uneblinstu's postgame chatter : vol 17; ed 4 - St. Marys

3 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Also another side note on the threes...it really looked like our team thought the three point line was the white (NBA) line while the true line was the black line...did anyone else notice that?

I had someone text me about that

8 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Also another side note on the threes...it really looked like our team thought the three point line was the white (NBA) line while the true line was the black line...did anyone else notice that?

I kept yelling at my TV for them to "quit shooting from the white line!"

2 hours ago, Raidsker said:

Weird Connor wasn't in on last play when we had to have a 3. I thought that was his main role.

The lineup for the last shot was Brice, Berke, Meah, Gary, and Rollie.

It looks like the play was for Meah to screen so Brice  could get up a shot.  Seems like you could do the same thing with Morgan who at least would be a threat.

I think you want Berke in there because he's at least a guy big enough to get off a shot.

I think you want Rollie in there so you can get the ball up the court.  You could have Brice do this as well.

The question I'm asking is why was Gary or even Connor in there over Meah.

20 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Also another side note on the threes...it really looked like our team thought the three point line was the white (NBA) line while the true line was the black line...did anyone else notice that?

Hello it confused me. When Morgan made his 3 I was like "Bro have some court awareness. And you're celebrating?!? Get it together!"

Maybe one thing that contributed to the slow start was the fire alarm going off multiple times at the Huskers' hotel overnight

Notes from UNL

*-Brice Williams finished with a game-high 28 points, his highest scoring effort in his Husker career (college career high is 32). Williams’ previous Husker best was 27 in the opener against UTRGV.
*-Willliams has reached double figure in eight straight games dating back to last year with his 28-point effort. He now has 19 career 20-pont games, including four in his last seven games dating back to last season.
*-Berke Büyüktuncel set a career high with 15 points, topping his previous college career high of 13 against Stanford when he was at UCLA last season. Büyüktuncel, who has been in double figures in each of the past two games, also set a career bests with three steals and three blocks. Büyüktuncel had 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
*-Andrew Morgan had 10 points off the bench, the third double-figure game by a Husker reserve this season
*-Nebraska went 25-of-29 from the foul line in the loss, its best night from the foul line of the season and best since going 14-of-14 at Illinois on Feb. 4, 2024. The Huskers have shot at least 80 percent from the line in each of the past three games.
*-Nebraska falls to 1-2 against Saint Mary’s all-time
*-Nebraska falls to 2-1 in games played at the Sanford Pentagon

Nebraska currently averaging 29 FT attempts a game (#15), and making 23 of those (#4) for a 79% rate (#25). Definitely need to get a few more 3s to fall, but until then, free throws are keeping them in games, especially this one. 

I've seen Meah play 5 games (including the scrimmage and exhibition) and I'm wondering why he is even on the court.  Hate to be so hard on him but I don't see any positives in playing him.  Maybe if someone is in foul trouble but definitely not starting or playing significant minutes. He's not even a strong rebounder. He's weak.  He's  always falling down. He is an offensive liability. I would also like to see Rollie try to score more often. So far he's not much of a scoring threat.  

58 minutes ago, Shawn Eichorst's Toupee said:

Nebraska currently averaging 29 FT attempts a game (#15), and making 23 of those (#4) for a 79% rate (#25). Definitely need to get a few more 3s to fall, but until then, free throws are keeping them in games, especially this one. 

We've made 20+ FTs over the first 4 games. I've made it back to 2010-11 and haven't found a 4 game stretch where we've done that.

We've taken 25+ FTs over the first 4 games. I've made it back to 2010-11 and haven't found a 4 game stretch where we've done that.

I assume both streaks will end at Creighton considering how stingy they are at giving up points at the line but we shall see.

41 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

We've made 20+ FTs over the first 4 games. I've made it back to 2010-11 and haven't found a 4 game stretch where we've done that.

We've taken 25+ FTs over the first 4 games. I've made it back to 2010-11 and haven't found a 4 game stretch where we've done that.

 

I assume both streaks will end at Creighton considering how stingy they are at giving up points at the line but we shall see.

This definitely can counteract our lower shooting percentage from deep. I mentioned it after one of the first two games and it has held true thus far. There hasn't been too many times this year where we have abandoned our bread and butter of getting to the rim and possibly the line. Past teams who have look disjointed on offense seemed to sputter at the end of the shot clock and put up a forced jumper or bad three. This team at least tries to get to the rim if the clock is running down.

If Berke provides that much energy all year he's going to be a fan favorite, thinking about him and Rienk together next year gets you excited.  My question is when does the staff think about playing Nick Janowski? This team needs shooting badly, and he can provide that.  Just not sure they want to see Ulis or Sam's minutes go down for an unproven freshman, but it wouldn't hurt to try him out if things continue the way they have been from deep.  

18 minutes ago, Sidelines - Nebraska said:

If Berke provides that much energy all year he's going to be a fan favorite, thinking about him and Rienk together next year gets you excited.  My question is when does the staff think about playing Nick Janowski? This team needs shooting badly, and he can provide that.  Just not sure they want to see Ulis or Sam's minutes go down for an unproven freshman, but it wouldn't hurt to try him out if things continue the way they have been from deep.  

