HHC Report Card: Florida Gulf Coast Eagles

Explaining The Grades:

Near Flawless	Poor
Good	Awful
Average

OFFENSE:

It would be an F, but Dylan Talley made enough shots, including the game winner to make it a squeaky passing grade. Diaz looked good with a dunk and three quarters, but the Huskers could not solve the 2-3 zone that locked him down but for 5 shots.  Caleb Walker had the terrible twos, 2 points, 2 shots, 2 fouls, 2 turnovers, too bad after the strong start he had to the season. MCCray with 9 quiet points including an odd looking layup. The Huskers only made 7 of 24 three pointers and continued to avoid the paint most trips down the floor. Bo Spencer was 2 of 11.

DEFENSE:

Well we held them to 50 points, but since we only scored 51, it was not due to lockdown D. Diaz had five nice blocks, but both teams shot poorly, mishandled the ball, and the game was a mess, so less about defense and more about lack of execution by either team. Really ugly.

REBOUNDING:

The B is for Brandon with 11 rebounds, 5 offensive.  Huskers won the battle 32-25 but Ubel was the bulk of it. Grabbing and holding the ball seems to be a  recurring problem for a number of Huskers. Without Almeida and with Niemann not leaving the bench, we have to get to more from wing rebounders like Walker and McCray who only had 4 combined.

BALL HANDLING:

Eighteen turnovers, seven by Spencer, and 11 were credited to FGCU steals.  Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Nebraska had as many turnovers as made baskets. The Huskers had 14 assists for those 18 makes, which is good, but they had only 18 makes so it's not that good.

COACHING:

It's the holidays, so we know there's going to be one of those close games against a bad program where the Huskers look like they are sleepwalking. It's to be expected, what can you do about it? It's also one of those games where some kid who no one has ever heard of starts raining threes like he's Reggie Miller in Manhattan. What 'ya gonna do?

No really, what are you going to do Huskers? This was not Florida, not Florida State, not even Central Florida with their double-Jordans, this was a school that has been in Division 1 the same number of years that Brandon Richardson has been a Husker. But here we are playing them to a one point finish. We seemed to have no solution for their 2-3 zone, no energy or effort to expand on our early lead, no way to stop the Croatian sensation Cvjeticanin from shooting 66%, no way to play under control and avoid travels, charges and bad passes when pressured. I don't know what our game plan was tonight, and neither did the Huskers.

OVERALL GRADE:

Diaz won the tap, had a dunk, and had his guy ejected early. Ubel played rebound and putback all game long to keep the Huskers close, and Dylan Talley hit a couple of big shots to win by the narrowest of margins. That's it, that's everything positive that happened in this clunker. My highlight of the game was when the ref took the mop from the kid and actually removed moisture from the floor. I know there is a lot to be concerned about in the program, but the Husker mop kids have to be the least effective means of removing sweat from hardwood. All season long I've seen them on the BTN feed looking like they really would rather not be there (I guess they don't have the option to bail like the 5,000 fans not in attendance)

Ubel wins player of the game with his double-double, 11 and 10, and really because he worked harder than anyone else on the floor.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Brandon Ubel

SEASON TOTALS:

Bo Spencer - 2

Caleb Walker - 2

Jorge Brian Diaz - 2

Brandon Richardson - 1

Brandon Ubel - 1