hhcmatt

Bryce averaged 27 points and 5.5 rebounds over 2 games to earn the honor. His 25 points in his debut is a Huskers record. He becomes the first Husker to earn FOTW honors since Glynn Watson on Feb. 15, 2016. View full article

Actually I think functionally that Bryce is our new Teddy but he's what we hoped Teddy could be. Some of the problem was that Teddy wasn't a NBA player. You knew Teddy had 20 pts because he had to work so hard at it. With Bryce you look up at the scoreboard and wonder how he got to 20. I think Verge is our new Bo Spencer. Maybe the key difference is Verge isn't the best scoring option on the team.

Eduardo in the rotation is probably the key here as prior we've run quite a bit of 4 guard where Bryce/Wilcher function as the 4 and neither of them are above average rebounders. Lat not being available has also contributed to playing small. Walker and Ed playing at the same time seems like a pigs flying scenario. But Ed being in the rotation gives us more height and potentially more stability as that means WB will play more at the 4. Having a combination of Lat/WB and Walker/Ed on the court most of the time might get us to look at least respectable on the boards. I have to think that Keon is on the outside looking in right now for the rotation as I just don't know where you put him.

You'll have to either rewind or fast-forward, depending on when you start watching. Encouraging talk about Verge from Hoiberg on here.

Just listened to Hoiberg's presser and he talked about sitting down with Verge. One thing he mentioned was that for the last 4 years Verge has been playing off the ball as a scoring guard and when things got dicey that is what he defaulted back to in this game. I see Verge make a lot of high IQ basketball plays so I think you'll start to see gradual movement towards spraying the ball around.

Hoiberg hasn't coached a team with a assist percentage under 50%. This would be the % of baskets that came off an assist. This is the type of offense we run. At this point this year it's 35.6%. Our scoring is more 1 on 1 based than normal.

I want to shout out Trey McGowens for leading the team in rebounds after Hoiberg said we needed to get the guards more involved. A lot of guys say that they're committed to winning but I always feel that Trey means it when he says it.

Really feels like the key is to get him to buy into passing the ball when an assist situation isn't readily available instead of dribbling around until he finds it.

Box Score

Auburn

I'm going to roll with Occom's Razor here and think you're pointing out that Bryce McGowens needed approximately one game.

At one point I remarked to my seatmates how freaked out I was that Walker was making all these FTs. He reportedly put the work in over off-season so good job by him.

Is Lat at 100%? WB has his moments but he's also a walking foul waiting to happen. That hug at half court was something else.

