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Easy to crap on the offense but the defense has been pretty stingy all three games outside of small spurts

One of the silver linings of everyone shooting so bad from 3 is that it no longer phases me when Juwan takes a 3.

Just when you think the rotation is about to shrink, Cale Jacobsen does this.

This resembles what basketball is supposed to look like. Always have to guard against drawing far reaching conclusions on such a small sample size. And, Cale Jacobson looks like a Sam Hoiberg clone. Doing all the dirty work. Can't have enough of those guys. Fun to watch.

She really had a nice game, considering she was kind of thrown into the main ball-handler role with Prince being out. She handled the pressure very well. She's shown consistent improvement from year to year. She's not typically going to 'wow' you with the stats, but she generally plays contributes in many ways.

Decided to make this its own thread and I'll add updates after every game. I like tracking +/- because, although not perfect, I think it's a great way to see who impacts winning. And Fred mentions it often so I know the staff values it to some degree. One thing to keep in mind is offense for defense substitutions can skew things. For example, Sam Hoiberg (defense) for Connor Essegian (offense) late in games would only mean Hoiberg has potential to decrease while Essegian only has potential to increase, which isn't totally fair to Hoiberg. But overall throughout the course of a season, I think it can be telling. We're already seeing how valuable Juwan Gary and Rollie Worster are, which was expected. Perhaps unexpected is Berke's impact through 3 games. +/- vs. FDU Hoiberg +22 Griffiths +19 Ulis +14 Berke +12 Jacobsen +12 Gary +12 Williams +10 Worster +7 Essegian +5 Burt +5 Grace +5 Morgan +3 Season +/- (Team +51) Berke +45 Gary +38 Worster +37 Griffiths +30 Essegian +23 Morgan +17 Hoiberg +16 Williams +16 Jacobsen +12 Ulis +9 Grace +5 Burt +5 Meah +2

+/- vs. FDU Hoiberg +22 Griffiths +19 Ulis +14 Berke +12 Jacobsen +12 Gary +12 Williams +10 Worster +7 Essegian +5 Burt +5 Grace +5 Morgan +3 Season +/- (Team +51) Berke +45 Gary +38 Worster +37 Griffiths +30 Essegian +23 Morgan +17 Hoiberg +16 Williams +16 Jacobsen +12 Ulis +9 Grace +5 Burt +5 Meah +2

Berke & Mast playing together next year intrigues me. I was expecting Berke to be more selfish(no clue why) but seems to really know his role and not try to do too much. He has been great defensively and rebounding the ball. Hopefully his offensive game continues to grow as he gets more comfortable.

KP is losing it on Cale.

We miss KT. Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

Honestly when he gets an open corner look I think it’s going in.

Remember, Morgan is a week back from post-concussion protocol. He is likely not close to 100% recovered. Give it some time fellas, he will be a big help to us.

