uneblinstu's postgame chatter: Vol: 10; ed: 20, Illinois

[hhcmatt]

 

[cjbowbros]

4 minutes ago, hhcdimes said:

 

Part of that was playing 4 guards at points...a combination of wanting to limit turnovers and Copeland being in foul trouble early. We only had 10 turnovers which is great against Illinois...those 18 offensive rebounds were killer though.

Copeland is a horrible rebounder. Especially horrible on defensive rebounds. And when we play small in man or 1-3-1 he he’s in the paint on defensive it just ends badly so often

[PimpMario]

It felt like tonight was the medicine we need to take so we can get to Michigan.  Michigan is a must win if we want any hope at the NCAA.

[jayschool]

Just now, PimpMario said:

It felt like tonight was the medicine we need to take so we can get to Michigan.  Michigan is a must win if we want any hope at the NCAA.

Or at Ohio State, but we have a better shot at home vs. Michigan, so you're right. 

[PimpMario]

Holy crap Palmer was 10-19. What a night other than the missed free throw and a couple missed assists during transition. But that game winner makes up for it!

 

 

[49r]

Yeah, Palmer definitely deserves major ups for his performance tonight.

[REDZONEDAN]

28 minutes ago, jdw said:

My niece's think that is the chocolate ice cream emoji.

You mean it’s not chocolate ice cream??

[hhcmatt]

Postgame Notes
*-Anton Gill and Isaiah Roby made their first starts of the season tonight. It marked the fifth career start for Roby and second for Gill. 
*-Evan Taylor reached double figures for the seventh time this season with 13 points, his first double-figure performance since Dec. 29. Taylor had just six double-figure efforts his junior season. Taylor continues a streak where at one Husker outscores the opponent’s final bench total. It is the third straight it has occurred. 
*-James Palmer Jr., had 24 points, just one shy of his career high. It was his 18^th double-digit scoring effort this season.

*-Roby led the team with 10 rebounds, his second career double-digit rebounding effort, and his second-highest total of his career. Isaiah Roby set a career high with four steals, topping his previous best of three set on two previous occasions, most recently against Purdue on Jan. 6.
*-James Palmer Jr. has now been in double figures in 18 of the Huskers’ 20 games and had a season-high 10 field goals.
*-Nebraska improves to 10-1 at home. 
*-For the first time this season, Nebraska’s opponent didn’t record a block.

*-Nebraska is now 10-9 under Miles in games decided by two points or less. Prior to tonight, NU was 0-2 this season, with a one point loss to No. 13 Kansas and a two-point OT loss at Penn State.

 

 

Nebraska Coach Tim Miles

On the final play

"We knew they were going to press, which is why I called the timeout early because I didn't think we'd advance very far. We call it ‘live in the middle’ to kind of get one of your drivers the ball. Whoever gets it, the other guys running down as fast as he can to get a spot and so if they're pressing you try to ball screen it. Well that kind of got to be a cluster because they kind of backed it up, and Glenn [Watson Jr.] didn't bust to the middle until later, but when he did, he made a really good play and found James [Palmer Jr.]. James is a guy that kind of practices that shot every day so I'll take it. We've been on the other end of two of them, so it was good to get one."

 

On Illinois

"Brad Underwood does a tremendous job everywhere he's been. He's a heck of a coach. I thought we did a good job not turning the ball over after the first five or six minutes of the game. Winning points off turnovers against them is a big deal, but we just fouled too much. They played harder than us, with their cuts and their half court offense. Finally, I think we got them slowed up a little bit on the 1-3-1 zone, but at the same time, I think you have to credit them for just hanging in there because they didn't have a great night shooting either."

 

On if this was a must-win game

"I feel that way every night. I think the guys are just really disappointed the way they played against Penn State - the could have, would have, should have, part of it. So they wanted to come out and play better and get a [win]. If we make our layups, just our bunnies, it's probably eight or 10 points late in the game. We have to toughen up some. We have to get that finesse out of us and stay ball tough and stay mentally tough and finish those plays and make some open threes on ocassion."

 

On James Palmer Jr.

"I'm very happy for James. I thought he bounced back in a big way. He and I had a good talk. 'James, I believe in you. You're a go to guy.' I stuck with him when he was falling down tonight. James can make plays. That's always valuable and I thought he was really goodtonight. You could tell. I think he got the first bucket of the night, right now Main Street."

