Fred Hoiberg opens up on Nebraska's energy against Northwestern

After taking a 15-point loss to Northwestern on Wednesday, Nebraska men’s basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg bemoaned the lack of energy from his team. Fortunately, he doesn’t think it’s going to be a long-running issue.

Hoiberg first noticed his team was lacking a step moments into the game. When it was Northwestern, not Nebraska players diving on the floor for a loose ball.

“Well, listen, the thing that bothers you is when you miss the loose balls. We were — biggest thing is we always want to get on the floor first,” Hoiberg said. “When you have the opportunity, that first loose ball, to set the tone for that 50-50 battle, and I thought Northwestern got the first two. And that kind of, again, gets a team going. We dive on the floor, get your guys going. We had a guy dive out of bounds and nobody went over and helped him up. That bothers me when those types of things happen.”

The solution going forward is simple, Hoiberg said: Get on the floor first.

He acknowledged that part of the reason he commands his team to play as such is that their margin to win games is, generally, slim. And he also gave them plaudits for being the harder-nosed team more often than not this season.

Just not on Wednesday against Northwestern.

“And we gotta find a way to get our identity back somehow, someway, without some really key players on the floor,” Hoiberg said. “And I am confident we’ll bounce back. We’ve done a good job, we’ve been resilient all year. And again, it starts with preparation tomorrow. And we’ve gotta get back in the gym, get back to work and find a way to put this behind us and not let it happen again.