Maybe it was the no beard allowing us to see more of his face, but Brice had great body language last night and was a great teammate and giving out high fives, all despite going 2-9 and scoring only 10 points. So I want to give credit where it's due. He looked to play like a team leader last night even though he didn't shoot it great. Also at the end when Burt and Grace scored, Brice was one of the most excited guys on the bench for them.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (2-0) vs Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (1-2) Date: Wednesday Nov 10, 2024 Time: 7:00 pm Arena: PBA Broadcast: BTN+ Fairleigh Dickinson Head Coach: Jack Castleberry (2nd year) Location: Teaneck, NJ Conference: Northeast Conference Nickname: Knights Last time out: Beat D-III Purchase College Shirt not to wear: Blue, chain mail Opening Line: Nebraska by 27 Nota bene: Fairleigh Dickinson is most known as the team that knocked off Zach Eddy and Purdue as the #16 seed in the 2023 NCAA tourney After winning vs Purdue during his one season at FDU, Tobin Anderson parlayed that success into the Iona job that had previously been held by Rick Pitino. Anderson's assistant Jack Castleberry was tabbed as the new head coach. FDU, the largest private university in New Jersey, has multiple campuses. As part of this feature, it's one of the few schools that fields a D-1 and D-III team. The Farleigh Dickinson University-Florham team's mascot is the Devils. Nebraska is 1-0 all time vs FDU, their first meeting being in 2003-04. Coincidentally, the only time before this season Nebraska played both FDU and Bethune Cookman was 2003-04. Player to watch: Terrance Brown The 6'3" sophomore guard has dominated the shot attempts for the Knights, almost exclusively inside the arc. Brown is a physical, annoying defender with some ball-hawking skills Player to watch: Dylan Jones The 6'5" Juco guard is the main source of 3pt offense for FDU and essentially all he does. Currently shooting 9-18 from deep, Jones will take and make highly contested shots from 3. Jones recently went 4-8 from deep against a Creighton team that is predicated on taking away the 3. Others to watch Bismark Nsiah - D-II transfer forward, 6'8" 220. FDU plays a lot of 5 out and Nsiah is able to pass and make 3s while playing as an undersized center Jo'el Emanuel - Another highly athletic glue guy type player who does most his damage inside the arc. Ahmed Barba-Bey - Last season was Nsiah's teammate at D-II Jefferson University. He's a PG splitting time with returner Brayden Reynolds. Barba-Bey has started the first three though Reynolds is arguably better. UNL Game Notes Roster/infirmary report 34 Center Braxton Meah 7-1 264 lbs Senior (Out) Possible starters for Nebraska 3 Guard Brice Williams 6-7 214 lbs Senior 4 Forward Juwan Gary 6-6 226 lbs Senior 24 Guard Rollie Worster 6-5 210 lbs Senior 0 Guard Connor Essegian 6-4 190 lbs Junior 9 Forward Berke Büyüktuncel 6-10 244 lbs Sophomore Bench 2 Guard Ahron Ulis 6-3 190 lbs Senior 5 Forward Braden Frager 6-7 220 lbs Freshman 8 Guard Jeffrey Grace III 6-3 200 lbs Junior 12 Guard Gavin Griffiths 6-7 193 lbs Sophomore 20 Forward Justin Bolis 6-8 225 lbs Sophomore 25 Guard Nick Janowski 6-4 208 lbs Freshman 31 Guard Cale Jacobsen 6-4 195 lbs Sophomore 1 Guard Sam Hoiberg 6-0 185 lbs Junior 23 Forward Andrew Morgan 6-10 242 lbs Senior 35 Forward Henry Burt 6-7 222 lbs Sophomore Out for year 51 Forward Rienk Mast 6-10 260 lbs Senior Hoiberg presser Much like us, Fred Hoiberg is trying to figure out if his team is going to figure it out or if he needs to do something different. The Skinny: Nebraska has played what some might consider a couple of clunkers to start the season where games against inferior opponents were not fully decided until late. The Huskers have been plagued by turnovers and poor 3pt shooting...all of which might be attributed to guy either not knowing or trusting where everyone else on the court. One of the attributes of a Fred Hoiberg team is that they share the ball. Thus far their assist number project more heroball than Hoiball. The defense has been sturdy though so between that and Nebraska's ability to get to the FT line, this team has been able to win despite not playing their best. Farleigh Dickenson will try to run Nebraska out of their own gym so we'll see who is able to play in control in what should be a high pace, high scoring game. When they do run offense, FDU is remarkably quick in rotation the ball around the perimeter so it's up to Nebraska to find and pop out on the one guy that can beat them from 3. The Knights will take many quick and tough shots...it's just a matter of realizing they all likely won't go in. If Nebraska can't make shots tonight the offensive boards are wide open against this undersized FDU squad. Any Nebraska post player that can grab a miss should be able to feast on taking out the trash. Does Nebraska make changes to their playing minutes? Scheme? Or do they just go back out and simply try and execute at a higher level? Prediction: Nebraska 87 - FDU 66 View full article

Better effort tonight for sure. I really hope this team has another gear and some tricks up their sleeve, or else these next two are gonna be tough.

None of our players had more than 1 turnover and our walk-ons got to score. I'm satisfied. Also, Berke Buyuktuncel is different. Hopefully his usage rate continues to increase. He has the future potential to be better than Mast at the Mast role.

I’ve never seen a team struggle to shoot consistently at home like us.

He sprained his ankle at practice per Hoiberg No word on severity.

Another slow start up through the last couple of minutes of the 1st half. Took care of business in the 2nd half. But, I think this kind of game may be more of the norm going forward. These early season 'patsies' are getting better players in the new transfer portal era who sometimes move down a level after decent but not extraordinary careers at larger schools looking for more playing time for their last hurrah. Guardine (sp?) was a talented player who could put the ball in the basket after spending some time at Temple. They also had quick athletes (same as SE La.) that cause NU some problems as mentioned by others. I think if NU can focus on controlling the turnovers and more consistent rebounding, it could be a pretty good season.

True. Sam being a team-high +22 while scoring 2 points and going 1-4 is really just incredible if you think about it. Really hope his 3 ball starts falling soon. At some point it has to...

I like this. Should start a new thread with this information after every game

I'd like him to get a bit more selfish.

Situational substitution. Injuries and foul trouble got him on the court - next man up attitude. Be ready to do your job when called upon. He can't play the 5 for us and have the team be successful. I think it was the best message coming from Cale. He did his job when called up and I'm betting will not be complaining about not getting those minutes in the second half because it was en entirely different situation.

In game coaching is going to matter a lot this year. Last year, our 23 wins were by an average of 17 ppg. 19 of those 23 wins were by double digits, many by 15+. That's pretty incredible. I'm guessing we'll have a lot more single digit, down to the wire games this year.

Box Score

Jumble What did the sports fan say when security told him he couldn't enter the FDU game because of how he was dressed: Guess i'm taking the KNIGHT off

Cale didn't exactly get rewarded for those high effort minutes late in the first half.....didn't get in again until garbage time with 1:30 left. Against FDU, I thought that was strange, and not the best message.

I would like us to push the ball in transition more. It seemed to me that we were able to get better shots than in half court offense. I like Ulis at point guard. The small lineup was effective but against top competition it may be a liability. St Mary’s lost their best player to UConn so am not sure what the Gaels have. They will be well coached and our toughest test yet.

Reduced drag coefficient!!! In the media availability after the game, both Sam and Fred said that Brice had shaved the beard down to a moustache and was rocking that as of yesterday. Sam said he liked the look but no one else did. Too bad, it is "Movember" after all...

Biggest difference I see in our win versus C Word's from a few days ago was the defensive intensity of our guards and limiting our turnovers. Steals: we stole the ball from FDU 10 times, CU only generated 2 steals. FDU stole the ball from us 6 times versus 9 times against CU. Turnovers: We turned the ball over 8 times and forced 17 turnovers. CU turned the ball over 14 times and forced 14 turnovers. That said, we gotta shoot the ball better from outside. Still averaging in the mid-20% for the season.

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Shouldn’t complain about a 26 point win. So I won’t!

Berke has made some incredible passes that unfortunately didn't end up being assists

Trying to figure how at half we have 45 points. Must be free throws and some transition baskets. Berke at the five is not too bad for the lineup. It will be nice if we get Bryce and Juwan both on in the same game. Nice minutes from Jacobsen.

Hoiberg and Jacobson on the floor, good things happen.

Take a picture folks— it might not last long. Take that KenPom, we’re right where I thought we’d be!

And will be much needed if we shoot like this the whole year.

Thank goodness for Essentials. Almost wore my chain mail tonight.

Shooters we have. Makers….eh.

And there is a Morgan foul in like 30 seconds.

probably need to try getting inside a lot more

Beardless Brice reminds me vaguely of Shavon Shields.

No Meah, no Beard, no problem (I hope)

Huge Get, Coach Fred & his Posse just Stackin’ Blue Chippers…!

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For you ditto heads out there, a walk down memory lane. Rhymes with...

It's not about his stats. If you want to win and feel this team will go as far as he takes them, then you better hope he channels some Sammy G. I guess we're just seeing different things. I know what "quiet, but lead by example" guys look like. This isn't it. I'm seeing too-cool-for-school, upset with others instead of leading, and worried more about himself/calls.

Brice is the one guy on the team where can shoot whatever we wants and over the course of a season it's going to fall in about 40% from 3 and 50% from 2. In a lot of regards his production is remarkably consistent. I think the frustration boils down to him just going Toney McCray at moments and throwing the ball to the other team or some other random brain fart thing you don't want to see from the guy who is supposed to be your best player.

After we beat Creighton in 2018, I heard Chris Heady argue adamantly on a podcast that Miles was better vs. Creighton than Doc ever was because Doc never beat Creighton. Doc was 3-3 against Creighton. Having a job covering Nebraska basketball for the biggest newspaper in the state does not require you to know much about Nebraska or basketball.