uneblinstu’s postgame chatter: vol 11; ed 18 - Michigan State

Tough loss.  My estimation is we will be favored to win 9 of our next 10 games so hopefully we can go on a run. 

We played a really good team. It wasn't our night for making shots. It happens.

If I was going to be mad about losing this game, I wouldn't survive the season. Win the next game and move on to the "next six."

Great effort.   No shame. in it.   Just dont let it go for naught.   Need to go at least 4-1 in our next 5.  We'll be favored in each..   Dont let it get us down.  Regroup and prepare for Rutgers

• I still believe we had nothing to lose tonight.  Plenty more resume games a head.  
• Don't let this game beat you twice, use it as fuel going forward.  Special things a head for this team I think.
• Poor offense, pretty good defense.  Average offense and pretty good defense, we win.
• Kids are mad and disappointed, feel they can play with anyone, that's a good thing.
• Tied it at 44, then a Freshman scores 5 of the next 7 during a 7-0 run, probably was the game right there.
• Maybe we'll get another shot at these guys in March.

I think we had about four 3-pointers go in and out, not to mention the 2-pointers that rolled around the rim but wouldn't drop.

Well...crap.  Could have won that game, but...

We were 12 for 26 from the rim and we really struggled with the three ball.  Tough to win against anyone when you shoot 29% until the last few minutes of the game.  Defense was good.  Rebounding was okay.  Tom played really well.  But jeez, we just were always a tic off.  I am disappointed, but know that if we hit our shots, we win.

And oh by the way.  In my mind it wasn't the offense, we were in the position to make shots, they simply did not fall.  

2 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Well...crap.  Could have won that game, but...

 

We were 12 for 26 from the rim and we really struggled with the three ball.  Tough to win against anyone when you shoot 29% until the last few minutes of the game.  Defense was good.  Rebounding was okay.  Tom played really well.  But jeez, we just were always a tic off.  I am disappointed, but know that if we hit our shots, we win

 

And oh by the way.  In my mind it wasn't the offense, we were in the position to make shots, they simply did not fall.  

I thought we had pretty cleans looks. We just couldnt hit water from a boat tonight.

That said, hanging with the #6 team in the country when you are clearly not playing your A game offensively says a lot about this team

Echo all the thoughts above, and I will add that I love how we just BELONGED in that game.  How we were so close the whole game shooting that poorly blows my mind.  In the past with Husker teams that I talked myself into thinking were good enough, the only way they stay in a game like that is taking the air out of the ball and shooting well.  We did neither and were still close.  I love these guys, what a ride this is!

This is what happens when you have no true 5 & a poor shooting night...

By the way, Roby made some unbelievable plays for a stretch there in the 2nd half.  Those blocks and saves were just ridiculous.  I love how we are seeing those things from him more and more.

So why didn't they put any time back on the clock after Palmer's three at the end?  10 seconds ticked off while the ball rolled off to the side before the ref casually picked it up and tossed to an MSU player.  

Bright side:

Our Defense is obviously back, and in a big way. Look at how close we were to beating a top 5 team at home, even despite all going on. A little offense, a OK game from palmer, and another 3 (basically all equating to shooting 40-45% from the field instead of 30), and this upset is ours, and we're rushing the court. keep the line, guys. This team is good (with it's faults). I'll take a close loss with good D any day over a 95-90 loss. 

When the offense bogs down, we don’t have that “back to the basket” Center to dump the ball down into. Instead we clear out on an ISO for Palmer, Watson or Copeland in that order. Would love to see us push the tempo more, and share the ball.

18 minutes ago, hal9000 said:

So why didn't they put any time back on the clock after Palmer's three at the end?  10 seconds ticked off while the ball rolled off to the side before the ref casually picked it up and tossed to an MSU player.  

The clock doesn't stop after a made basket unless it occurs under 1:00. So if it occurs at 1:00.1, like this one did, the clock runs. If it occurs at 0:59.9, it stops.

Kind of a silly distinction, they should just stop it at 1 minute in this kind of a case, but that's how the rule reads.

MSU is even better than I thought they were - great team that plays hard for 40 minutes. 

Our half court defense was outstanding, but I bet we'd like to have the first 5 minutes back when we let Winston beat us down the floor repeatedly, even a few times after we made a FG. We adjusted after that, which slowed them down after our makes, but those early transition pts were huge.

Throw in Ward tossing in that 3 at the end of the shot clock, Winston banking in a 3, and Winston air-balling a 3 that happened to bounce into their hands for a layup in the first half - with our poor shooting, we needed more of that stuff to go our way.

But ultimately, MSU is really good - and we battled them point for point much of the game, despite an off shooting night. Hopefully we can get some shots to fall and be stronger at the rim in the rematch.

19 minutes ago, RedEyedFanatic said:

By the way, Roby made some unbelievable plays for a stretch there in the 2nd half.  Those blocks and saves were just ridiculous.  I love how we are seeing those things from him more and more.

off topic, BOY does that profile pic scare me. that is excellent, man. 

