Fred Hoiberg shares what he told Nebraska when Indiana mounted comeback

After leading by double figures for most of the second half following a 20-point halftime lead, Nebraska was at risk of seeing that margin bleed away. Playing on the road against Indiana, the two teams hit the under-12 media timeout in the second half with the margin within double-digits 

Indiana was coming off a 7-0 run and Assembly Hall had come to life. Cornhuskers head men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg saw they needed a moment to settle themselves, and a reminder that the situation was, all-in-all, pretty good.

“Well the thing I reminded them at that timeout, I saw a little bit of deer in the headlights at that under 12 timeout,” Hoiberg said. “The thing I said, I said, ‘Fellas, here’s the reality of the situation. Before the game, if we would’ve said we had a lead at the under 12 media timeout in the second half, I think we probably would’ve taken it. So let’s get it back. Get our poise. Get our composure.'”

And the Cornhuskers ultimately did, holding on for a 15-point road win that will look good on an NCAA Tournament resume as Nebraska hopes to play in off the bubble.

Hoiberg heaped plenty of praise on his players for responding in that moment. All throughout the Cornhuskers lineup, he saw players stepping up and contributing in the moment to stabilize the lead and get out of a hostile environment with a needed win.

“And I think Sam [Hoiberg] made a big steal for us to get it going and then Jamarques [Lawrence] just made play after play after play for us down the stretch,” Hoiberg said, gesturing to Lawrence sitting on his right. “Brice [Williams] made some big defensive plays, Josiah [Allick] I thought was active all over the place. Juwan [Gary], all game long. Rienk [Mast] as a facilitator.

“I think everybody that stepped on the floor made a positive impact for us and the thing that I was most pleased with, that place was electric, it got rolling in there and we found a way. We had not done that. At Minnesota we let a big one slip away. Rutgers in the second half, we let it slip away. So to find a way to build that thing back up and respond to the 7-0 run and push it back to double figures was huge and the guys held on and made enough plays down the stretch. And a lot of it was due to this guy.”