uneblinstu's postgame chatter : vol 17; ed 13-Southern

1 minute ago, Bugeaters1 said:

NEB Specialty Stats

Bench Points	40
Points In Paint	22
Points off Turns	9
Opp Turnovers	8
2nd Chance Points	5
Off Rebounds	8
Fastbreak Points	7
Layups	10-14
Dunks	1-1
Times Tied	0
Times Taken Lead	0
Possessions	65
Scores	32
Pts Per Possession	1.185
Scoring %	49.2
Turnover %	21.5
Time Leading	38:54
Time Trailing	0:00
Time Tied	0:56

what was their 2nd chance points?

Best part of the game was that 4 minutes by GG

Just now, RedEyedFanatic said:

Best part of the game was that 4 minutes by GG

40 bench points on a night where our starters lacked was also nice.

I've called GG "Waldo" all season. Last 4 minutes we found Waldo! Wish he would've played more

Southern had to have been one of the worst shooting teams to step foot inside PBA. Woof

Nebraska's level of defensive intensity for the first half was extremely impressive. We had every reason to "take a night off" after the Hawaii trip and with UCLA looming, but we didn't. This team really gets the defense and communicates extremely well on cuts away from the ball - nobody seems lost when they're rotating. It's impressive.

It's hard to believe, but I think SU scored more second-chance points than 'first-chance' points in the first half.

Saturday will be a back alley fight like it is with most Cronin teams. We have to be stronger with the ball and avoid the turnover bug to keep that home win streak alive. 

I'd say we're about in as good of a spot as we can be in heading into the meat grinder of the B1G. 

I we only able to watch the highlights. Looked like BW turned the ball over a number of times, CE was on fire, RW hit a couple 3s! (Yes!!!), and GG played well the last few minutes and hit a 3!!!! 
 

Did I miss anything else? For those at the game or watching what are your takes? 
 

And finally! Bring on UCLA! GBR!!!! 

20 minutes ago, doc1394 said:

Southern had to have been one of the worst shooting teams to step foot inside PBA. Woof

Kind of unsatisfying performance against a really bad Southern team. Small silver linings include we covered the spread and then some, and Gavin turned in a good showing on the offensive end at the very end there.

But really did a terrible job of taking care of the ball. That probably had something to do with maybe playing down to the level of the competition (not all the way down, obviously) and just not maintaining the level of discipline we would have shown against a better team.

Still, that was a groaner at times.

Hard to complain about a 30+ point win.  Came off a tournament championship, a long fight home and before a big game on Saturday against the Bruins.  Good job men!

By the way, glad to see Griffiths getting a few minutes and knocking down his shots.  Maybe a good omen as we enter the new year.

Southern looked like the intramural basketball team for a high level track team. Great athletes, not much skill, and not nearly big enough. Watching warmups it was clear they would be unable to match up physically. 

Probably pretty good for just flying back from Hawaii.

on to UCLA and a chance to earn some respect to be rated.

Notes from UNL 

Nebraska Postgame Notes
*-Nebraska improves to 11-2 on the season for the second straight season. It matches NU’s best record since opening the 1991-92 season with a 12-1 mark after 13 games.
*-Nebraska finishes its non-conference slate with a 10-1 mark, marking  the sixth time since WW2 that Nebraska has finished non-conference action with one loss (2023-24; 2018-19, 2003-04, 1991-92, 1977-78).
*-With the win, Nebraska has now won 19 straight at home dating back to December of 2023. The Huskers are one shy of the program record of 20 set two previous times. 
*-With tonight’s win, NU is 19-1 at home in non-conference action over the last three seasons.
*-Nebraska had an 11-0 run in the first half, the 11th double-figure run of the season.
*-Connor Essegian (20) and Andrew Morgan (11) both finished in double figures off the bench. NU now has 14 double-figure efforts from the bench this season. 
*-Essegian led all scorers with 20 points, his third 20-point game of the season and fifth of his career. It marks the 10th time in Fred Hoiberg’s six seasons that NU has had a player come off the bench and finish with at least 20 points.
*-Essegian matched his career high with six 3-pointers (also vs. South Dakota and North Florida). He has hit five-or-more 3-pointers four times this season.
*-Nebraska finished with 22 assists, its second-highest total of the year. In addition to Rollie Worster, who had six assists without a turnover, Sam Hoiberg added a career-high five assists.
*-Brice Williams has reached double figures in 12 of NU’s 13 games, finishing with 11 points. He went over the 1,500-point mark for his career. Williams also matched his season high with seven boards.
*-Nebraska tied a season high with 13 3-pointers, the third time this season NU hit 10-or-more 3-pointers in a game.

*-Nebraska’s defense posted season lows in field goal percentage (25.4%), 3-point percentage (12.5%), 3-pointers made (3) and free throw percentage (37.5%).
*-The 43 points allowed and 25.4 percent field goal percentage by Southern were the lowest since Mississippi Valley State had 37 points and 19.1 percent shooting on Nov. 6, 2018.

