Fastbreak: Husker Hoops gearing up for start of official practices

The Nebraska basketball team is getting ready to tip-off its first official team practice this week, as the start of the 2020-21 season quickly approaches.

Head coach Fred Hoiberg, sophomore guard Dalano Banton, and sophomore forward Yvan Ouedraogo all met with reporters during a Zoom press conference on Tuesday to give the latest on the team.

Here’s a full recap of what they had to say…

***Hoiberg said the workouts so far have been impressive in terms of the commitment and competitiveness his players have shown. He’s occasionally had to tell guys to take some time off, and they’ve been working closely with NU’s sports scientists to manage player workloads this offseason.

***Hoiberg said the Huskers had had one positive COVID-19 case so far, and that case was no longer active. He said he was proud of how seriously everyone was taking the coronavirus protocols and that NU hasn’t had to mass quarantine or shut anything down due to any outbreaks.

***Hoiberg said it was always a concern about how teams would handle adversity, especially new rosters like Nebraska’s. He said NU had its first inter-squad scrimmage on Friday, and that gave the players their first real taste of the adversity they might face during the season with frustration, emotions, etc.

***Nebraska got Saturday-Tuesday off after that Friday scrimmage and will return to work on Wednesday for the official start of season practices. Hoiberg said the Huskers would start Wednesday’s practice by watching a thorough film breakdown of the scrimmage to point out things to work on.

***Hoiberg said Ouedraogo had been “phenomenal” in terms of his improvement this offseason, noting the sophomore returned to Lincoln 25 pounds lighter from where he was at the end of last season.

Hoiberg said Ouedraogo was now more explosive, finishing better at the rim, and better reading situations on the court. A lot of those improvements came from the growth and experience he gained last season.

“The great thing about freshmen is they become sophomores,” Hoiberg said of Ouedraogo, adding that he was “proud of Yvan” for buying into the offseason program and making changes to his body to become a better player.

***Hoiberg credited senior Thorir Thorbjarnarson for providing leadership through his experience this offseason. Hoiberg said Thorbjarnarson was “Mr. Reliable” for NU last year because he was always in the right spot and had a “high, innate basketball IQ.”

“Anybody that can space the floor for our playmakers … we’re going to need those guys on the floor,” Hoiberg said.

***Hoiberg said getting junior guard and Pitt transfer Trey McGowens officially eligible for this season “absolutely will help us; there’s no doubt about that.” Hoiberg said Nebraska approached the offseason preparation as if McGowens would be eligible, and McGowens hit the ground running as soon as the NCAA granted his waiver.

***Hoiberg said McGowens would have a “huge impact” for Nebraska on both ends of the floor. He called McGowens a “tenacious defender” who led ACC in steals last season. Hoiberg said the former four-star recruit was also versatile on offense, and they’ve put a big emphasis on improving his shot in terms of proper fundamentals.

***Hoiberg said Nebraska’s starting lineup and bench rotation would all play itself out in practice starting Wednesday and then over the next 42 days before the first game. Hoiberg said daily consistency would be as important of a factor as anything in determining those lineups.

***Hoiberg said he obviously had “an idea” of who his starters would be, but he also noted that it was a very fluid situation. Hoiberg said his roster was a “diverse, unique group” that could play small just as easily as big depending on the matchup.

***Hoiberg said his roster's overall size and physicality was in a much better spot than last year with a more experienced Ouedraogo and the additions of guys like junior Derrick Walker, freshman Eduardo Andre, and junior Lat Mayen.

***Hoiberg said he’d seen great improvement with Andre so far and that the freshman was getting better every day he was on the court.

***Hoiberg said Mayen was “maybe as consistent as anyone on our team,” especially offensively.

“He’s one of those guys that when he shoots it, you’re surprised when it doesn’t go in,” Hoiberg said.

***Hoiberg said his best description for Banton was a playmaker, especially as a guy who was a 6-9 point guard. Hoiberg said Banton still needed to improve his ball security and cut down turnovers but added that it was common for many players at this point in the offseason.

