02/26/2014 - At Illinois Report Card

[hhcdave]

OVERALL GRADE: D

 

OFFENSE: D

It was a bad night for Terran Petteway to pull a "Houdini" and disappear into thin air.

The Big 10's leading scorer was a dismal 5-18 from the field with three giant turnovers and as such, Nebraska's season low of 49 points arrived at a terrible time.

NU saw its other key players follow suit in offensive "off nights", with Shavon Shields going 2-7, Walter Pitchford 1-6 and Ray Gallegos 0-1.

Surprisingly, it was the "supporting cast" that got it done, with David Rivers going 4-4, Benny Parker 3-3 and Leslee Smith 4-4. That's 11-11 from the field for NU's 5th-7th scoring options.

Nebraska goes as Petteway goes and this was just a bad night. Time to move on and forget it.

DEFENSE: B

Since we consider "defense" and "rebounding" two separate facets, the defense wasn't too bad, with NU holding Illinois to just 37% from the field (that's six straight opponents under 40% from the field).

The true problem was the next two areas of the game...

REBOUNDING: F

Nebraska was out rebounded 34-28, including ELEVEN offensive rebounds allowed.

Also, Coach Miles noted on the post game that "50-50" balls were 12-2 in Illinois' favor.

That just can't happen. Illinois scored 16 second chance points (compared to 5 for NU).

Shields is our token Player of the Game for at least putting forth effort on the boards, finishing with a team high 9.

BALL HANDLING: F

Nebraska turned the ball over TWELVE times in the second half (15 for the night) and allowed an astonishing 24 points off turnovers.

The most bothersome part of this debacle was that even down 8, then 11, then 9, then 10, then 8, in the last 6 minutes, NU still had PLENTY of chances to come back, but key turnovers by Petteway, Shields and Webster ended those chances in a hurry.

COACHING: C

I don't honestly have any opinion on the coaching tonight. The game plan seemed okay on both ends of the floor; it just wasn't executed because of off nights from key players offensively, ball handling flubs and horrible rebounding efforts. Not sure how much the coach has to do with any of these things.

OVERALL GRADE: D

Nebraska laid an egg on the road in a near must win game.

That means we must now go 3-0 +1, or 2-1 +2, to get "in the dance."

Also, let's give Illinois some credit tonight - they hit shots they haven't been (from downtown; 11th in league coming in) and were the aggressors on both ends of the floor, while being "hungrier" for it. Sure, Nebraska pissed a game down their leg, but Illinois is part of that.

Not much else to say. This game doesn't require much analysis.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: SHAVON SHIELDS

2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS:

TERRAN PETTEWAY - 13

SHAVON SHIELDS - 6

WALTER PITCHFORD - 3

TAI WEBSTER - 2

LESLEE SMITH - 2

DEVERELL BIGGS - 1

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[doc1394]

There are at least 3 players who should get player of the game over Shields. He had two of the worst turnovers of the night including the one which rice took for an and one, and the one after the rebounding foul on the inbounds.

Edit: and I forgot about the time he went 1 on 3 fast break and kicked it with his heel in the first half

[royalfan]

I agree that it doesn't matter much, but I would have given it to Smith.  He really helped us hang in there for as long as we did. 

[hhcmatt]

We missed more shots in the first half than we attempted in the 2nd half.  Oof

[royalfan]

Do we ever seem to do well when the damn thing gets delayed by programming?  I remember one year in NCAA tourney it was too much to ask for us to see the start of the Uconn game.  About 5 minutes in we were getting our ass kicked by 10 or so it seemed and never a game.  Just hate when we cannot watch from the outset.  Never seems to end well.

[GATA]

The worst part about the TOs was that they were pretty much unforced. So many lazy passes and stupid decisions. It was like a pickup game out there.

[Huskerpapa]

What was somewhat alarming was that (what seemed like) most of the turnovers occurred in the last ten minutes.  We were playing good at the start of the second half, and them...BOOM!  Did we get tired? 

[hhcmatt]

After thinking about it, the Illinois games went the same way for the home teams....a close half time game where the home team went on a spurt in the middle of the 2nd half to put away the game.

[jimmykc]

I agree that Smith, Rivers, or Parker should have been player of the game. All were more effective than Shavon for the minutes they played and none made the costly turnovers or poor judgement plays that he did. Shields will have plenty of other opportunities but this was a chance to recognize one of the role players.

[colhusker]

I agree that Smith, Rivers, or Parker should have been player of the game. All were more effective than Shavon for the minutes they played and none made the costly turnovers or poor judgement plays that he did. Shields will have plenty of other opportunities but this was a chance to recognize one of the role players.

This ^^^ Shields was AWOL for a good chunk of the game.

[Handy Johnson]

This one disappointing because it was SO winnable, even after a lousy 1st half.  Their big boy went to the bench in foul trouble & we kept settling for jumpers. Also Ray, Pitch, Tai - 5 points... 

[kldm64]

Seemed that Rivers and Parker were co-MVP's tonight. 

[HoiBall]

Did anybody see Shields obviously upset on the bench after he turned it over for a lay up in the second half? Hunter was trying to calm him down but he had his head in a towel and looks overly frustrated. Seems like a little bit of pressure might be creeping up on these guys. You could see it last night. I think they want it almost TOO much. You gotta just go out there and play basketball, can't let things outside affect the game.

[huskerbaseball13]

Looks good...except for giving Shields the player of the game.  He was not good last night. 

[TomEadesSucks]

Just a bad night for pretty much everyone. They'll bounce back.

[Rachoo]

There are at least 3 players who should get player of the game over Shields. He had two of the worst turnovers of the night including the one which rice took for an and one, and the one after the rebounding foul on the inbounds.
Edit: and I forgot about the time he went 1 on 3 fast break and kicked it with his heel in the first half
 

I agree that Smith, Rivers, or Parker should have been player of the game. All were more effective than Shavon for the minutes they played and none made the costly turnovers or poor judgement plays that he did. Shields will have plenty of other opportunities but this was a chance to recognize one of the role players.

 

This ^^^ Shields was AWOL for a good chunk of the game.

 

Seemed that Rivers and Parker were co-MVP's tonight. 

Looks good...except for giving Shields the player of the game.  He was not good last night

 

Agree with all these above statements - we would have been crushed totally without Rivers - Parker - Smith - and even Webster's 3. 

 

Shields has alot of talent - but plays way too tentative alot of the time - is not a quick and decisive passer much of the time (including inbounding) - often easy to pick up where the ball is going with his slow non-decisive passing decisions -- which he often "telegraphs"  Also let's his man get by him numbers of times on defense.  He has a lot of talent - and can be a great player - but needs to become more confident and assertive on a consistent basis.

 

As for what happened to the greatly talented Petteway last night - who knows?

 

Need to regroup fast - and get back to our momentum we had going.  

 

[longtimefan]

Dave, I think the board disagrees with your player of the game (and for many good reasons).  Do you want to change it?

[hhcmatt]

Dave, I think the board disagrees with your player of the game (and for many good reasons).  Do you want to change it?

 

You can make a pretty good argument for Shields just like you can make an argument for a lot of guys.  He essentially had a double-double

 

Change it?  The man comes on here on almost every great win and gut wrenching loss and puts out a report card.

Everyone has the right to disagree with it but it certainly doesn't mean at all he should or needs to change anything.

[brfrad]

Nebraska looked like a typical team that couldn't make a basket. They tried to force things, and Illinois exploited that.