 

On Evan Taylor

"I take him out of the starting lineup and that means something to Evan. As a guy that doesn't score a lot, but does a lot of the dirty work for the team, you appreciate starting a little more than the rest of the guys. He was in the gym the last two days, working hard. To see him come out and play really sharp, I was thankful and we were lucky to have him because he made a lot of good winning plays."

 

On rebounding

"They were like fifth in the country on offensive rebound average and we're equally as bad, so that was a concern. I think we leveled off a little bit in the second half. I'm not exactly positive, but i think they got seven in the second half. I think a couple of them were dead ball rebounds too, which can be a couple different things. We did a little better, but it still seemed like they got a couple timely ones and that's that mental toughness and finesses that I'm talking about that we just got to commit to a block out. With [Isaac Copeland] on the bottom of the zone, you stand right under the rim, so you have to block back and that's not always the easiest thing to do. When Leron Black is a really strong guy, so I think he got one on us late and Michael Finke did too, but overall  that's an area, we're playing as small as we did - tonight we played four guards and a wing.  How many times did [Isaiah Roby] rebound, bust out. He had to drive in the second half, jumped up about 13 feet, swishes two free throws. I don't know how they can do that ... I know my talent is really limited, but I just am in awe of those guys who just hammer a dunk , get knocked to the floor and then get up and switch two free throws. They make it look easy and it's not. 

Isaiah Roby, James Palmer Jr., Evan Taylor
When asked to describe this game: 
Roby: “Hectic. Chaotic, kind of. That’s how they like to play, so we kind of played into their hands a little bit about it. It’s a win, that’s the ultimate thing.”

On using their zone defense to generate offense in the second half: 
Roby: “That was big for us. We got the crowd into it, we got one or two shot clock violations which is big because the crowd gets into it after that. Then we got some blocks, some runouts, so our zone definitely got us going, got us a little run going. That’s been a big part of us, especially in the second half it’s been huge for us.”

On his view of Palmer’s game-winning three point shot: 
Taylor: “I was on the bench. I got scared because [Glynn Watson Jr.] had got caught up and he threw it to [Palmer], and I saw [Palmer] take the dribble. When it went in I just froze, I was like ‘Wow, we won’. I was really happy, this was a big game for us.”

On a different lineup than usual and how it affected each individual and the team: 
Roby: “It’s cool to start I guess but for me it doesn’t really matter too much. I think as a team you don’t really care about it too much. I think [Taylor] has been starting for us but he came off the bench and played real good for us. For us it’s just about the guys on the court, whenever they’re on the court they just have to perform. So I think we did a good job of that today.”

Taylor: “It was cool. Whatever’s best for the team, just made me want to play better. I haven’t been playing well as of late but I want to come out and affect the game. Steals, rebounds, points, everything I can do and just make my presence felt. Credit to my teammates for giving me confidence.”

On redeeming himself after Penn State: 
Palmer: “I definitely had to come out and play well this game, couldn’t have two bad games in a row. Penn State, I really think it was on me because I didn’t show up in a road game, and we took the loss hard so we had to come out and play hard today. That’s what I tried to do, help the team as much as possible.”  

Illinois Coach Brad Underwood

“Well as I told our team, nothing is given; everything is earned. Give [James] Palmer credit. He made a heck of a shot. We felt pretty good watching him come up the floor, and we took about six seconds in the backcourt and the kid just stepped up and made a shot. I’m proud of our guys. We’ve lost three overtime games, now a buzzer beater and had Minnesota right there. We’re not playing nor are we acting like a team that is winless. So I’m proud of the character of our guys. Another great game from Trent Frazier, and see Michael [Finke] bounce back. He’s been in a bit of a funk. Costly mistakes down the stretch. We missed eight layups in the first half. In power conferences, most games are decided by one or two possessions. When you miss easy opportunities no matter when they are, they will always come back to haunt you. I thought we were pretty efficient the second half shooting 50% we did a great job at the glass after being pummeled by Iowa. Turnovers killed us, and we got five from Leron [Black] in 23 minutes and we can’t have that. Give Nebraska credit and it’s onto Madison for us.”

