01/30/2014 - Indiana Report Card

[hhcdave]

OFFENSE: B+

 

I give Nebraska a TON of credit for bouncing back in the second half. Let's compare for a second:

 

First half - season low 19 points on just 35% shooting, and only ONE free throw attempted (it was converted). And while we consider it a different category on these report cards, the "Ball Handling" (that's what she said) was pitiful. 11 turnovers completely let this one get away early and led to both of the banked three's that made the fans at "The Bank" quite disgusted.

 

Second half - 41 points on 52% from the field, and 13-18 from the line (74%). That's an additional SEVENTEEN free throws and yes, while 6-8 were foul-a-thon shots at the end, it was still a legitimate ten. That's a HUGE difference.

 

So what did NU do differently?

 

They started to get the ball to the middle of the defense more consistently and hit some three's to boost the crowd. Then, they attacked the basket off of that threat and the energy from the building.

 

Nebraska just looked mentally much more into it, also. You have to wonder if there was a "hangover" from the Biggs situation in the first 20 minutes.

 

Our Player of the Game (should we even do it anymore - he wins every night?!?) was Terran Petteway, who scored the softest 18 points you'll ever hear on 7-10 from the floor! And as always, they were when it counted, from the nice layup to cut an Indiana deficit from 4 to 2 (after NU had come back to tie) to the "dagger" three created off of dribble penetration in the final two minutes.

 

Petteway = STUD.

 

DEFENSE: A-

 

Nebraska's defense was consistently solid all night, outside of five minutes in the first half (after the banked three's).

 

You can't do this but heck, take those two horrible missed three's off the board, and IU doesn't even crack 50!

 

NU held the Hoosiers to 55 points on 45% shooting and helped force 19 turnovers.

 

The defensive intensity was AWESOME and obviously, the crowd helped a lot. Can you imagine if NU could have played even 50% that hard against PSU? They would have blown them out of the building.

 

For a second straight game, NU generated some offense off of its defense, as the seven steals were key in helping NU score 19 points off of turnovers!

 

The zone, once again, was great. I never thought I'd finally see an NU team who could play it competently.

 

REBOUNDING: D+

 

This was one of the few disappointing rebounding efforts of the season, as the Hoosiers out boarded NU by a wide margin (31-22 & 10-5).

 

No Husker had more than Leslee Smith's five boards and Indiana had 11 second chance points.

 

So again, take out the two banked three's AND a few offensive rebounds and well... Indiana aint crackin' 45.

 

BALL HANDLING: D+

 

The first half was just AWFUL - 11 turnovers, many unforced, and many completely embarrassing.

 

The second half was GREAT - 3 turnovers, an offense that actually flowed and 41 points on the board.

 

I'll talk more about this under "Coaching" but nice to see Nathan Hawkins both make a three AND run the point for five minutes. We "stole" some key minutes that way when Tai Webster was in foul trouble and if teams continue to completely play off of Benny Parker (which they will unless he can start hitting shots), we are going to need much more of Hawkins.

 

COACHING: B+

 

Coach Miles saw his team sleep walk through the first half and forget how to take care of the basketball. They also had a five minute stretch of bad defense off of bad offense.

 

In the second? The zone and defensive adjustments pay HUGE dividends for NU, leading to some easy baskets and getting the crowd involved.

 

NU all of a sudden looked alive on the offensive end and figured out the junk defenses the Hoosiers ran.

 

And perhaps the savviest move of this entire game looked stupid at the time it occurred but WORKED. And that was the aforementioned Nate Hawkins sighting.

 

When he first came in, I said "What the hell are you doing? Hawkins?"

 

Then I realized Coach Miles knew what I knew - that Benny Parker couldn't run the offense in this game the way IU was junking us when he was on the floor.

 

With Webster in foul trouble, Miles showed something we (and Indiana) have never seen - Hawkins running the point.

 

So earlier this year, when Hawkins looked completely lost on the floor, he was probably playing out of position (the 3/4) as many on here pointed out.

 

But tonight, he looked completely comfortable and natural in the 1/2 slots that he played. He hit a key three, ran the offense good enough and did a nice job at the top of the zone. It was a ballsy move that paid off. I'm sure Indiana didn't have him in the game plan or know a single thing about him, either.

 

This was a completely savvy decision by Miles that was a GREAT in game adjustment. To me, perhaps one of the biggest "feather in the hats" he has pulled this year.

