As the Huskers assemble their roster, Juwan Gary and Brice Williams will be key players for Nebraska basketball.
Nebraska basketball veterans Brice Williams and Juwan Gary were disappointed when they got back to their Memphis hotel room after their team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, but they also felt like there was still unresolved business.
That evening in Memphis, Williams and Gary talked about their future plans. The next day, they exchanged texts and phone calls and said they were going back to Nebraska to try their luck at making history once more.
“It’s just being one of those teams, but it’s the hunger because we didn’t win,” Williams said during his meeting with media on Tuesday. “We didn’t make history for the school and we didn’t make a run like we wanted to and like we could have. Just getting there and getting taste of it and having the opportunity to potentially do it again. I just want an opportunity to do it again and try to make history with the same squad.”
Securing the return of Gary and Williams, who combined to average 25 points and 11.6 rebounds per game last season, started the roster rebuild for Fred Hoiberg.
Nebraska basketball has added nine different players to the roster since Gary and Williams announced their return — a mix of veterans and freshmen — and the two holdovers have now become leaders in the getting-to-know-you that comes with so many different new faces.
“Some of the guys look to me because I’ve been here and I had a good year last year,” Williams said of being a leader. “It makes you more comfortable when the guys are already looking to you.”
The work being done this summer on the practice court is important to making Hoiberg’s read-and-react system work during the season. As players hang out off the court, getting to know one another, their work this summer also allows things to flow more easily on the court.
