hhcdave

She'll stand a long, long time. She watches every single game and never misses them nor the post-game shows on the radio.

Were they surprised to see you? What were some of the things they said?

OFFENSE: B+ Walter Pitchford is our "slam dunk" Player of the Game after starting things off with NU's first 9 points. Obviously its IMPERATIVE to get off to a good start on the road, as NU did in two of its three road wins this year (MSU and tonight). Had Pitchford not "brought it" early, things would have likely been different. Walt finished with 17 points (on 7-10 shooting) and 9 rebounds. I also want to say that the most important shot of the game was made by RAY GALLEGOS, who FINALLY somewhat broke out of his slump and looked fairly confident in doing so. The shot I'm referring to is the three that Gallegos hit at the end of the first half. It took NU from a 5 to 8 point lead and gave them back momentum, not too mention allowed them some much needed breathing room (as we found out in the second). The back to back three's in the second was also huge when Terran Petteway was out of the game with three fouls. Really, everyone who played tonight contributed offensively, from Petteway to Shavon Shields to Benny Parker to Leslee Smith. The only Husker to not score was Tai Webster, but his penetration set up offense for others (including an early dunk for Pitch) and he looked much better in this game than he has in the last few. Nebraska shot 46% from the field in scoring 70 points and finished with a solid 74% from the line. Though honestly, they weren't good in the first 38 minutes from that spot on the court, including a HUGE miss by Shields on the one and one with NU up 4. I really thought that might come back and bite us at the time. DEFENSE: A- Sans the first ten minutes of the second half, NU was AWE-SOME defensively. I give them a downgraded "A" because of that and the fact that our defense was quite slow and lazy getting back off of misses. There were a couple of awful instances of that, most notably in the aforementioned first ten minutes of the second frame. NU must have shown Indiana four different looks defensively and did an outstanding job of finding shooters and keeping a hand in their faces. Yet ANOTHER NU opponent shot below 40% (the Hoosiers finished at 37%). With everyone talking so much about Petteway's offense and the three headed monsters of Petteway-Shields-Pitchford, its important to remember that DEFENSE is the main reason why we are where we are. REBOUNDING: C+ Nebraska got gassed in the second half, and it showed on the glass, as IU pulled down FOURTEEN offensive rebounds and outboarded NU for the night +1 (37 to 36). Besides Pitchford's game leading nine rebounds, Shields finished with eight. I am concerned about how NU matches up with Wisconsin on the glass, but have a weird feeling we are going to get Wisconsin big men into foul trouble and the crowd will put us just over the top. BALL HANDLING: A Indiana put zero pressure on NU, but it doesn't matter - in a road environment, Nebraska turned the ball over just NINE times (though it did lead to 13 points). As mentioned above, very nice guy for Tai - 2 assists and 1 turnover. Opposing fans who don't understand this team and who don't watch the games might laugh at me saying that, but he responded well tonight and did a very good job of running the offense. COACHING: A+ Why do you suppose Gallegos was allowed to shoot so much against Northwestern and tonight? Why do you suppose he was so confident to do so and not at all gun shy? Because of his head man, who fully realizes that if we're going to make the NCAA Tournament, we MUST get Ray going. Tonight may not be considered a "red hot night" for our friend from Utah, but its a giant step in the right direction and there's no doubt we don't win without those three's, especially the one before half. The whole dynamic of the game changed on that shot. Also, Miles shut down Indiana with insane defensive schemes and adjustments - and continues to do so. Of course I'm not stupid - the PLAYERS technically did it - but come on... how in the hell can you possibly explain the turnaround we've had on defense since Charleston? You can't other than giving Miles, Smith, Harriman, Hunter, Owens, et. all credit. Hell, I want to give Shamus credit, too. He does a hell of a job with the media relations. Everyone deserves credit - even the friar at the "State Fair" stand at the PBA who makes the insanely amazing "State Fair Hot Dogs." OVERALL GRADE: A+ Make no mistake - this was a BIG TIME win. Nebraska now has everything to gain and nothing to lose on Sunday - they can play free. Because even if they lose, two wins in the Big 10 Tournament still lands them in the dance. They essentially now have TWO MORE CHANCES to get ONE MORE Top 50 win, which should get them in. Is this happening? PLAYER OF THE GAME: WALTER PITCHFORD 2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS: TERRAN PETTEWAY - 13 SHAVON SHIELDS - 7 WALTER PITCHFORD - 4 TAI WEBSTER - 2 LESLEE SMITH - 2 DEVERELL BIGGS - 1 This post has been promoted to an article

Thanks to huskerpower1988, my Mom will get to witness this game with me in the 100 level for a very fair price. Will be a very special day for her and her Bday Present. THANK YOU Jacob.

