uneblinstu's post game chatter: vol 6, ed 4 - SC State

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the PBA

We'll have a better idea of where this team is at on Thursday.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the PBA

Looks like a lot of people did...once we hit the ten minute mark of the second half.

we finished well for a game we didn't take seriously. there's just not much you can get from a game like this, which is why I'm grateful we're cutting down on them.

biggs and rey said hello in a good way today.

smith is going to be the starting center shortly.

to me, this was the first real "meh" game of the year. hopefully this isn't the team that shows up in charleston.

We're going to have to cobble together some interior defense so we don't get shredded when Leslee is on the bench.

Petteway got rattled early when he started missing everything and never bounced back.

Miles yelled at him early that everything was going to be okay and then sat and talked with him for a few minutes in the second half.

The temperature was a lot better today, the Western Illinois game was really hot.

box score

It is great when you have that many people in double figures.  Over the past several years, we were lucky if we got more than 1 person in double figures.  It is sure nice to have Gallegos and Biggs in the rotation.  That makes us much deeper and helps reduce the minutes we need to play Peltz and Parker.  We have a pretty solid 8 man rotation now with Parker available if needed due to foul trouble.  This is going to be a fun team to watch over the season as they continue to improve.  You can see a couple years down the road and how good we could be.  Its fun to be excited about the future of the program.  If we can make the NIT this year, that would be a pretty good accomplishment.  We'll find out after the next game where we are really at.

It is great when you have that many people in double figures.  Over the past several years, we were lucky if we got more than 1 person in double figures.  It is sure nice to have Gallegos and Biggs in the rotation.  That makes us much deeper and helps reduce the minutes we need to play Peltz and Parker.  We have a pretty solid 8 man rotation now with Parker available if needed due to foul trouble.  This is going to be a fun team to watch over the season as they continue to improve.  You can see a couple years down the road and how good we could be.  Its fun to be excited about the future of the program.  If we can make the NIT this year, that would be a pretty good accomplishment.  We'll find out after the next game where we are really at.

Did not get a chance to watch the game.  By the sounds of it, we have a great 8 to 9 man rotation, way deeper than previous years.  You can certainly see there is a bright future!  I expect to make the NIT this year.  Making a run in the NIT would be a pretty good accomplishment, and making the dance would be GREAT!  If this team finds a nice stride, they are capable of doing any of the above 3.  Going to be a fun year, and we find out where we are this next week!

I also note that one of the referees was Brook Wells.  Unless I am mistaken, young Mr. Wells is a Grand Island kid, who's dad is a well known area ref.

Did we ever trail at all in this game?

We trailed 2-0.  Then we hit a three and we were ahead for good.

Saw some chemistry/attitude things today I wasn't pleased with.  Petteway is very demonstrative on the floor, in a negative way.  Would like to see Miles sit him down and watch the film on how he visibly reacts to everything that happens.  Conveys a self-absorption from my standpoint--that it is about him more than the team.  Maturity needed.  Saw a couple of times when he didn't get the ball and fussed with Tai over it.  Seemed like sometimes he should have gotten the ball, but the passer was thinking "I'll never see it again if I throw it to him".  Pitchford had bad body language and poor reaction to adversity as well.   With some extra talent, Miles may have some more coaching to do.  

What was the deal with Pelz?  He got up once to go in, was taking his warmup off, and then he and Miles had words, and he sat back down.  Then more words.  He never played a minute, even at garbage time.  Anyone see or hear any of this?

What was the deal with Pelz?  He got up once to go in, was taking his warmup off, and then he and Miles had words, and he sat back down.  Then more words.  He never played a minute, even at garbage time.  Anyone see or hear any of this?

I definitely saw this...was he trying to check himself into the game or something?

You can tell Petteway gets really upset when he gets taken out, too.  He seems to truly be a competitor, but you'd like to see him adopt a more team-centric mentality.