*-Berke Büyüktuncel tied his career high nine rebounds, the fourth time this season he has grabbed nine or more rebounds.

Good effort in the first half on defense.  Southern had pushed A&M and was quick defensively and really attacked the offensive boards.   Hopefully we can find a way to score against UCLA as they will not let Connor get his.

I was close enough tonight to hear a bit of the on court chatter. Meah is a great communicator on the defensive end. 
 

Thanks again, Greg Gard. Glad you don’t like Essegian’s skill set. 
 

Nice to end the game on our largest lead of the night. 

Really liked the intensity and effort on defense in the first half.   True Southern is a really poor shooting team but we still won the game with our 1st half defense.    Second half was a different story.   Poor effort at times and really sloppy ball handling and play.   But somewhat understandable given the situation where the game was essentially over by halftime.   Also as said above not going to complain about a 30 point win.

Connor had a lot of points but was not that efficient as he shot a lot tonight.   Good to see Rollie hit a couple 3's - maybe that will get him going a little bit at least.   Also great to see something positive happen for Griffiths even if it was just in scrub minutes.   I continue to believe he can help us this year if we can just get him to playing even at the level he was at for Rutgers last year.  

12 minutes ago, Vinny said:

I was close enough tonight to hear a bit of the on court chatter. Meah is a great communicator on the defensive end. 
 

Thanks again, Greg Gard. Glad you don’t like Essegian’s skill set. 
 

Nice to end the game on our largest lead of the night. 

Glad you got to see it in person, I watched it on BTN from River Falls Wisconsin. 

NU has been the King of the 10-0 run late in a ballgame to wrap up 2024. It's been impressive how often that late-game run has made the final outcome much better.

what was their 2nd chance points?

Great crowd tonight. At times it looked very full, the lower bowl especially. 
Scored floor seats, that’s a whole different viewing experience.

Nice to see Rollie hit a couple of 3’s

Awesome to see something positive happen for Gavin

Southern was without their two top guards apparently.

I would bet a lot that #24 for them would win a few dunk contests. 
Great win without any serious injuries.

Big game against UCLA! 

Overall, Southern looked outmatched all night. Know they were down two guards, but it was bad offensively. They ran a junk trappish zone most of the night, and in the second half pressure got dialed up on that, so turnovers weren't shocking, although some were just dumb. 

No real overarching thoughts about individuals this one, as we were just better. Was awesome to see Gavin get going, because I really do think he'll be needed at some point this year and in the future. Keyed in on him on defense and thought he was in the right spots most of the time. Got a foul where he got overpowered for a orb, but overall rotated correctly. 

UCLA is a huge test. They're an interesting group, as they don't have one guy who can beat you, but their best player in Tyler from OSU or Eric dailey. They have about 4 quality forward bodies, best of which being kobe Johnson, who's a hellish defender. One area I think we can exploit is guard play, as I don't think their guard play has been all that consistent this year. They have 4 guards they go to, beat of which being Tyler perry imo, but he's a freshman. Sky Clark, Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack all do good stuff, but they all struggle with different things too. Could be a game to get Connor off, and potentially Berke, as he'll have Tyler on him more than likely 

The metrics loved that one. 

NET: 38 (was 46)

Torvik: 28 (#8 defense)

KenPom: 37 (#9 defense)

BPI: 36 (SOR 29)

However, I was downright angry watching most of that game. We absolutely need to be more crisp and clean offensively in the Big Ten. Many of our errors and turnovers are unforced and self-inflicted, and it's been that way all year. UCLA's defense will travel to Lincoln and they will be more like Michigan State than any other team we've played this year. But we can win that game if we take care of the ball. We're a defensive team this year, but we're gonna need our offense to protect the ball and not cost us games in conference play. There won't be any more teams as soft as Indiana (even Iowa). 

Overall, the non-con season couldn't have went much better. I thought we could go 10-1 again this year (but wasn't overly confident that we would), but did not think our metrics would be this good going into January. With the Big Ten currently in 2nd in conference ratings, we are in darn good shape right now. 

6 hours ago, Dean Smith said:

50% from three is pretty efficient no matter how many you take. 

Agreed, but with the quality of looks he was getting I thought more would drop (so did Connor by the looks of it). He's got such a good release that you expect him to make it when his feet are set.

The Huskers haven't lost to a mid major team in two years which is refreshing.

That is the sign of a good team and overall program.

The Jags had no chance on offense. 

It was good to see the intensity on both sides of the ball.

We seemingly got any shot we wanted.

Brice and Juwan didn't have good games, and we still put up 77.

If Worster can continue to average around 9 ppg, 4 boards, and 5 assist, this team will be dangerous.