uneblinstu's post gamechatter: Ed 6, vol 1 - Nebraska Kearney (Exh.)

[uneblinstu]

There's really not much we can learn from today's game.  I've been burned by reading into these game too much before...that said, I'm still going to make some observations.

 

- Yeah, the Arena's sweet.  Still would have liked it to have been a little more intimate, but overall, I can't complain.  Hard to believe Nebrasketball's got a building like this.

- The competition wasn't much, but I thought Webster, Pitchford and Petteway were as advertised.  We'll get a better idea on Friday how they'll fit in down the road.

- Fuller looked like he was fighting through some nerves.  Didn't look very good.  I think he'll be fine, but he didn't play that well, especially in the first half.

- I though Webster looked very comfortable.  Like the court is his happy place. 

- Smith has a B1G body, will need to learn how to use it a bit, but I think he's going to be pretty solid.  

- Pitchford sure likes to shoot, doesn't he?

https://twitter.com/CoachMiles/status/397546165538795520

- I don't think they did that. Looked a little complacent coming out of the break.  

- Shields looked great.  Thought he looked quick and decisive. He was the best player on the court.  Thought I saw him getting some work done on his ankle, hope it's not too serious.  Anybody heard anything?

- Parker, I thought looked fine. Not spectacular, had one slopppy turnover he almost globe-trottered out of. 

- I know Rivers played, but I hardly noticed him...

- Miles has mentioned before that they'd struggled to hold onto the ball.  Thought they did a pretty good job of that, I think they only had seven or eight.  Again, we'll know more about that when they get against a team that can match up athletically.

- Good to see Peltz back out there.  Not sure how much he'll play when things get going, but good to see him back.

- Wouldn't read too much into the student section. Monday night, exhibition game.  They'll be out in full force on Friday, I'm sure.

 

All-in-all, no complaints here.  Just need to get Gallegos and Hawking healthy and we should be all set.  See ya on Friday!

[Norm Peterson]

By and large, you make some good points, but I'm not sure I totally agree.  I think ... (more coming.)

[FredsSlacks]

more coming...

I think that's accurate considering the season has not technically started yet.

[Norm Peterson]

Alright, already, uneblinstu.  Quit texting your bookie and post some thoughts.

 

OK, I'll do mine.

 

4 starters in double figures scoring and the fifth had 9 points on 3 of ___ shooting from beyond the arc.  That's good to see.

 

The tallest guy who plays real minutes for us has long arms and crazy ups.  But not only has he no points in the paint, but he also has no attempts in the paint.  That's got to change, IMO.

 

Rumors of the demise of Leslee Smith's knees were, I think, greatly exaggerated.

 

Tai is a darn good player but he's not quite as good as Fran Fraschilla thinks.  Still, deserves his starting job and will just get better and better as he gets more experience and figures out what kinds of passes he can't make.

 

Yeah, we should have won this one going away.  And we did.  What was the final score last year?  We didn't hit 60 as I recall.  Maybe 58?  We were just short of Runzas, whatever it was.

 

Parker looks like he's matured.  Looks like a better player than the kid who didn't see a lot of action during conference play last year.  Solid backup to Tai.

 

I still think this team is going to surprise some people.  I think we'll be better than we're picked.

[Huskerpapa]

Hey Norm...I yelled at you as you walked in to the game tonight...you ignored me.  To bad, so sad!

 

- I expected more from Kearney...we can't be that much better - can we?

- I liked what I saw tonight...we have a long, long way to go, but I liked what I saw tonight.

- The PBA is a special place...but what the heck was the smoke all about?

- I was kind of surprised by Walter.  He really is a perimeter player.  I did not see one shot from him in the paint.

- Mr. Webster met my expectations.  I assume he was nervous...yet you can see that he is going to be a good one.

- Shavon...I really like that kid.

- Fuller looks a bit slow and overmatched at this level.  Gotta be patient with him.

- Smith...man, I was impressed by him.  If his legs can stay healthy, we got a good one.

- Petteway showed spurts of excellence, he is going to really help, if he can stay on the floor.

- Rivers is bigger.

- Benny will help us this year if he stays healthy. 

- Serj is well, Serj.

 

I am sure there is much more that I will think of, but that is a starting glance.

[Norm Peterson]

Starters:  

 

Webster, Petteway, Shields, Smith, Pitchford.

