uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 14; ed 17 - vs. Illinois

[uneblinstu]

Pregame:

• How miserable is this going to be?

 

First half:

• Red hot start! Offense looked great.
• I liked taking it right at Kofi. Thought at least one of them could have gotten a foul called.
• NU seemed to really have a good game plan early. And it worked. Then in the second segment really seemed to get away from it.
• Illinois weathered the early NU flurry.
• NU responds to take a halftime lead! Frankly, that was a rather stunning response.
• Tominaga leading the NU charge. His hustle play to steal the ball was a pretty big momentum turner. 
• Ed and his blue shoes made a couple nice plays, too.

 

Second half:

• Some weird stuff happened. They almost won. Whatever. 

[HuskerFever]

[huskerbill85]

I'm broken to the point I don't even care about what margin we lose by or how many shots we make. It doesn't take much effort to throw your ass into a guy going for a rebound and getting said rebound. Just doing said thing will go along way. 

[hskr4life]

--Woo Hoo-- more "they're getting better" comments from announcers.  

 

-- Bryce with 19, some athletic plays... but... he's not very efficient (6-15 from the floor) and he loses his guy way to much on D.

 

-- Verge did Verge things that really hurt us tonight... at the most inopportune times too.

 

-- One play really sticks out in my mind is the heat check three from Wilcher.  If he would have just pulled it out....

 

-- Moral victories just aren't going to cut it.  The place will remain empty until we can start winning a few.  May get a decent crowd next Monday because of the holiday.

[HuskerFever]

1 minute ago, huskerbill85 said:

I'm broken to the point I don't even care about what margin we lose by or how many shots we make. It doesn't take much effort to throw your ass into a guy going for a rebound and getting said rebound. Just doing said thing will go along way. 

 

Yeah, I resisted being a little crass in the game thread on something. But this sentiment aligns with some of me thoughts. It's nice we kept it close in this game. But if we can't string some things together in conference play and play like this in at least 50% of our conference games, it doesn't matter how close we got in this one (or the OSU game).

[thrasher31]

I'm leaving now. Some good that got compounded in the final minutes. 

 

One thing continues to stand out. Trey needs to come back. He'll be a much better option down the stretch. Lots more I'll say when I get home. 

Edited January 12, 2022 by thrasher31

[HuskerFever]

1 minute ago, hskr4life said:

--Woo Hoo-- more "they're getting better" comments from announcers.  

 

Only thing I can say on this.... What else do they have to say?

 

Either they don't watch any Nebraska basketball games and don't have a clue (why should they?) or they're finding any reason to pump up the opponent that this was a good victory for them.

[huskerbill85]

Just now, HuskerFever said:

 

Only thing I can say on this.... What else do they have to say?

 

Either they don't watch any Nebraska basketball games and don't have a clue (why should they?) or they're finding any reason to pump up the opponent that this was a good victory for them.

We got a sell out streak they could talk about or maybe how we're top 25 in attendance? Kidding of course I agree with you. At the end of the day their job is to get people to tune in. 

[hskr4life]

Just now, HuskerFever said:

 

Only thing I can say on this.... What else do they have to say?

 

Either they don't watch any Nebraska basketball games and don't have a clue (why should they?) or they're finding any reason to pump up the opponent that this was a good victory for them.

 

No your right-- there isn't much they can say.  While it's frustrating for a fan to hear, we aren't and haven't given announcers much to say about us since a few of Miles teams.

[HuskerFever]

Just now, hskr4life said:

 

No your right-- there isn't much they can say.  While it's frustrating for a fan to hear, we aren't and haven't given announcers much to say about us since a few of Miles teams.

 

I've said it in the game thread, but what really frustrates me, legitimately, is seeing another game matchup tonight between #4 Auburn and #24 Alabama. Both schools were a complete joke in basketball within this last decade. We started putting real money into our basketball program before these other SEC schools did. Meanwhile they're ranked, have great recruiting classes, see postseason results, and can do it with less money than we're spending for laughable results.

[Norm Peterson]

I'm not pissed they lost to Illinois at home. I'm pissed that, if they'd played like a team and given the kind of effort all season they did in the first 30 minutes of this game, we'd maybe be 11-6 instead of 6-11.

 

That's what pisses me off.

[throwback]

Kofi had great numbers, but Walker and Andre played their asses off against him and did better than I expected, especially when we left them 1-on-1 a lot of the game. Felt like we tried doubling more in the final 10 minutes, and the coaches will wish they hadn't when they go back and watch the film. 

 

Actually, Illinois probably caught a break when Kofi got his 4th foul with a few minutes left and he had to go to the bench. Kofi was gassed, but so was Walker. Illinois gets a fresh post player out there and he's able to make a few huge plays to end it.

 

Of course our patented, count-on-it-happening-every-game 19-2 stretch in the first half with no FG for what seemed like a million minutes killed us. We showed more fortitude to battle back from that than I expected. But at this point, that doesn't mean much when we put up yet another L.

 

Just getting numb to it, I guess.

