uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 12; ed 28 - Ohio State

Still holding out for that elusive 10th win....

One win and i'll hit my 3 win prediction for conference games.

Congrats Yvan

This one was tough to watch in person. I stayed until the end. Not sure why, had to drive back to Omaha- I did stop at a Taco Bell and ate two crunchy tacos, so that was a win...

18 minutes ago, Faux Mike Peltz said:

This one was tough to watch in person. I stayed until the end. Not sure why, had to drive back to Omaha- I did stop at a Taco Bell and ate two crunchy tacos, so that was a win...

How many rest areas are there between Lincoln and Omaha?

16 minutes ago, Faux Mike Peltz said:

This one was tough to watch in person. I stayed until the end. Not sure why, had to drive back to Omaha- I did stop at a Taco Bell and ate two crunchy tacos, so that was a win...

We left at the 4 minute mark to embark on a gryo plate downtown before heading to Omaha.  Was the earliest I have ever left a game by far.  Very disappointing night.  We do not match up well at all with that squad and them making 5 of first 6 treys took wind out of our sails.  I admittedly am unable to attend early season games, but that was far and away the worst crowd in conference play I have seen since the building opened.  I cannot say I blame the fans.  Late start makes it hard to come from a distance when we aren't good.  It was just sad really.  I cannot wait until next year.  At least until our next game.  

Was amused with the student section chanting for OSU’s bench guy Hummer to get in the game.

Also pretty cool to see Steffon Bradford at halftime.  

Steve Harley was at the game.

So was Dev Biggs, Borchardt, and Johnny F. Trueblood

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8 hours ago, Faux Mike Peltz said:

This one was tough to watch in person. I stayed until the end. Not sure why, had to drive back to Omaha- I did stop at a Taco Bell and ate two crunchy tacos, so that was a win...

I was one of the 100 people there at the end as well.  Headed straight home though as to depressed to eat.  Can't ever remember a game with that few of people left at the end of the game.  That was a brutal look for a game on ESPN2

3 hours ago, kldm64 said:

 

I was one of the 100 people there at the end as well.  Headed straight home though as to depressed to eat.  Can't ever remember a game with that few of people left at the end of the game.  That was a brutal look for a game on ESPN2

To be fair, there are very few arenas that would have had a crowd like we did for a 7 - 20 team at 8 pm to start.

Notes and quotes from UNL

Nebraska Postgame Notes

• Yvan Ouedraogo grabbed a team-high six rebounds – all in the second half – to set the Nebraska freshman rebounding record. He has 172 rebounds this season, surpassing the previous record of 169 set by Aleks Maric in the 2004-05 season. Ouedraogo has grabbed six or more rebounds in each of the last four contests.
• Dachon Burke Jr. led Nebraska with 13 points. He has scored in double figures in each of his last six Big Ten Conference games.
• Cam Mack, who missed Monday’s game at Illinois with an illness, scored 12 points against Ohio State, marking his first game in double figures since Feb. 8 at Iowa. Mack leads Nebraska with 21 games in double figures this season. Mack now has 172 assists and is seven away from third place on NU’s single-season chart.
• Ohio State’s Kaleb Wesson went 10-of-13 from the free-throw line, establishing Pinnacle Bank Arena opponent records for free throws made and attempted.
• Nebraska hit a season-low three 3-pointers against Ohio State, as the previous low was five on three occasions.

Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg

On the effort tonight

“I thought the effort was there in the first half. I thought we went out there and tried to do the right thing defensively. They obviously hit their shots early- five of their first six, four of those by [Duane] Washington Jr. who had been driving the ball. We talked about closing out on him with the drive, and he was going up and shooting it without any hesitation, but I thought we were there on those closeouts. They were 5-6 (from three) to start and 1-18 the rest of the game. I thought in transition we did a solid job. On the boards, they had four offensive rebounds in the first half. I thought we did a lot of good things, even though they scored 43 points. Give Ohio State credit. They came out in great rhythm and great pace in their offense. In the first half, we give up scores in the paint, and in the second half we gave up seven in the early minutes before we called the timeout. I thought the resistance on the drives was what was disappointing which opened it up for them in the second half. I thought we played our best half at Maryland when we had a 13-point deficit there. To be able to fight back on the road against the number one team in our league, we talked about coming out with that same mentality. It just wasn’t the same. We lost the second half by five and the first half by 16. Defensively in the first half, we limited them in places we wanted to limit them. The second half was too easy for them.”

On if the offensive struggles the past couple weeks is a sign of fatigue

“I don’t think so. I think we had 44 shots in the paint area but a lot of those were forced. They had nine blocked shots the first time we played them, and they had nine tonight. We talked a lot about working hard on probing in the paint or making the pass to the corner or kicking it out for spacing. I thought too many times we were trying to challenge at the rim. I thought a lot of those 44 shots weren’t great shots. We’ve had times in games this year where we’ve struggled to finish but they were the shots we want. Tonight, a lot of those were forced.”