 

One other thing to note about our coach - he is 10-2 in games decided by five points or less in the last two seasons.

 

Think about that - 10-2 in games decided by five or less.

 

Good coaches win close games.

 

OVERALL GRADE: B

 

As we so often see with young teams, it's a "tale of two halves." Look that term up in the dictionary and this game will show up.

 

To me, this might be the most impressive win of the season, just because of the fashion in which it was earned (overcoming a 16 point deficit - the second biggest Miles has overcome at NU, next to the 19 points at Iowa last year).

 

We are seeing before our eyes, NU improving each game and competitive in each game.

 

We are seeing a bonafide First Team All-Big 10 Caliber player in Petteway who (not to put the cart before the horse) might get good enough where "NBA early talk" could happen at the end of next season. We haven't had that talk in these parts since Bill Clinton was in office.

 

Make no mistake - WINNING THREE OF FOUR IS HUGE.

 

A. We are right back in the NIT hunt.

 

B. The local fans are PUMPED and full of MOMENTUM.

 

C. Recruits are noticing. Believe me.

 

One bold prediction - with no game until Wednesday, we have TWO official visits locked down (maybe THREE) with Miles and staff having momentum and plenty of time to recruit over the next few days.

 

PLAYER OF THE GAME: TERRAN PETTEWAY

 

2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS:

 

TERRAN PETTEWAY - 11

 

TAI WEBSTER - 2

 

WALTER PITCHFORD - 2

 

LESLEE SMITH - 2

 

SHAVON SHIELDS - 2

 

DEVERELL BIGGS - 1

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[HuskerFever]

REBOUNDING: D+

 

So much this. It's really frustrating watching our players immediately run back on defense the moment the ball goes up on the offensive boards. The worst part is that this is a recurring problem.

[atskooc]

Well done, sir!

[uneblinstu]

OFFENSE: B+

So what did NU do differently?

 

They started to get the ball to the middle of the defense more consistently and hit some three's to boost the crowd. Then, they attacked the basket off of that threat and the energy from the building.

 

REBOUNDING: D+

This was one of the few disappointing rebounding efforts of the season, as the Hoosiers out boarded NU by a wide margin (31-22 & 10-5).

 

No Husker had more than Leslee Smith's five boards and Indiana had 11 second chance points.

 

So again, take out the two banked three's AND a few offensive rebounds and well... Indiana aint crackin' 45.

 

Couple of things:

Offensively, the Huskers did attack the zone much better in the second half, but to start the half, Indiana opened up in man and didn't switch until after the first media time out. By that time, the Huskers had 17 points and cut the lead to 4, the crowd was into it and it was game on. If Indiana opens the half in the zone instead of man, which the Huskers showed to start the game they could handle, I think it could have been a different game. That was on Crean as much as anything, IMO.

 

In terms of rebounding, by my count, the Huskers won the second half rebounding battle 17-13 (they don't break down the final stats for rebounds by half, so my count may be a bit off). The margin was so wide because in the first half, NU did such a poor job vs. the Indiana zone they didn't take many high percentage shots and predictably didn't make many of those shots which created more rebounding opportunities than were necessary. Because of the fact that they too so many perimeter shots, they basically conceded every rebound to the Hoosiers because they were all standing around the line and watching. I think the burden of the rebounding margin should be spread to the offense as a whole because it was largely their failures there in the first half that created the gap in the first place. Once they started playing like they want to and switched to a zone of their own, they won the rebounding battle.

[tcp]

good card, Dave. hope we can find that big man we desperately need, although with Pitch showing some quick learning ability, we may survive not getting one for next year, especially if Les heals up.

 

this is great stuff. We're 2-1 against the Hoosiers since we joined! How cool is that?

[Huskerpapa]

Good card.  I did notice on more than one occasion that we were positioned to rebound and either the ball went off on a strange trajectory (kind of like the two bank shot 3-pointers) or Indiana jumped right over the top of us.  Not saying they fouled, but they did have pretty athletic bigs.

[Section_316]

We sprint back once the shot is up because we play a dribble drive perimeter offense so crashing from the 3 point line isn't a strategy Miles believes will help us. Also, our plan vs Indiana and many other B1G teams is to get back because he believes we can shut teams down, like we did last night, if we don't give up points in transition. Indianas game was transition and without they looked lost (see game!)

 

Defensive rebounding… I got nothing. I feel like in B1G play this has been much improved…. from the UMASS disaster, tonight we struggled again. 

