Fred Hoiberg analyzes how Nebraska overcame first half of Wisconsin win

Fred Hoiberg has Nebraska playing at the highest level of his tenure, currently being on pace to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. Getting a win against Wisconsin in Lincoln would be another great resume point but things started poorly. The Huskers struggled early on and went into the halftime locker room down by 16 points.

The Wisconsin lead grew by another bucket in the second half but Nebraska came off the way back to force overtime. Momentum then carried into the extra five minutes, giving Hoiberg’s team an incredible come-from-behind victory. He knows how tough doing so against Greg Gard can be, citing their excellent defensive reputation.

“The first half, I really did think we had some good looks that we didn’t knock down,” Hoiberg said. “Casey had three of them. He’s not going to miss them very often. Listen, Wisconsin is a really, really good team. That had a lot to do with it, the roll and the rhythm they were in offensively. They’re just an absolute machine. And you know what they do defensively. That’s always been their calling card. It’s a hard team to come back on.”

Sometimes, programs just need experience before getting over certain humps. Hoiberg gave his halftime talk and discussed a game last season where Nebraska had a tough mountain to climb but eventually got there.

“One thing I did talk about at halftime was, we were down 17 in the second half last year,” Hoiberg said. “We found a way to come back and win that one.”

A few factors played into Nebraska coming back but Hoiberg really liked the bigger lineup they deployed. Juwan Gary is a huge key in getting that five out there but injuries have been bothering him over the past couple of weeks. Gary came off the bench but played 33 minutes while recording nine points and four rebounds.

Nebraska will now hit the road for the next two games, traveling to Illinois on Sunday and Northwestern midweek. With both of those being tougher matchups, Hoiberg is happy Nebraska could get a signature win.

“A huge win for us,” Hoiberg said. “We know what we got coming up on the road with two really, really good teams. We knew the importance of this. I’m proud of the guys for finding a way to dig in and come back when things were not looking good.”