Nebraska men’s basketball won its lone exhibition of the 2024-25 season 73-53 over Division II Grand Valley State on Sunday.
It was a tale of two halves for the Huskers. They won the game, but a slow start, poor shooting in the first half and 14 turnovers certainly showed cause for concern.
Getting out of the exhibition with a win, playing all available players and finding things to improve on is always a positive.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Slow Start
Nebraska started shooting 4-of-7 from the field in the first four minutes and went just 1-for-6 from 3-point range before the under-16 timeout. In the first half, the Huskers made just three of their 11 three-point attempts (27.3%).
From the field, they shot 50% in both halves, but there were more negatives in the first half than in the second.
Nebraska had a drought of 2:46 without a field goal. Players dribbled the ball off their foot twice, one resulted in a turnover out of bounds and the other almost a backcourt violation. They had six first-half turnovers and just five assists.
The Huskers didn’t trail in the game, but they had only a five-point lead at the half. They shot 43% from the free-throw line (3-of-7) and got out-rebounded by one (18-17) in an exhibition, which should make you take a pause. For the game, the Lakers out-rebounded the Huskers 41-37, and Nebraska had more turnovers (14) than assists (11).
Second Half
The second half was much different than the first.
The halftime message was to set the tone in the first five minutes.
“The big thing was just to get back in transition,” Rollie Worster said. “We try and pride ourselves on getting back in transition defense and crashing the o-boards, and we obviously didn’t do either in the first half, and I think that was a big emphasis going into halftime. Just getting out guys that are supposed to get back back and the guys that crash turn their head around, matchup. It really comes down to communication, which is something we’ve been working at and need to continue getting better at.”
They did just that, holding the Lakers to one field goal in the first eight-plus minutes of the second half and forcing five turnovers in the first 4:05. The Huskers forced seven second-half turnovers and and went on a 23-4 run in the first 8:41 of the second half to take a 58-34 lead
Rutgers transfer Gavin Griffiths outscored Grand Valley State 8-4 by himself during that run. The sophomore finished with a team-high 14 points, with all four of his buckets coming from 3-point range.
There was still a lull offensively in the second half with a five-plus-minute scoring drought and and the Huskers committing five turnovers after the under-12 timeout in the half.
Rotations
Clearly, Nebraska has some things to clean up, and Coach Fred Hoiberg needs to figure out who is going to play when everyone is healthy. Sam Hoiberg was inactive due to a foot and ankle injury, as was Andrew Morgan who suffered a concussion in practice on Wednesday. Morgan is going through the concussion protocol.
“We’re still looking and still trying to figure it out because we’ve got a lot of guys capable, as I’ve said all along, and we’ll figure it out,” Hoiberg said. “We did last year and I thought we had the same, not to say problem — I guess it’s a good problem to have when you have as many guys as we can that can contribute. But you’ve got to pair it down and everybody’s got to accept their role, whatever that role is. If they’re not happy with it, keep working, keep playing … So, now that we’re out there playing for real and we’ve got to figure it out in this next next seven days.”
The depth of the roster is improved. On Sunday, the starters were Worster, Connor Essegian, Brice Williams, Juwan Gary and Braxton Meah. That could change when everyone is healthy, and could also change depending on matchups and opposing teams’ lineups.
