Denim Dawson says Nebraska players liked Fred Hoiberg's technical foul

When Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg got tagged with a technical foul while the Cornhuskers were locked in a close game with Ohio State on Wednesday night, his team responded in the best way. Redshirt freshman Denim Dawson said that the players actually like the fire from Hoiberg.

Dawson didn’t say much about the foul itself, but noted it kicked them into gear on the court. He recalled senior guard Sam Griesel delivering a message right after the foul.

“We liked it. Because, coach showing his emotions, I feel like that helped us,” Dawson said after the game. “We huddled up and we were like, ‘Alright. The games not going how we want. Calls are getting missed and everything.’ We’re just like ‘We’re going to win this no matter what.’ That’s what Sam Griesel said. We huddled up and he was like, ‘We’re going to win this no matter what.’ And we just followed.”

A while the technical foul itself didn’t help in the moment, Nebraska pulled out a resume-boosting 63-60 win over the Buckeyes.

Fred Hoiberg explained starting Keisei Tominaga over C.J. Wilcher

Nebraska went into Wednesday night’s game against Ohio State having lost three of four games — all by 18 points or more — in Big Ten play. So head coach Fred Hoiberg threw a wrench into the starting lineup by giving Japanese spark plug Kesei Tominaga his first start of the season while demoting sophomore wing CJ Wilcher to the sixth man position. At least for one night, the move worked out well, as Wilcher and Tominaga both hit late free throws to help seal the deal in a close win over the Buckeyes.

The decision to swap roles between Tominaga and Wilcher was a hot topic in the postgame presser, where Coach Hoiberg explained that Wilcher was accepting of the move and thought it could give him a boost out of the massive slump he’s been in for the last month.

“I just wanted to change it up. I went out to lunch with CJ the other day and just had a conversation. It was in his mind as well, just to change up his rhythm and change up his flow,” Hoiberg said after the game.