time in his career - and first time at home - that Turek reached double-figure points, after collecting 10 at Colorado and 20 at Kansas State last year.
Nebraska Head Coach Barry Collier
On the game
"I thought that our intensity was where it needed to be. I want to congratulate our players on their play. Today was a big step forward for us. We’ve improved and whether you are totally effective is a by-product of that."
On NU’s defense
"I thought that our guys handled the zone with paitence. It slowed the game down a bit, but we were more paitent today than we were in Alaska last weekend. They (UTSA) tried to attack and get inside in the second half, and I thought that we did a good job of defending that. They (UTSA) shot the three a lot, and that led to long rebounds and fast-break opportunities for us. I didn’t think that our ball-handling was very good, and we need to break down our mistakes and get better."
On NU’s game with South Florida this week
"We have a great opportunity in our next game to reach forward and play tough and intense on the road against a good team. We need to keep making progress. We are somewhat inexperienced and we can look forward to continual improvement, but it will be bumpy."
On Brennon Clemmon’s injury
"We’ll have to see tomorrow how he is. He’s iced up right now. The injury is in his foot and his toes."
On NU’s performance in the second half
"We held them to 20 points in the first half and our defensive intensity in the second half is what we have to do all season. We need to become more effective. We did a good job defending their offense. I think we’ll get better as we go."
Guard Jake Muhleisen
On his second-half performance
"In the first half, I just tried to get it in to the middle to the big guys down low. It was open in the middle and they were finishing well inside. We wanted to go inside-out. In the second half, they came out and played pressure-man and I was just able to penetrate and play aggressive."
On the press
"We want to just try to break the press as fast as we can, push up the floor and try to attack. We had some trouble trying to get into our set to break the press with, but once we got into the set, we broke it pretty easily and got some good shots."
Guard Jason Dourisseau
On his role
"I am getting comfortable with my role on the team. I come in and try to give the team quality minutes and just try to earn my spot on the team."
On the win
"It’s a big confidence builder, but we know we have to play well on the road. We have a big game at South Florida coming up. It’s good to play well at home, but we have to play well on the road too if we are going to be successful this year."
UTSA Coach Tim Carter
On UTSA’s shooting:
"I’m very concerned. We were getting wide-open looks and getting the shots. We just couldn’t knock them down. Coming into this game, I thought that was one of our biggest strengths. I just thought we would have a chance to get some good shots. We are getting good looks, they’re just not going in."
On UTSA’s effort:
"I would’ve liked for us to carry over what we did the last few days in practice. As a coach, I have to find a way without screaming and yelling at players. We need to fight hard. We need to fight, battle and claw and do the things that we’ve done in the past to get that done."
On LeRoy Hurd:
"Maybe my expectations of him are a little more than they should be. I think maybe we need to get him a few more looks at the basket. We put him at the line, and we need to try to get him the ball. We need to make some changes, because right now he is too easy to guard on the perimeter and he’s not getting good jump shots."
Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.