42 minutes ago, uneblinstu said:

That was a tough one. Didn’t play well on offense. Also, MSU is the real deal. I’ll have more thoughts later. 

It's not like we didn't have the looks, either.  The offense produced the shots; the players just didn't connect.  Bad time for an off night shooting the ball.  A few more of those errant shots connect and we win.

I also say if JPJ had gotten rolling just a bit sooner, the outcome changes.

30 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

And oh by the way.  In my mind it wasn't the offense, we were in the position to make shots, they simply did not fall.  

hmm. this is a very interesting perspective. I agree. our shooting was below the mean, their defense was great, but we did swing the ball at times and get some good looks, especially from 3. you saw a few fall, but boy I'd be darned if there werent 10 3's we took that shouldve gone down (look at the sheer number of ringer rim outs!). Keep shooting, although imo I'd prefer like 10 fewer 3s taken. go inside and get some free throws, but balance it with jump shots because you can't rely on the refs to get your points, as evidenced by tonight's display.  I think we kill 3 birds with one stone when we go into midrange and the paint, because with our cutters we get fouled or have an better shot. If fouled, I think that puts pressure on their rotation and big men, and it pumps up the crowd here in nebraska a lot when you get hard nosed blue collar points inside. swing points are huge. 

sorry for the ramble, i tend to do that. 

it really felt like we were the better team here granted mich st was missing 1 of their top 3 players.

feels like we missed a big opportunity to win this one, but there's still a lot of games to be played.

We gotta get nana some consistent minutes over this next stretch. He’s got oodles of talent we just gotta start giving him a consistent chance to use it. 

Tough one tonight, but here's my positive take. Outside of Tom (and Cope in the 1st half), our starters played poorly on offense. Shots were not falling and we fell in love with the 3 when it just wasn't falling. Lots of good looks, but I'd like to see us love the rim more. However, we also were not getting many calls going to the rim. Having said all that, we were still right there all the way to the end! Our defense, for the most part, was great, outside of letting Winston torch us. He made Watson look bad, which sucks because I don't think he is much better than Glynn, but he sure looked it tonight.  Had we shot 30% from 3, we probably win, so that is encouraging. Now is the time to go on a run.

Just now, jason2486 said:

Tough one tonight, but here's my positive take. Outside of Tom (and Cope in the 1st half), our starters played poorly on offense. Shots were not falling and we fell in love with the 3 when it just wasn't falling. Lots of good looks, but I'd like to see us love the rim more. However, we also were not getting many calls going to the rim. Having said all that, we were still right there all the way to the end! Our defensive for the most part was great, outside of letting Winston torch us. He made Watson look bad, which sucks because I don't think he is much better than Glynn, but he sure looked it tonight.  Had we shot 30% from 3, we probably win, so that is encouraging. Now is the time to go on a run.

Tom really showed us something tonight. Kid is going to be very good.

Were we actually the underdog?  Vegas maybe. Kenpom?

I’m tired of bad shot selection.  We don’t need it with the depth of scoring we have on the floor. EVER. 

Shots will fall. Shots won’t fall. Can’t always control that.  Still need ALL players locked in defensively at all times. You can control your effort and focus. 

Really liked some some of the things we did offensively. Maybe the tougher team we play the more crisp we are offensively.  Or maybe just the fact they didn’t play zone. 

Loved the effort on some loose balls and at the end of the game. 

Have ability to be a 3 seed. Also have the possibility to be in the 11 seed play in game. 

Gotta keep getting better and be more consistent in ‘the system ‘

Getting ready to board for our 15:53 flight to Hong Kong.. Missed the whole thing but Sons texted said played very hard, couldn't get a shot to go down and the crowd was very good.

Roof almost came off on a late 3?

Agree don't let this game beat us twice, go beat Rutgers, who seems to be all over the place, then ROLL BABY!!!

One word for my feelings after watching:  proud.  

We showed up and fought to the end.  There have been more top heavy MSU teams talent wise to come through here, but man... that group plays unbelievably well together.  They’re my pick for the NC straight up, and they have the best coach in the country.  

For perspective:  that’s only the second conference game anyone has stayed within single digits of MSU, and closest game they’ve had so far.  They’ve been beating the piss out of everyone.  We out rebounded them and had less turnovers.  We were tough all night.  Hard for me to complain about that.  

9 hours ago, hal9000 said:

I think we had about four 3-pointers go in and out, not to mention the 2-pointers that rolled around the rim but wouldn't drop.

Definitely.  A couple of those fall and it's probably a different outcome.  Also had a couple of 3's that were completely undefended that were not even close to going in.  Got to make those...like Ward did.

Toward the end of the game, however, most of the shots were short.  I realize they were generally deep 3's, but that's a sign of tired legs.  I don't know if that's just a 1 game thing because of the effort expended or a sign of weariness from the starters having to play so many minutes every game.  They could really use a couple of games where they can get a double-digit lead for a period to allow some of the bench guys to eat some minutes.