GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Nebraska men’s basketball finished its exhibition season Monday night in central Nebraska.
In front of a sold-out BigIron Events Center in Grand Island, the Huskers defeated Kansas State 88-84.
“It was awesome to play in front of this crowd; they were unbelievable,” Nebraska senior Pryce Sandfort said. “Awesome that we could come out here and some people that may not get to see us play at home get to see us. It was a great environment.”
Three full-fledged exhibition games in front of fans is somewhat of a new trend in college basketball as the rules have changed in recent years. With so many new pieces in important positions, this year’s squad can gain a lot from these games.
Monday, the Huskers learned a little more about themselves. With the game coming down to the end, the time and score situations and late-game execution is something they will be able to look back on as the season progresses.
“Super important to execute our press break stuff,” Sandfort said. “They gave us a really good look. They’re pressuring us really hard. I thought we did a pretty good job of executing our sets for the most part to get it there. It just comes down to taking care of the ball when it kind of breaks loose out of that. And then knocking down free throws, which we did. Definitely learned a lot; we’ll continue to work on that late game stuff.”
Learning what they can do in live game situations will only help the team when the regular season gets underway.
“We did learn a lot about ourselves,” Husker coach Fred Hoiberg said. “I think all three of these games gave us a great opportunity. We played three different systems on both ends of the floor and learned a lot about us.”
After the K-State win, Hoiberg summed up what he and his staff learned from the last three weeks of exhibition games.
“We’ve got a coachable group. We’ve got a group of guys that I thought got better in each of the games,” he said. “The first two, obviously we didn’t play starters a ton of minutes, and then tonight I thought they went out and gave us some really good stretches of basketball.”
After the first two exhibitions, Hoiberg had two major emphases that he wanted to see Monday night: toughness and improving the turnover margin.
“We did that, I thought, progressively better in the two games after St. Louis, and again, it’s not over now,” Hoiberg said. “We’ve got to get back to work, get back in the trenches and continue to try to build this thing up, because we’re playing physical teams.”
Next week the Huskers open the regular season against Le Moyne, then Saturday travel to Connecticut to face Providence.
“We’ve got some good, really good early-season tests,” Hoiberg said. “I don’t think this is a team that’ll get comfortable and get satisfied. We need to get better, we need to grow and I’m confident that we will.”
Kent Pavelka Retiring
During the Huskers Radio Network pregame show, long-time radio voice of Nebraska men’s basketball Kent Pavelka announced that this season will be his last.
Pavelka isn’t just the voice of Husker men’s basketball; he is the voice you think of when someone mentions the program.
From the catchphrase “Bangarang” to the legendary “Storm That Puppy” calls, Pavelka has taken fans inside the game and the experience for over five decades.
The pregame conversations with Kent will be missed by not just me, but all of his colleagues on the Husker men’s basketball beat.
“For everything he has accomplished, I’m so happy that we were able to get that win in the tournament a year ago for him as much as anybody,” Hoiberg said.
