Fred Hoiberg shares how Nebraska handled pressure from Penn State

Fred Hoiberg was pleased with the way Nebraska responded to defensive pressure against Penn State on Saturday. The Cornhuskers cruised to a 68-49 victory against the Nittany Lions and beating the press was a the focal point of their game plan.

Hoiberg hammered home his point all week in practice as he knew Penn State was one of the top teams in the country at forcing turnovers. Nebraska committed 13 turnovers in the win Saturday, but the coach thought his team handled the press relatively well.

“They were forcing 16 turnovers per game,” Hoiberg said. “I think they’re 12th in the country in turnover percentage. It was the No. 1 thing. Believe me, we worked as much press offense with all the prep time we had. …We had 13 turnovers, but I think only a couple of them were due to the press.

“They are so good. Their activity, their hands. Ace Baldwin, if you bring the ball near him, he’s getting it. We had a good high-low flash and Ace Baldwin got it low. Joe didn’t keep the ball high. But overall, I thought we did a nice job of keeping our spacing and then attacking.”

Baldwin, who is averaging 3.2 steals per game, finished with five takeaways against the Cornhuskers. The Nittany Lions defense gave Nebraska a bit of trouble in the first half, and the score was just 28-22 in favor of the Huskers at halftime.

Nebraska opened up with 15-6 run to start the half and increase its lead to double digits. There was a moment it seemed like Penn State might be mounting a comeback, as Baldwin hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 55-43 with 5:51 remaining. However, Keisei Tominaga answered with a 3 of his own and the Cornhuskers never looked back after that.

“Keisei hit a huge 3,” Hoiberg said. “They cut it to 12, Keisei hits the 3 to put us up 15 and then Rienk (Mast) gets the little jump hook layup to put us back up 17. So I thought we did handle their pressure well.

“Even though we did have 13 (turnovers), they force 16 a game. The first half we spun in a crowd. That’s an automatic turnover against this team. We were better at that in the second half.”

Tominaga led the way with 17 points, while Mast nearly had a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Nebraska improved to 18-8 (8-7 Big Ten) with the victory and next faces Indiana at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in Bloomington.