The Nebraska men's basketball team will try to rebound from four straight losses when it travels to Evanston, Illinois to take on Northwestern Wednesday. The Huskers' last two losses have come in heartbreaking fashion with both coming on last-second shots.
"There's no doubt that there's great disappointment after those two ball games," Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles said. "The fact that you're three seconds from being third place in the league, that's just the reality we're in."
Miles said on the plane ride home after another last-second defeat at Rutgers, he was sitting on the plane next to his daughter and realized he needed to pull the team together. He said he knew if his team did not come off the team with a determined mindset, they could be in trouble.
"I huddled the guys up at the back of the plane and said 'Listen. We're not going to blame ourselves. I'm not going to blame the players and you're not going to blame the coaches. You're not going to blame this guy or this guy for not getting the rebound or falling down, whatever it could be..'," Miles said.
"We've practiced alright with that," Miles said. "I don't know if that was a pep talk to me or to them, either way it's probably both. It's easy to get down, it's easy to look at the 'woulda-shoulda-coulda's", but that's not reality."
Northwestern, the team that started the Huskers losing streak, has been on the opposite side of the spectrum since the two teams last met. The Wildcats have won four straight including a 74-72 victory over Ohio State Saturday and sit a half game out of first place.
Three players on Northwestern's offense average over 12 points per game with Scottie Lindsey leading the charge with 16.1 points per game.
Nebraska's matchup with Northwestern is set to tip Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on the Big Ten Network.
Watch Tim Miles, Jack McVeigh and Michael Jacobsen's full meeting with the media here:
