HHC Report Card: 2011 Wisconsin Badgers @ Home

Explaining The Grades:

Near Flawless	Poor
Good	Awful
Average

OFFENSE:

Let's start with the one positive from tonight, and that's our Player of the Game, Mr. Toney McCray, who has come a long ways since his freshman year.

McCray came out and said, "hop on my shoulders, I'm going to carry you," as the senior from Missouri City, Texas, put in 8 of the first 10 points of the game for the Big Red en route to 16 for the night.

However, outside of that, there wasn't much to be happy about offensively.

Nebraska scored just 40 points for the game, including a putrid 14 in the second half.

A big problem was obviously the absence of Jorge Brian Diaz, as it gave NU virtually no relevant option down low.

Bo Spencer being off was also tough on the Big Red, as he finished just 2-12 from the field and with 4 turnovers.

DEFENSE:

Nebraska gave up WAY TOO MANY open jump shots, which was a by product of two things.

A. Diaz not playing, so NU having to really pack it in more down low and

B. Nobody could contain Jordan Taylor for the good majority of the night.

51% from the field and 64 points against this team is just way too much.

REBOUNDING:

Nebraska was only out rebounded by two, but they shot just 31%, as compared to 51%, so this isn't particularly impressive.

However, 11 offensive rebounds were pretty good, spearheaded by 5 offensive rebounds from Brandon Ubel and 3 from McCray.

BALL HANDLING:

9 turnovers wasn't too bad for the Huskers, but there were some costly ones, as we'll discuss under coaching.

COACHING:

Apparently the 10,800 in attendance tonight didn't realize they were attending a YMCA game.

What do I mean?

Every single guy who suited up seemingly played in the first half, including COREY FREAKING HILLIARD out of the first media timeout. Yes, he was the first player to come off of the bench, when he hadn't played in only God knows how many weeks.

The second player off? Walk-on Mike Fox.

This is after NU is off to a 10-5 lead at the first media timeout and on fire. Who led the Huskers to those points? Toney McCray. Who was pulled after the first media timeout for the above mentioned players.

What's even worse is you could almost excuse these subs if these guys had played a single second in the second half.

So let's get this straight... Hilliard and Fox are your 6th and 7th men off the bench when you have a lead and momentum, at the start of the game, yet they aren't good enough to play a single second in the second half?

Further, poor David Rivers, who is a true freshman and is going to make mistakes, played 3 minutes in the first half and made one costly turnover (as noted above) and NEVER PLAYED AGAIN. He's a freshman, he made one mistake. How is he going to grow and what message is that sending?

Last, Christopher Niemann was iron man in the first half, playing more minutes than ever in a row (6), while Brandon Ubel somehow sat as Wisconsin poured on the points. Again, he didn't play in the second half.

We played ten guys in the first half, and tried to be Wisconsin in the second by playing only six.

Finally, I was saddened that "key members" of the athletic department were seen laughing heartily multiple times in the last five minutes of the game, as NU was down by 20+. Seemed pretty ridicolous when thousands of fans are streaming out after another awful home loss and another worthless halftime "entertainment" that you'd sit there laughing and enjoying yourself. Poor touch. But what else should we expect by now?

OVERALL GRADE:

Same old, same old.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Toney McCray