LINCOLN — Every week, Nebraska’s sport science staff gives Fred Hoiberg a suggested layout of how practice should look, how to best balance intensity and physicality with keeping his players fresh. Usually Nebraska’s coach takes the recommendations.
“They’re a hell of a lot smarter than I am,” he said.
There are times, however, when the Huskers’ need for a kick in the pants supersedes the science. A season ago, after Nebraska sleepwalked through a loss at Maryland, Hoiberg eschewed the reports in favor of heavier, more physical practices ahead of then-No. 6 Wisconsin.
He broke the emergency glass again Monday.
A week after the Huskers were sluggish in practice, leading to a road dismantling at the hands of Michigan State, Hoiberg opted for tougher practices with Indiana looming. The Hoosiers, like MSU, are long, athletic and aggressive. Nebraska can’t afford a repeat of Saturday.
People are also reading…
“They just steamrolled us, and we did not respond well,” Hoiberg said. “So we watched every one of those clips and we had a very tough film session. We’ve had tough practices. The challenge now is are we gonna respond when that thing goes up in the air at seven o’clock on Friday night?”
Much of practice has revolved around getting back to the basics. Keeping things simple on offense. Communicating. Hitting the boards with more aggression. Playing tough defense. Nebraska stayed competitive in its first two games against high-major teams by matching its opponents' physicality. That edge disappeared in East Lansing, where the Huskers got “little brother’d,” in the words of senior guard Brice Williams.
Michigan State pummeled NU under the basket, out-rebounding Nebraska 48-19. Indiana starts three players standing at least 6-foot-9 and sits just outside the top 100 in the country in offensive rebounding rate. The Huskers are capable of hanging with strong teams. They proved it in November, and their combination of tenacity and experience will become all the more important to tap into as conference play gets rolling.
“Don’t go out there and do something that we haven’t been working on all summer, all year,” forward Juwan Gary said. “This week's practices have been hard for sure, but it is something that we actually needed going to this game.”
Hoiberg sees Nebraska’s poor closed-door performances ahead of Michigan State as an aberration. The Huskers hadn’t practiced like that all season, he said, and preparation for Indiana has been back at their usual standard.
It’s hard to pin down a specific reason for Nebraska’s lack of focus last week; a week between games, a day off of practice after a win over North Florida were both possibilities in Hoiberg’s mind.
“It may have been as simple as exhaling, taking your foot off the gas,” he said.
In any case, Nebraska’s margin for error is now narrower as it tries to avoid falling to 0-2 in the Big Ten. The consequences for not coming to play are greater than they were a month ago, both within the game and its ripple effects throughout the season. The Big Ten is deeper than last season with the additions of UCLA and Oregon and improvement of teams like Michigan and Maryland.
Nebraska has the tools to compete in the new-look Big Ten and with Indiana, who the Huskers beat by double digits three times last year. Oumar Ballo will be the second elite rim protector Nebraska has faced after dealing with Creighton star Ryan Kalkbrenner. NU out-rebounded a rugged St. Mary’s team in an early-season neutral-site contest.
But games of the past and present potential only mean so much. Nebraska has to either find the grit it was missing Saturday or strap in for a long, unpleasant night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
“It’s a team that will pose a lot of the same problems that Michigan State did, and if we don’t respond to a run, to adversity, the same thing is gonna happen that happened on Saturday afternoon for the entire season,” Hoiberg said. “That’s how this league is.”
Nebraska vs. Indiana
When: Friday at 7 p.m.
Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena
TV: Fox | Radio: 590/1400
Projected starters
Nebraska (6-2, 0-1 Big Ten)
G - Rollie Worster 6-5 Sr. 8.9
G - Brice Williams 6-7 Jr. 17.5
G - Connor Essegian 6-4 Jr. 13.0
F - Juwan Gary 6-6 Jr. 10.6
C - Braxton Meah 7-1 Sr. 3.7
Indiana (8-2, 1-0)
G - Myles Rice 6-3 So. 10.8
G - Trey Galloway 6-5 Sr. 6.1
F - Mackenzie Mgbako 6-9 So. 15.1
F - Malik Reneau 6-9 Jr. 15.5
C - Oumar Ballo 7-0 Sr. 13.2