uneblinstu’s postgame chatter: vol 12; ed 13 - Texas A&M CC

Notes and quotes

Postgame Notes
*-Yvan Ouedraogo finished with career highs in both points (11) and rebounds (14) on his way to his first career double-double. He had 12 rebounds against South Dakota State and also had 11 points against Southern. Ouedraogo is the first Husker freshman to have a double-double since Shavon Shields accomplished the feat against Michigan State in 2013. Ouedraogo is just the ninth player in NU men’s basketball history to have a double-double as a freshman.
*-Haanif Cheatham went over 1,000 career points on Saturday, going over 1,000 career points on his 3-point play with 8:45 left left in the half. Cheatham finished with a team-high 17 points to pace four players in double figures.
*-Nebraska’s 15 steals were the most since also recording 15 steals against Long Beach State on Nov. 26, 2017.
*-Nebraska’s 52 points allowed was a season low (56 vs. Purdue) while the 31.7 percent shooting by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was NU’s second-best effort of the season.
*-Nebraska went 20-of-28 from the foul line, marking a season best for free throws made and. NU had made 19 each against Southern Utah and Southern
*-Nebraska had an 11-0 run in the first half, the 11^th double-digit run for the Huskers this season.

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On having better body language in the game
“It was everything that we talked about. We try to simulate that in practice and put them in adverse situations and put them in as many of those situations as possible, but nothing compares to the gametime situation with the crowd in there and with every possession meaning something. For us to go out there and take positive steps, I thought early we had some great looks. We missed a couple easy layups and some wide open threes, but we stayed in it. We stayed together. We kept guarding and got that run when we went up 18. You want to manufacture some points when the ball isn’t going in the hoop. We were 1-13 from the three point line at halftime, but we got to the free throw line 19 times. A lot of that was Haanif [Cheatham] getting out in front of the ball and attacking the basket. You have to have that when the ball isn’t going in, and you have to be able to guard. I thought we did that tonight.”

On what is most important for the rest of the season in Big Ten play
“It’s just consistency of everything we are trying to do. We have to have a great week of practice. I thought the guys came back with good focus after the holiday break. We have to continue on an upward trend if we are going to have a chance to compete with the teams we are about to face in the next 18 games. When you compare yourself, you hope to be playing good basketball at the start of league play. You have to. We can’t have lulls where we drop our heads and have poor body language because teams will take advantage of us, and they’ll go on a big run, and it’ll be too late. We’ve done that in our league games so far, and we hope those two games are ones that we can build on.  We had a disappointing loss in our last one [North Dakota]. I thought we bounced back especially on the defensive end tonight. Offensively, that ball really got moving in the second half. Defensive pressure led to some easy baskets and found a way to manufacture some easy points.”

Senior guard Haanif Cheatham
On the team’s focus after the loss to North Dakota
“[We] understand the season is going to be a process, but that last game going on a little break was kind of devastating. It was something that was probably on our mind for the whole four days of break that we had off. I think we came in expecting to play better and didn’t go all the way, but we came in for practice these past two practices and locked in and just showed what we could do.”

On defensive play
“I think we showed what we could do the first two Big Ten games. I think we showed what we could do defensively and that’s a big key for us. We’ve got good guards that guard the ball. We’ve got [plays] that come out from the ball screens. Once we show that and play great defense for 40 minutes. We understand they’re going to go on runs

sometimes but just sticking together on defense, that could win us some big time ball games."

Texas A&M Corpus Christi Head Coach Willis Wilson
Opening Statement
“It was just a lot of disappointment. We didn’t bring our ‘A game.’ We have been getting off to good starts and tonight was not a night we got off to a good start. We really played anxious and not characteristic of the way we have played lately. We have played good basketball in spite of the losses and tonight was not one of those nights.”

On learning from tonight’s game
“We have to identify and make a clear delineation between what we do well and what we do not do well. Unfortunately, tonight we did not do a lot of stuff well. The good news is that we can go back and look over the last four or five games, we are really good on the offensive end. Where we got into trouble tonight was our defensive transition. Our defensive transition was just atrocious. We gave up 27 points in transition, and I can’t tell you the last time we have given up that many points in transition. We are, typically, a very good team in defensive transition but tonight was a night where Nebraska just ran it to the rim, and we didn’t have an answer for them.”

