LGHL Visiting Locker Room: Talking Nebraska with Corn Nation

[ThomasCostello]

Visiting Locker Room: Talking Nebraska with Corn Nation
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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The two lone Big Ten teams to topple the Iowa Hawkeyes face off on Valentine’s Day.

Sunday, the Nebraska Cornhuskers shocked the Iowa Hawkeyes and the basketball world after coming back from 14 points down to defeat guard Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes. Now, three days later, the Cornhuskers travel to Columbus to face Ohio State women’s basketball.

To learn more about Big Red, Land-Grant Holy Land reached out to Jill Heemstra of Corn Nation. Heemstra discusses the key behind the Conrhuskers win over the then No. 2 Hawkeyes, the growth of center Alexis Markowski and how the Buckeyes need to look at the entire bench of players for Nebraska, not only the first five-to-eight.

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Land-Grant Holy Land: The obvious topic of conversation is the win against the Iowa Hawkeyes. The fourth quarter showed how well the Cornhuskers can play defensively, neutralizing guard Caitlin Clark’s supporting cast. How has Nebraska grown this season to come away with such a signature win?

Corn Nation: One thing you notice quickly with head coach Amy Williams is that she plays her entire roster. She doesn’t develop an eight person rotation with pity minutes for the rest. At different times this season, every player on the roster has stepped up and carried the team, even if their time in the spotlight only lasted a quarter or a few minutes.

That confidence in the depth has shown through at times. While guard Jaz Shelley (rightly) gets a lot of attention for that fourth quarter comeback, guard Kendall Moriarty played a pivotal role in defending Clark. Nebraska went to a box and one with Moriarty dogging Clark a good chunk of that quarter. She also made a couple good offensive plays.

LGHL: The Cornhuskers go through Shelley and Markowski. The teams who have beaten Nebraska this year, has it been through slowing them down or making sure nobody else can becoming a role-player in games?

CN: Markowski usually gets her double-double in wins or losses. She’s difficult to shut down completely. Shelley runs a little hot/cold at times, but she has been fighting some nagging injuries so that’s to be expected. The losses seem to stem from the offensive end of the floor.

Sometimes that is good defense by the other team but more often it seems to be cold shooting by the Huskers. If the game plan falls apart or shots don’t fall, Nebraska digs a big hole that their stellar defense can’t completely prevent. There has been a tendency in those losses to mount a big comeback. Against Iowa, that comeback succeeded.

LGHL: Markowski’s playing the best basketball of her NCAA career as a junior. How has coach Williams given the forward more responsibilities?

CN: When Markowski stepped on the floor this season it was noticeable that she had spent time with the strength and conditioning and nutrition staff and looked like a different player. She has always been mobile and strong, but she is leaner and has more stamina - she closes out games even better than past years. She is also getting more vocal in demanding the ball and she doesn’t go straight into the defender to put up a shot, she uses her footwork and maneuvers around them better than ever.

One thing I noticed about her as a freshman and sophomore is that if she made a mistake or got schooled in some way, she very rarely made that same mistake again. She learns fast and frustrates an opposing player who thinks they have found a weakness. Amy Williams trusts her to make a play anywhere on the court.

LGHL: Lastly, how much has freshman forward Natalie Potts made Markowski better and what does she do on her own to impact games?

CN: Potts reminds me a lot of Markowski in how she goes about her game. She is quick to learn when she makes a mistake and fixes it in-game vs waiting for the film. The first few games, she was shooting over 75% from the field IIRC, which tells you she probably wasn’t shooting enough.

My only knock on her is that she can still make freshman mistakes on defense and gets in foul trouble at times. She still needs some work on her long range shooting but is about as complete as one could hope a freshman to be at this point. If a team focuses too much attention on Markowski, Potts will make them pay. Because teams need to account for her, defenses can’t collapse on Markowski as soon as she touches the ball.

It is no accident Nebraska is also grabbing offensive rebounds at a high rate with Potts joining Markowski on the floor.

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