 

Shields is too smart and mature of a kid to have a sophomore slump.  He didn't try to force things.  He wasn't getting shots early and wasn't trying to find them.  He let the game come to him and got his stats playing his game.  Great dunk driving along the baseline.  Showed some explosiveness off the dribble we didn't see last year.  Kid will probably be our best player this year.

 

Petteway was solid.  Not great from the FT line, but solid all the way around.  He can get to the paint and can score in a variety of ways when he gets there.  Not a terrific outside shooter but he made at least one of his threes.  More of a driver, though.

 

Webster has good ups.  He anticipates real well.  Had two nice steals by stepping into the passing lanes like Cookie Belcher used to do.  Reminds me a lot of Cookie, actually.  Love the way he pushes the ball up the floor.  Both of the PGs push the ball really well.  

 

Pitchford is a surprisingly accurate long-range bomber.  It would be nice to see him post up and try to get some points in the paint, though.  With his length, quickness and leaping ability, not to mention his shooting touch, he ought to be able to score inside.  I don't think he even attempted an inside shot tonight.  Am I wrong on that?  Got beat inside on defense a couple times though.  That wasn't good to see.  But he won the tip!  

 

Smith plays with his back to the basket pretty well.  He's also strong on the boards.  And he goes after it.  I like his game.  He's an upgrade, IMO, over the last juco big we had.

 

I think we'll miss Ubel's interior defense more than we might have thought.  Can Pitchford and Smith offset that on the other end?  Perhaps.  We'll have to see.  But interior D has to get much better.

 

When they settle into a rotation, it'll be interesting to see who gets the short end of the stick.  We had some very effective lineups when we went small and had athletic 6'7" guys all over the floor.  Granted, this was UNK.  But there's a place on this roster for the 6'7" athlete.  Right now, when Gallegos is healthy, he's obviously on the floor a lot.  Does Biggs get minutes over Benny?  I'm comfortable with the Benny Parker I saw tonight.  Right now, if I had to pick a top 8-9, I'd say Webster, Gallegos, Petteway, Shields, Smith, Pitchford, Parker, Rivers and maybe Biggs, depending.  

 

For the most part, this was not Fuller's night.  I still think he's a good player, a better player than what we saw tonight.  Rosenthal's cryptic tweet about him redshirting might have been based on more than just supposition.  The game hasn't quite slowed down for him.  I think Tai is ahead of him on the learning curve.  And we didn't get to see Hawkins at all tonight, so who knows where he is.

 

The athleticism has taken an amazing leap forward from last year to this one.  I think we have more talented players.  Can we put it all together?  I think Miles is known for getting his guys on the same page.  I'm looking forward to seeing this season develop.

[49r]

 

- Shavon...I really like that kid.

 

 

Yep.

[Norm Peterson]

Most promising thing to take away from tonight's game?

 

Five players in double figures.  Four starters in double figures and a fifth with 9 points.  And they got there with more than 13 minutes to play.

 

Really balance scoring.  We have a lot of guys who can score in a lot of ways.  

 

Miles has hinted, like in his post-game tonight, that he's worried about whether we'll be able to score.  I'm less worried.  You have a couple of guys who can drive.  You have at least one who seems to be able to get points in the paint with his back to the basket.  You have a couple of guys who can shoot it from deep.  And we didn't even have Ray Gallegos out there.

 

So, we can get it done in a variety of way.  That's good to see.

[Norm Peterson]

 

 

- Shavon...I really like that kid.

 

 

Yep.

 

Did you make it?

[hhcmatt]

Arena was half full and a little dead.  Guessing there might be a bit more energy on Friday.

Speaking of the arena...it was nice being able to see statistics and be able to understand what the announcers are saying.

Not sure about the smoke....I guess the same thing was done before the Bon Jovi concert so it must be some sort of stadium thing

 

 

Kearney was not a good team.

Shavon had a great game.  I like that guy!

Tai is going to be special though expect him to be inconsistent like all freshmen

Echo the statement about Pitchford...he played and defended like a 6'10" shooting guard.

Smith looks pretty smooth in the post but not a whole lot of ups in his game. Hope he can handle the other team's big when they have them (Kearney really didn't)

Pettaway is always moving...I think he'll see a lot of minutes this year.

Benny looked pretty agressive out there...that was nice to see.

Rivers, like Benny, is probably going to be a matchup/try something different player.  It's nice to have depth.

