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Highlights
November 15, 2012
Huskers hang on to stop
Valparaiso rally.
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Gallegos
 
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Ubel
 
Notes:

*-With Ray Gallegos' 14 points tonight, it marks the second time in his career he has reached double figures in consecutive games. The other time came early in the 2009-10 season.

*-Gallegos' four 3-pointers are a career high, as he had three against UT-Pan American on Dec. 2, 2009.

*-Nebraska held Valparaiso, which was 26-of-48 from 3-point range in its first two games to 2-of-15 shooting from long range. Valparaiso was shooting 52.5 percent and averaging 77.0 ppg as a team entering tonight

*-Nebraska improves to 3-0 all-time against Valparaiso, as tonight's game was the first meeting since 1920.

*-The Huskers held Horizon League Player of the Year Ryan Broekhoff to just eight points on 2-of-11 shooting

*-Valparaiso's 48 points was its lowest total in 29 games, as Ohio State held the Crusaders to 47 points on Nov. 25, 2011.

*-Nebraska's 50 points equals the fewest the Huskers have scored in a win since a 50-44 win over Oregon State on Dec. 12, 2009.

Nebraska Coach Tim Miles Opening Statement

"Good win. The kids played, I thought they defended, we took away threes. We ran just enough offense to be okay."

On how the team survived its first mental test

I thought we did okay. We need to get better, but I thought we did okay

In the last seven minutes

We did a good job when they were in man and then went zone and we started to score against the zone. They were running out of time and we started standing around. It was late game and we played some guys heavy minutes . You don't cut and move like you do, especially early in the year. I thought our guys played with a pretty good pace earlier. All those factors go into play and then we missed some inside shots and we don't get to the foul line.

On the mood of the team

"Our guys were a little unsure going in. The mood in practice was a little odd because we had some guys who were sick and some other things. But it kind of felt like a team who was unsure. At halftime, they didn't feel like a team that was unsure. I didn't think they played like a team who was unsure. I thought we were aggressive, and we did a lot of good things. We'll watch the tape tomorrow, and we'll get better because Omaha's coming in here and this is a big game for them. It's a big game for us. Everyone counts as one."

On David Rivers

"I thought Dave was real solid. I thought he had a really solid night. I thought he was valuable. He shows you that he knows some things when he's in there."

On improvements in the defense on the switches

"Well they did it about a thousand times. About 800 times they did it pretty good. I'd say they did alright. You have to hedge your bet one way or another. Now, did they do a good job putting it on the move? They probably could have played small and switched more of them, but I thought for the most part, they did a pretty good job."

On the team's change in attitude

"I thought there was a spark on the team that we probably hadn't seen before. Like I told them after the game, we've won the exhibition game and the locker room was just kind of blah. We beat Southern and the locker room was just kind of blah. Tonight, I asked them "How're you feeling?" They were all charged up and I said "This is what you're supposed to feel." It's not just about winning, either. I felt like we played alright. We have a lot to get better at, but that was a good game."

On the team moving on offense

"It's a way of life for me. You can just see that I'm begging guys to move, and they're just not quite sure. The only way to do this is to continue to teach them. They're gonna have to go out and do it and you've got to show it to them. It's a daily deal and it's not happening quick enough."

Nebraska Forward Brandon Ubel On how the team survived its first test of mental toughness

"We got the win. That's huge for us. We gutted it out, too. We were able to get stops. That's a good Valparaiso--a very good shooting Valparaiso team that we just held to 48 points. We did it on the defensive end, which is what we're going to have to do, and I think that was big for us tonight."

On if Valparaiso disliked the physical nature of the game

"We definitely had that advantage, and I think they knew that coming into the game, that we were a little bit bigger and stronger. They were throwing double teams at us, trying to take that away, but we found a way to get past that and found a way to move without the ball, get through those double teams and be able to finish. That was big for us."

On NU's scoring drought late in the game

They switched into a zone and that kind of threw us off it kind of got us out of whack for a second. We started settling for jump shots. Then we started to attack the rim a little bit more. We got a couple baskets, but the biggest thing for us was on the defensive end. We let them get a couple easy baskets there that we shouldn't, but in the end we got enough stops to win the game, so that was good."

On how key it was to hold Valparaiso to 13 percent from beyond the arc

"That was huge. That was the key to the game coming in, getting back in transition, finding their shooters and contesting their shots. Watching their tape, they ran a lot of good plays, but most of their stuff came off of transition and off confusion-type plays where they were just getting wide-open looks at the basket. Good players are going to knock that down, so we were able to take that away from them tonight."

Valparaiso Head Coach Bryce Drew Quotes Opening Statement

"I thought Nebraska did a very good job. They were well scouted and played very well tonight. Our schedule was set up this way, and we knew coming in we would have to play at 7 a.m. and then come back two days later and play again. I think it was more Nebraska and what they did than the time of the games.

On letting Ben Boggs play in foul trouble

"You know we were on the verge of losing control of the game. We already had our starting point guard out with an injury so I thought we needed him on the floor as long as we could to give us a chance and stay close to make a run at the end. If I could do it again, I would definitely keep it the same because if I sat him down we could have been down by 15 or 16 so it wouldn't have really mattered."

On three-point shots

"Usually we are a lot more aggressive driving to the basket. Again, I thought Nebraska did a good job closing out, and also containing our drive. I thought Nebraska's bigs did a good job being bigs. This team has won before by not shooting well from three, basically we were two points away from that tonight.

On the last seven minutes

"I thought the last seven minutes we finally got a rhythm and started to play. For 33 minutes Nebraska outplayed us. That is something we will try and address work on for the next game."

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                       1st   2nd   Total
Valparaiso              22    26      48
Nebraska                28    22      50
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Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.