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At the end of the game I understood why Lawrence was called for his offensive foul. But then on the very next play,.that same call is not made against Battle. That summed up the officiating for the game.

Big Ten officiating is embarrassingly bad at times. The inconsistency from game to game and even half to half is so frustrating. And there's zero accountability. So, they can remain bad and never get called out. Who among us can be that shitty at our jobs and still be confident that we will be protected from criticism?

That last game is in the past. It's March. Time to lock down the bank and focus. Every. Game. Matters. Sunday: We play for our seniors The following Sunday: We play for a second round bye in the Big Ten tournament March 15: We play to lock in a better seed in the NCAA tournament March 16: House money March 21/22: History made March 23/24: Keep the good times rollin'

Officiating didn’t lose us this game. They let us play physical defense. We shot poorly and any time we had a chance in the first half to put some distance between us we missed key shots. Had numerous chances to tie or take the lead in the second half and missed some good looks and they answered with some tough makes. They had a lot of transition points off of really great looks we had. You’re not gonna win when you shoot 38% on the road and the other team shoots 40% from 3. We missed a lot of shots close to the rim and they got some timely offensive rebounds. We ended up with shorter guards on Battle and he hit some tightly guarded 3s against smaller players. We did okay on the glass. They were money from the line. Overall I thought we played decent. Sometimes it’s a make or miss game. It’s not always poor officiating and it is deflection from the reality of not being the better team tonight.

That's kind of a statistical outlier, no? That's actually less than 2% of all D1 programs that can say they've been whistled for >10+ fouls than an opponent at least 3 times this season. That's more than 2 standard deviations from the mean. Which tells me I'm not just imagining things.

Except in Lincoln.

Of course it is - but this is reality, not fantasy. Refs have NEVER called it consistently. Quit bitching about it. Play better - minimize the reasons for the whistle to blow to the best of your ability. That's the point.

I noticed a lot of the fouls being called against us were on rebounds, not on shots. Also, making contact while diving for loose balls is a no-call on Battle and a foul on Bryce. Pushing off is an offensive foul when the offensive player is Jamarques Lawrence. But it's a defensive foul when the guy with the ball is someone from Ohio State. When we attacked on the dribble, they allowed a lot of contact. Or called Bryce for a charge when the defensive player leaned into him on a Euro-step move. Mystery blocking fouls on the other end. I mean, I could go on. But it's tough to attack the rim when all the calls are going one way.

Yeah. There were lots of reasons we lost. I didn't complain about having to play a road game, but that was certainly a factor. As was the fact that we were uncharacteristically off-the-mark in shooting last night, more or less team-wide. I didn't see the point in complaining about playing on the road because that's how scheduling works. I didn't complain about our poor shooting because sometimes a team will have an off night. It just happens. I did complain about officiating because that's a human factor within someone's control. Something that could be fixed by someone if they cared to do so. The coaches are going to work on fixing our shooting and our shot selection. The schedule will take care of whether we get to play our next game at home. But absofuckinglutely no one is going to deal with the characteristically bad officiating in the Big Ten conference, because the conference protects the officials from being called out by coaches and players. They can suck and they're never going to hear about it. They have a monopoly and they don't have to be good. We're not the only ones who complain about Big Ten refs, by the way. I've seen fans of other Big Ten programs declare that Big Ten officiating is a national embarrassment. From what I've seen, I can't argue that conclusion. And I worry about what will happen when league teams have to adjust to refs from other conferences when they play in the NCAA tourney.

This defense is very much an "analytics" defense. On the average it is going to workout very well because it takes away (in theory) the biggest risks an opposing team can provide. However, this defense's biggest flaw is when one dude decides he's going to go off. There is no answer, because to face guard/no catch a guy, or maintain one primary defender on them, it would ruin the entire structure of the defense. Which terrifies me about an NCAA tourney game, when those games are typically decided by a dude being a dude.

You can’t expect to shoot more free throws every time when you jack up 3s at a league leading rate.

And the last line is why it freakin' matters, the Big Ten usually sucks in March Madness because the B1G refs protect their own during the regular season, and Nebraska is forever a Jr. Member of the Big Ten, they ain't one being protected. Coming up in the Big Dance, the other conference refs will do a better job protecting NU than any of these conference's God-forsaken officiating's proven to be.

Prince is definitely the best perimeter player to come out of Nebraska on the girls side for at least 15-20 years from my perspective, if not the best ever. She scored 33 tonight and only made about 2/7 of her 3-pt shots. She could have easily had 40 and also had 10+ rebounds and 6-8 assists.

Very much a "I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed." type of outcome tonight. Implications to NCAA seeding, Big Ten tournament bye games, and momentum late in the season.

Felt like we should have been working inside a whole lot more.

28-8 in free throws...lol yeah, just gird the ol'loins for the next one and shake this crapfest off.

I really don't like Gary taking so many threes.

Probably wouldn't have won, but this reffing was absolute dogshit.