On the focus in practice over the next couple days
“We have to get back to basics. Passing and catching and handling the ball. There were a lot of balls that we got beat to tonight by Nebraska. There were a lot of balls that came off the rim that we didn’t go after with all five guys. This was one of those nights, when you play against an athletic team like they are, they are going to beat you to the ball so you have to hit and then go get and we didn’t do a very good job of that, so that will be one of the focuses we will work on. We will go back and work on our defensive transition as always and we will go back and work on our shell defense and guarding the point of attack. It is just basic basketball and things we have done a decent job of in the past that we just didn’t do a very good job of tonight.”

Glad we got the win.

Team played with much better energy compared to the North Dakota game.

Yvan can and should have good games against most non conference opponents.

They can be a nice confidence builder for big ten play.

Cheatham continues to be our steady player who has the on court leadership.

Mack seemed to have a lot of layups miss, I do think he was fouled on a couple of drives, but no call

Much better defensive effort from the guys, especially Jervay. He was really hounding his guys.

Going to need to have a great week of practice and scouting to get Rutgers, they are a very physical team.

oh yeah, Red Panda is a treasure, I was in awe.  
 

GBR!

Best Stat of All:  (next to the Score )

14 minutes ago, Red Don said:

Best Stat of All:  (next to the Score )

 

 

Tickets sold...there weren't that many butts in the seats though.

Liked our defense.  

Mack would have had 12 to 15 assists if his teammates would finish.  

We missed 12 layups if my count was correct.  Also missed 6 or so wide open threes.  Folks, the offense works but players need to make plays.

There was a point DEEP in the contest when both teams were shooting @ about a 28% clip, but hey we put em away & got the “W”. Need to really push the pace against Rutgers & start making our layups dammit...!

Cautiously, very excited about the Ouedraogo's future after seeing today's effort and performance. If he can work as hard as he seems to be then he likely has a very productive future ahead. Every Big Ten team seems to needs one fellow like him if they have championship aspirations. I know today's opponent is not on par with conference teams but fourteen rebounds against any Div. 1 team is noteworthy. The coaches are doing a nice job bringing him along.

1 hour ago, Husker Hoops Penitent said:

Cautiously, very excited about the Ouedraogo's future after seeing today's effort and performance. If he can work as hard as he seems to be then he likely has a very productive future ahead. Every Big Ten team seems to needs one fellow like him if they have championship aspirations. I know today's opponent is not on par with conference teams but fourteen rebounds against any Div. 1 team is noteworthy. The coaches are doing a nice job bringing him along.

Yvan needs to realize he’s a very big man, and he can go up over people and into them to get his shot off rather than trying to get around them, under them, or falling away from them.

Go up like you’re going to dunk, whether there’s anyone in your way or not. Let your shoulder width create space for you. Don’t try to find space by moving (falling?) away from the rim.

Nice 2nd half 3-point accuracy.

Just getting home. Had it recording. Gonna turn it on I think. Happy to see them win against a team when shots don't fall. 

How many times do you think we’ll see Dachon Burke go 1-13 in his career?

Yes, Burke seems like he’s in a bit of a slump the past two games. He was our JPJ vs. Indiana...

I was really impressed today. It’s the holidays and the team was coming off a bad loss and shots were not falling. A lot of reasons to get down but they ramped up the defense. I realize the opponent was bad, but this was the third most impressive game of the season for this team all things considered. 

It was nice to see Green bounce back. He really showed some intensity on both ends of the floor. I was a little worried when watching him against North Dakota, I wasn’t sure where his head was at. Adversity is going to hit every student athlete in college, you can choose to let it take you down or you can fight. It appears Jervay has chosen to fight. Good job by Hoiberg and Jervay. Basketball aside, that’s a good life lesson. Some kids would have shut down. 

I think Mack, Burke, and Jervay are a heck of a backcourt next year. This year will be tough, but their development will be something to watch. Yvan will struggle in Big 10 play, it will be interesting to see him adjust. I think Cross is the most important post to develop for next year though. That kid could be the matchup nightmare that we have been waiting for. It’s going to take a lot of work to get him there though, I hope he has it in him.

Different than usual guys sat behind us today.

