Fred Hoiberg on Rutgers loss: 'They out-toughed us'

Nebraska had their chances to leave Piscataway with a conference win over the Scarlet Knights on Wednesday. Instead, due to the dominance on the glass from Rutgers, the ‘Huskers dropped their third game over the last four.

Fred Hoiberg spoke about the physical nature of the matchup during his postgame press conference after the 87-82 overtime loss on Wednesday. He felt like their opponent didn’t do anything but play exactly to what they thought they’d be coming into the game against them.

“They’re an incredibly physical team. It’s everything that you talk about going into it. You have to find a way to match toughness with this group,” said Hoiberg. “That’s what Steve Pikiell hangs his hat on. It’s what his teams do every time they step on the floor.”

That’s why Hoiberg was as frustrated as he was in his opening statement after the five-point defeat. Nebraska knew what Rutgers wanted to do and they still allowed them to do it as they grabbed 56 rebounds, 14 more than Nebraska, with 25 of them coming on the offensive glass.

C Cliff Omoruyi led the way in that effort with 15 of his own. It was his sixth double-double of the year and seventh outing with 11 or more boards. In comparison, that’s nine more than the closest Cornhusker with three of them tying for six.

Of all the reasons they lost, that one was particularly costly to their odds of victory. That’s specifically so since it’s an aspect of the game that comes down to a fight that they didn’t have.

“They just flat out out-toughed us tonight on the glass,” Hoiberg said. “It’s too bad. You find a way to get a couple of those rebounds at the end and we’re walking out of here with a pretty damn good win in a tough building and a really good environment.”

“Rebounding is all about heart, guts, and toughness. They beat us tonight in pretty much every way you can on the glass,” stated Hoiberg. “25 offensive rebounds? Obviously, you’re not going to win a lot of games.”

There’s no rest for the weary, though, especially in the Big Ten. All they can do is get back to Lincoln, learn from what they didn’t do against Rutgers, and prepare themselves for another quality contest against Northwestern on Saturday.

“We’ve got to find a way to learn from it like every game, whatever the result,” said Hoiberg. “You’ve got to find a way to learn from it.”

“We’ve got a tough game coming up in two days so we can’t have a hangover from this one,” Hoiberg said. “We’ve got to get in the film room tomorrow and figure out what we can do better to find a way to grind out those rebounds.”