Fred Hoiberg discusses Keisei Tominaga's 30-point eruption in 72-63 victory against Penn State

The Nebraska Cornhuskers bolted out of the gates on Sunday afternoon against the Penn State Nittany Lions, jumping out to a commanding 26-13 advantage with 10:24 remaining in the first half. They never looked back the rest of the game and got a 30-point explosion from sharpshooter Keisei Tominaga to handle Penn State, 72-63. The win was the 11th of the season for Nebraska and their head coach, Fred Hoiberg. Following the game, Hoiberg spoke with Jess Settles of the Big Ten Network.

Fred Hoiberg shared his thoughts following the victory

As you might imagine, he was quite pleased with his team’s early start.

“Well, I thought we got off to a great start. Our pace was really good. That’s about as good offensively as we’ve been. That first five or ten minute stretch. And then I thought we slowed down a little bit, but then went on a little run to close the half. But we finished the game the right way. We had some really good defensive stops. We tried to go one on one with [Jalen] Pickett, which is hard to do. But we had to try and stay home with Lundy and Funk. Those two guys shoot it as well as anybody in our league. But, I’m really proud of our guys.” Hoiberg said.

“We ended up winning the boards. If we win the glass, generally, we have a good chance, at least give ourselves a chance of winning the game. Keisei [Tominaga] was unbelievable and I thought our guys did a great job of trying to find him all game long. I thought [Sam] Griesel played within himself. Derrick [Walker] made some big plays. Really everybody. Everybody that stepped on the floor made a good contribution,” Hoiberg said.

Tominaga’s 30-point eruption was impressive enough on its own, but once you add in the fact that he battled through cramps, it becomes even more impressive. “Well, he did it with crayon. I mean, both legs were cramping up. His back was sore. But, he just, he’s a resilient kid. You said it right. He has no fear of the big moment and I guess when you represent your home country in the Olympic games and you play on the big stage, you develop that. But I love this group, I’ve had a lot of fun coaching them. We’ve had a lot of adversity with the injuries, but we just continue to go out and play hard. If you play hard, you’re going to give yourself a chance,” Hoiberg said.

With the win, Nebraska improved to 11-13 overall and 4-9 in the Big Ten.