Story by NU Athletic Communications
- The game featured nine ties and10 lead changes, as the largest lead for either team was six points.
- Juwan Gary scored a career-high 27 points, eclipsing his previous career high of 22 points against Minesota on Feb. 25, 2024. Gary posted his third 20-point game of the season and the sixth of his career.
- Gary’s 11 field goals were the most by a Husker this season.
- Brice Williams added 17 points, including 15 in the second half. Williams scored in double figures for the 17th time in 19 games this season.
- Connor Essegian finished with 15 points, his ninth double-figure game off the bench this year. NU now has 20 double-figure efforts from its bench in 2024-25.
- Essegian hit three 3-pointers, marking his eighth game of the season with at least three 3-pointers.
- Rollie Worster tied his season high with six assists while adding six rebounds and four points off the bench.
- Nebraska was efficient from inside the arc, finishing 22-of-31 (71 percent) on 2-point field goals.
- Nebraska was out-rebounded for only the third time in 19 games this season as USC held a 36-31 advantage on the glass.
- Ahron Ulis made his first start as a Husker pm Thursday, as Nebraska used its fourth different lineup of the season
Head Coach Fred HoibergOn toughness being an issue “I thought we took a huge step in the right direction the last couple of games on the glass and the 50-50 balls, but tonight that was the difference. You have got to get on the ground, you have an opportunity, you can’t just lean over and just try to pick it up with one hand, these guys are too strong, too athletic that we are playing against every night. You have to find a way to get dirty, get grimy and finish off those possessions. We do that and it's a different outcome tonight. We switched up some coverages to force some misses, but we just could not secure the rebound. The biggest thing now. We have to find a way to steal a couple on the road. We have some really good opportunities ahead of us and some very difficult tasks, but we have to stay together. When you're on a streak like we are right now, the human nature is to start questioning and to separate a little bit, but we have to find a way to stay together through this tough time and hopefully get this thing reversed soon. We are going into one of the most difficult places to play in the league on Sunday, a team that is really clicking right now. This USC team is a really talented team. We knew this was going to be a tough game, Muss (Eric Musselman) does a great job, they found a formula we tried to counter with a matchup on the other end and went back-and-forth. They made the plays at the end when they had to.”
On the frustration of losing“They’re all frustrating, anytime you lose, it’s frustrating as hell. You just keep trying to take steps. We took steps in a lot of things tonight, but again it all comes down to loose balls and toughness.”
Brice WilliamsOn tonight’s mistakes“It showed tonight, it showed in my leadership, it showed up in a lot of ways, and when it comes down to winning time you can’t really have certain mistakes. The mistakes we had they have just been compounding from game to game, and that’s why we’re on a streak. It’s going to take for us to stand up and take control, control the narrative, and be tougher.”
On the defensive struggles“They found something that was working for them. We knew what they were going to do, they out-toughed us. We got the stop on the first shot, and then they got the second shot or third shot, or we compounded it with fouls. It was on us tonight – our toughness for 40 minutes.”
Juwan Gary
On not meeting the team’s standard
“Like Brice (Williams) said, details. We harp on certain things all week, we always have certain key points we always touch on. We knew they were going to play hard. We knew they were a hard-playing team, but at the end of the day like Brice said, it comes to crunch time. We got (Desmond) Claude to miss the shot, and they came in with a rebound and got fouled or a tip dunk, that just can’t happen. I think these last three games, we’ve lost by three or less. It’s tough that we’re on this losing streak right now. In my eyes, we’re one of the better teams in the Big Ten but as of right now it’s not showing. We’re slacking up on certain things, but at the end of the day, it’s business. This is a game we all sign up for, so we’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to come together within the group, we can’t separate. We’ve got to make sure that we go into the next day of practice and harp on what we need to figure out.”
Eric MusselmanOpening Statement
“Since I got this job, I have been trying to ask ‘Where's the hardest to play on the road?’ This is certainly one of the first programs that comes up. We felt like for us, we couldn't turn the ball over, we couldn't give up threes. Obviously, our ball club is not the biggest team, but I thought we did a really good job on the boards. It was one of our highest games all year of offensive rebounding and scrapping out loose balls. We took pretty good care of the ball against the team that really loads up on the strong side defensively. We found some matchups that we liked with Rashaun (Agee) as a pick-and-pop five. When you look at the stats, you don't think he's a three-point shooter, but we see everything in practice. That's something that we just can't we can’t afford him to pass up threes because he is a good three-point shooter. But Nebraska plays really hard, very well coached. For whatever reason, we've been really good on the road. I think we're three and one on the road, and we have not been very good at home. Otherwise, we'd be in an unbelievable position for March if we had done what we're supposed to do at home. But we haven't done that in the opposing crowds, even in the game here, we lost in Indiana. We led for most of the game. I think we've led for 75% going into tonight's game, 75% of the available minutes of Big 10 play.”
On Saint Thomas