3 thoughts on Nebraska basketball win over Northwestern

Whatever Fred Hoiberg said or broke at halftime worked. The Nebraska basketball head coach came out in the second half with a bandaged hand and a different team.

The Huskers fell behind by 20 points early in the second half before Juwan Gary and Connor Essegian sparked a Nebraska basketball comeback.

Nebraska finished the game outscoring Northwestern by 24 points to win 68-64. It wasn’t a must-win game but it was a quadrant-1 win. The Huskers are 7-8 in the Big Ten and 17-9 overall.

Brice Williams took over at the end and also made a bunch of free throws to ice it. He scored 21 points and that was the sixth consecutive game with at least 20 points. Juwan Gary scored 17 and Connor Essegian had eight.

Braxton Meah scored 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Andrew Morgan pitched in with eight points, as well as four rebounds. Here are three thoughts on the Nebraska basketball win over Northwestern.

Trust in Fred Hoiberg

Some folks were talking about getting rid of Hoiberg by halftime. The first 20 minutes or so were frustrating. Nebraska was getting out-hustled and clearly Fred was fired up at halftime.

In the second half, Nebraska matched the emotion of their head coach. But it’s hard to win on the road in the Big Ten. Northwestern is fighting to reach the Big Ten tournament.

The Huskers found a way and their head coach helped spark them. He also made some of the right moves in the second half such as sticking with Braxton Meah. He didn’t have a choice in some ways but fans need to realize that Fred is a really good coach.

The way he coached this team through its struggles just reinforces it.

Nebraska doesn’t win without Braxton Meah

The Huskers aren’t 100 percent but they were able to overcome that thanks to the effort from center Braxton Meah. The 7-footer was a force on both ends of the floor.

Meah knocked down 4-of-5 shots from the field. He also made 2-of-3 free throws, blocked two shots, disrupted a bunch of others, and grabbed seven rebounds.

It’s admirable the way Meah has contributed to this team. It seems like whether he gets seven minutes or 20, the effort and production are the same. He played more than Andrew Morgan on Sunday and if he keeps this up, it will need to stay that way.

NCAA resume gets better

I realize that Northwestern is a .500 team and might not make the Big Ten tournament, but they were ranked high enough for it to be a quadrant-1 win. Nebraska basketball now has six of those.

10 conference wins would clinch a berth but if the Huskers get a couple more Big Ten wins, their spot could be wrapped up. They weren’t even listed among the last four byes in the last ESPN bracketology, which was before the win over Northwestern.

The resume keeps getting stronger and Nebraska got one step closer to a second straight NCAA tournament berth — thanks to Fred Hoiberg and his broken clipboard.

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