There were some nervous moments when Nebraska whittled a 20-point Northwestern lead down to six (55-49) with 4:03 remaining Sunday afternoon, but, following a timeout, Alex Olah's jumper just outside the foul line put the Wildcats back in control and on their way to a 65-54 victory. A layup by Sanjay Lumpkin off a brilliant pass from Bryant McIntosh followed by a pair of free throws from Aaron Falzon boosted the lead back to 11 and it was just a matter of watching the seconds tick away in what could be the final home game for Olah and Tre Demps.
Head coach Chris Collins was emotional when talking about Olah (19 points, 8 rebounds) and Demps (17 points) during the postgame, labeling them as two of the "core players'' who bought into the transition from former coach Bill Carmody.
"It was awesome the way they handled their emotions today,'' said Collins in reference to the senior day ceremony. "Alex's parents and brother have never seen him play a college game and to finish with 19 and 8 is absolutely unbelievable. Tre's wife is due to give birth any day now.
"I was afraid they were going to be too excited and the younger guys would have to carry us early, but the opposite was true. I'm just really proud of both of them.''
Collins on reach 20 wins and receiving a bye in the Big Ten Tournament
"This was a great day for us; I'm really happy for the team. We've been through our share of ups and downs this year. When we lost Vic Law, everyone gave us up for dead. Then we lost Alex and everyone gave us up for dead. But this team kept fighting through adversity. Twenty wins, eight in the Big Ten, and a ninth seed in the tournament show the kind of steps we are taking.
"I view this as a very successful regular season. There are three or four games I would like to have back, but I'm sure there are three or four we shouldn't have won. The number 20 is the number I always had on my (uniform) back. I love the number 20.
"I want to win titles, but it's going to take time, experience and keep adding one recruiting class after another. I love this team, I love where we are and I love where we are headed.''
Collins on Nebraska's comeback
"I thought their pressure got to our legs. We looked a little tired at the 10-minute mark, so I was glad we had two full timeouts to us. Alex hit a big shot coming out of one of those timeouts to get us going.
"I think we learned some tough lessons in loss to Ohio State and Michigan. I thought we outplayed those teams, but we didn't finish the deal. Today, we finished the deal.
"I know the guys are tired of hearing me talk about toughness, but that's the only way to get to the next step in our program. We have to be tough both mentally and physically. Today we steadied the ship when we had to and we got the stops when we really needed them.''
Demps on winning the home finale
"It was great for everyone to end on a high note. This is always bigger than yourself. I just wanted to leave with one last moment for the program. It was tough to handle the emotion. I tried to act as normal as possible and not do anything out of character.''
Demps on bridging the gap between Carmody and Collins
"That first spring he came in here you could see the level of intensity he brought to every workout. The change was huge and opened everyone's eyes. We've tried to bring that same intensity every day even though there have been some growing pains.''
Demps on the importance of winning the last three games
"Coming down the stretch, we knew there were four teams fighting for that last bye in the Big Ten Tournament — Penn State, Nebraska, Illinois and us. This was very important for our program.''
Olah on playing front of his parents and brother for the first time
"I didn't know how I was going to keep it in, but I knew I had to put the game ahead of my emotions. I was afraid to think about it or look in the stands because I knew I would start tearing up.''
Olah on Nebraska's comeback
"We knew we had to get stops and our defense came up big. We had to hold them to one shot, get the rebound and then get into our offense. We knew they couldn't stop our offense.''
Olah on being one of the core players during the transition
"I think we have the greatest coaching staff in the country. Coach Collins is a great leader and I try to be like him. He is so passionate for the game and has such a great will to win. Every time we lose, I feel bad for him. His mind is so unbelievable; I have been so lucky to have him as a coach.''
Head coach Chris Collins was emotional when talking about Olah (19 points, 8 rebounds) and Demps (17 points) during the postgame, labeling them as two of the "core players'' who bought into the transition from former coach Bill Carmody.
"It was awesome the way they handled their emotions today,'' said Collins in reference to the senior day ceremony. "Alex's parents and brother have never seen him play a college game and to finish with 19 and 8 is absolutely unbelievable. Tre's wife is due to give birth any day now.
"I was afraid they were going to be too excited and the younger guys would have to carry us early, but the opposite was true. I'm just really proud of both of them.''
Collins on reach 20 wins and receiving a bye in the Big Ten Tournament
"This was a great day for us; I'm really happy for the team. We've been through our share of ups and downs this year. When we lost Vic Law, everyone gave us up for dead. Then we lost Alex and everyone gave us up for dead. But this team kept fighting through adversity. Twenty wins, eight in the Big Ten, and a ninth seed in the tournament show the kind of steps we are taking.
"I view this as a very successful regular season. There are three or four games I would like to have back, but I'm sure there are three or four we shouldn't have won. The number 20 is the number I always had on my (uniform) back. I love the number 20.
"I want to win titles, but it's going to take time, experience and keep adding one recruiting class after another. I love this team, I love where we are and I love where we are headed.''
Collins on Nebraska's comeback
"I thought their pressure got to our legs. We looked a little tired at the 10-minute mark, so I was glad we had two full timeouts to us. Alex hit a big shot coming out of one of those timeouts to get us going.
"I think we learned some tough lessons in loss to Ohio State and Michigan. I thought we outplayed those teams, but we didn't finish the deal. Today, we finished the deal.
"I know the guys are tired of hearing me talk about toughness, but that's the only way to get to the next step in our program. We have to be tough both mentally and physically. Today we steadied the ship when we had to and we got the stops when we really needed them.''
Demps on winning the home finale
"It was great for everyone to end on a high note. This is always bigger than yourself. I just wanted to leave with one last moment for the program. It was tough to handle the emotion. I tried to act as normal as possible and not do anything out of character.''
Demps on bridging the gap between Carmody and Collins
"That first spring he came in here you could see the level of intensity he brought to every workout. The change was huge and opened everyone's eyes. We've tried to bring that same intensity every day even though there have been some growing pains.''
Demps on the importance of winning the last three games
"Coming down the stretch, we knew there were four teams fighting for that last bye in the Big Ten Tournament — Penn State, Nebraska, Illinois and us. This was very important for our program.''
Olah on playing front of his parents and brother for the first time
"I didn't know how I was going to keep it in, but I knew I had to put the game ahead of my emotions. I was afraid to think about it or look in the stands because I knew I would start tearing up.''
Olah on Nebraska's comeback
"We knew we had to get stops and our defense came up big. We had to hold them to one shot, get the rebound and then get into our offense. We knew they couldn't stop our offense.''
Olah on being one of the core players during the transition
"I think we have the greatest coaching staff in the country. Coach Collins is a great leader and I try to be like him. He is so passionate for the game and has such a great will to win. Every time we lose, I feel bad for him. His mind is so unbelievable; I have been so lucky to have him as a coach.''
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