 

What was the deal with Pelz?  He got up once to go in, was taking his warmup off, and then he and Miles had words, and he sat back down.  Then more words.  He never played a minute, even at garbage time.  Anyone see or hear any of this?

 

I definitely saw this...was he trying to check himself into the game or something?

 

Where was Doc when he needed him! 

CWG summed it up well. I'll add:

-Tai was much better on the glass than he was in the first two games. He still needs to learn to finish, but that'll come.

-Speaking of which, Pitch does need to get tougher. No reason he shouldn't average 7 or 8 rebs per game.

-I liked Biggs' assertiveness. Also, his explosiveness is something we haven't seen from the PG spot in a long-time.

-Terran is a slasher and will likely be a good player for us, but his shot selection hasn't been good. We have better scoring options than for him to be taking 25 footers, especially when it's not coming within the flow of the offense.

-Was very impressed by Leslee today. He played really well.

-Onto Thursday. Charleston will be a good test for us.

Post game notes from Huskers.com

Huskers Roll Past South Carolina State, 83-57
Lincoln – Ray Gallegos scored a game-high 18 points off the bench to lead five players in double figures, as Nebraska improved to 3-0 on the season with an 83-57 win over South Carolina State.

Gallegos, who didn’t play in Nebraska’s first two games, showed no rust by hitting 6-of-10 from 3-point range, as the senior guard finished with 18 points in 23 minutes of action. It marked the fifth time in his career that Gallegos hit at least six 3-pointers in a game, as he led the Big Ten in 3-pointers per game last season.

Gallegos was one of two Huskers making their season debut on Sunday, as junior guard Deverell Biggs added 18 points, two assists and three rebounds in 23 minutes. Biggs, who redshirted last season, hit 5-of-10 shots from the floor and got to the line 10 times, as Nebraska went 23-of-32 from the line.

Freshman Tai Webster added 13 points and four rebounds, while Leslee Smith finished with 12 points, a team-high seven rebounds and three steals, and Shavon Shields added 10 points and six rebounds to help Nebraska improve to 3-0 on the season.  In all, Nebraska got 51 points from its bench while the 83 points marks the second-highest total in Tim Miles’ two seasons at Nebraska.

Nebraska took charge on the defensive end early, holding South Carolina State without a field goal for a stretch of 7:42, as the Huskers built an early double-figure lead. The Huskers used an early 13-1 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Walter Pitchford and Biggs to take a 13-3 lead after a Smith putback.

Nebraska would keep the visitors at bay during the first half by going 6-of-12 from long range, including four 3-pointers from Gallegos in his 2013-14 debut. Gallegos’ fourth 3-pointer of the half gave the Huskers their largest lead of the half, at 36-23 with 2:35 left in the half. South Carolina State would chip away in the final minutes, using an 8-3 run to pull within 39-31 at the break on an Adama Adams’ jumper to beat the halftime buzzer.

South Carolina State (1-3) pulled to within 40-35 after an Adams basket with 18:21 left, but baskets by Shields and Terran Petteway highlighted a 7-0 spurt which pushed the lead to 12 points after Petteway banked in a jumper. The Bulldogs were unable to cut the lead to single figures, but continued to hang around and were within 65-51 after a Devin Joint basket with 8:30 left before Nebraska finally put the game out of reach.

A Leslee Smith dunk ignited a 10-0 Husker spurt over the next two and a half minutes, as NU built a 75-51 lead after a Webster basket with 6:01 left and cruised to a 26-point win.

Jordan Smith led SCSU with 14 points, while Adams finished with 12 in a losing effort.

The Huskers will now hit the road for the first time this season, as they head to Charleston, S.C. for the Charleston Classic. The Huskers take on UMass Thursday at 11:30 a.m. The game will be available on the Husker Sports Radio Network and shown online on ESPN3.

