uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 11; ed 16 - Penn St.

Re-watching the game on ESPNU right now.  I am actually going to take a different perspective...

1.  My biggest takeaway when re-watching is that we actually didn't play too dang bad.  Outside of offensive boards, we shot the ball well, got some good looks on O, and played solid D.

2.  There were multiple times in the game where we were a bucket or two from putting it away.  We got some good looks and missed in some of those opportunities.  That happens.  Also credit Penn State for making some shots to shorten our runs.

3.  Palmer got no calls on his drives and got screwed once again on a charge call in the first half.  Sometimes I believe that is why he resorts to shooting instead of driving.

4.  It can't be stated enough how important Roby is to this team.  Most teams have to prepare for him and that helps other guys on the team.  Honestly think Roby is best when we have other guys around him that are willing to be "the man."  I don't know how Roby would respond to being "the man."

5.  Amir and Tanner played solid minutes in the first half.  I am a firm believe that Tim feels pressure as he should with the jab he got last year in the off-season.  I think that if the guys build an 8-10 point lead at some point in the 2nd half, the starters don't play as much.  So... starters... if you want a break, you better put the peddle to the metal.

6.  It's easy to look at PSU's record and think we should have won this by 10+.  However, over half of their losses are in conference play.  0-5 in conference but 7-9 overall.  They've not lost too many where they haven't been in the game.  Their loss margin is -2 @ DePaul, -3 vs Bradley, -7 @ Maryland, -2 vs Indiana, -11 vs. NCST, -9 @ Alabama, -13 @ Michigan, and -29 vs Wisconsin.

6a. Arguably their worst loss is Wisconsin @ home and that was without their head coach.  They were going to play motivated last night.  That was a given.

6b.  This is a team that also beat Va Tech.  Yes, that same Va Tech who is 14-1.

6c.  Penn State has some dudes.  Josh Reeves is a dude man.  He played lights out last night.

7.  Fellas... this is the gosh darn Big 10.  Win's aren't givens.  We're not playing Cal State Fullerton, Mississippi Valley State, or Western Illinois anymore.  Every night will be a battle.  We said this all through non-con.  So why anyone was expecting this game not to be a battle is beyond me.  Win and move on.

8.  With that being said, I hope this eases some nerves for the boys.  We only need to win about 8 more games and there is a stretch coming up where we can win about 8 in a row.  Let's move on to Indiana... another battle... and see what happens.

Also, the bench was not as bad as some have made it seem.  They were up just a second ago on Palmers made three at about the 15 minute mark.

And again on Watsons three at about 14:45

Last thing... then I got to do my list for the wife or she'll kill be for putting it off after telling her I put it off last night to watch the game as well. 

There were a lot of 50/50 and hustle plays that worked against us past night.  For instance, Glynn was fighting for a rebound multiple times and the ball goes out of bounds.  There was a scramble in the first half where we could have had a run-out 2 times and Penn State ended up scoring because the ball bounced their way.

These are things we cannot control and we have to fight through.  We did.

2 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

There are a ton of other Stats out there.

If you buy into the "4 factors" here is how we look overall

We're deficient is rebounding but for once our eFG% is good. Thus,  a team that shoots well, gets to the FT line, and doesn't turn the ball over can overcome a team getting extra looks by losing at rebounding. It's how we won last night.

The conference only numbers paint a different picture.  Our defense has been sub-standard as while we're still taking away the 3, teams are hitting them against us. We're getting people to miss 2s but they're rebounding a lot of them. One thing that will really help is that elite foul drawing teams are few in this conference and guess which two? Iowa and Minny of course.

Our problem is that we're a defensive team that is better offensively than defensively.  It is probably a bit confusing but if we figure it out the sky is the limit.

13 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

and played solid D.

How much of that was us and how much of it was playing the worst offense in the Big 10?

1 minute ago, hhcmatt said:

 

How much of that was us and how much of it was playing the worst offense in the Big 10?

Probably a combination of both.  Out D was good last night outside of offensive boards, but it helps playing a team that isn't good at shooting.

