02/02/2013 - Ohio State Report Card

[hhcdave]

OFFENSE: C

Had Nebraska made a few more shots, and they certainly had some open looks that they failed to convert on, this grade could have easily been in the "B-" to "B" range.

However, as things were, 56 points on 37% shooting from the field just wasn't enough to get things done against a team with the offensive firepower of Ohio State, though as we'll discuss later, NU was pretty good defensively.

The big stat that decided this game was the fact that NU attempted just five free throws, while OSU got to the line a staggering twenty eight times - that's TWENTY THREE MORE foul shot attempts.

And in this game, I saw little wrong with the officiating - the Buckeyes maybe were +2 on calls, but certainly nothing that cost NU the game or would explain this difference in attempts, besides the fact that OSU is far more talented than the Huskers and attacks the rim in a more successful fashion.

Andre Almeida really helped NU offensively when they struggled out of the gate (down 12-3) by coming off the bench and putting in two quick baskets, in addition to a few blocked shots. Because of the way he changed the game in the first half, I figured at halftime he would be our Player of the Game.

Little did I ever consider the guy who would win it played a grand total of about seven first half minutes - David Rivers. Rivers finished with a team high 13 points and second in rebounds (with 6) in 25 minutes. He also had a near spectacular dunk off of a miss and really battled on the glass. He shows flashes of being a really good seventh or eighth man on a really good Big 10 team, so its good to see him continue to grow.

Two negatives offensively.

One, I thought spacing was as bad as its been for about four or five minutes of this game. It was probably 8-10 possessions in a row, guys just didn't seem to be in the right place and would clog up one side of the floor.

Second, three different second half "5 Second Calls" might have really gone a long way in costing NU this game, as we'll discuss more later, too.DEFENSE: B+

I really thought Nebraska was pretty good defensively, especially after the first five minutes of the game.

The Huskers held OSU to a respectable 63 points on 39% shooting - that really is the honest best case scenario when you face a team as talented as OSU.

Lenzelle Smith Jr. was obviously the difference maker (with 23 points) and until NU gets someone similar for its own roster, these types of games will continue to go to the team with "the man" down the stretch.

As mentioned above, Nebraska fouled way too much.

REBOUNDING: A+

38 to 33, with 15 offensive rebounds as compared to 8.

Wait a minute - the order in those numbers were NEBRASKA first, Ohio State second?

You bet - the Huskers were TREMENDOUS rebounding the basketball, again, especially outside of the first half.

Nebraska saw a poor offensive game for the second straight night from Brandon Ubel, but he did grab a team leading 8 rebounds in 40 minutes. You have to respect that.

Also, as mentioned above, Rivers grabbed 6 (as well as Ray Gallegos).




BALL HANDLING: A-

8 turnovers is spectacular against a team like OSU with a guard as pesky as Aaron Craft.

However, since I thought the spacing was awful for certain possessions, and that's a somewhat overlapping compenent of "Ball Handling," we'll go with an "A-."

COACHING: A

Tim Miles told everybody all week (and all season) that Nebraska needed to "play with a chip on its shoulder and quit having sand thrown in their face by Ohio State."

They did both things in this game.

I was very impressed with how Miles managed the foul situation in this one, especially with Shavon Shields having two first half fouls and Andre Almeida three.

He made some nice subs at times for "offense/defense" with Almeida at the end to preserve his eligiblity and his team came out playing as hard as they have all season.

At the end of the day, the big picture shows that HOW Nebraska plays the rest of this season (including tonight) is much more important than if they win or not. Miles is building a program here and setting prescedents, and its exciting to see them working into fruition when you get the type of effort that the Big Red did tonight.

OVERALL GRADE: A-

Nebraska was a couple "5 second calls" less, a couple more three point shots made and maybe one or two more calls going in their favor away from pulling one of the bigger upsets of this NCAA season.

The Huskers had a nice crowd tonight (10,644 actual, 11,478 sold) and they gave the home fans a glimpse of what they can expect in the future:

Excitement and better days.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: DAVID RIVERS

2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS:

RAY GALLEGOS - 9

DYLAN TALLEY - 5

BRANDON UBEL - 4

SHAVON SHIELDS - 3

DAVID RIVERS - 3

JORDAN TYRANCE - 1

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[Huskerpapa]

No complaints from me.  If I had an issue, it was the start of each half.  We need to do something to get the juices flowing earlier and maintain it the full game.

[49r]

As always, well done with the report card.  Can't argue with much, but there are a couple things that stand out to me.

 

1.  Rebounding, especially the offensive rebounding number, to me is a little misleading.  We missed an awful lot of shots, and that probably inflated that number some for us.  It would be much more impressive if we weren't shooting 37%.

 

2.  I think that the time for moral victories has passed, and I don't mean this as an indictment against this team or this coaching staff, in fact it is quite the opposite.  The expectations going into the season were to just play out the string, next year was the one we should be focusing on.  But, as the season has worn on, I see a team that has proven they can actually compete with the elite in this league (which is de facto the elite in the country), and we really should expect a win every time out.  So should our team.  Just playing hard and just showing signs of improvement should not be enough.  Expect anything less than a win, and the guys are cheating themselves, and we as fans are cheating ourselves as well.  I am pissed tonight, I'm sure coach is pissed, I have no doubt the team is pissed.  I want to see them take their frustrations out on Penn State next week.

 

Otherwise, pretty spot on.

[Buglem]

Good report card. Loved the fight in the team. I think Rivers is the most improved player on the roster over the course of this season. Put another 10-15 pounds on him and he will make another leap next year. Loved his aggressiveness in the second half.

[AuroranHusker]

As always, well done with the report card.  Can't argue with much, but there are a couple things that stand out to me.