Fuller scored about the ugliest 10 points I've ever seen....he didn't look like he could hit the broad side of a barn tonight though he did do some little things

 

 

Miles stated on the post game that he's very concerned about the refs...that if a guy just lowers his shoulder it will be a foul.  Though Biggs could have drawn 20 fouls this game.  This makes me suspect we'll see Biggs quite a bit when the refs are keeping things tight.

 

One scary feeling is that a competent inside player will completely destroy us.

Benny Parker had one block compared to Pitchford and Smith's 0.

 

Finally, we do look a ton better than last year at this point.

However, we still have a long way to go.  Should be a fun journey at the very least.

[HB]

 

 

- Shavon...I really like that kid.

 

 

Yep.

 

 

I guess I'll have to join the man crush.  He is our best player.

 

Fuller=not ready for prime time.  Wish Hawkins was healthy, as  it will be hard to redshirt both of them.  Hawkins wearing a boot tonight.

[hhcmatt]

Webster has good ups.  He anticipates real well.  Had two nice steals by stepping into the passing lanes like Cookie Belcher used to do.  Reminds me a lot of Cookie, actually.  Love the way he pushes the ball up the floor.  Both of the PGs push the ball really well.  

 

Agree.  I referred to him as "New Zealand Cookie Belcher" at one point tonight.

His length will see him getting his hands on passes all year.

[hugh42]

Does Biggs get minutes over Benny?  I'm comfortable with the Benny Parker I saw tonight.  Right now, if I had to pick a top 8-9, I'd say Webster, Gallegos, Petteway, Shields, Smith, Pitchford, Parker, Rivers and maybe Biggs, depending.  

 

 

Miles had an interesting comment on the postgame show.  Paraphrasing here, but it was something like "Deverell would have went to the line 20 times tonight."

 

Miles had talked about playing Webster and Biggs together on his TV show and talked about they had a good battle going on at the point (again, paraphrasing).  I would think that Biggs will see much more time than Parker.  JMO.

[FredsSlacks]

didn't watch or listen to the game. sounds like everyone did good but fuller. Where exactly did he struggle? If it was just shooting, then i'm not really worried. everyone has off nights.

[hhcmatt]

didn't watch or listen to the game. sounds like everyone did good but fuller. Where exactly did he struggle?

 

His shot looked completely awful.  I think he airballed a 3 and also hit a shot off the side of the backboard.  Went 2-10 from the field.

 

He does stuff away from the ball though..led the team with 6 rebounds and didn't turn the ball over.

[hhcmatt]

Notes from Huskers.com

 

 

Huskers Top Lopers, 91-60 in Exhibition Opener
Sophomore Shavon Shields led a balanced attack, as the Nebraska basketball team opened Pinnacle Bank Arena with a 91-60 win over Nebraska-Kearney Monday evening.

Shields was perfect from the floor against the Lopers, scoring 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field to lead five Huskers in double figures, as Nebraska tuned up for Friday’s season-opener against Florida Gulf Coast.

He has 12 of his 17 points in the first half, as the Huskers raced out to a 44-17 lead and led by as many as 35 in the second half.  Shields and newcomer Terran Petteway helped put the game out of reach early, combining for 10  of NU’s points in a 16-0 run that 13-7 lead into a 22-point advantage just 11 minutes into the contest.

The Huskers shot 56.7 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while holding UNK to just 24 percent in the half, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range. On the night, Nebraska shot 50.8 percent, while the 91 points were the most in a Husker exhibition game since 2002. With the win, Nebraska improved to 13-0 all-time against in-state teams in exhibition play.

Petteway, a sophomore transfer from Texas Tech, finished with 10 points in just 17 minutes of action, as four newcomers joined Shields in double figures against UNK. Freshman guard Tai Webster had 12 points, three assists and five rebounds, while junior college transfer Lesleee Smith added 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, five rebounds and three steals. Freshman Nick Fuller was the fifth Husker in double figures, as he came off the bench to add 10 points, including 6-of-8 shooting from the foul line. In all, 12 of the 13 players who saw action broke into the scoring column on Monday.

Nebraska-Kearney was led by Tyler Shields, who finished with a game-high 18 points and six rebounds, while Connor Beranek added 14 points and five rebounds.

 Nebraska opens Season One of Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday, Nov. 8 with Game One presented by Ameritas, as the Huskers will host NCAA Sweet 16 qualifier Florida Gulf Coast. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised by BTN and also broadcast by the Husker Sports Radio Network.

