uneblinstu's Post Game Chatter: ed 7, vol 17 - Wisconsin

[uneblinstu]

- At times, this looked like an NCAA team. I thought they played pretty well in the first half and they still were down by 10. Wisconsin is just good.

- The difference in this one was that Wisconsin can put 5 guys you have to guard on the floor that can score at a time. 

- The "let Petteway get his, shut down Shavon" strategy worked beautifully for Wisconsin.

- That said, Petteway was unconscious in the first half. Didn't roll over to the second, unfortunately.

- It's really unfortunate Moses can't hit from anywhere. He had some nice moments on the boards. 

- Rivers had a really tough assignment. He had a rough night. 

- I might be on the start Tarin Smith bandwagon.

- Another game with no appearances from Tai and Fuller until the final moments.

- I wonder which magic word Miles said.

- Part of me thinks NU actually played pretty well for a lot of the game, Wisconsin is just too deep, especially at home. 

- Silverlining: Petteway will get his 1000th point at home. Hope people are on top of it enough to recognize.

- Wisconsin shot almost 60% from 3. Yikes.

- Why can't NU get to the line this year? That was a huge part of their run last year. Not they're shooting them that great, but still...

 

That's all for now. Let's get the next two at home.

This post has been promoted to an article

[dt14smoke]

I agree, Wisconsin ain't a top ten team for no reason. Or their crowd for that matter. Made me feel much better about what I see on tv of the pba sometimes .

[hhcmatt]

- Why can't NU get to the line this year? That was a huge part of their run last year. Not they're shooting them that great, but still...

 

They can and have pre-conference.  They haven't gotten to the line in conference play because they've face a bunch of teams that don't put you on the line.  Watch us go to the line 30 times against a team like Minnesota....that's is exactly what that team gives you. 

 

We played the best team in the B1G on the road coming off a stunning loss we were jet lagged. Unless the Badgers were bricking this one was fairly predictable.  We've gotta regroup and be unpredictable (in a good way) down the road.

[hskr4life]

One win is not going to put you over the top and into the Dance, and one lost does not derail the train.  The next two are very important.

[hhcmatt]

[brfrad]

Benny doesn't seem to be the same player as last year.  Could it be the minutes increase?  He only averaged 15 minutes in conference play last year.  This year he has averaged 32.4 minutes this year.  Maybe, start Smith, and increase his minutes a little bit.

 

Wisconsin is a really good offensive team.  I have no idea how they loss to Rutgers.  Rutgers is even worse than us on offense.  If they shoot over 50 %, we are going to lose 9.99999999 out of 10 times.  In fact, if any team shoots over 50 %, we aren't going to win many games.  Much like against Illinois, if we force the other team to shoot 27%, we will win nearly every time.

 

Depending on match-ups in the tourney, Wisconsin could go pretty far again.

 

Shields started out hot.  We were hurt big time when he picked up his 2nd foul.

 

Terran was huge for us tonight.  Without him, it is even uglier.

[AuroranHusker]

Tarin needs to get his minutes. Energizer Benny needs a reprise of his off-the-bench defender role. And, Tai Webster needs to find his stroke!

 

Petteway being Petteway, the good, the bad & the ugly. Mostly good.

 

Shavon got totally screwed on his 3rd foul, which basically negated his aggression for the remainder of the competitive portion of this game. NU needs him to drive, drive, drive; but, that is the ONE thing that every team knows he does really well.

 

Pitch & Rivers didn't look right, for some reason. Moses did okay on the glass. Leslee finally looked okay in the last 3 min, but against the subs for UW. Same for Nick.

 

Nebraska has to find a way to have 5 guys on the court that are a threat to score, when Dave & Benny were out there tonight the Badgers only had to guard 3. Tarin would help, maybe Tai or Nick could, too. Perhaps a few spurts of Leslee would be in order against certain players.

[Huskerpapa]

If a ball is on the floor and there is no effort to go after it, that is a problem.  With the exception of TP, we were (at best) out of sorts.

 

[Cazzie22]

I'm not sure what "magic" wand coach can wave to improve this team.  Wisconsin is good, they make you pay for defensive mistakes and our offense, which I have still yet to determine what we are trying to accomplish, is not going to score enough.

 

Someone suggested T. Smith to start instead of Benny, might be a good idea as he would be a scoring threat and Benny could return to his role as a defensive igniter.  Like it or not, Webster may have to get more minutes to try to find another "possible" scoring threat.  

 

Best hope as Fran F. said was that NU win it's home conference games and try to steal one on the road.

[uneblinstu]

Best hope as Fran F. said was that NU win it's home conference games and try to steal one on the road.

Next four road games are all very winnable. All of 'em.

[hskr4life]

 

Best hope as Fran F. said was that NU win it's home conference games and try to steal one on the road.

Next four road games are all very winnable. All of 'em.

 

 

Yep... we have a shot... if we play well, to be 6-3 come Wisconsin again.  One at a time though.

[brfrad]

I'm not sure what "magic" wand coach can wave to improve this team.  Wisconsin is good, they make you pay for defensive mistakes and our offense, which I have still yet to determine what we are trying to accomplish, is not going to score enough.

 

Someone suggested T. Smith to start instead of Benny, might be a good idea as he would be a scoring threat and Benny could return to his role as a defensive igniter.  Like it or not, Webster may have to get more minutes to try to find another "possible" scoring threat.  

 

Best hope as Fran F. said was that NU win it's home conference games and try to steal one on the road.

The problem with that is that you have no scorers off the bench.  I think Benny needs to get his minutes reduced.  I just don't think he can continue to play at his highest level, getting 32 minutes per game.  Need to lower by 10.  Increase Smith's minutes, and give Fuller or Webster a chance to come off the bench.