However, the same could be said of their offensive boards.  How much of them getting offensive boards were the result of them being a poor shooting team and missing a bunch of shots?

1 minute ago, hhcmatt said:

 

How much of that was us and how much of it was playing the worst offense in the Big 10?

About 50/50.  I thought PSU had some good scorers on their team.  They also hit "some" shots.  But for the most part, they scored because they were scrappy.  They scored because they came up with a 50/50 ball, or they got offensive rebounds.  They were like fly strips, they just stuck to us throughout the night.

Also watching replay and agree we didn't play terrible. Sure it had something to do with players getting tired but 4 or 5 balls in 2nd half were right there for the taking but Huskers just couldn't quite get there. On one offensive rebound for PSU there are 3 NU players in good rebounding position but ball bounces just out of reach of 2 Huskers right to PSU guy. 

Miles said he wanted to put Borchardt in in the 2nd half but assistant coaches talked him out of it. Considering the poor rebounding Miles should've listened to himself.

On a side note, we did end game on 8 to 3 run.

7 minutes ago, big red22 said:

Palmer - Well the nation has figured out he can't score on Zone defense.  If he doesn't figure out what to change, he needs the ball in his hands less.  We need him to be the guy, and the last 3 games he has been everything but.  He is getting almost all of his points from the Free Throw line,  and that is not necessarily a bad thing, but his shooting % has been a joke.  He needs to get the NBA off of his mind and focus on the team and Winning... then the NBA will come. 

 

Copeland - Same as Palmer... Get the NBA off of his mind as well.  He is different though.  He isn't playing in the flow of the game at the moment.  He is forcing more than he needs to.  Other teams are focusing on shuting him and Palmer down.  In turn he still needs to get rebounds and assists.  Roby, Watson and Allen are all capable of handling the load

I am not trying to come at you personally for saying this. And I think I’ve maybe mentioned something like this before too. But I think we all over play this card far too often (the NBA stuff). 

53 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

Last thing... then I got to do my list for the wife or she'll kill be for putting it off after telling her I put it off last night to watch the game as well. 

 

There were a lot of 50/50 and hustle plays that worked against us past night.  For instance, Glynn was fighting for a rebound multiple times and the ball goes out of bounds.  There was a scramble in the first half where we could have had a run-out 2 times and Penn State ended up scoring because the ball bounced their way.

 

These are things we cannot control and we have to fight through.  We did.

True it seemed like the ball never bounced our way on the 50-50 balls last night

3 hours ago, 49r said:

 

...a SKOSH???  They were totally obnoxious!   

I just really like to use the word skosh. 

38 minutes ago, rr52 said:

Also watching replay and agree we didn't play terrible. Sure it had something to do with players getting tired but 4 or 5 balls in 2nd half were right there for the taking but Huskers just couldn't quite get there. On one offensive rebound for PSU there are 3 NU players in good rebounding position but ball bounces just out of reach of 2 Huskers right to PSU guy. 

Miles said he wanted to put Borchardt in in the 2nd half but assistant coaches talked him out of it. Considering the poor rebounding Miles should've listened to himself.

On a side note, we did end game on 8 to 3 run.

Nebraska did need to put Borchardt in there to bang boards with Watkins. But, on the other end, Roby dominated. It's the yin and yang of the situation....

16 minutes ago, B-town hoopsfan said:

True it seemed like the ball never bounced our way on the 50-50 balls last night

I think we used up all of our favorable bounces on Glynn's 3-pointer late that touched every part of the rim and maybe some of the backboard. 

4 minutes ago, throwback said:

I think we used up all of our favorable bounces on Glynn's 3-pointer late that touched every part of the rim and some of the backboard. 

I don't know if I have ever witnessed a ball that clanged the back of the rim on a 21' shot, bounced every which way, and went in all the while a foul was committed. And the scoring-goal squad gets the ball, side out. Wait, wut?!

5 minutes ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

Nebraska did need to put Borchardt in there to bang boards with Watkins. But, on the other end, Roby dominated. It's the yin and yang of the situation....

 

 

Agree and thought maybe Borchardt and maybe Heiman would get some minutes when Harrar or Buttrick came in the game. Watkins can be load inside.