Nebraska Coach Tim Miles
On the game
“Well, first of all, I’m more than happy that [the University of Nebraska-Kearney] was here. Watching Coach Kropp and Coach Lofton and those guys, I remember when I was a Division 2 coach at Southwest State in Wayne, Neb., with Greg McDermott and Wayne State hosting the regional, watching them compete and win and play so well, thinking to myself “We have to build our team the way those guys do it. Tough minded guys that know how to play. That’s the only way we’re gonna be successful in Division II.” Three years later, we were in the Elite Eight with a pretty tough-minded group.  I admire those guys. [Kearney]’s not where they used to be, of course. But the significance of that game meant more to me to start with. We have a lot of work to do. We took a lot of quick outside shots. We didn’t do some of the things we’ve practiced hard and well that we’re going to need to do better against Division I competition. I thought our defense rotations were a little weak. I thought we turned the ball over unnecessarily too often.”

On freshman guard Tai Webster
“I thought he got better as he got the nerves out.  We wanted to play that whole first group about six or seven straight minutes to start the second half to wind them a little bit, get them a little tired and get to a point in the game where we can just play the rest of the guys. I thought he was really good in that whole eight-minute run or whatever he had. He might have had more than that. But I saw him get more comfortable. He’s a true freshman. It’s just going to take some time for him. He probably needs to take more than five shots, in a way. But we didn’t do much to get him more than five shots, either. We had a couple of other guys out there who were eager to get their shots before the guy actually passing the ball was going to take his.”

On the team’s chemistry
“I think the guys like each other. They all want the same thing. We get a little high strung. I mean, we get a little hoppy, but they care. The care factor’s there. They want to do well. They want to win. How we figure that out is the important part. We figure out how to win together, playing for each other. It just takes time. These are guys that are ambitious, high-energy guys. It’s going to take time. We’re not going to be as good as we want to be against Florida Gulf Coast. We’re just going to get a little better from this and then keep getting a little bit better from Western Illinois. We’re going to have a lot of tough games early. “

On Ray Gallegos
“We’ll take a look at his situation tomorrow. He could have played if we really wanted him to.”

Sophomore Forward Shavon Shields
On the game
I think we did a pretty good job.  As coach said, we probably should have got on the offense boards and defensive boards better in the first half. I think we did a better job of coming back in the second half and doing better. And then just shot selection and things like that. I think we need to work it around the offense a little more but over all I think it was a good first game in front of a crowd with all of the new guys together.

On shot selection
I don’t think it’s that hard. I don’t know how many assists we had on our field goals, or anything like that, but overall I think that’s something we need to get better at. Whether it is practice or whether it’s this game I think it is something we need to get better at.

On the differences in officiating
It is going to be almost impossible to take a charge this year with the new rule they implemented.   Also, on ball defense, it’s an adjustment we just have to make. I think we did a decent job at it.  We brought in refs for practice and we’ve been getting called a lot for that. I think we did a better job than we have in practice, but it’s definitely different.

On communication with the refs
When we went up for captains to go to the middle he kind of explained how they were going to call it on the ball and all of the new rules, so we kind of had an idea and I went and told everybody what was going on. They did a good job of voicing that.

Freshman Guard Tai Webster
On his game
I don’t think I had a good start, but I got a little more into the flow of the game in the second half.  The first half I made too many mistakes both offensively and defensively, but as the game went on I think I got more into it.

On emotions during the game
I wouldn’t say I was nervous.  I was more excited to be out there.  It was a new experience being in front of a college crowd at my first college game.  

On playing in the arena
This is amazing.  I’ve never played in a gym quite this big and the fans are just amazing as well.  It’s an enjoyable experience for me.  

On what he has been doing well in practices and games
I think I’m doing a good job at creating for my teammates.  I should work on scoring a little more, but I think I’m doing a good job at creating for my teammates at the moment.

Nebraska-Kearney Head Coach Tom Kropp Postgame Quotes

Opening Statement 

"I wish we would have been able to give them (Nebraska) a better game, first half they jumped up to such a big lead that it was obviously over at halftime. I guess I am disappointed that--as well as they treated us, giving us this opportunity--we were not able to come down and make it a little bit more worth their while."