Nebraska Coach Tim Miles
On how Ray Gallegos and Deverell Biggs impacted the game
“Ray, first of all, we got him shots that I know he can make. Last year we had to run him off of so many actions. He’s a spot-up jump shooter and he’s got good elevation on it. I thought those were most of the shots he took today. He took a couple other ones coming off of screens. Deverell is really clever with the ball. We got Ray really good looks which is why he went six for ten. Deverell is one of those guys that is a home run hitter. Home run hitters strike out some too. You’d rather have a guy like that who can go out and make plays. If you play with the defensive discipline, then you can live with some of those mistakes. He played a lot of minutes and we only turned the ball over five times which is a real concern about inserting him into the lineup. One of those turnovers was a freshman trying to be a hot dog, or it would have been better than that. We’re getting better with ball handling. We still take some really questionable shots, which is why we don’t have very many turnovers, because we’re taking bad shots before we turn it over.”

On the game overall
“I think we were in some foul trouble. Tai (Webster) has kind of taken that role on as a distributor and we need him a little more that way. I think we’re going to figure it out. It’s interesting. We let play almost completely motion in the first half. Our first 19 possessions we only allowed ten points. I think we ended up with a 33 possession half and they scored 21 points in those last 14 possessions. That’s terrible defense. Some of that was bad offense, bad shots or whatever it might be. We’ve got a lot of room to grow, especially physicality inside defensively. I played small because I was letting them play motion against their zone and we didn’t rebound well at all. We had the first set of possessions and then we had a sub rotation and got Leslee (Smith) and Ray (Gallegos) in the game and Deverell (Biggs) was in there too. There was six guys where we extended the game that I thought was a really good bunch. They played together and did a lot of good things. Even during that time, I thought that South Carolina State threw in some tough shots right at the shot clock. Just some really difficult shots that they made.”

On the Charleston Classic coming up
“It’s time for us to go get our butts kicked a little bit. This is going to be the three best teams we’ve played against in a long time, until we get to Creighton and Miami which is like a week later. This next group of games is going to be really important for us to see how well we fare. I think they’re important to see what we can do. If you look at our side of the bracket, UMass is picked to be an NCAA team, New Mexico is a nationally ranked team, UAB if you look at Ken Pom was the second-best team in the Conference USA. It looks like we’re the only ‘shmoe’ in the group, so you know why we’re in that bracket. On the other side is Clemson, Georgia, Temple and Davidson. I think it’s going to be a fantastic tournament. We have to go find a way to try and win that tournament. That’s why we’re going, to win the tournament.”

On Leslee Smith and concerns of injury before the season
“That’s what I was concerned about. I was never concerned about his abilities. His abilities to finish over people I worry about a little bit, but everybody struggles with that, though. There’s a whole bunch of length on him. He’s really quick to the ball. He just has to come up with the ball better. He had a nice night. I thought he impacted the game positively on both ends. It’s interesting. They scored off one play where the shot clock was at three and the ball went to the floor and we didn’t come up with it and they shoot one in. It was between Leslee and Tai Webster. There was a dead ball timeout, and Leslee comes and says, ‘Coach, that’s on me. I have to dive for that.’ We go out two possessions later and he dives on a loose ball, comes up with it and we get the timeout. For a kid to have the poise to say ‘I made that mistake’ and go out and make the next play, I thought that was a pretty cool moment.”

Senior Guard Ray Gallegos
On coming back after suspension
“It felt pretty good to just be out there and contribute and do my part being out there with my teammates. I’ve been working hard in practice and I’m just finally getting to show it. It feels good again.”

On making 6 three-pointers

“My goal this year is to really put the ball on the floor more and try to get to the cut more. Obviously, I didn’t really do that tonight, but six 3-pointers is always pretty good so I can’t really complain.”

On Deverell Biggs

“He’s a big help. He gets to the cut a lot. He’s a strong guard. He can make a lot of plays happen for us and he looks for the open man. He can also score. He’s a really big offensive threat so he helps a lot.”

On him and Biggs together

“He knows we’re looking for each other, and also Tai (Webster) too. All of us are just trying to play off of each other.”

