Nebraska men's basketball beats Grand Valley State in exhibition, finding footing in second half

LINCOLN For much of its exhibition, Nebraska looked like a team trying to find its footing, pushing its way through early-season growing pains.

Within offensive choppiness, inconsistent shooting and the energy of a Grand Valley State team that put a scare into Toledo a week earlier, Fred Hoiberg was happy with his teams effort.

The Huskers settled down in the second half, breaking the ice on the Lakers pressure, maintaining its defensive intensity and pulling away for a 73-53 win in their final tune-up before the regular season.

We continued to play hard, and thats what we said: just keep contesting their shots, Hoiberg said.

And I thought we did a good job, and they cooperated a little bit better in the second.

A pair of newcomers were the catalysts as NU swelled its 5-point halftime lead.

Point guard Rollie Worster felt like he had been tentative in the first half, so he left the locker room looking to play with more aggression.

On the first possession of the second period, he came away with a steal under the basket, then set up Brice Williams for a 3-pointer.

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The Utah transfer finished with 6 points on 3-of-4 shooting, two assists and three steals.

Gavin Griffiths buried a pair of catch-and-shoot 3-pointers and drew a foul attacking the basket within a 23-4 run over the first 10 minutes of the second half, a badly-needed boost for a team that finished the afternoon 6-22 from beyond the arc.

Griffiths had four treys while leading the Huskers with 14 points.

It definitely helps me when one goes down, Griffiths said.

These guys are always looking to find me in practice and all the scrimmages.

All my teammates have been looking to find me, so that gives me a lot of confidence when someone has a decent shot but they swing it to me for a wide open shot.

Nebraska struggled early as GVSU was in its ball handlers jerseys in the first half, picking them up before they reached halfcourt, navigating screens and making the Huskers work for every pass as they tried to get into their offense.

The Lakers harassed the Huskers guards as they dribbled into crowds and turned the ball over 14 times.

Jump shots rattled out from all around the perimeter, many of the looks contested as the Huskers stilted offense slogged its way through the first 20 minutes.

It was like when my twins used to play soccer in first and second grade and everyone ran to the ball, Hoiberg said.

I thought we had some of that today, as opposed to staying spread, staying spaced, drawing the defense and making the right play.

But to our guys' defense, its the first time weve seen this type of pressure, and next time we face it well handle it better.

But the Huskers stayed competitive with their defense.

Buoyed by some tough shots early, GVSU was 5-30 in the second half as Nebraska picked up its defensive activity.

Juwan Gary set the tone early by forcing Mason Docks into a contested midrange jumper on the opening possession of the second half, and Nebraska, like on offense, built momentum from there.

The big thing was just getting back in transition, Worster said.

We try to pride ourselves on our transition defense and crashing the O-boards, and we obviously didnt do either in the first half.

And I think that was a big emphasis going into halftime, just getting our guys that are supposed to get back back and the guys who crash also turn their head around, match up.

It really comes down to communication, which is something weve been working on and need to continue getting better at.

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