White teeth and dimples flashed throughout a players-only huddle early Tuesday night.
Two hours later, the Nebraska women's basketball team had fallen 64-53 at Iowa State - its third straight loss.
But after a week of poor shooting that featured some historically unbeatable foes, the Cornhuskers say they still have a reason to smile.
"There's nothing to worry about," NU sophomore forward Kelsey Griffin said.
The Huskers stood at the top of the Big 12 Conference a little more than a week ago. Today they are alone in fourth place.
NU started its three-game skid against Texas Tech on Feb. 14. It had been 10 years since the Huskers defeated the Red Raiders.
Next, NU fell at home to Missouri on Saturday. The Huskers haven't beaten the Tigers in the Bob Devaney Sports Center in seven years.
And after losing to Iowa State on Tuesday, the Huskers haven't defeated the Cyclones outside of Lincoln in a decade.
"I wouldn't say there's pressure on us," NU senior forward Chelsea Aubry said. "We've had a great season, and we're going to continue to push. We're going to continue to compete."
But if recent Husker shooting woes continue, that might be tough to do.
Nebraska has hit just 12 of 46 3-pointers during its losing streak, including only 5 of 24 against the Cyclones.
Aubry, the Big 12's second-best 3-point shooter, didn't make a trey during that stretch. What may be worse, she has only attempted six.
"I wouldn't call it a slump," Aubry said. "Some people are shooting better than others. We just need to look to get the ball to them."
One of those people, Aubry said, is NU senior guard Jelena Spiric.
When the Cylones took a 10-point lead early in the second half, Spiric helped chip into the deficit by hitting three straight shots.
She scored seven points in one minute, 30 seconds to bring NU within 32-30.
"Maybe in recent years this would have gone to a 30-point game," Aubry said after the game. "But we fought, and I give our team great credit for that."
NU Coach Connie Yori said playing in a tough conference hasn't helped matters.
Four teams in the Big 12 are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. And ESPN.com currently projects six teams in the league to make the NCAA Tournament. Only the Big East Conference is projected to have more - seven.
"This is the best this league has been top to bottom in the history of the Big 12," Yori said.
In Ames, Iowa, Tuesday night, several Huskers just chuckled when asked if they are panicking following their loss to the Cyclones.
They had shot 7.1 percent from the 3-point line in the first half and suffered their 10th straight defeat to ISU outside of Lincoln.
"No," said Spiric, smiling. "We're very confident."