On if the past three wins gives momentum heading into the tournament in Charleston

“I think it helps because UMass is very good actually. We just have to take it a day at a time and practice and get ready for that game.”

On if the team had to adjust with him back on the court

“In the first half it kind of seemed like a lot of players were just trying to get shots for themselves. I think in the second half we all just figured it out and started

clicking together and sharing the ball, moving it around.”

On if his shots were coming easier than last season

“It feels like it. I don’t really have to do too much work because we have other scorers on the team as well. We’re a lot more talented and deeper. I don’t have to worry about other players and can just wait.”

Junior Guard Deverell Biggs

On how his first game felt

“I’m blessed to go out there and showcase what God gave me. It’s been a long road for me, a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of places I’ve played at. I’m just happy to be here playing for my home state and get the job done.”

On if they had to adjust with him in there for his first game

“With the guys, no. We play every day with each other. I get used to how they play and they get used to how I play. In the game, it’s probably just a little bit different because the lights are on. A lot of people change when the lights come on. It was easy.”

On shooting ten free throws and drawing fouls

“That’s how many I shot? I can pretty much shoot about ten to twelve free throw shots per game. I feel like I’m that physical going towards the rim. I can draw a couple fouls.”

On what him and Ray Gallegos said to each other before the game

“First game back. We have to showcase the good talent that we have. Go out there, play hard and have fun. Those are the only things we said to each other.”

South Carolina State Men's Basketball Head Coach Quotes Murray Garvin
Opening Statement-
"I thought the game was a tale of two halves. I thought in the first half we jumped out and got a few baskets and we were in the basketball game. In the second half we came out and it was much the same for the first five or six minutes and then after that our execution dropped off. Nebraska, they are good enough to capitalize on our mistakes."

On the team's offensive ball movement
"The ball movement was good for about 26 minutes for the game and then it kinda got stuck. Sometimes we get into a hole and we kinda put it on ourselves to try and dig ourselves out. But give credit to Nebraska they have a really solid basketball team."

 --Garvin asks if it was Biggs and Gallegos first game this year-- "Yeah.. right.. *laughs* We did not see them on the film and that really worked to their advantage. I believe both of them were in double figures tonight. You know we have to move on to the next one, we have another one here before we go back to South Carolina. We play UNO (Nebraska-Omaha) 48 hours from now."

On defensive strategy during the game
"Well, we like to keep teams off balance in that they have to really recognize what we are in defensively every possession."

On the moment with Coach Miles in the first half
"We had Louie Adams get injured, so he got to pick who shot the free throw and I tried to slide our best free throw shooter in. They (Nebraska) were going over their scouting report trying to find our worst free throw shooter and he was confused on the numbers so I tried to get my guy in that I wanted in."

On where this team lines up in the MEAC this season 
"I think it is wide open, there are a lot of new players playing because a lot of players graduated. I still like our chances--at this time of the year it is tough for teams in our league because of the amount of road games we play. I think we will be okay, as long as we stick together and keep trying to get better every night and we win the games we are supposed to win and compete in the games we are not favored in. I think we will be ok before conference starts."

You can tell Petteway gets really upset when he gets taken out, too. He seems to truly be a competitor, but you'd like to see him adopt a more team-centric mentality.

I see what you're getting at here and I agree that the body language needs to change even if it's truly just a competitor mentality type of thing. But I keep reverting to images of last year when the three who sat out (Petteway included) would stand and cheer for the team, getting really into the game, and slapping fives when the guys came off the court for a timeout. He definitely needs reigned in and takes some questionable shots, but he's one of the more agressive guys we have in attacking and crashing the boards. Maybe in those situations where he reacted to not getting the ball he really felt like he needed it in that situation to help the team. I'm not condoning it, it's just that it's Miles job to reel him in and he will.

What was the deal with Pelz?  He got up once to go in, was taking his warmup off, and then he and Miles had words, and he sat back down.  Then more words.  He never played a minute, even at garbage time.  Anyone see or hear any of this?