1 minute ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

I don't know if I have ever witnessed a ball that clanged the back of the rim on a 21' shot, bounced every which way, and went in all the while a foul was committed. And the scoring-goal squad gets the ball, side out. Wait, wut?!

And as long as it took they could've called 2 fouls on Reaves all the while the ball was bouncing around.

Just now, rr52 said:

And as long as it took they could've called 2 fouls on Reaves all the while the ball was bouncing around.

That was most bizarre.

It takes all kinds to get to the Promised Land. Re-watching it, I don't feel nearly as bad about the way it went down ( *and that's probably because I knew NU won, of course.  )

I've been thinking about minute distribution

Here's the ideal minute distribution by brfrad

PG -  Watson (30) Amir (10)

SG - Allen (28) Palmer (10) Nana (2)

SF -  Palmer (22) Copeland (10) Nana (8)

PF - Copeland (23) Roby (15) Nana (2)

C - Roby (15) Tanner (15) Brady (10)

If that's the plan 

Watson 30

Allen 28

Palmer 32

Copeland 33

Roby 30

Amir 10

Nana 12

Tanner 15

Brady 10

2 hours ago, ConkintheCorner said:

It seems like he gets kind of lost in our offense.  I feel like a lot of his scoring has been done in transition rather than the flow of the offense

He gets lost because he takes good shots and doesn't force things....unlike a few others

15 minutes ago, brfrad said:

I've been thinking about minute distribution

 

Here's the ideal minute distribution by brfrad

 

PG -  Watson (30) Amir (10)

SG - Allen (28) Palmer (10) Nana (2)

SF -  Palmer (22) Copeland (10) Nana (8)

PF - Copeland (23) Roby (15) Nana (2)

C - Roby (15) Tanner (15) Brady (10)

 

If that's the plan 

 

Watson 30

Allen 28

Palmer 32

Copeland 33

Roby 30

Amir 10

Nana 12

Tanner 15

Brady 10

I'd be fine if Glynn, JPJ, and Roby put in 35. Cope & TA 30-32. Then the subs pick up 7-8 ea. Having zero sub minutes in the 2nd half is unacceptable, tho.

9 minutes ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

 

I'd be fine if Glynn, JPJ, and Roby put in 35. Cope & TA 30-32. Then the subs pick up 7-8 ea. Having zero sub minutes in the 2nd half is unacceptable, tho.

 

Yesterday was unique.  Roby was playing a great game.  So, you didn't want to take him out of the game.  Nana missed two practices because of illness.  Amir is just coming back from illness. Worried about wearing those two out.  Don't play until Monday.  I think if Amir had played, he gets some minutes in the 2nd half, and if Nana was healthy, he gets some minutes in the 2nd half.  

25 minutes ago, brfrad said:

Yesterday was unique.  Roby was playing a great game.  So, you didn't want to take him out of the game.  Nana missed two practices because of illness.  Amir is just coming back from illness. Worried about wearing those two out.  Don't play until Monday.  I think if Amir had played, he gets some minutes in the 2nd half, and if Nana was healthy, he gets some minutes in the 2nd half.  

Agreed, the other night was kind of oddball. I'd like to see a bit of a Harris in for JPJ, maybe only occasionally. And stretch-4 Nana for Cope, at times. Borchardt as well, for Roby, when a banger is opposing NU. Brady could do some things with a thinner big guy across from him. All in all, kind of thin on the bench this season. I wish NU had Burke *this* year. He'd improve the bench a TON!

48 minutes ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

I don't know if I have ever witnessed a ball that clanged the back of the rim on a 21' shot, bounced every which way, and went in all the while a foul was committed. And the scoring-goal squad gets the ball, side out. Wait, wut?!

...and then have that team squander the shot clock and not get a shot off that could have perhaps sealed the win without any further drama...or not.

8 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

...and then have that team squander the shot clock and not get a shot off that could have perhaps sealed the win without any further drama...or not.

 

Yeah, true... Roby did grab an offensive rebound, oddly a rarity (for NU). But the final 10 seconds were, ahem, "brutal."