All I got to say is he must not have seen us play this year because he bitched about everything that we did.

"Quit driving to the basket, Quit shooting the 3, Get a rebound!"

He did like the Red Panda though, oh and was on his phone telling his 7 year old son the score of every NFL game every 10 seconds even if hadn't changed.

7 hours ago, Handy Johnson said:

There was a point DEEP in the contest when both teams were shooting @ about a 28% clip, but hey we put em away & got the “W”. Need to really push the pace against Rutgers & start making our layups dammit...!

Ahem, Dachon Burke.... I think that comment may be directed at you, buddy !

10 hours ago, Silverbacked1 said:

Different than usual guys sat behind us today.

 

All I got to say is he must not have seen us play this year because he bitched about everything that we did.

 

"Quit driving to the basket, Quit shooting the 3, Get a rebound!"

 

He did like the Red Panda though, oh and was on his phone telling his 7 year old son the score of every NFL game every 10 seconds even if hadn't changed.

I feel your pain. We had a couple of casual sports fans who appeared to be out-of-towners (visiting family for the holidays?) sit in our section and just loudly chit-chatted the whole game about random sports stuff like that time their Kansas State Wildcat volleyball team came to town and beat Nebraska. The few times they seemed to notice the game was to make some anti-Husker comment ("that was a travel!").  I wanted to tell them that Gate 25 across the street has multiple TV screens and beer specials and would be a better environment for their "discussion" than within earshot of me. But, for some reason, I held my tongue.

I have a row full of dips**ts that have settled in behind me for the season. It’s a running commentary on EVERYTHING but the game, & about as funny as ringworm...

Yes, the four seats on the left of me must not have been renewed by the same people as previous years, every game has been different people, perhaps buying them on a site or something. Most that come are newbies so it’s good to get some new fans in the door....fortunately none have been too obnoxious 

I failed to see anything yesterday that supports the "Mack and Green don't get along" narrative. I hope that can be put to bed now.

And I've dealt with my fair share of annoying fans. From boot shopping to nacho toppings, I've heard a LOT of conversations that should have taken place anywhere but at a sporting event.

Green’s effort and body language were way better.  I also thought he made a great effort in the second half to drive and KICK.  He can almost always get past his man off the dribble but in D1 that is rarely a guaranteed bucket.  Same with loose, one handed passes.  He was way more controlled in the second half and I thought he was a real difference maker in our run.  Kudos to him.  
 

Also, I liked him a lot off the bench for Cam at PG.  I hope we continue to get him experience there as he is a good ball handler and has talent for passing that needs to be developed further.   

Yesterday I felt that the offense ran better when Green ran the point and we had Cross at the 5, and the other "B" team.

Much more moving and passing. 

18 hours ago, Busch Light said:

I was really impressed today. It’s the holidays and the team was coming off a bad loss and shots were not falling. A lot of reasons to get down but they ramped up the defense. I realize the opponent was bad, but this was the third most impressive game of the season for this team all things considered. 

 

It was nice to see Green bounce back. He really showed some intensity on both ends of the floor. I was a little worried when watching him against North Dakota, I wasn’t sure where his head was at. Adversity is going to hit every student athlete in college, you can choose to let it take you down or you can fight. It appears Jervay has chosen to fight. Good job by Hoiberg and Jervay. Basketball aside, that’s a good life lesson. Some kids would have shut down. 

 

I think Mack, Burke, and Jervay are a heck of a backcourt next year. This year will be tough, but their development will be something to watch. Yvan will struggle in Big 10 play, it will be interesting to see him adjust. I think Cross is the most important post to develop for next year though. That kid could be the matchup nightmare that we have been waiting for. It’s going to take a lot of work to get him there though, I hope he has it in him.

Agree, but I wish his effort was better.. At times he seems to be just going thru the motions on the defensive end. 

31 minutes ago, ConkintheCorner said:

Agree, but I wish his effort was better.. At times he seems to be just going thru the motions on the defensive end. 

Agree. Seems to lollygag, especially when getting back on defense.

But man, high ceiling. And the floor is pretty high to begin with.

On 12/29/2019 at 4:59 PM, Huskerpapa said:

Tickets sold...there weren't that many butts in the seats though.

I thought we counted only butts in the seats. What happened to that practice?