 

I definitely saw this...was he trying to check himself into the game or something?

My son said the same thing. Looked like he was trying to check himself in. Things could be interesting this year. At least from us who think we know what is happing from afar. I am just as guilted as everybody.

 

 

What was the deal with Pelz?  He got up once to go in, was taking his warmup off, and then he and Miles had words, and he sat back down.  Then more words.  He never played a minute, even at garbage time.  Anyone see or hear any of this?

 

I definitely saw this...was he trying to check himself into the game or something?

My son said the same thing. Looked like he was trying to check himself in. Things could be interesting this year. At least from us who think we know what is happing from afar. I am just as guilted as everybody.

 

Peltz needs to know his role. A walk-on 4th string point guard. He should not see the floor when the team is at full health.

I kinda thought I saw an assistant coach send him in....

Well.

It's not just bad shot selection for Petteway.  It seems to be a me-first attitude.  He takes selfish shots.  He wants his.  And I'm going to start calling him out for it when I see it.  Like in about the first 10 minutes or so of the game.  Whereas Shavon is patient and lets the game come to him, Petteway tries forcing things too much.  He takes questionable shots because he is trying to get his touches.  Again, second half he seemed to settle in a bit more.  But at the start of the game he seemed to be all about Terran.

I'm curious about more specific details on the discipline issues some of you seemed to see.  I didn't really hone in on that.  I was just noticing what I saw on the court.

Gallegos and Biggs came off of their suspensions in a big way.  Gallegos was absolutely ripping the nets during warmups.  Rarely saw him miss from 3.  Definitely looked like he was ready for a strong shooting performance today.  If he can shoot like that or even close to that, there aren't too many teams we can't hang with.   Not saying "beat."  Just saying "hang with."  Those who said that Ray would benefit from the added weapons we have this year I think hit the nail on the head.

Lots of guys on this team who can score in a variety of ways.  We're a much more versatile squad.  A lot more offensively potent.  Able to get points in a variety of ways.  

Rivers was a starter last year.  He started tonight.  Played fewer than 20 minutes and did not score.  Another part-time starter from a year ago, Parker, played fewer than 20 minutes and scored a single bucket.  If returning starters are relegated to reserve roles, it seems like a pretty sure bet that this is a better team than last year.  Might not be too many more games with Rivers starting.

 

 

What was the deal with Pelz?  He got up once to go in, was taking his warmup off, and then he and Miles had words, and he sat back down.  Then more words.  He never played a minute, even at garbage time.  Anyone see or hear any of this?

 

I definitely saw this...was he trying to check himself into the game or something?

 

 

Where was Doc when he needed him! 

 

Yeah I remember one game Doc's first year, somebody actually did check themselves into the game during a timeout.   I think it was Kyle Marks, and I just remember Doc looking at him in the timeout like "why the hell are you sitting down?".

I don't think Doc was expecting anyone to take his "sub yourself into the game" speech seriously.

I will repeat what I said in my original take on David Rivers.  He does the little things that others do not do.  He is not out there looking for his fair share of the shots.  He knows and understands his role.  You need glue players, and both Benny and David seem to fit that role. 

Rivers can score.  He can rebound, he can defend (both on the perimeter and in the paint.)  He also is out on the perimeter on the offensive side, setting picks, rotating the ball and making others on his team look better.  He may not play huge minutes, but the fifteen to twenty minutes he earns per game are going to be important minutes for this team.

As far as the discipline issues, some have touched on them.  It is the facial expressions...the arms thrown into the air...the seemingly quick shots...it is the little shoves, or words to the other team.  There is a difference between being tough and acting boorish.  Nobody may have crossed that line yet, but if the behaivior isn't checked, it may end up costing us games. 

I am not attempting to be overly critical.  It may just be new guys trying to prove themselves.  In fact I hope that is all it is, but as the season moves forward, it is important that lack of discipline does not become a problem.