Nebraska 89 - Western Illinois 73

Nebraska Cornhuskers (0-1) vs Sam Houston State Bearkats (1-0) Date: Friday Nov 12, 2021 Time: 7:30 pm Arena: PBA Broadcast: BTN+ Sam Houston State Bearkats Head Coach: Jason Hooten Location: Huntsville, TX Conference: WAC Nickname: Bearkats Mascot: Sammy Bearkat Last time out: Defeated LeTourneau 97-54 Shirt not to wear: Orange, Tiger Opening Line: Nebraska by 11.5 Other: This is SHSU's first year in the WAC which they joined with former Southland Conference members Abilene Christian University, Lamar University, and Stephen F. Austin Nebraska is 3-1 all time vs. SHSU. The one loss was the last time they faced in 2001 in the Barry Collier era Player to watch: Savion Flagg Flagg was a highly recruited out of high school and ended up playing 4 years at Texas A&M. He brings a Shavon Shields type skillset as the 6'7" wing is a well rounded player who can even run the offense. Is a load on the offensive boards. He's an ok 3pt shooter. Player to watch: Tristan Ikpe Don't be fooled by the size of starting center Ikpe who clocks in at 6'6" 210#. Last season led the Bearkats in rebounds and blocks. He'll anchor an aggressive defense that will pick up Nebraska full court at points. Probable SHSU Starters 3 Demarkus Lampley G 6-2 175 Sr. Central HS / Wallace State-Hanceville 24 Donte Powers G 6-2 170 Jr. Starkville HS / East Mississippi CC 11 Javion May G 6-2 190 Jr. Hope Academy / Colby CC 1 Savion Flagg G/F 6-7 225 Gr. Alvin HS / Texas A&M 12 Tristan Ikpe F 6-6 210 Jr. Deer Park HS / Blinn College Probable Rotation 2 Jarren Cook G 6-4 205 Fr. Newman Smith HS 10 Damon Nicholas Jr. G 6-4 195 Fr. Duncanville HS 13 Jaden Ray G 5-10 165 Jr. Midwest City HS / Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa 54 Kuba Karwowski C 7-2 235 Gr. Wladyslawowo / Utah State 40 Kian Scroggins F 6-7 235 Fr. Raymore-Peculiar HS Bench 0 Javon Grant G 5-11 155 Fr. Pittsburg HS 22 Kevin Martina F 6-7 215 Fr. Fribourg Olympic 33 Giovanni Emejuru F/C 6-10 270 Fr. Charnwood College The Rest of the Roster Javion May is a traditional PF as he doesn't shoot 3s. He's also 6'2" and I'm seriously concerned about our ability to keep him off the boards. Powers is the PG who can make shots but doesn't take a ton. Can be turnover prone but excels as a defender and leads the Bearkats' turnover oriented defense. Demarkus Lampley functions as the shooting guard and hits from outside at a 40% rate; he doesn't need much room to get his shot up. SHSU does have some height in 7'2" Utah State transfer Kuba Karwowski who should play some minutes but might slow their pace. Backup PG Jaden Ray clocks in as the shortest Bearkat. Scroggins is F/C depth. Cook provides some outside shooting. True freshman Damon Nicholas is a 3 star SG out of Texas which is a big deal for this type of team. UNL Game Notes * Lat Mayen is a game time decision with an ankle injury ** Kobe Webster is a game time decision with a back issue Probable starters for Nebraska 1 Alonzo Verge G 6-3 2 Trey McGowens G 6-4 5 Bryce McGowens G 6-7 11 Lat Mayen F 6-9 13 Derrick Walker F 6-9 Bench 32 Wilhelm Breidenbach F 6-10 30 Keisei Tominaga G 6-2 23 Keon Edwards G 6-7 0 C.J. Wilcher G 6-5 35 Eduardo Andre F 6-11 10 Kobe Webster G 6-0 14 Trevor Lakes F 6-8 3 Quaran McPherson G 6-3 33 Oleg Kojenets F 7-0 4 Jackson Cronin G 6-1 12 Sam Hoiberg G 6-0 15 Chris McGraw G 6-0 21 Jace Piatkowski G 6-3 The Skinny: After that Colorado exhibition game you thought this Nebraska team looked like it was capable of beating lower tier D-1 teams at home but came out and laid an absolute egg vs Western Illinois, looking worse than the sum of their parts. Piss poor effort on the glass and hero ball put the Huskers in a position to be beat by a team that honestly did play that well either. You have to hope that the silver lining to self-sabotaging post season chances on game 1 is that it pulls the team together. If Tuesday's body language is any indication, it didn't. Here comes a Sam Houston St program that has been winning for the last twenty years with coach Jason Hooten building off of what Bob Marlin started. The Bearkats play fast on both ends so we'll see how the Nebraska ballhandlers handle pressure. The defense they run out should just naturally lead to passes to teammates so for at least a game our sharing issues will seem resolved. Rebounding is a whole other ball of wax as SHSU is generally good at it and our gametape has to have them salivating in anticipation of 2nd chance points. Nebraska having Lat Mayen and Kobe Webster available would go a long way towards having veteran players available to make Hoiberg's system go as well as to provide leadership. I expect this team to bounce back but who knows. Seems like a fast start would be helpful for that cause. One thing to keep track of is how do the guys interact during time outs and does it appear that guys are icing each other out while on the court. It sure stunk to miss some FTs that might have sealed the game but it was encouraging to see 74% out of the gate. Hope we can literally rebound but really expect us to metaphorically rebound. Prediction: Nebraska 89 - Western Illinois 73 View full article

NC State's starting center is out for the year https://twitter.com/jeffborzello/status/1459222189266329610

welcome to star city

fandom tends to be easier when you've got nothing to lose

Might seem counterintuitive, but after losses it would be better to read about all the players being at a kegger than guys putting up shots after the game.

I don't know that roster turnover can be used to justify any sort of team chemistry issues we have because it is our default. If Fred can't put a functional squad out there because of roster turnover then the inevitable conclusion is he will never win here.

Doesn't it seem like the most reasonable explanation for Eduardo not being put into the game was that he was being sent a message? Breidenbach tracked down 0 rebounds in 11 minutes at center. He gets a free pass in all of this because he only took 3 shot attempts? I get the thought about pulling Bryce and/or Verge but pulling them for who exactly? Who were the guys on the court that were moving on offense or blocking out that should have gotten more minutes? Having experienced guys like Mayen and Kobe certainly might have given us more latitude for making teaching moment pulls.

There wasn't any stated reason. I suppose it could have been rewarding guys for practice but seems like the probable reason was some sort of disciplinary issue.

The stadium stood through the first 4 missed layups before being able to sit in game 1