 

[brfrad]

31 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

 

I've said it in the game thread, but what really frustrates me, legitimately, is seeing another game matchup tonight between #4 Auburn and #24 Alabama. Both schools were a complete joke in basketball within this last decade. We started putting real money into our basketball program before these other SEC schools did. Meanwhile they're ranked, have great recruiting classes, see postseason results, and can do it with less money than we're spending for laughable results.

Auburn did sell their soul to the devil, and turned a blind eye to Bruce Pearl.  

[throwback]

1 minute ago, brfrad said:

Auburn did sell their soul to the devil, and turned a blind eye to Bruce Pearl.  

We could try going that route too, but I'm not sure even the devil would want Nebrasketball's soul at this point.

[HuskerFever]

3 minutes ago, brfrad said:

Auburn did sell their soul to the devil, and turned a blind eye to Bruce Pearl.  

 

And. It. Worked.

 

[brfrad]

Here's the biggest difference between us and all other Big 10 teams.  Almost all Big 10 teams have a key contributor who played during the Miles' era.  We have 2 players (Walker and Jace Piatkowski both redshirted) from Hoiberg's first year.  You can't turn the roster over every year, and expect to win.

[Ron Mexico]

 

[thrasher31]

So, overall not a bad effort. Thought they played good, just kept shooting themselves in the foot. 

 

-verge played ok. Got downhill and attacked the rim, but 5 turnovers and every possession in the last 3 minutes was him either scoring, passing to a bucket or turning the ball over other than a Bryce dunk. 3:01 left Payne made a dunk and verge had a turnover (believe this was the kick-out to Mayen in the corner). It also didn't look like what should've been designed. Having Trey back will give them another option to close games at the point with, because that was bad. 

-bryce was overall solid again today. Had some obvious dunks but I loved how he got downhill. When he attacks the basket, good things happen. Shooting 6-15 isn't the best, but still puts him at 40% and only shot 2 3 pointers. 

-Andre and Walker will both need a long nights sleep after tonight. Walker did well last year against Kofi so I expected him to do well, but Andre played tough. Got buried a few times and you could tell Kofi was trying to embarrass him, but he fought. About all I could've asked for

 

 

All in all, good performance but not forcing turnovers on one of the more turnover prone teams AND getting outrebounded is going to kill you. We gave it away 11 vs their 9(to be fair, we average 8 spg, but only forced 4 steals tonight). I haven't said it in here yet, but as long as this team forces over 8 turnovers a game it helps compensate for being outrebounded every night. Getting out rebounded is going to happen, but forcing turnovers and taking care of the ball helps mitigate that at times. Losing both of those is not going to help you win. 

 

Purdue on Friday. Not expecting much. Their PG play is shaky, but they have 3 of the best individual players in the big ten. 

[tcp]

this is pointless. if they're close, they choke spectacularly. if they're not close, they've quit. those are the two gears this team hasand no other. i've never seen a team at NU with less of a will to win than this one. 

[HuskerFever]

1 minute ago, tcp said:

this is pointless. if they're close, they choke spectacularly. if they're not close, they've quit. those are the two gears this team hasand no other. i've never seen a team at NU with less of a will to win than this one. 

 

I think you're in the wrong thread. This might help:

 

 

"What's that? You mean to say you're talking about the basketball team? Ahhh.... same room to the left. Just enter into the door with the sign "Husker Support Group".

[HuskerFever]

To take a step back for a minute. For what it's worth... 50% of our conference games so far, we've actually played fairly competitively. Ohio State, Michigan State, and Illinois.

 

Unfortunately, Indiana and I particular Michigan and Rutgers were absolute embarrassments.

[thrasher31]

1 minute ago, HuskerFever said:

To take a step back for a minute. For what it's worth... 50% of our conference games so far, we've actually played fairly competitively. Ohio State, Michigan State, and Illinois.

 

Unfortunately, Indiana and I particular Michigan and Rutgers were absolute embarrassments.

This is the reason I'm hopeful they can get some wins in track, especially in February once the schedule gets "easier" (PSU, NW twice, Minnesota, Maryland). Nothing is guaranteed though with nebrasketball

[brfrad]

20 minutes ago, tcp said:

this is pointless. if they're close, they choke spectacularly. if they're not close, they've quit. those are the two gears this team hasand no other. i've never seen a team at NU with less of a will to win than this one. 

I think they want to win.  The problem is none of them have been on a Power 6 team that has made the NCAA tournament except Walker.

 

This 2nd half of the season has to be learning to win, and then convincing players to stay.  My kool-aid glasses say we have 7 games where we have around a 50 % chance to win, especially if we play with the same effort we have given in the OSU, MSU, and Illinois games.  We have to find a way to get to double digit wins and learn how to win these games.  

Edited January 12, 2022 by brfrad

[brfrad]

7 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

To take a step back for a minute. For what it's worth... 50% of our conference games so far, we've actually played fairly competitively. Ohio State, Michigan State, and Illinois.

 

Unfortunately, Indiana and I particular Michigan and Rutgers were absolute embarrassments.

I would maybe include Indiana in the above category.  On the road, we were within 7 with 6 minutes to go.

[HuskerFever]

3 minutes ago, brfrad said:

I think they want to win.  The problem is none of them have been on a Power 6 team that has made the NCAA tournament except Walker.

 

Is this still accurate for "any postseason experience"?