Creighton played last night

First of all, "that's what she said" on my title (I just now noticed as I started typing). I'll lead with my thoughts on the OSU game and finish with a question for all my fellow Husker Hoops junkies. THOUGHTS ON OSU: -Any sort of normal shooting night and we win that game. Any sort of average Jameson Battle game and we win that game. -If Juwan makes 2 of his six three's, and Battle makes one less of his, we win. -We missed way too many layups again - the one Juwan missed on the second half from the left that would have tied it was the biggest miss. -Our defensive intensity was good early but seemed to kind of wane in the middle. -The refs didn't help but didn't decide the game. We didn't attack much to earn that many fouls AND we did get away with a few bodies on them. We certainly were -3 or -4 on calls but not enough to swing the game if we just make shots. -Robbie Hummel is atrocious. He clearly doesn't like Nebraska. He's the only B1G analyst I don't like. He's not fun to listen to in a game, overly negative and has a clear vendetta against NU. -Keisei was awful last night and took a couple just awful shots. -Everything was short. Legs tired again? Luckily we have a nice break after Rutgers. -I am SCARED TO DEATH of Rutgers and have been for 5 weeks, ever since they got their (arguably) best player back. This isn't a bottom feeder team, even if their metrics say it. They aren't Missouri or Michigan without Dug. They're legitimate. If we dont' play well, we will lose. -We beat them, we are guaranteed Dayton. One more after that we are guaranteed to avoid Dayton. We lose to them, though, we will need two wins to make sure we make the tourney and maybe even 3 to avoid Dayton. While I say it's not a bottom feeder team - unfortunately metrics won't agree AND we're Nebraska, so we always need 1-2 extra wins. Now my QUESTION. Does anyone else play Wolverine Studios "College Basketball?" The 24 version comes out this week and is the most insanely amazing NCAA Hoops game ever. Just need to download a mod and you get real teams, all conferences, all coaches, all courts, etc etc. You recruit, schedule opponents, deal with making the tourney, moving up the ladder as a coach, etc. It's addicing as heck. I lose 100+ hours a year on it and always start at a mid major before working my way up to Nebraska. But in that game, TEAM PRESTIGE is a big thing with recruits and the pollsters (again, it's VERY dead on to real life). And I've noticed that my prestige gets BUMPED UP MORE throughout the years whenever I win the Big 10 tournament versus winning simply one game in the NCAA Tournament. So I ask you, in a hypothetical world... Would you rather lose in the Big 10 tournament but WIN ONE GAME in the NCAA Tournament? OR would you rather win the Big 10 tournament - be Big 10 Champs - and lose in the NCAA Tournament? Either way, you're in the dance, but which of the two scenarios do YOU prefer and which do you think RECRUITS prefer? Interested to hear these thoughts and hope someone else out there plays this game. I play it on my laptop at work a lot since 80% of game doesn't require you to play games so nobody can tell I'm not working when I'm recruiting or scouting hahhahahaha

This ignores the fact we outscored them significantly on points in the paint.

Notice how quickly people stopped talking about us losing everything on the road once we got that first conference road win. Now imagine someone doing that for decades with NCAA tournament wins. And the pressure that puts on every single team who has to try to end that. I'd take that NCAA win every time. Not just for this team, but so every team that follows can play more relaxed in the tournament.

10000% this. The monkey on our back is the size of King Kong and needs to go away for this program to take a step forward.

100% win in the NCAA Tournament. It’s on my Bucket List and I’m not getting any younger.

We didn't have an answer to their run which wasn't as noticeable since it was a halftime sandwich

Maybe Keisei will finally get some calls... He gets grabbed constantly.

Here is your chance to listen to a game

I've never been sure who annoys me more - the guy who always thinks it's the refs fault, or the guy who refused to acknowledge how much officiating impacts the game.

Britt did not have her best game last night. Yet still had 33 points. She is the best player the last two and maybe 3 years in Nebraska. Plus she also handles herself well. You Tube has a few post game interviews with her and the press after the game. Hope we see 4 years of her in the scarlet and cream.

the fix was in on this game. osu had to win this to have any chance of an at large bid and got every foul call because of it.

Not a bad loss. We played hard. OSU played well. Their record is a joke compared to their talent. These two teams mirror each other a bit. Had to turn in an A to win, and we played a B game. I continue to be amazed as JL’s development. We were in a position to win the game and the refs decided only OSU was allowed to contest at the rim. That was the difference. Otherwise it was pretty much a toss up. Onto another murder in PBA.

A Dick with ears

Nebraska is going to make history in 10 days, they will win for the 1st at the Crisler Center. GBR!!

I despise Robbie Hummel about as much as I despise Nick Bahe. He is like this for every game of ours that he calls whether home or away.

I feel sorry for Rutgers.

I thought we wanted it. We still had guys deflecting the ball and going for it. The ball honestly was just bouncing bad for us. There were at least 3 plays where we were in the right position, but the ball went right to Ohio State for an easy put back. Combine that with poor shooting, not a good recipe.

Seems like all these other teams lose and maybe drop a spot or two. We lose and fricking drop to 39 in Pom.

Quad 1 game on the road against a team playing as hot as anyone. More than a few shots that rolled in and out of the rim. Questionable at best officiating. And we still had a real chance with 3 minutes left in the game. That being said if we don’t take as many bad shots, don’t make dumb fouls on the far end of the court, and don’t get mixed up on defense a few times we win that game dispute the bullshit. Very frustrating, but not a big deal at the end of the day.

This loss doesn’t put us in the last 8 in the field category just yet. However, we aren’t cemented just yet either. Thankfully most bubble teams are taking losses right now too which is helping us stay out of the most bubbly group. Win Sunday and then take the week off to rest up before we go win in Michigan.

They got all the whistles in the paint, and all the offensive whistles. Really changes the game when you let one team be the aggressor on both sides of the floor.

Battle is such an average player who talks shit like he’s a first round pick. I can’t stand that guy.

This may be the worst homer job this year. Embarrassing for the conference.

That dunk should have been an and 1

Screw the refs. We're only down 2. Would you knuckleheads knock it off! We absolutely own the second half!

What's been really impressive with this coaching staff the last month of this season, is the adjustments they've made at half time. I expect nothing less tonight.

We need Williams and Josiah to stay out of foul trouble this half. Offense was more efficient with Brice. We have to rebound.

I can't believe they actually called somebody for fouling Keisei. Thought there had to be blood and an arrest for that to happen in the Big 10.

Call it both ways if you are going to give fouls to a guy just running into people