 

On what UNK can take from this game 

"The big thing is--we came out really soft for the first half. I don't want to say we were intimidated, but we kinda had the deer in the headlights look. We have 10 new players--several of them are freshmen. If you look at the stat sheet from the first half, we came out with the idea that for us to have success, for us to have any chance, we had to hit home runs. It showed up in the three-point shooting, I believe we were 1-11 at half. It showed up in the turnovers. I believe we turned the ball over nine times in the first half, but they were unforced turnovers. They were turnovers where we were just jittery with the ball, and looked scared. The thing we have to do is-- in sports people that are hard-nosed and tough minded and mentally tough, they are the ones that are going to win. No question the University of Nebraska at Lincoln was much better on that end than we were. I am very happy for them and certainly wish them luck. I like their mental attitude--the way they play."

 

On having a lot of new guys on the team

"You know, last year we had a disaster for a team. We had very selfish players, and we just never got any better. From day one to the end of the season, we had kids that didn't work hard and that were very selfish kids. They are no longer with our program. We really like our kids though. We struggled here for the past five or six years, when we had success here we had Nebraska kids that were hard-nosed and really unselfish kids. We have gone back to that, 11 of the 15 kids on our roster are Nebraska kids. We think this is a team that will get better, because they work hard and have good attitudes."

 

On what this team does better than last year’s team

"At this point, if I had to pick a positive, we have more depth than this year. We played nine kids with quite a few minutes and we would like to do that. We hope that out of those nine kids, two or three of them will really come on, obviously you want all of them to come on, but two or three of them would make a big jump. We have a couple of players that are injured that will contribute."

 

[Silverbacked1]

The most important thing about tonight was....

FREE RUNZAS

[HuskerBB]

Game was a blowout from the beginning which makes it even harder to learn much from tonight.  I liked what our starters did for the most part.  Remains to be seen how well we can defend against bigger and quicker opponents.   I am sure we will play with more intensity in close games that mean something.   As others have said Fuller really struggled tonight.  Maybe just first college game jitters.

 

I expected more of a crowd tonight.  Wasn't bad for a normal exhibition game - but thought the first game in the new arena would bring more people.   Students numbers were the most disappointing - but particularly because the ones who were there all sat on the side.  If they want to have an impact on the game they need to get in the seats on the end.  Hopefully those end seats will be full on Friday.

 

I am not a fan at all of the arena concession arrangement.  A long way to get to them from my seats - but the real issue is not having a standard selection.   Apparently can only get Val's from the Val's stand - and I don't even know where that one is - and NO RUNZA's!!! How can you go to a Nebraka sporting event and not be able to get a Runza???.   In the open area on the north side they have some meat cutting station where I can get a "Cuban Panini" for $10???  I don't think so - give me a Runza anyday.  Seriously they just need to let kids walk up and down the aisles with Runza's and Val's pizza during the games or even just at timeouts.  That would kick the crap out of the other concesson options.

[HuskerCager]

I am really going to be interested to see if they report actual attendance.  I sure hope they do, schools are doing that less and less now.

[Huskerpapa]

Fuller knows the game.  He oftentimes is in the right place at the right time.  He looked a bit slow.  His shot was completely off.  I think he can be a good player...perhaps we will see exponential growth as the season progresses.  My son commented that he looked a bit like Piakowski tonight...however, more like Troy Piakowski...

 

Hate to be to tough on him though, it was his first time out...

[GATA]

Didn't see the game at all, but looking at Fuller's high school youtube clips, my biggest concern was his lack of athleticism. Hopefully as he matures he'll gain a little there or can make up for it with craftiness.

[uneblinstu]

It's interesting about Fuller, because despite his poor night from the field, he still found a way to score points.  He got to the line 8 times, making six of them.  That bodes well.  He'll play better as he gets more experience.

[uneblinstu]

Also, Smith's two steals out on the perimeter were a little surprising.  Didn't expect to see that.

[FredsSlacks]

It's interesting about Fuller, because despite his poor night from the field, he still found a way to score points.  He got to the line 8 times, making six of them.  That bodes well.  He'll play better as he gets more experience.

it is a little funny that people are slightly bashing an 18 year old after having 10 points and 6 rebounds in his first game.

 

I guess it was UNK though and of course i didn't see the game.

[uneblinstu]

I wouldn't call it bashing.  The thing he's known for, he didn't do well.  That's just fact.  But so is that he did a bunch of other things well.