 

On [Michael] Finke:

 “We needed to get Michael [Finke] going period. We felt great about the matchup and came out the second half trying to go after [Isaac] Copeland with three fouls. It felt like that was an advantage for us. They got confused on a switch which got a three at the top of the key to get us going. And then Michael [Finke] did what he hasn’t been doing which was climbing on the glass. Those five offensive rebounds led to some easy baskets. Michael’s [Finke] tremendous in the zone and does a good job short corner and high post. The three was just a simple high ball screen with him on the backside and he got a clean look. Trent [Frazier] made a great pass. It’s good to see Michael [Finke] get going again. A double-double is a great night for him.”

 

On bouncing back from loss:

 “I saw Oklahoma last year when I was in the Big 12. A team that was a Final Four team and well coached by Lon Kruger and I mentioned to our staff they lost just about every way possible last year. We’re going to try and change that though. We have self-inflicted too many of these. Da’Monte Williams gets a big-time rebound, and we have to learn. We’re playing a tremendous amount of freshmen and young guys who haven’t been in these roles. We got to quit making them.”

 

[royalfan]

If we are going to maximize our talents, then we are going to have to max effort the glass.  Palmer has to take it on himself to go and grab 6 or 7 boards a game.  If Russell Westbrook can average a triple double, palmer can go and grab more boards than he is getting.  Copeland has to man up and get boards as well.  The small ball lineup will only work as well as or will to rebound is. 

[HB]

Just an absolutely pathetic call on the Illini 3 pointer.  So weak.  Conference is a joke.  Heads should roll for weak ass shit like that. Didn't matter, but you can't make that call.  He misses it and that guy gets 3 free throws in our gym.  I am flat out fed up.  

Edited January 16, 2018 by HB

[Vinny]

Just finished watching after work. JPJ! Feels good to be on the right end of a second shot.

[Faux Mike Peltz]

Really thought ET was the unsung hero tonight. Offense actually moved pretty well and he roams that baseline well, cuts in hard and if we can find him, he’s gonna have a thunder dunk. He also played post defense a few times and did a good job denying the ball. Great to win one of these finally!

[hal9000]

6 hours ago, royalfan said:

If we are going to maximize our talents, then we are going to have to max effort the glass.  Palmer has to take it on himself to go and grab 6 or 7 boards a game.  If Russell Westbrook can average a triple double, palmer can go and grab more boards than he is getting.  Copeland has to man up and get boards as well.  The small ball lineup will only work as well as or will to rebound is. 

The only player I saw last night boxing out a man was Roby.  Everyone else turned around and looked up waiting either for the make or the miss.  Meanwhile, the Illinois players run in, go right by our players and get the rebound.  If they're being coached on rebounding fundamentals, they are completely forgetting them. 

[hhcmatt]

[Mr. Red]

3 minutes ago, hhcdimes said:

This scene and the game winning shot are my only lasting memories of this game.... everything else deserves to be forgotten.

I watched this in slo-mo on my TV only about four times

[huskerbaseball13]

7 hours ago, PimpMario said:

It felt like tonight was the medicine we need to take so we can get to Michigan.  Michigan is a must win if we want any hope at the NCAA.

 

Yeah, last night was a perfect outcome for Thursday's game. Mich almost lost and that would have been bad as we would have a pissed off team coming to Lincoln and we played like dog crap and still won.  Should be enough to get the teams attention the new two days before a big game on Thursday. 

[jimmykc]

Underwood: Perfect offshoot from the Huggins/Martin sourpuss tree.

[BigTate]

That last second shot was awesome! James Palmer Jr is a stud! Ice water in his veins for sure!

I think Roby could fly if he tried, he is going to be a great player for us down the road!

As for Jack, I don't think he brings much to our game. Always gets beat on defense and not much on offense. Great kid but should be playing at UNO not UNL. 

[rr52]

Not sure how many lay ups and wide open 3 pointers NU missed but good teams convert those opportunities when given the chance. And there was a stretch in the 2nd half where the ball seemed to get slick. NU seems to play to the level of the competition so hopefully the product on the floor Thursday is much improved.    

Also props to the guy behind me in section 100 that got a "Go Big Red" chant going during one of the late timeouts. 

