Postgame chatter: vol 12; ed 22 - vs. Penn St

Nebraska Postgame Notes

• Nebraska suffered its first loss to Penn State at Pinnacle Bank Arena, as the Huskers had been 5-0 against the Nittany Lions inside The Vault. Penn State’s win was just its second in 10 trips to Lincoln, including its first victory in nine regular-season games.
• Charlie Easley earned his first career start tonight, as Nebraska used its fifth different starting lineup of the season.
• Thorir Thorbarjarson finished with 12 points, his fifth double-figure outing in the last six games, and his 10th of the season. He went 2-of-3 from 3-point range and is now shooting 46.3 percent from long range this season.
  Yvan Ouedaogo scored six points and grabbed six rebounds. With his six rebounds tonight, he moved into 10th place on Nebraska’s freshman list and now has 131 rebounds on the season.
• Cam Mack finished with three assists and moved from ninth to a three-way tie for sixth on NU’s single-season assist list. He passed Tyronn Lue (144, 1995-96) and tied Jack Moore (145, 1979-80) and Lance Jeter (145, 2010-11).
• Matej Kavas saw his first action in four games and scored eight points in eight minutes, going 3-of-4 from the field including 2-of-3 from the 3-point line. Kavas’ eight points were his first points since he scored nine points at Northwestern on Jan. 11.
• Akol Arop scored four points in the final 45 seconds, connecting on the first two field goals of his career. Arop, who entered the game with two career points, was 0-for-2 from the field in his career before going 2-2 tonight.
• The Huskers committed 13 turnovers and had just 12 assists, marking Nebraska’s first game with more turnovers than assists since the Creighton game on Dec. 7, 2019. The Huskers had recorded more assists than turnovers in each of their last 12 games.
• Nebraska’s bench scored 19 points, the third-most bench points the Huskers have scored in Big Ten Conference play.

A lot is being made of the lack of effort and intensity being displayed tonight... While I get it and have contributed to that, that's what happens to bad teams. We have to be perfect every single game to win. Even against average to bad teams. Sustaining that level of focus, energy, and effort is nearly impossible - especially when you have a little bit of a break coming up. I know that seems counterintuitive (not bringing it when you know you have a break coming up), but I've coached A LOT of low talent teams - always happens that way. 

Good teams don't "bring it" every single night. Good teams find a way to win, even when everyone didn't bring it - that's why they're good. You only notice it when you lose... because you're bad, ha. 

I thought the effort was great first half...   just not sure what happened 2nd half.

31 minutes ago, ConkintheCorner said:

I thought the effort was great first half...   just not sure what happened 2nd half.

Concerning thing here is that this is about the 5th or 6th conference game we could say this about.

Interesting to note that NU had had 12 straight games with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, prior to PSU, that is.

This is the part of the season where I expected us to be trending “upward” if ever SO slightly. Thought we’d be that team that no one wants to play in the B1G Tournament, not a team circling the drain while the specter of Spring Football hangs in the air...

We have 9 games left before the league tourney. Let's say, hypothetically, that we manage to win 2 of them and then somehow upset the first team we play in the tourney. How many here would consider that to be a successful season? Before we started the year a 10-23 record would have been disappointing. At this point, it would be a miraculous finish and I would be sort of happy.

2 hours ago, jimmykc said:

We have 9 games left before the league tourney. Let's say, hypothetically, that we manage to win 2 of them and then somehow upset the first team we play in the tourney. How many here would consider that to be a successful season? Before we started the year a 10-23 record would have been disappointing. At this point, it would be a miraculous finish and I would be sort of happy.

Yeah, about 5 games ago I set the 10-win bar as attainable; prior to that, I was still hoping NU got out of the year with less than 20 losses. Managing expectations is the nature of this rebuilding season. LET'S GET A DUB, BIG RED !!

they're just not very good.

On 2/3/2020 at 9:45 AM, hhcmatt said:

I left @uneblinstu name off of the topic title so he wouldn't be associated with the stink from this game

I've been doing this thing where I don't post after games so I was somewhat  surprised no one bothered to make one of these.  Apparently this was the 'how much can these fans take' point raised by Sipple

Cheatham had a bounce back game and that very much likely was the reason he led the team in minutes with 35. No one else played over 30.

Kavas and Arop made the most of their garbage time minutes. Kavas pumped in 8 points in 8 minutes while Arop chipped in 4 in 3.

 

8-19 on the FT line and 2-9 in conference. You might think this is rock bottom but St Louis and Northwestern are currently occupying those spots, respectively.

 

We get a week to stew in this before Iowa

I was stuck messing with flat tires in the home town of the soon-to-be Super Bowl Champions. Sounds that was a joy ride compared to that game.

2 hours ago, uneblinstu said:

I was stuck messing with flat tires in the home town of the soon-to-be Super Bowl Champions. Sounds that was a joy ride compared to that game.

What were you doing in Minneapolis...?