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Huskers roll past Doane in 91-63 exhibition victory

The Fred Hoiberg era at Nebraska made its unofficial debut with an exhibition win over Doane on Wednesday night.
The Fred Hoiberg era at Nebraska made its unofficial debut with an exhibition win over Doane on Wednesday night. (Associated Press)

The Fred Hoiberg era at Nebraska made its unofficial debut on Wednesday night, as the Huskers hosted Doane for an exhibition game that served as one last tune-up before the 2019-20 season tipped off.

The Huskers sputtered out of the gates for the first few minutes, but it didn’t take long for the fans in attendance to get a glimpse of what Hoiberg’s team could look like down the road.

After falling behind 8-0 right away, NU settled in and quickly took control with a 35-5 run that made the rest of the night the lopsided affair most everyone expected.

Junior guard Dachon Burke led the way with a game-high 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while freshman forward Kevin Cross finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists.

“For the first time out in front of the fans, I was pleased for the most part with our approach to this game," Hoiberg said. "I thought we had a great shootaround today and a good week of practice coming into this. I thought early on we had some jitters. We dug ourselves into an 8-0 hole, then 10-2. Then we calmed down."

The night got off to an inauspicious start for Nebraska, as it fell behind 8-0 after the first 90 seconds of play and didn’t score its first points until a layup by freshman forward Yvan Ouedraogo with 18:17.

The Huskers’ offense finally got going, though, and NU took its first lead at 11-10 on a free throw by sophomore guard Cam Mack. It was pretty much over from there, as Nebraska went on to blow the game open with a 35-5 run over a span of 14 minutes.

Freshman guard Samari Curtis closed the half with back-to-back 3-pointers to send the Huskers in halftime with a commanding 43-23 lead.

Despite an ice-cold shooting start, NU ended up hitting 51.4 percent from the field and scored 30 points in the paint, 11 in transition, and assisted on 12 of its 18 made field goals.

"I thought we were standing around a little bit early," Hoiberg said. "Guys were out there looking frozen, except for Dachon - he was running a million miles per hour. That’s what I love about him. He’s got unbelievable energy. In that second half, he really got it going for us."

Nebraska opened the second half by scoring 14 points in the first four minutes, including eight straight by Burke coming out of halftime.

Doane capitalized on some lackadaisical NU mistakes and put together a 12-2 run to pull back within 17. That would be as close as the score would get, however, as the Huskers answered with another 20-5 run to go up 77-45 and never looked back.

Mack, Burke, Ouedraogo, senior Haanif Cheatham, and junior Jervay Green got the start, but all 13 active players on the roster ended up getting at least four minutes of action before the night was done.

Cheatham posted 10 points and three assists, while Curtis scored 12 points off the bench on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc.

Junior Thorir Thorbjarnarson had 10 points, while Green chipped in eight points and three assists, a block, and a steal.

Nebraska will officially open the season on Tuesday, Nov. 5, when it plays host to UC-Riverside for an 8 p.m. tip that will be televised on BTN.

"Tonight was a learning experience," Burke said. "Tonight was about getting the jitters out, get comfortable with the atmosphere, and then Tuesday it's a business trip. Time to really handle business."

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3-POINT PLAY

1. Cam Mack is the real deal

There was plenty of hype surrounding Mack since he first took an official visit to Nebraska over the summer. In his first true showcase as a Husker, the sophomore point guard more than delivered.

He only finished with five points, but Mack was the conductor of NU’s offensive orchestra. His eight assists were a game-high, and several of them were highlight-reel dishes to cutters for easy layups.

Despite his 6-foot-2, 175-pound frame, Mack was also very active on the defensive glass with six of seven boards coming off Doane misses. As important as anything else, he only committed one turnover in 23 minutes.

You can’t put too much stock in the performance seeing how it was against a GPAC opponent, but pair that all-around production with the 17-6-6 stat line he put up in the closed scrimmage at Wichita State.

2. Hoiball was on full display

Just take a look at Nebraska’s final shot chart, and you’ll get a pretty perfect picture of what Hoiberg’s offense wants to look like on most nights.

Of the Huskers’ 68 total shot attempts, 65 were either 3-pointers or in the paint. Hoiberg’s motto all offseason has been that those are the only two shots – if possible – he wants his team to take, and absolutely no mid-range jumpers.

The 3-point shooting obviously has to improve, but assuming it does, NU could be a pretty fun team to watch this season and beyond.

3. Rebounding will be an uphill battle all season

It’s no secret that Nebraska, with its undersized and undermanned frontcourt, is probably going to have some problems when it comes to holding up on the glass.

The Huskers did a decent job of rebounding against an even smaller Doane squad, owning a 49-37 edge overall. Hoiberg said he was especially pleased with limiting the Tigers to just eight offensive rebounds, as the goal going in was to keep that total under 10.

Again, it’s hard to put too much stock into the effort when considering Wednesday night was nothing like the bruising bigs Nebraska will see in the Big Ten.

But after getting crushed on the glass by Wichita State to the tune of a 51-36 rebounding disadvantage (including giving up 17 offensive boards), the effort vs. Doane was at least a step in the right direction.

THEY SAID IT

"I did think of my grandfather when I was walking out. When I left the locker room, it was actually emotional. The coaches had already all gone out on the floor and I went out at about the three-minute mark. As soon as I walked out of that locker room, I absolutely thought about my grandfather."
— Head coach Fred Hoiberg on his emotions coaching his first game at Nebraska, where his grandfather, Jerry Bush, was head coach from 1954-63.
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