Unless Fred has to win a certain number of games to keep employed I don't think burning redshirts is the way to go here. I have to think that if Janowski was remarkedly better than anyone else we're rolling out at the 1 or 2 that he'd already be playing.

25 minutes ago, Sidelines - Nebraska said:

If Berke provides that much energy all year he's going to be a fan favorite, thinking about him and Rienk together next year gets you excited.  My question is when does the staff think about playing Nick Janowski? This team needs shooting badly, and he can provide that.  Just not sure they want to see Ulis or Sam's minutes go down for an unproven freshman, but it wouldn't hurt to try him out if things continue the way they have been from deep.  

Janowski was 1-6 from 3 in the intrasquad scrimmage and exhibition. I love his future, but I don't think he's ready. Before we decide this team needs shooting so badly to burn a redshirt, we need to start by giving more minutes and shots to Essegian, Griffiths and Morgan and less to Ulis and Meah. 

5 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

*  we defended Kalkbrenner well last year --- without a 7'2" center. 

*  I am struggling understanding Meah's exact role.  I don't blame him.  It really looks like Fred is struggling fitting him in; both offensively and defensively. 

*  tied to the above, I think Juwan is struggling a bit offensively due to Meah's presence on the floor.  Meah really absorbs space where Juwan likes to roam.  Plus the defender does not to defend Meah on the perimeter.  Tie that to our failure to hit open 3's, creates a lane filled with bodies.

* yesterday was a close competitive game.  You can easily point to two things (simplified) that led to our loss.  Our sluggish start and St. Mary's ability to knock down open three's and our failure to do so.

 

Also another side note on the threes...it really looked like our team thought the three point line was the white (NBA) line while the true line was the black line...did anyone else notice that?

I'm going to point to one more thing that led to the loss--when we went up 5 in the second half and turned it over on 5 or 6 consecutive possessions.  That was just unbelievably brutal.   Involved no missed 3s, but was devastating.

5 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

 

Janowski was 1-6 from 3 in the intrasquad scrimmage and exhibition. I love his future, but I don't think he's ready. Before we decide this team needs shooting so badly to burn a redshirt, we need to start by giving more minutes and shots to Essegian, Griffiths and Morgan and less to Ulis and Meah. 

Griffiths will need to show he remotely cares about defense to earn more minutes.   

3 minutes ago, HB said:

 

Griffiths will need to show he remotely cares about defense to earn more minutes.   

Agreed. He was not good yesterday.

5 minutes ago, HB said:

 

I'm going to point to one more thing that led to the loss--when we wen up 5 in the second half and turned it over on 5 or 6 consecutive possessions.  That was just unbelievably brutal.   Involved no missed 3s, but was devastating.

Three were on interior passes, correct?

5 minutes ago, HB said:

Griffiths will need to show he remotely cares about defense to earn more minutes.   

His defense seemed to consist of letting his man dribble by him, and then attempt to block his shot.  I believe he may have been successful once.

When he was subbed for in the second half, his facial expression and body language was bad

Brice is 31-34 this season on FTs. Has a decent chance to breaks James Palmer's make record and maybe a chance at the attempt record.

23 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

 

Janowski was 1-6 from 3 in the intrasquad scrimmage and exhibition. I love his future, but I don't think he's ready. Before we decide this team needs shooting so badly to burn a redshirt, we need to start by giving more minutes and shots to Essegian, Griffiths and Morgan and less to Ulis and Meah. 

Good point. I'm not saying it needs to happen right now, but it may be something to consider if Griffiths and Essegian don't shoot to their ability. 

3 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

I am struggling understanding Meah's exact role.  I don't blame him.  It really looks like Fred is struggling fitting him in; both offensively and defensively. 

I figured we were going to have issues running two types of offenses or defenses but it turns out we have issues putting a guy who shouldn't play more than 4 feet away from the rim 4+ feet from the rim most of the game.

41 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

I figured we were going to have issues running two types of offenses or defenses but it turns out we have issues putting a guy who shouldn't play more than 4 feet away from the rim 4+ feet from the rim most of the game.

It's still crazy to me that somewhere in the offseason Fred Hoiberg really thought "I love a ball-handling, 3-point shooting, excellent passing 5. So I'm going to start a 7-1 guy who's never shot a 3 in his career and has 3x as many career turnovers as assists and he's going to play 20 minutes a game." 

4 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

 

It's still crazy to me that somewhere in the offseason Fred Hoiberg really thought "I love a ball-handling, 3-point shooting, excellent passing 5. So I'm going to start a 7-1 guy who's never shot a 3 in his career and has 3x as many career turnovers as assists and he's going to play 20 minutes a game." 

Seemed like a combination of wanting to have a rim protector after getting our teeth kicked in vs Illinois and Texas A&M and then getting our 5th choice in the transfer portal.  Just seems nuts that we're trying to Alonzo Verge him into Derrick Walker over the course of a season.

55 minutes ago, Sidelines - Nebraska said:

Good point. I'm not saying it needs to happen right now, but it may be something to consider if Griffiths and Essegian don't shoot to their ability. 

By the time that happens post season hopes will be over so what's the point?