OFFENSE: B+
Nebraska played "A" level offense for the majority of the second half, outside of a four minute stretch where they were clearly winded and flustered. In fact, NU came out and hit 7 of their first 8 from the field and even for several possessions after when they missed, were still getting good shots.
In the first half, the Huskers played "C" level offense and had trouble getting good shots for the majority of the first ten minutes of the contest.
A big tip of the hat to Andre Almeida, whose low post presence only led to 4 individual points but overall, did much more than that in screening, taking up space and keeping the defense honest.
Ray Gallegos is a clear cut Player of the Game with 22 points in 34 minutes, including 7-14 from downtown (7-15 overall). Pretty amazing that out of 15 attempts, 14 were three's. That's of course both good and bad, and if he can add more of a drive/mid-range game next season, he could be really, really good. Maybe wouldn't have to work so hard off of screens, too, though he seems to be Mr. Iron Man.
Pretty solid game for Brandon Ubel, who finished with a solid 9 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and no turnovers. However, some first half missed bunnies and an "in and out" on a three kept NU from making noise going into the half.
Overall, 38% for Nebraska and 60 points - the former isn't good but the latter is fairly good for this team.
DEFENSE: D+
Iowa scored 74 - that's not good.
However, a lot of that was due to rebounding, which we'll get to next.
First, though, NU had more defensive break downs in this game than I can remember in a long, long time. Iowa had 5-7 dunks, 5-7 wide open six footers and a number of wide open three's out of NU's zone in which the Huskers either were brain dead or just too tired to react.
That allowed the Hawkeyes to shoot a staggering 57% from the field - not gonna get it done.
Also, that flagrant foul called on Almeida was brutally awful by the officials. That was the biggest change in the game.
The defense was bad today, but not quite in the same league as the rebouding.
REBOUNDING: F
Nebraska was out boarded by SEVENTEEN (39 to 22) after matching a much better rebounding team (Minnesota) on Wednesday night. This was very, very, very disappointing and gave the Huskers zero chance at stealing this game.
As mentioned above, Ubel grabbed seven boards, but no other Husker had more than three. That tells you all that you need to know.
I attribute this more to fatigue, both physically and mentally, than anything else.
BALL HANDLING: B+
Nebraska had just six turnovers - that's pretty dawgone good.
However, one turnover was so completely awful that it needs to be mentioned.
What in the world was Dylan Talley doing when he tried to feed David Rivers the ball out of an in bounds play from the right baseline in the closing minutes of the first half? That play was so bizarre - I couldn't tell if he was trying to throw a side arm bounce pass with back spin to Rivers, who was on the sideline, or throw the ball off of the legs of the Iowa player and just missed.
Either way, a killer and maddening play.
COACHING: C
So so - Iowa got WAY TOO MANY dunks and bunnies off of blown defensive assignments and/or no communication off of screens. There were two different in bounds plays where NU left Iowa guys WIDE OPEN for three's. I didn't feel like Miles put his foot down on this quick enough. It happened several times in the first four minutes of the second half when the lead would go form 7 to 10 to 6 to 10. Open dunk after open dunk. Call a timeout and do something. Make it a big deal because it certainly was.
As mentioned above, this was the first game in a long, long while that this team looked mentally out of it. Probably because of fatigue. There wasn't good focus for half of the game, especially defensively. Lack of concentration. Probably led to lack of better aggression/fundamentals on the boards, too.
The fact that this stood out is in reality, a very glowing compliment to Coach Miles, because this HAS NOT been happening all season, even despite the lack of depth, athleticism, talent, injury, etc.
Still, it was bad and noticeable today.
OVERALL GRADE: C
An average performance on the road from Nebraska, who offensively, was "good" but defensively and on the boards, "bad."
A definite winable game that NU didn't play well enough to muster.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: RAY GALLEGOS
2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS:
RAY GALLEGOS - 11
DYLAN TALLEY - 10
BRANDON UBEL - 5
SHAVON SHIELDS - 4
DAVID RIVERS - 3
ANDRE ALMEIDA - 1
JORDAN TYRANCE - 1
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