11/11/2012 - Southern Report Card

[hhcdave]

OFFENSE: B+

Nebraska was remarkably consistent shooting the basketball in this game - the Big Red connected on 50% from the field in the first half, and 53% in the second, for a total mark of 52% for the night.

Ray Gallegos and Dylan Talley helped start things off for NU early, and for the night, the Husker starting wingmen combined for 33 points on 14-23 shooting. That was nice to see - especially Gallegos hitting a couple of trey's.

Brandon Ubel got things going in the second half, and the Overland Park senior is our Player of the Game behind 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Two other things stuck out to me in this game.

1. It's going to be a LONG YEAR if NU doesn't find a serviceable backup point guard. Either Mike Peltz or Trevor Menke needs to step up, because the Huskers will need 10-15 minutes a night out of the reserve PG.

2. Andre Almeida looks as if he's regressed from two years ago. That's not a good sign, because two years ago, he was (at best) an average BCS big man. Let's hope its just early season cob webs from missing two years and he'll step it up - certainly not giving up on him yet.DEFENSE: B

Nebraska gave up 55 points to Southern, which is "good." The Huskers also held the Jags to 40% from the field, but I was a bit concerned we forced only 12 turnovers and had just 1 steal.

Also, Nebraska quit playing defense in the final few minutes of this game. Whether that was fatigue, lack of focus or just getting beat remains to be seen.

I was fairly impressed with NU defensively against Midland (for as much as you can against an NAIA opponent), and remain positive after tonight.

REBOUNDING: B+

Nebraska did a good job of (for the most part) keeping Southern off of the offensive glass, as the Big Red allowed just six offensive rebounds.

For the game, Nebraska out boarded Southern by eight (34 to 26). Big shout outs to Ubel for his 12 boards and Dylan Talley for 7! Even David Rivers pulled down 6.

Almeida - 2 boards in 19 minutes.

BALL HANDLING: B

12 turnovers? Good against this opponent, great in the Big 10.

6 assists? Need to get that up.

As I mentioned earlier, I am very concerned about the point guard position. I think Benny Parker will be solid, but he's a freshman and an undersized one at that, playing in a physical and tough league. There are nights he will surprise us and nights where he'll really struggle - and the fact that we have nobody behind him that has any semblance of "high ceiling capability" worries me, mightily.

COACHING: B+

Coach Miles gets his first win as NU's 27th head coach. He did a nice job of keeping his rotation tight, though honestly, its not like he has any more options.

I'm a bit surprised we didn't see more of Sergej Vucetic, who only logged one minute. Perhaps he's banged up a bit? He's one kid on this roster who does have the aforementioned "high ceiling capability" so it'll be interesting to watch that as the season goes on.

Otherwise, Miles had his team ready to play - they came out crisp and hot, especially offensively. As in the first game, they struggled a bit throughout stretches of the remaining of the contest, but all in all, its a solid win.

OVERALL GRADE: B

Nothing spectacular, but nothing particularly worrying, based on my expectations for this year (3 Big 10 wins and two games over .500 in the non-con).

We have a very difficult game on Thursday against Valpo, who is picked to win the Horizon League. Hope we have a nice crowd, because this truly is a "50-50" game at this point in time.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: BRANDON UBEL

2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS:

Brandon Ubel - 1

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[Huskerpapa]

I am trying to compare this year to last year. Especially once Jorge went down. Could we be better? Perhaps our first four of five are better, but we are severely lacking in depth...

[BjoeHusker]

I am trying to compare this year to last year. Especially once Jorge went down. Could we be better? Perhaps our first four of five are better, but we are severely lacking in depth...

Afraid not. We will struggle to win 10 games this season