“The good thing about Dalano is he wants to be great, and he’s got a lot of potential in this game,” Hoiberg said.

***Hoiberg said this group was a better overall shooting team than last year, naming guys like McGowens, senior Kobe Webster, junior Teddy Allen, Mayen, junior Shamiel Stevenson, and Thor as quality 3-pointer shooters.

***The Big Ten Conference has yet to announce how many (if any) non-conference games its teams will be allowed to play this season. Hoiberg said Nebraska would approach it as if they’ll open the season on Nov. 25, but they would also work with whatever Big Ten gave them for a schedule.

Hoiberg said he has weekly phone calls with the Big Ten office and felt good about the communication level, but he was still unsure as to when an announcement would be made on the league’s schedule.

***Hoiberg said he couldn’t talk much about the proposed multi-team event in Lincoln, “The Golden Window,” because nothing was official yet due to the unknowns of the Big Ten scheduling decision.

However, he said Nebraska was preparing to start the season on Nov. 25 and play the full 27 games allotted by the NCAA.

***Hoiberg was asked about the impacts of the proposed extra year of eligibility for winter sports athletes and the one-time transfer rule, but he said those were things Nebraska would address if and when they happened.

***Banton called his sit-out season last year a great learning experience not only because it gave him time to improve as a player, but also to see all of the ups and downs that can come throughout the course of a season in terms of adversity.

“You have to be able to fight through the fire when times get tough…” Banton said. “A lot of times we were on our backs last year… If you get punched in the face, you’ve got to punch back.”

***Banton said he definitely improved his jump shot over the past year by working a lot on the little things with form and adding muscle. He said he also improved his defense with Doc, especially in his defensive knowledge and instincts.

***Banton said this year felt different than last season for him personally mainly because now he knows he’ll actually get to play in games. He admitted that he “got down sometimes” last year because he knew he wasn’t playing, but now he’s more dialed in because he has to be ready.

***Banton said he was back in Toronto for most of the COVID-19 lockdown, and said things were especially strict in his home city. Banton said mostly all gyms were shut down, and the Toronto officials even put locks over outdoor basketball hoops to prevent people from gathering.

He said he didn’t get back onto a real basketball court to shoot until a couple of weeks before his return to Lincoln. Banton said he had to work hard to knock some of the rust off and regain the strength he’d lost by not having access to a weight room.

***Banton said that while he was working primarily as a point guard at Nebraska, Hoiberg’s offense was fluid, and everyone could bring the ball up on a given possession.

***Banton said the idea of not playing in front of fans was strange, and that he felt the love from Husker fans during games last season even though he wasn’t playing. Banton said he understood the precautions being taken in the name of safety, and that Hoiberg was already preparing the team to play without fans.

***Ouedraogo said, “it was a tough summer for me” being home during the COVID shutdown, but he made the most of it by getting as much work in as he possibly could back home in France. He said he did workouts as early as 5 a.m. to be sure he was able to continue his development.

***Ouedraogo said it was about at the start of Big Ten play last season when he realized he needed to reshape his body to compete at this season. He accepted the challenge that he needed to make sacrifices this summer and put in a lot of work, but he’s already seeing the gains of those sacrifices going into his sophomore campaign.

***Ouedraogo said Nebraska had to move on from last year, but they also couldn’t forget about what happened. He said the Huskers were using last season as “fuel” and were determined to make sure what went wrong then didn’t happen again.

***Ouedraogo said the whole team was buying in right now and that every day every player was giving max effort.

***Ouedraogo said just having more big bodies on the roster would help him a lot. He said guys like Walker and Andre would provide more post depth and make him better in practice.

***Ouedraogo said improving his shooting was a big point of emphasis as well this offseason, especially his free throws. He said he changed up his routine and his hand position on the ball, and he was still working on it every day. Ouedraogo said he tries to make 100 free throws a day after each practice.