uneblinstu's post game chatter: vol 5, ed 25 - Michigan State

So close and yet so far.  Thank you Shields for keeping us in this game with your rebounding and scoring.  He was the only one hitting the boards hard.  This was a winning game again and another one we let slip away

Rivers - started out the game well but seem to dissappear.  Played good defense

Ubel - Got schooled over and over again down low.  Tough match-up for him

Talley - Good and bad as scored alot but still made horrible decision down the stretch trying to do to much on his own

Gallegos - wow.....worst shooting game of the season

Shields - what a stud tonight.  Congrats on your double double as well deserved.  Worked his ass off on the boards

Almeida - how many 1 foot shots can you miss in one game.  Non-factor all night and deserved to sit the entire second half

Parker - Another bad game with bad decisons.  Only getting playing time out of need.  Hurts us time and time again on defense

We still played the #8 team in the country to 9 points.  I get tired of coming up close and not winning some of these games.  Frustrating as I'm not into moral victories.  Also, for all those idiots that left with 4 minutes left again, I was really hoping we came back and won to show you to quit leaving early.  I didn't realize so many people had 9pm bedtimes.

Kldm, I'm with you, our fans are terrible. I was hoping we'd win just to spite the 70% of the fans that left.

As upset as some were with the officiating last game, I'm twice as angry tonight. They let their big guys get away with pushing and hacking all night. How the hell Nix can play the entire game with ZERO FOULS is beyond me. At the end of the game, Talley went flying and to the ground hard from a push by Nix but no call. If we get ANY calls early in the second half it's a different game. Not saying he refs lst it for us but it does get old watching us get NO CALLS on our HOME COURT!

That said, I was proud of the guys for battling to the end. Unlike our fair weather fans, the team didn't quit. Shields was obviously stellar and Rivers continues to improve every game. Pretty sure Gallegos forgot we were playing today. Looked off all night. Talley with a "quiet" 28. Had no idea he had that many points until I looked up and he was at 20.

On the moral victory thing . . . if this were a senior-laden team with a down-tick expected in the future, a close-but-yet-so-far-away game like this would be devasting.  But that's not where Nebrasketball is right now: we are at the nadir on talent with some excellent players on the bench in red shirts and others on their way.  So . . . what a game like this shows is that Miles and Co. can coach-em-up against a top-ten team and that the future is bright.  Close games against the 8th ranked team are important at this stage of development, whether we call it a "moral victory" or a "close game against a top team."

Every game, it seems we just refuse to double-team down in the low post.  Do others notice this?  It bothers me.  You've got a huge AND athletic dude on the block and Ubel is left on an island with him.  If Rivers, Talley, Shields come in for a double team when the entry pass comes in, I feel like we'd do so much better defensively.  Not saying double for the whole possession, just that first 1-3 seconds the post receives the pass.  

Close game, but no cigar. 

Short bench, huh?

We played a total of 8 players.

Each starter played in excess of 30 minutes. 

The next 3 guys COMBINED for 21 minutes.  And one of those 3 accounted for 15 of those 21 minutes.

That's effectively a 6 man rotation.  At least as far as the starters are concerned considing the minutes they had to play.

That makes for a long season for your top 6 guys who will be worn out when this season comes mercifully to an end.

And it'll make for a sharp contrast next season when we'll be able to send in a wave of subs when we want to or need to.

No, unl, it's not that we didn't try to double the post.  It's that Michigan State did a good job of isolating Ubel or whomever else they wanted to.  They're just a really good team.  Really good players and a really good coach.  They're well drilled.  Their offense creates open shots.  You're trying to guard their perimeter players and you wind up with Ubel on an island.  You double the post and they find the open shooter coming off a curl all by himself.   Pick your poison.

In the 2nd half, Nebraska scored 40 points.  Thirty-eight of those were scored by Dylan Talley and Shavon Shields, each of whom had 19 second-half points.

Thirty-eight out of 40 points coming from only 2 players.  You're not going to win too many games when only 2 of your guys can score.