On if there is any lack of motivation

“I don’t think it is a lack of motivation. I think when things get tough, that’s when we see guys start to drop their heads a little bit. I know it’s human nature when you go through struggle like that especially with as long of a slide as we’ve had with guys who haven’t dealt with that that much. When things are going well, you can see the enthusiasm. We almost get a “Here we go again.” mentality when things start to get rough. We have to find a way to fight through that in these last three games and the Big Ten Tournament if we have any chance of winning. In practice, that’s where you see it. If we weren’t giving any effort in practice, I would be worried about this group, but they still come in to work. When you come out in the game, hopefully you can consistently put effort in 40 minutes. For the most part of the season, our guys have had great effort. Our guys, especially some individually, have gotten better. When things get tough, you can see it. You can see the heads drop. You can see it in the huddles. It’s just not the same energy. We have to find a way to get past that.” 

Nebraska Junior Guard Thorir Thorbjarnarson 

On the shooting struggles being a result on an off night for Nebraska or Ohio State's defense

"A little bit of both I think. I don't think I got an open look until three minutes left on the clock, so they were doing a really good job guarding me, but also we got some good looks, but the ball wasn't going it. It's hard when they get five three's right off the bat of the game and have to dig yourselves out of a hole."

On what he is looking to for motivation

"Personally I can say the Big Ten Tournament, it doesn't matter how the season ends every team gets a shot. With three games to go, we just have to try to get some momentum going into that, and we have a perfect opportunity on Sunday. I think that's going to be a key game for us to head into the tournament in Indianapolis.”

Ohio State Head Coach Chris Holtmann

On his general thoughts on the game

Obviously, I have a lot of respect for Fred and this team. When you look at how they’ve played and their games, they’ve been really close and touch-and-go for a lot of the second halves. Fred and them do a great job of spreading you out and making it difficult for you to guard. We were really concerned about playing here, in Lincoln, with a great fanbase. So I feel good about this win. I thought our older guys led the way.

On Nebraska’s three-point shooting

They can shoot it from so many different spots. They hit eight in the second half at our place. I thought Fred made some adjustments in the second half at our place that just made it really difficult for us and spread us out. We didn’t always have great attention to detail. It was obviously a concern.

On how he feels going into the end of the season

I feel good about it. It’s all on our older guys, it’s really a credit to them. You’re led this time of year by your older guys, your captains. They’re the ones who deserve the credit. We’ve got a really quick turnaround.

That game was PATHETIC!  I was particularly upset with one of our players...then again a team wins games and teams lose games.

13 hours ago, HuskerFever said:

 

 

How many rest areas are there between Lincoln and Omaha?

I actually waited until I got back to Omaha and ate them at home. I knew the potential pitfalls of Taco Bell and rest stops 20 miles away...

well, I was so down on these guys early on I figured they'd goose egg the league. 

They did manage to pick up two and have a puncher's chance at a third next. 

And the two they got were quality, so there's that. 

But I can't lie, this year was just a lost season, because this team out there can't possibly be back next season unless our new goal is to basically hep the conference by providing wins for their better programs. 

In the worst season in program history, they managed to beat Iowa. The Hawkeyes will have to live with that for the rest of their lives. 

Cross continues to fade down the stretch, still not sold on him going forward..  His defense is awful and his shooting has not been good lately.  Im curious whether he will be back or not next year.

1 hour ago, ConkintheCorner said:

Cross continues to fade down the stretch, still not sold on him going forward..  His defense is awful and his shooting has not been good lately.  Im curious whether he will be back or not next year.

I'm iffy on him right now. 34% from the field. Moving back to his natural 4 position might help, but there's no guaranteed playing time with both Stevenson and Mayen there. Could work out for him! We don't know

I think there's about 2-3 players that leave and one player that will surprise everyone. I wouldn't write Cross as a guarantee right now to leave but it's higher chance than I might've thought earlier in the year. Willing to let it play out though

12 hours ago, thrasher31 said:

I think there's about 2-3 players that leave and one player that will surprise everyone. I wouldn't write Cross as a guarantee right now to leave but it's higher chance than I might've thought earlier in the year. Willing to let it play out though

By "surprise" do you mean "whoa, didn't expect HIM to leave!" or "wow, didn't think he'd stick around but now he's contributing!"?

On 2/29/2020 at 12:17 PM, dustystehl said:

 

By "surprise" do you mean "whoa, didn't expect HIM to leave!" or "wow, didn't think he'd stick around but now he's contributing!"?

Mostly the first. Whether that be Cross, Yvan, Mack, Thor or whoever I think there will be a surprise transfer this off-season. Not a huge loss overall because Fred has shown he can reload and college basketball is a revolving door. 

Right now, I put some money in the cross pot, but I'm willing to wait it out

Cross and Green are my top two picks for not being back right now.   Cross could be decent.   But just wonder where he fits in.   He’s definitely not a 5