Fred Hoiberg disappointed in Nebraska body language: ‘It makes you sick’

Fred Hoiberg sent a message to Nebraska players about their effort, or lack thereof, in a 67-65 loss against Minnesota on Saturday. The loss marked the Cornhuskers’ third straight as they are dangerously close to seeing their NCAA Tournament bubble pop.

Given how badly they needed the win, Hoiberg was disappointed in the way they started the game, falling behind by as many as 16 in the first half. Nebraska is now 17-12 (7-11 Big Ten) and at the point where it can’t afford any more losses if it hopes to play in March Madness.

“We’re emphasizing (the tournament situation), I promise you that,” Hoiberg said. “You say that sh*t as a coach, but I promise you we’re emphasizing that stuff.

“The thing about our group that was disappointing in that game is, when you go out there and get slapped around a little bit and punched in the mouth, the body language, the head hanging. It just makes you sick as a coach to see that lack of fight and urgency to get out of that thing until it’s too late.”

After the Cornhuskers cut the Minnesota lead to nine at halftime, the Golden Gophers (15-14, 7-11) built it back up to as many as 18 to begin the second half. To Nebraska’s credit, it seemed to find a rhythm over the final 10 minutes and even took a brief lead with 6:28 remaining.

It remained back-and-forth from there before the Cornhuskers again took a 65-64 lead with four seconds remaining after Juwan Gary scored a layup. It looked then as if Nebraska might escape after all until Brennan Rigsby answered with the game-winning 3-pointer on the other end as time expired.

Fred Hoiberg gave the group that closed the game credit, shouting out Connor Essegian, who offered 11 points and five rebounds off the bench.

“We had a group out there that was competing and finding Connor on some shots,” the coach said. “Brice (Williams) was unbelievable. Juwan was in so much more control tonight on his drives to the rim. Crashing the glass. We had 12 offensive rebounds and we just, we started playing. That’s what it’s about. You go out there and play with instinct.

“I told them before the game, ‘Fly around, man. Have fun. If you’re gonna make a mistake, make an effort mistake.’ We just didn’t have enough of that until it was too late.”

Nebraska still has a couple of winnable games left on its regular season schedule, beginning against another bubble team in Ohio State on Tuesday night. Hopefully the message from Hoiberg sunk in over the weekend and the team can get off to a better start in that one.

Tip off between the Buckeyes and Cornhuskers is set for 8 p.m. CT in Columbus.