 

1.  Rebounding, especially the offensive rebounding number, to me is a little misleading.  We missed an awful lot of shots, and that probably inflated that number some for us.  It would be much more impressive if we weren't shooting 37%.

 

2.  I think that the time for moral victories has passed, and I don't mean this as an indictment against this team or this coaching staff, in fact it is quite the opposite.  The expectations going into the season were to just play out the string, next year was the one we should be focusing on.  But, as the season has worn on, I see a team that has proven they can actually compete with the elite in this league (which is de facto the elite in the country), and we really should expect a win every time out.  So should our team.  Just playing hard and just showing signs of improvement should not be enough.  Expect anything less than a win, and the guys are cheating themselves, and we as fans are cheating ourselves as well.  I am pissed tonight, I'm sure coach is pissed, I have no doubt the team is pissed.  I want to see them take their frustrations out on Penn State next week.

 

Otherwise, pretty spot on.

 

Agreed, '9er

[HuskerBB]

Good report card.  I was really impressed with the effort we put in for most of the game tonight.  We stayed in a game where we were totally outmanned by working harder than OSU.  Unfortunately - at the times when they did decide to play defense with intensity we really struggled to run our offense and get open looks.  Of course, that is pretty much the story of our season - at least in the Big 10 games.

 

Was really pleased to see you give David Rivers the POG.  I thought that same thing but did not know if he would get the nod because others had bigger numbers.  Still I thought the 2nd half of this game was the best half David has played at NU.

[trickey]

The reoccurring problem of the season is the ALL TOO COMMON slow starts in the beginning of each half.

The rebounding totals were OSU 9 and NU 2 after about 5 minutes gone in the first half. We were about 9 points down...if you could take that stretch away... NU outscores them the rest of the game.

But they do not let you ignore the hole you dig yourself  to get out of.

If you are not ready to play...you PAY.

How does TM get these guys to come out in top form instead of needing time to slowly blossom...again?

[Nighthawk]

Why do we tend to have one guy go for a shot and then by the time the ball leaves his hand everyone else is always on their way down to the other end? Seems we might draw a few more fouls if we were in there scrapping for more shots around our hoop. Or can someone explain why our opponents get more shots at the line. Can't all be put on the official. No excuse for letting our opponents get to the line 28 times to our 5.

[HuskerFever]

Not much to say about the game other than we played pretty well considering our talent and the competition.

[AuroranHusker]

Good report card.  I was really impressed with the effort we put in for most of the game tonight.  We stayed in a game where we were totally outmanned by working harder than OSU.  Unfortunately - at the times when they did decide to play defense with intensity we really struggled to run our offense and get open looks.  Of course, that is pretty much the story of our season - at least in the Big 10 games.

 

Was really pleased to see you give David Rivers the POG.  I thought that same thing but did not know if he would get the nod because others had bigger numbers.  Still I thought the 2nd half of this game was the best half David has played at NU.

 

Especially considering Rivers didn't hardly play at all (7 min) in the first half.  Wish the great ship Almeida had not picked up that 3rd foul against lil' Craft in the 1st half, because his presence clearly affected the ballgame for NU's better.

[hhcmatt]

Dylan Talley cross over that knocked over OSU center Amir Williams

 

[49r]

Dylan Talley cross over that knocked over OSU center Amir Williams

 

 

This is epic.  I'd rank it up there with Caleb's alley oop dunk against Illinois as my favorite B1G moment!

[bkamler]

Why do we tend to have one guy go for a shot and then by the time the ball leaves his hand everyone else is always on their way down to the other end? Seems we might draw a few more fouls if we were in there scrapping for more shots around our hoop. Or can someone explain why our opponents get more shots at the line. Can't all be put on the official. No excuse for letting our opponents get to the line 28 times to our 5.

The first half I noticed the total lack of rebounders on offense when we shot other than when Almeada came in.

[bkamler]

Good report card.  I was really impressed with the effort we put in for most of the game tonight.  We stayed in a game where we were totally outmanned by working harder than OSU.  Unfortunately - at the times when they did decide to play defense with intensity we really struggled to run our offense and get open looks.  Of course, that is pretty much the story of our season - at least in the Big 10 games.

 

Was really pleased to see you give David Rivers the POG.  I thought that same thing but did not know if he would get the nod because others had bigger numbers.  Still I thought the 2nd half of this game was the best half David has played at NU.

 

Especially considering Rivers didn't hardly play at all (7 min) in the first half.  Wish the great ship Almeida had not picked up that 3rd foul against lil' Craft in the 1st half, because his presence clearly affected the ballgame for NU's better.

Two of Almeada's fouls were totally bogus. He simply stood his ground and got hammered by the offensive player and because he doesn't have any acting ability and doesn't flop, he always get two or so bogus fouls.

[Handy Johnson]

It was nice to see Benny Parker take it to the rack a few times. Where has that been all season? You won't get any calls unless you attack the rim, hence the giant foul disparity. Passing the ball around the perimeter until the clock winds down, so Dylan or Ray can jack a hurried three gets you what we saw. 

[Huskerpapa]

Dylan Talley cross over that knocked over OSU center Amir Williams

 

...but it would have been even better IF Dylan knocks down the completely open shot...

[kldm64]

It was nice to see Benny Parker take it to the rack a few times. Where has that been all season? You won't get any calls unless you attack the rim, hence the giant foul disparity. Passing the ball around the perimeter until the clock winds down, so Dylan or Ray can jack a hurried three gets you what we saw. 

 

I actually thought Parker had a pretty decent game.  He was way more aggressive on offense and didn't get beat as often on defense.  I'm still frustrated by the loss.  This team has had so many winnable games with just making a few more plays or hitting a few key shots down the stretch.