And Ben Nelson.

Didn't Collier used to start EVERYONE and play them until the under 16:00? And Sadler, too? I'm pretty sure Nick Krenk started on senior day - did he not?

I say "no way" - no offense to Mike, but in the biggest game we've played since the late 90's, and in a "must win" to make the dance, and in a game where you're going to be a 2.5-3.0 point underdog at home, and in a game where 2-3 points could make the difference... Can you afford to play him - at all? Especially at the beginning? Discuss away.

Norm, Perhaps your Dad is helping to "will" this team to victory and the NCAA Tournament. The way we've turned this year around since January 15th is nothing short of remarkable. I bet Dad is up there and all "part of the success." GBR!

I've only got one thing to say about Creighton. ####ing losers.

Thank you NULed. Petteway, in the last few days, has gone from 100%, to slightly strained back, to serious back injury, to back surgery. All from him stretching extra for two minutes during halftime.

Sad to hear this. He was a pretty good basketball player, too. I hope he can get this under control and live a nice long life. Sorry, Jay.

Love it. Welcome to the site!

Lose to Indiana, but beat Wisconsin and win two in the big 10 tournament and we are in. But I'd much rather just win both this week plus one

I really think petteway is fine. Just because the guy stretched 2 extra minutes at halftime one time doesn't mean he all of a sudden is worn down and injured with a bad back. I wish people would quit saying this before the self fulfilling prophecy comes into play. He's fine. It's no different than anyone else banged up this time of year. Nobody is 100%

I don't see how moving up from the 5th team out to the 2nd team out ISN'T good news, as some have alluded to in this thread. It means there's one time in front of us instead of four, after a less than impressive win against NW with two big games ahead. very good news.

I don't see this as bad news at all. +450 isn't THAT big of a long shot. Plus, who cares what Vegas thinks. They go mainly by computer data. Of course we're going to be 'dogs because we're dogs in both games this week and there are other teams we are going up against. I'm very positive right now and am convinced we win one game this week. If we do that, its 2 games max in the B1G and we're dancing.

I like that we have a nice long time between games this week. Saturday-Wednesday-Sunday. Three full days off between games. That's only happened maybe two other times during the conference so its a nice time. Terran is going to be fine. They have world class doctors/trainers/equipment at UNL and let's remember these kids are 20 and 21, not old and decripid like us.

Where are people hearing that Petteway's back is all of a sudden so bad that he couldn't play back to back games on it? I haven't heard anything credible about back issues - did I miss it?

Its my Mom's birthday and I'm hoping to get in the 100's. Her season tickets are in the 300's. I wish I could find a pair in the 100's for $200 but don't see it happening.

I love it! There I am from the :31-:33 mark in the background in my days as a student as we rushed Nate Johnson!

I think the guy is a schmuck, but let's be honest - he gets it right almost every year, mainly because I'm convinced he's fed info from the committee in many years. I think he nailed all the teams last year. As of right now, his twitter says we are "the second team out" in the "First 4 Out." Somehow Minnesota is team #42, though. I just don't understand it. How are they that far above us? Their resume is about 5% better. Anyway, we jumped from the 5th team out to the 2nd team out. Here's my thoughts: Other bubble teams are winning at an alarming rate. So, here's my thoughts on all of the scenarios for us to be a LOCK. I realize there's a CHANCE we could get in with not quite being this good, but let's look at this as a LOCK since A. All other bubble teams seem to be winning and B. We are Nebraska and will get no benefits. Scenarios for us to be a LOCK: We win both this week, we are in no matter what happens in the Big 10 Tournament. We win at Indiana, but lose to Wisconsin, we need two wins in the Big 10 Tournament to be a LOCK. We lose at Indiana, but win against Wisconsin, we need one win in the Big 10 Tournament to be a LOCK. We lose both this week... we probably need to win the entire Big 10 Tournament to be a LOCK. Three would PROBABLY get us in.

Let's just win both games this week so its a lock.

100% agree. He's our best point guard right now. With the Biggs dismissal, if we didn't have Parker, we wouldn't be on the NCAA Bubble.

Iowa will go 2-1. So if we win out, we jump them.