The team was winning games. The team goes on a 6 game slump where they literally play like crap. Fred comes out and says they had team meetings and he found out what was going on on the team causing the slump and they addressed it. They then go and beat two ranked teams with one on the road.
We really will never know what was the issue, but I would love to know. What the heck did the players allow to creep into the team mojo that caused them to fall apart like that....but it could be fixed and the team moves on and wins?
The "issue" was plain and clear to see. Hoiberg's offense is heavily relied upon a 2-man team, and perimeter defense. It relies on Brice scoring 20-25, and for Gary to contribute or play even better if Brice isn't scoring. The rest of the offense just get's "theirs".
Six game skid went down like this -
Brice couldn't score, Gary played bad, opponents shot well from 3 and/or FTs.
2 opponents shot great against NU (Iowa & Purdue).
2 opponents had manageable leads in 2nd half, and finished strong with 5 minutes to play. (Rutgers/Maryland) - both close losses.
1 opponent took us to the shed (Wisconsin)
1 opponent was a 6pt underdog at home during our losing streak, and we played soft again and lost again.
Against iLLinois & Oregon - Brice scored a lot in both games, and Gary played well. The other pieces contributed in addition to that. Sam Hoiberg started at PG. Meah didn't start in either game, and only played against Oregon
When Brice isn't doing much and doesn't get 18-27 a night, the chance of a Husker loss magnifies.
When Gary plays badly in addition, forget about it.
Often you will see the games being close because the opponent isn't draining three's. But also because Morgan, Berke and Essigian take over and try to keep the games close. With Sam Hoiberg diving for loose balls, stealing passes, driving to the basket or hitting the occasional three.
When these guys are playing well (Berke/Morgan/Conner), I don't think it's coaching. I think they just take the ball and try to score in-spite of whatever the offense is trying to do.