Nebraska’s Hard-Nosed Defense Shut Down Rival Creighton

The final score tells you Nebraska played sticky, physical defense against rival Creighton. Same with Creighton’s putrid shooting statistics.

What Nebraska 71, Creighton 50 doesn’t show you is how the aggressive Huskers got after the Bluejays. Nebraska defenders cut off passing lanes, they were in the chest and face of the Bluejays.

Shots were contested. Routine passes between Bluejays players were met with Nebraska resistance. Open Bluejays shots were rare. The Huskers, now 9-0, showed defensive grit throughout Sunday afternoon before a delighted Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd of 15,256.

“Nate [Loesner, assistant coach], did a great job putting a defensive game plan together, and our guys followed it,” Huskers coach Fred Hoiberg said in a postgame news conference.

“When they do that, when they execute it, we're generally pretty successful on that end of the floor.”

Good defense wins games

Good defense is about wanting to play good defense. That means digging in, hustling after each loose ball, clinging to your man, making clean switches. It means awareness when you’re playing man-to-man and making sure a screen doesn’t leave an opponent with an open shot.

“I thought our communication and our rotations were on point the whole game,” Nebraska junior guard Pryce Sandfort, who had a career-high three steals, said at a postgame news conference.

“It's five-as-one defense. I thought that our bottom guys and our top guys were really communicating, letting each other know where shooters were, and it just helped all of us move together as one.”

Nebraska jumped out to a 15-2 lead and Creighton never really threatened. At one point, Nebraska led by 27 points.

Creighton made 16-of-52 (31 percent) from the floor. From distance, Creighton made 8-of-33 (24.2 percent). Nebraska shot 44 percent from the field and 37 percent from distance. Nebraska outscored Creighton, 24-12, in the paint.

Creighton’s 50 points matched Nebraska’s season-low for points allowed. Maryland Eastern Shore scored 50 in a 69-50 loss on Nov. 11.

Nebraska won consecutive games against Creighton for the first time since it won seven straight games between 1990 and 1997. And the 21-point margin was the Huskers’ largest against Creighton since December 1995, an 88-67 win.

“I think after last weekend, with the full week of prep, that was the emphasis,” senior forward Rienk Mast, who scored a game-high 20 points, said about the Huskers’ defensive challenge at a postgame news conference.

“We did a lot of just toughness drills, rebounding drills, so I think that translated to the game. We had a great week of prep going into this game.

“If you have that long off, you either come out sluggish or you come out ready to go and I thought we came out great. Those drills that we did this week were great.”

Nebraska outrebounded Creighton by 39-35. The Huskers had seven steals; Creighton had two steals. Nebraska had eight turnovers; Creighton had 12.

“Nebraska was the tougher team,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said in a postgame news conference. “They were the more connected team.

“I thought the start of the game was going to be critical, and I was right. I felt like we needed to get off to a good start with this crowd and not allow them to get off to the start they did. 10-2 or 12-2 whatever it was, and we had some decent looks at the basket, their defense had a little more teeth to it. We just didn’t respond or react to it very well.”

Nebraska forward Berke Buyuktuncel contests shot of Creighton's Ty Davis. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Always rely on defense

Shooting comes and goes. Every team has bad shooting nights. But defense sticks with you. Defense travels. When a team plays good defense, fundamental defense, that’s a calling card. Good defensive teams can be difficult to play against.

And as the Huskers head into their Big Ten schedule — they open at home against Wisconsin on Wednesday, and at 14th-ranked Illinois on Saturday — their defense could be a valuable weapon in a conference loaded with quality teams.

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