[huskerbaseball13]

The difference was Kiminsky.  Wiscy is a very good team and really, I didn't think we played all that bad.  The good news is that even with a loss we gained 6 spots in the RPI.   

[hhcmatt]

[jimmykc]

I felt a Doctor Who moment coming on and thought with next weeks' crucial matchup, this was a good time to morph into this Walter. As for last night's game, few of us expected a W, especially when we found out the team arrived at 3:30 am. This certainly upsets schedules, and although it can not be used as an excuse, just ask Illinois if difficult travel conditions make pulling out a road victory more difficult. That and the return of Big Frankie to the court doomed any chance of leaving Madison with a victory. If Minnesota beats Rutgers as expected, I see the next game as a "must" win for any reasonable chance of an NIT bid.

[HB]

Mondale.

 

Bad karma for those games next week, Jimmy.

[jimmykc]

He was a loser.

[HB]

He was a loser.

 

Good point; losing Massachusetts, New York and California was virtually impossible, so perhaps this was a good choice after all.

[Fullbacksympathy]

If I had to start a team with one guy from the conference this season, it would be Nigel Hayes.  That guy is an absolute stud on both ends. 

 

I thought we played pretty well.  We'll give them all they want at the Vault.  I'm still encouraged by what I'm seeing.  It's tough to close out defensively on a 7-footer with ball skills. 

[hhcmatt]

Petteway gets a lot of flack for taking too many shots/bad shots.

What about Shields not taking enough shots?  He can't let a couple of ticky-tack fouls in the first half take him out of his game.

 

I know Tarrin makes a good scoring punch off the bench but as Moses comes back from injury we should consider flipping Tarrin and Moses in the starting lineup for Benny and Pitchford.  

[throwback]

When NU had 5 fouls in the first 5 min of the second half, the game was over. I don't know how close we had gotten at that point, but Wisky's game, especially at home, is getting to the FT line, and once that was going to happen for the majority of the 2nd half, it was over.

 

Considering how poorly Wisc had been shooting the 3 the past few games, especially Kaminsky, NU did the right thing in trying to limit Wisc in the lane and see what they could do from 3. Unfortunately being at home and being ultra-focused after the loss to RU allowed Wisc to take full advantage and hit a high percentage from 3. When hitting on all cylinders, Wisc has an offensive threat everywhere on the floor.

 

Rivers works extremely hard, but Hayes is an awful matchup for him (as he is for a lot of guys). With Wisky's offensive threats all over the floor, it's tough to double and help Rivers. In the rematch I have to think Moses will get a bunch of minutes vs Hayes; I think we just need to try a bigger body on him.

 

Time for the "softest" part of the B1G schdule. NU needs to get rejuvinated the next couple of days and be ready to go vs Minny Tuesday. NU can't earn an NCAA at-large bid the next few weeks, but we can certainly play ourselves out of contention if we're not ready to go. NU has been better the last few games, outside of a couple of bad runs last night, so hopefully they can build on it starting Tuesday.

 

Oh and Gasser makes my all-America team ... at flopping. 

[hhcmatt]

Post game notes

 

*-Petteway now with 28 straight game in double figures and has gone over 20 points for the ninth time this season and 21st time in his career. 
*-Petteway’s 27 points was a season high, topping 25 points on two occasions.
*-Shavon Shields set a career high with six assists, topping his previous best of five on two occasions, most recently against Illinois on Sunday. 
*-Wisconsin shot 48.8 percent, which was a high against the Huskers this season. The Badgers’ 11 3-pointers also tied a season-high (also UT-Martin). Wisconsin’s 52.4 percent from 3-point range was also a season-best against Nebraska this season.
*-Both of the Huskers’ first half turnovers were on offensive fouls, while Nebraska finished with a season-low five turnovers.

[throwback]

*-Both of the Huskers’ first half turnovers were on offensive fouls, while Nebraska finished with a season-low five turnovers.

Rough math, I think we're only averaging 9 turnovers per game in B1G play & I think we've only had one B1G game where we had more than 10 turnovers (vs Illinois).

 

Pretty amazing turnaround considering some of the fumble fests we had in the non-con. And a turnaround that's going to have to continue if we want to put together a big run the next few weeks.

[hhcmatt]

 

*-Both of the Huskers’ first half turnovers were on offensive fouls, while Nebraska finished with a season-low five turnovers.

Rough math, I think we're only averaging 9 turnovers per game in B1G play & I think we've only had one B1G game where we had more than 10 turnovers (vs Illinois).

 

Pretty amazing turnaround considering some of the fumble fests we had in the non-con. And a turnaround that's going to have to continue if we want to put together a big run the next few weeks.

 

 

Kind of....that stat is a combination of us taking care of the ball and the type of defense Wisconsin plays.

I'd be a lot more impressed with 10 or fewer turnovers against a team like Minnesota that pressures the crap out of you. 

[AuroranHusker]

 

 

*-Both of the Huskers’ first half turnovers were on offensive fouls, while Nebraska finished with a season-low five turnovers.

Rough math, I think we're only averaging 9 turnovers per game in B1G play & I think we've only had one B1G game where we had more than 10 turnovers (vs Illinois).

 

Pretty amazing turnaround considering some of the fumble fests we had in the non-con. And a turnaround that's going to have to continue if we want to put together a big run the next few weeks.

 

 

Kind of....that stat is a combination of us taking care of the ball and the type of defense Wisconsin plays.

I'd be a lot more impressed with 10 or fewer turnovers against a team like Minnesota that pressures the crap out of you. 

 

 

That could get kind of messy...