Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — At the beginning of her career, Nebraska women's basketball coach Connie Yori might have used the shot at a conference title to prod her team.
Not now. Even as the Huskers are in the thick of a heated Big Ten race — a half-game back of Purdue, tied with Ohio State and a half-game ahead of Penn State — Yori talked tunnel vision Wednesday, most engaged when the questions turned to Thurday's 7:05 p.m. tilt with experienced, patient Michigan.
"I just know there's too many things that can happen between now and the Big Ten tournament to get ahead of yourself," Yori said. "The one thing we do emphasize: Not to pat yourselves on the back."
A bye week did afford NU (19-3, 8-2 Big Ten) a day or so to celebrate the 93-89 triple-overtime win at Purdue last Thursday. Players enjoyed repeatedly watching the long, off-balance 3-pointer freshman Emily Cady hit to send the game into the third overtime — and sophomore Jordan Hooper falling to her knees as the shot went in.
"It was really funny," guard Lindsey Moore said. "It was pretty special."
That wore off as Nebraska went back to work preparing for the Wolverines.
"Our season's not over just because we won that game," Moore said. "It's not even close to being over."
Moore didn't watch the highlights on the Big Ten Network — she doesn't have the channel. And NU talks little about the Big Ten race. Like Yori said: Maybe 15 years ago. Not now.
Moore has a sense of what's to come down the stretch. Winning the league — and stopping a six-year streak by Ohio State — would be "surreal" but "pretty attainable." What the Huskers can't do, Moore said, is lose a game they expect to win.
"It's a dogfight out there and you definitely don't want to have teams look at your game and say, 'Oh, good, they dropped one,'" she said. "So you definitely have to make that fight."
Said Yori: "We're the underdogs. We have been all season."
Michigan (17-7, 6-5) still has a shot at the league crown, but the Wolverines are more likely focused on staying on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble. They're projected as a No. 10 seed by ESPN, and may have to fight hard to keep that spot after being swept by 14-9 Michigan State.
Yori said NU will face one of the Big Ten's smarter, better-coached teams. Michigan leads the Big Ten in turnover margin and is third in shooting. That makes up for being the league's worst rebounding team by a wide margin.
"They are our polar opposite," Yori said. Michigan doesn't beat itself with bad shots or bad turnovers. NU probably could — it's ninth in the league in shooting — but keeps winning despite some of its mistakes.
Perhaps that's why Yori preaches another message to her players: Stay humble. Even as they hear more on social media from supporters and likely welcome their biggest home crowd of the year Wednesday night.
"We look forward," Hooper said. "We don't care really what we accomplish right now. At the end of the season, we can look back and everything. Right now, it's the next competition."
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