[hhcmatt]

Us talking about the greatest dunk that never happened is very much a Nebraska Basketball thing

[hhcmatt]

While we are losing the rebounding game we're contesting shots well enough that the defense overall is solid.

To me the real problem is that we haven't shot well other than a half against Northwestern since Christmas.

 

Maybe it's just a pickup in the competition but Stetson, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Illinois aren't elite defenses.

 

 

[hskr4life]

1 minute ago, hhcdimes said:

While we are losing the rebounding game we're contesting shots well enough that the defense overall is solid.

To me the real problem is that we haven't shot well other than a half against Northwestern since Christmas.

 

 

 

This is the most concerning thing to me.  Even James on drives seems less efficient than the 1st semester.  Last night I can’t tel you how many air balls we had.  One thing to note though is that all of them we’re long.  Like it wasn’t dead legs, short air balls.  They were wel long.  So it isn’t like we are tired.  Anton will still make his few, but even he has looked rough.  Thomas hasn’t looked himself shooting it since KU.  He did have some nice drives a while back.

 

I think it’s part mental.  At least I hope it is.  It seems like we’re pressing so much at the beginning of games that it’s kind of like “can’t score... here we go again.”  Just once I’d like to see us start off hot and see where that leads us.  

 

I still have way more faith in this team to score points than in the past, so we’ve got that going for us.  We know they can score, they know they can score, now they just gotta go out and do it.

[Coaches kid]

4 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

This is the most concerning thing to me.  Even James on drives seems less efficient than the 1st semester.  Last night I can’t tel you how many air balls we had.  One thing to note though is that all of them we’re long.  Like it wasn’t dead legs, short air balls.  They were wel long.  So it isn’t like we are tired.  Anton will still make his few, but even he has looked rough.  Thomas hasn’t looked himself shooting it since KU.  He did have some nice drives a while back.

 

I think it’s part mental.  At least I hope it is.  It seems like we’re pressing so much at the beginning of games that it’s kind of like “can’t score... here we go again.”  Just once I’d like to see us start off hot and see where that leads us.  

 

I still have way more faith in this team to score points than in the past, so we’ve got that going for us.  We know they can score, they know they can score, now they just gotta go out and do it.

We had three air balls (all long) from the same corner in the second half. Perhaps there was some sort of jet stream in that area of PBA (: We did miss way too many shots at the rim, and some of those threes were open looks. My frustration is that we could have exploited their aggressiveness even more. Seemed like when we made an effort to swing the ball from one side of the floor to the other, we usually got a good shot. Against the zone, do we ever utilize ball fakes? The way the Illini overplayed, we could have created some more gaps by simply doing something as fundamental as that. That being said, thank goodness for Palmer's ice water veins. Win on Thursday, and we have some needed momentum. 

[big red22]

10 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

I see Isaiah taking a Tai Webster-esque leap forward next season.  Would love to see him try to start trying to drive the ball a bit, a la James Palmer.  He needs to be able to attack the glass off the dribble, and I think he can, we'd just all like to see it in a game.

 

Second thing he needs is to get comfortable taking perimeter shots.  Catch-and-shoot 3 pointers.  

 

And, lastly, I want to see him with a Shavon Shields mid-range game where, if they cut off the drive, he can elevate and score from 10-15 feet.

 

I think Isaiah can do all of those things.  I think the team needs him to do all of those things if we want to take that next step forward.  He's a kid with so many tools but he needs to develop a scoring mentality where he wants the ball in his hands and wants to make things happen.

When he had that T-Bagging near miss dunk my favorite part was Copeland face looking at Roby!  He was literally in Shock and Awe just like all of us

 

Did anyone else see it or have a shot of it? 

[hhcmatt]

20 minutes ago, hhcdimes said:

While we are losing the rebounding game we're contesting shots well enough that the defense overall is solid.

To me the real problem is that we haven't shot well other than a half against Northwestern since Christmas.

 

Maybe it's just a pickup in the competition but Stetson, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Illinois aren't elite defenses.

 

Is it just as simple as Watson being in a slump most of conference play and that is perhaps due to him being the focal point of most defenses? 

I'm a numbers guy; here is what the numbers are showing. What is everyone else seeing?