[bigred4]

Who would the third official visit be?  I would assume the other two are Trey Dickerson and Deng Deng.

[Handy Johnson]

Probably talkin' completely outta my a** here, BUT could NU/Hoosiers, replace our old KU rivalry? As in, the one Big Time program we seem to go toe to toe with and win maybe more than we should? I sure hope so, and wild speculation is fun!

[kldm64]

Probably talkin' completely outta my a** here, BUT could NU/Hoosiers, replace our old KU rivalry? As in, the one Big Time program we seem to go toe to toe with and win maybe more than we should? I sure hope so, and wild speculation is fun!

 

I really doubt that KU ever considered Nebraska as a rivalry game and guessing IU won't ever either.

[Red Rum]

 

 

C. Recruits are noticing. Believe me.

 

 

 

I don't have the exact quote but I did see Hammond tweet something about now people can stop wondering why he chose Nebraska.

 

I hope more guys saw that game.

[tcp]

Probably talkin' completely outta my a** here, BUT could NU/Hoosiers, replace our old KU rivalry? As in, the one Big Time program we seem to go toe to toe with and win maybe more than we should? I sure hope so, and wild speculation is fun!

 

Ask PSU about how hard it is to get rivalries in the conference. They've been in it for 20 years and still no one treats them as a rival. Not even in football. Rivalries take antagonism over time. Bad blood. Our best bet is to get a team where we just have nasty games with a few times in a row. Other than that, we have to play for high stakes over time. Our best bet as a rival is PSU; the Red-headed Stepchild Jug or something.

[throwback]

I really doubt that KU ever considered Nebraska as a rivalry game and guessing IU won't ever either.

 

Yeah they have Purdue already and whomever they're typically battling for the top of the league, not to mention they probably consider Kentucky and Notre Dame rivals as well.

 

I don't mind having a one-sided rivalry though ... especially when we've won 2 of the last 3.  What I'd really love is to start stealing some really nice players out of Indiana like we used to do in the old, old, old days.

[hhcmatt]

 

 

 

C. Recruits are noticing. Believe me.

 

 

 

I don't have the exact quote but I did see Hammond tweet something about now people can stop wondering why he chose Nebraska.

 

I hope more guys saw that game.

 

 

[49r]

[colhusker]

I would argue that ball handling (that's what she's still saying) should be a higher grade only because of the improvement in the second half.  I would say a big fat F in the first half.

 

As for Hawkins, I would much rather have him cut his teeth so to speak than give Peltz the minutes given he doesn't even look to score.

[cozrulz]

Probably talkin' completely outta my a** here, BUT could NU/Hoosiers, replace our old KU rivalry? As in, the one Big Time program we seem to go toe to toe with and win maybe more than we should? I sure hope so, and wild speculation is fun!

 

Personally Minnesota seems like more of a rival.  Probably because we have a history with them even before the Big 10 days.

[hhcmatt]

 

Probably talkin' completely outta my a** here, BUT could NU/Hoosiers, replace our old KU rivalry? As in, the one Big Time program we seem to go toe to toe with and win maybe more than we should? I sure hope so, and wild speculation is fun!

 

Personally Minnesota seems like more of a rival.  Probably because we have a history with them even before the Big 10 days.

 

 

I could....Gopher that.

 

[49r]

F IOWA

 

ALL DAY EVERY DAY AND TWICE ON SUNDAYS

 

IOWA

 

I HATE THEM

 

THIS IS THE RIVAL

[a0t0w0]

[Handy Johnson]

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I would venture a guess from '75 to '05 KU had a losing record in Lincoln or damn close to it. Staunch KU supporters wouldn't view us like MIZZOU, but even they would admit it wasn't just any old game. 

[49r]

All-time we have a 71-170 record against Kansas.

 

17-14 at home between 1975 and 2005.

 

====================================

 

14-6 at home in the 70's and 80's.  (7-3 in both decades)

 

5-5 in the 90's

 

1-9 in the 00's

[TomEadesSucks]

I agree with 49r. If we only beat one team all season, that team better be Creighton. Then if we beat a second team, it should be Iowa.

[uneblinstu]

I agree with 49r. If we only beat one team all season, that team better be Creighton. Then if we beat a second team, it should be Iowa.

lol

[AuroranHusker]

Right now, the BEST team for NU to beat is MICHIGAN!!