uneblinstu's postgame chatter : vol 17; ed 14-UCLA

35 minutes ago, throwback said:

Even though Essegian didn't make a shot, his presence opened up the driving lanes. We couldn't get anything going when Meah was in there - the lane was too clogged. Not his fault - this just wasn't a game where his skills fit well. Once Essegian was on the floor, though, it all opened up.

 

Quick back-of-the-napkin math, but I think we only scored 15 points in the 15 minutes Meah was on the floor. Again, not a criticism of his abilities, but just not a game that fit his skills well. Essegian being on the floor changed how we could attack them significantly.

 

This is backed up by his +/- leading the team, by a large margin, for the game while missing every field goal attempt he took.

36 minutes ago, HuscurAdam said:

I just want to shout-out Juwan Gary. He plays with an edge and consistently makes winning plays. When UCLA was trying to come back and steal it at the end, it was Gary who slammed the door shut. It was also Gary who knocked down a couple 3s, forcing UCLA to guard him, which helped open up the floor for Brice to get to the rim (and get fouled).    

 

I do tire of some fans complaining about him taking 3s. His shot has obviously improved, and is to the point where he should be taking 3-5 open/rhythm 3s per game. The threat of him shooting opens things up for everyone. He just shouldn't try to make a living out there, and he hasn't. 

 

Gary is a program-changer, and I don't think we will understand just how valuable he is to this program until he's gone. I'd love to see the record of games with Gary in the lineup versus the same number of games without him.

His shot looks smooth, but he's also taking really good and open looks. He's going to be a key shooter for us that needs to keep shooting and knocking them down. He is one that, on the scouting report, they will "sag" off of when he's on the perimeter to stop a drive. So expect more and more kickouts and if he can keep a good percentage of them going in, he's going to keep that D more honest.

One thing that has not been mentioned much that might be the most important reason we won the game was the horrible shooting by UCLA from three.  Our defense will give you some open threes but you better make them.  The thing about our D is the shots we give up might be open but are not always in rhythm and not by the person they want to shoot the shot.

1 minute ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

One thing that has not been mentioned much that might be the most important reason we won the game was the horrible shooting by UCLA from three.  Our defense will give you some open threes but you better make them.  The thing about our D is the shots we give up might be open but are not always in rhythm and not by the person they want to shoot the shot.

We put teams in a weird and awkward position when we play D. When they get that skip pass, a lot of times the shot is wide open right away, BUT we close out so fast. The way we rotate also makes it appear that there is a driving lane "open" when they catch that skip pass. If they don't shoot right away and hesitate thinking they might drive, our close out is there and the window to shoot is closed.

However, if they do choose to drive, 99% of the time our help is right there and that lane closes and they're back to square one.

44 minutes ago, HuscurAdam said:

I just want to shout-out Juwan Gary. He plays with an edge and consistently makes winning plays. When UCLA was trying to come back and steal it at the end, it was Gary who slammed the door shut. It was also Gary who knocked down a couple 3s, forcing UCLA to guard him, which helped open up the floor for Brice to get to the rim (and get fouled).    

 

I do tire of some fans complaining about him taking 3s. His shot has obviously improved, and is to the point where he should be taking 3-5 open/rhythm 3s per game. The threat of him shooting opens things up for everyone. He just shouldn't try to make a living out there, and he hasn't. 

 

Gary is a program-changer, and I don't think we will understand just how valuable he is to this program until he's gone. I'd love to see the record of games with Gary in the lineup versus the same number of games without him.

Agreed with all this, he's statistically the 3rd-best 3-point shooter on the team and it's not close. 

I want to shout-out Sam Hoiberg. Yes he makes game-changing plays, we all know what he does out there. But I think it's extremely underrated how watching him play inspires other guys on our team to give the same effort/focus. Wisconsin fans said Connor Essegian wouldn't play defense and wouldn't care on that side of the ball. Now he may not ever be the best or smartest defender, but a large of part of defense is just caring. And right now Essegian clearly cares out there and is trying his best and it showed yesterday, even when his shot wasn't falling. +24 in an 8-point game against a top-15 team when he had 2 points? That's crazy considering he's supposed to be a liability on the other end of the floor. Coaches and Connor deserve credit for that, but ultimately great teams need players like Sam, who at "6-0" are out there busting their tails with no excuses. New players like Connor and Gavin who needed to pick up their play on defense have to be watching that every game and thinking "if he can do all that, why shouldn't I be?" 

1 hour ago, HuscurAdam said:

I just want to shout-out Juwan Gary. He plays with an edge and consistently makes winning plays. When UCLA was trying to come back and steal it at the end, it was Gary who slammed the door shut. It was also Gary who knocked down a couple 3s, forcing UCLA to guard him, which helped open up the floor for Brice to get to the rim (and get fouled).    

 

I do tire of some fans complaining about him taking 3s. His shot has obviously improved, and is to the point where he should be taking 3-5 open/rhythm 3s per game. The threat of him shooting opens things up for everyone. He just shouldn't try to make a living out there, and he hasn't. 

 

Gary is a program-changer, and I don't think we will understand just how valuable he is to this program until he's gone. I'd love to see the record of games with Gary in the lineup versus the same number of games without him.