Parker - Another bad game with bad decisons.  Only getting playing time out of need.  Hurts us time and time again on defense

The only disagreement I have is that Parker hurts us on defense.  Actually, when I watch him he plays pretty good defense.  I didn't see who he guarded most of the night, but Appling finished 3-11, and hit most of his buckets in the first 8 minutes before Parker got in the game.

The thing I like is the fact that we don't turn the ball over.  Only 7 TO's tonight with a SG playing PG.  I looked at the stats and listening to the 42-24 rebounding margin sounds bad.  However, MSU had 12 offensive rebounds and we had 11.  What made the rebounding sound so bad was the fact that MSU shot 51% and we shot 35%.

They had four guys go over 13, that's tough to defend.  This is a final four contender.

Two thoughts:

I believe Parker continues to get better. I don't understand what I'm missing. I must be because everyone else seems to think the opposite.

We did double the post several times toward the end and almost each time, it led to a wide open dunk or layup.

I need to go back and watch again.  Parker didn't stick out to me one way or the other.

Two thoughts:

 

I believe Parker continues to get better. I don't understand what I'm missing. I must be because everyone else seems to think the opposite.

 

We did double the post several times toward the end and almost each time, it led to a wide open dunk or layup.

I'm not sure I get the bashing, either. Parker plays nice defense, has a decent shot if he'd take it in the offense more often (that jumper tonight with the high arc was really nice), and I actually think he's getting a bit better as well. Probably needs  learn how to play in this league at his size; what he can and can't do at munchkin level. The guy has the ability to break down coverage by getting into the paint--he's really quick--and that might be something he can improve on along with pointy-guard things to improve. We haven't heard the last of Benny yet, I don't think.

State outline please.

I believe Parker will be getting decent minutes next year.  He plays good defense, at least the times I've focused on him.  His offense leaves a lot to be desired.  He still needs to find his shot and probably still figure out where everyone is in the offense.

Parker - Another bad game with bad decisons.  Only getting playing time out of need.  Hurts us time and time again on defense

 

The only disagreement I have is that Parker hurts us on defense.  Actually, when I watch him he plays pretty good defense.  I didn't see who he guarded most of the night, but Appling finished 3-11, and hit most of his buckets in the first 8 minutes before Parker got in the game.

FWIW I agree - I thought Parker did a much better job on Appling than Talley was doing early on.

Benny's a freshman.  He's going to develop.  Think where David Rivers was last year at this time.  And then think where David Rivers is now.  Totally different player.  Not saying Parker will see that kind of dramatic improvement, but some kind of improvement is inevitable.

Benny's a freshman.  He's going to develop.  Think where David Rivers was last year at this time.  And then think where David Rivers is now.  Totally different player.  Not saying Parker will see that kind of dramatic improvement, but some kind of improvement is inevitable.

Not totally a fair comparison as Rivers played last year under Sadler who had a different coaching style than Miles did.  It could be Rivers didn't fit as well in Sadler's offensive and if finding more confidence and fits better in Miles offense where you have more freedom to shoot and create. 

This game would have been A LOT different if Ray could have gotten it going.  Even if he hits 30% of his shots...man, we missed his points last night.  But Ray is not a big dude, and quite frankly his 40 minutes a game, constant movement and defense appears to have worn him down.

I watched most of the game again this evening and I guess I didn't see anything glaring in Benny's game.  His only short coming last night was his stature, i thought he made some good decisions distributing the ball and was fine defensively.  If he's doing something wrong, you'll need to show me where, because I thought he was fine vs. MSU.  

I watched most of the game again this evening and I guess I didn't see anything glaring in Benny's game.  His only short coming last night was his stature, i thought he made some good decisions distributing the ball and was fine defensively.  If he's doing something wrong, you'll need to show me where, because I thought he was fine vs. MSU.  

He's the hater flavor of this season. That's all. He's not a world beater so he must be terrible and must transfer.

Thank you red rum,  couldn't figure out what to say but you are spot on.

Last year it was ....  and the year before...