11/24/2012 - Kent State Report Card

DEFENSE: D+

Bob Knight always says: "The baseline is your most valuable defender."

There were several times tonight that Nebraska didn't allow the baseline to be on its team and Kent State made them pay dearly, getting to the rim time and time again.

Further, I LOVE the effort on trying to take a charge, but there must have been five times tonight when NU attempted to plant itself for a charge (namely Benny Parker and Mike Peltz) and the KSU players went right around them for an easy layup. If the opponent has good body control, you can't just close your eyes and stand in one place.

Brandon Ubel DID take a nice charge in the first half, to be fair, and NU didn't play horrific on defense.

Its just they played fairly poor, allowing Kent State to get the majority of its shots in the mid range game or closer (KSU shot 57% from the field and only attempted eight three pointers).

To give credit where credit is due, Kent State also made some very difficult shots, too. I have a hard time believing that team won't make a run in the MAC, though they aren't supposed to in pre-season rankings.

REBOUNDING: B+

Nebraska was solid on the boards tonight, especially considering they hardly played Almeida.

Going into the half, the Huskers were up four on the boards and for the night, they finished up seven (34 to 27). The Huskers pulled down a VERY impressive 16 offensive boards, led by 6 from Ubel (13 total, leading the way).

There were a couple of back breaking offensive boards allowed, however, including one that led to an "and one" late in the second half off of a free throw.

Special "shout" to Mike Peltz tonight, too, who pulled down six boards. That kid is a fireplug who backs down to nobody, and I have a feeling we're going to really enjoy having him in the program the next few years.

BALL HANDLING: B

Nebraska did a nice job handling a "Mickey Mouse Press" (as my friend Beau Reid would call it).

The Huskers had only nine turnovers (four at the half) and I continue to be pleasantly surprised by Peltz. He looks like a solid mid major point guard and we can deal with that as our backup this year and as a kid that can be a solid 10th man in future years. It would be nice if he'd look to shoot the ball when he's full steam toward the hoop and two feet away, such as the first half, when he didn't get free throws since he threw the ball fifteen feet back out as the foul occurred. But I can live with that - really like the kid.

COACHING: B

I credit Tim Miles for making adjustments in this game defensively, namely going with Rivers down the stretch over Almeida, though it didn't totally work.

Miles had a couple of nice plays drawn up out of timeouts, such as the roll between Ubel and Talley that led to a Ubel dunk that was rejected. Its nice to see Miles draw up plays in a manner that our last two coaches would be proud of (both Collier and Sadler were also terrific at this).

Miles did his best at managing minutes with the hand he has been dealt (lack of depth) but it was clear NU got fatigued as the game went on, too. As mentioned earlier, 37 minutes were played by Ubel, Talley and Gallegos.

OVERALL GRADE: C

Losing 74-60 at home against Kent State is disappointing, but we have to keep the big picture in mind.

What do I mean by that?

We're 4-1 through the first five and realistically, that's what we should have hoped for.

Is that the best case scenario? No. But its the realistic expectation for this team.

Nebraska has five tough games coming up and again, realistically, if we can go 2-3 during this stretch, you take it and get a couple of more wins against lesser opponents and bam, your 36 years in a row of winning seasons is still very much a possibility as we head into the B1G.

I credit Kent State tonight and just chalk this up to "one of those nights." Not too low after tonight, though it was definitely frustrating to drop this one.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: DYLAN TALLEY

2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS:

DYLAN TALLEY - 2

RAY GALLEGOS - 2

BRANDON UBEL - 1