I don't mind him taking them for all the reasons in your post. He's earned the right. Obviously worked hard at it too. But damn his shot looks like 1/2 of the McDonald's Arch.

54 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

We put teams in a weird and awkward position when we play D. When they get that skip pass, a lot of times the shot is wide open right away, BUT we close out so fast. The way we rotate also makes it appear that there is a driving lane "open" when they catch that skip pass. If they don't shoot right away and hesitate thinking they might drive, our close out is there and the window to shoot is closed.

 

However, if they do choose to drive, 99% of the time our help is right there and that lane closes and they're back to square one.

And quite a few times it seems like they try to make pass to guy on weakside and backside help intercepts it. 

This game is being replayed on FS2 at 6pm tonight (30 minutes from this post)

Has anyone checkedout the UCLA message boards?

Nebraska had 4 guys, primarily bench players, who were able to shoot 8 for 10 from the field, while the other 5 guys (with 4 starters) shot 9 for 42. And won by 8 over the #15 team in the nation. That's incredible.

22 minutes ago, Bugeaters1 said:

Has anyone checkedout the UCLA message boards?

 

They all suck in terms of presentation and the content isn't much better. 'make more 3s and we win this easy'

3 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

They all suck in terms of presentation and the content isn't much better. 'make more 3s and we win this easy'

Twitter was similar, their barstool account was complimentary of the environment but that may have been a sarcastic tweet too 

22 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

They all suck in terms of presentation and the content isn't much better. 'make more 3s and we win this easy'

...yeah...Nebraska makes their 3's, the Huskers win even more easily...just saying.

1 hour ago, hhcmatt said:

 

They all suck in terms of presentation and the content isn't much better. 'make more 3s and we win this easy'

Agree- their MB's were awful.

33 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

Agree- their MB's were awful.

Well, to be fair, their fanbase is full of entitled, pretentious douches, so that tracks.

Random thought: Do UCLA fans wear sweater vests?

2nd random thought: I'm confident that NU is the first team in history to win back-to-back(-ish) conference games against teams with at least 16 combined nat'l championships.

1 minute ago, throwback said:

Well, to be fair, their fanbase is full of entitled, pretentious douches, so that tracks.

 

Random thought: Do UCLA fans wear sweater vests?

 

2nd random thought: I'm confident that NU is the first team in history to win back-to-back(-ish) conference games against teams with at least 16 combined nat'l championships.

 

Yeah, and the B1G did NU no favors with MSU, Indiana, and UCLA right out of the gate to start the conference slate!

8 minutes ago, throwback said:

Random thought: Do UCLA fans wear sweater vests?

No. But they definitely drive a Tesla.  They don't leave home without a light Patagonia jacket. And guy or girl they're wearing a visor.

5 minutes ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

 

Yeah, and the B1G did NU no favors with MSU, Indiana, and UCLA right out of the gate to start the conference slate!

It has always seemed to me that NU gets 2 or 3 of the 'expected to finish' top 4 or 5 conference foes on the very front end of the schedule...you know, just so they can get in a nice hole that's nearly impossible to dig out of if NU might have any thoughts of being a decent team and finish in the top half of the conference.

The past couple of years I think that has aided NU's late season success with some of the 'lesser' teams scheduled late.

This year, I don't think it makes much difference.  It appears right now that there is more parity throughout the conference and there really aren't going to be many games that can be expected wins without playing really good ball.

Of course, it's fantastic to be 2-1 instead of 1-2 or 0-3 against 3 good teams.

I believe Fred pointed out to the Big Ten Conference that Nebraska is the only Big Ten team to start conference play on the road each of the past 6 years.  I’m guessing we might finally start conference play at home the next couple of years.

37 minutes ago, NUtball said:

It has always seemed to me that NU gets 2 or 3 of the 'expected to finish' top 4 or 5 conference foes on the very front end of the schedule...you know, just so they can get in a nice hole that's nearly impossible to dig out of if NU might have any thoughts of being a decent team and finish in the top half of the conference.

 

The past couple of years I think that has aided NU's late season success with some of the 'lesser' teams scheduled late.

 

This year, I don't think it makes much difference.  It appears right now that there is more parity throughout the conference and there really aren't going to be many games that can be expected wins without playing really good ball.

 

Of course, it's fantastic to be 2-1 instead of 1-2 or 0-3 against 3 good teams.

Agreed. I was making a mention that the first three opponents have won quite a few national championships combined, as the B1G has been wont to do to NU: the wonks generally have provided us a schedule tough at the outset.

20 minutes ago, REDZONEDAN said:

I believe Fred pointed out to the Big Ten Conference that Nebraska is the only Big Ten team to start conference play on the road each of the past 6 years.  I’m guessing we might finally start conference play at home the next couple of years.

I wouldn't bet the farm on it.  This is the B1G we're talking about.  The front office has been subtly shafting NU since the moment they joined.

Connor needs to shoot the ball with more arc. Go back and watch it. That thing barely gets above the rim. It's simple science that you increase your odds by shooting the ball higher in the air. 

12 hours ago, HuskerActuary said:

Connor needs to shoot the ball with more arc. Go back and watch it. That thing barely gets above the rim. It's simple science that you increase your odds by shooting the ball higher in the air. 

His shot was flat Saturday— but I don’t remember that being the case other games? Maybe it’s just because they went in.