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One thing I forgot to add but should have: Key moment of the game? Gallegos hitting back to back three's and taking a tight, three point game and helping to take it to nine at the half. Most important stretch of the night.

OVERALL GRADE: B+ OFFENSE: B- DEFENSE: A REBOUNDING: A- BALL HANDLING: A- COACHING: A PLAYER OF THE GAME: WALTER PITCHFORDOFFENSE: B- I didn't think Nebraska played as poorly as their shooting percentage (39%) would show, especially in the first ten minutes of the first half. In fact, early on I was impressed with how many good looks the Huskers got, from wide open three's by Walter Pitchford and Ray Gallegos, to Shavon Shields and Leslee Smith going to the rim. The Huskers just weren't knocking down the shots in the opening ten minutes and then, NU seemed to get into a lull of bad offense for the final 10:00 of the half (with too many turnovers) before stepping it up and finishing strong in the second half (38 points on 48% shooting). I think this was the first game where Nebraska looked unselfish, almost to a fault on a couple of occasions (most notably by Deverell Biggs). The Huskers took MAYBE two bad shots the entire night, which is very encouraging considering just two weeks ago, that number would be twelve bad shots. NU was also a VERY GOOD 77% from the free throw line (17-22). It really does look as if NU is becoming a more cohesive offensive unit and I thought they showed a lot of positive in this game, if you're astute enough to look beyond the numbers. DEFENSE: A I don't care if Miami is very down this year, and I don't care if they're on the end of a ten day road trip. Heck, I don't even care if they normally make a few more shots. That's because what Nebraska did on defense tonight was AWESOME, as the Big Red held the Hurricanes to just THIRTEEN POINTS!!! in the first half and for the game, 49 points on just 32% shooting. I saw Shields and Pitchford playing the best defense of the year, and I liked that Nebraska made a conscious effort in the second half to turn Miami over by taking some chances. Even though that didn't really work, it also didn't allow any baskets, either. For a team that was awful on defense for the majority of the Charleston Classic, this was a very nice effort. REBOUNDING: A- For a second straight game, Nebraska was even on the boards (34-34) and Smith had another outstanding effort (10 rebounds in 23 minutes). That's almost good enough to give him the nod as "Player of the Game" but I want to give it to Pitchford, who finished with thirteen points and five which (as is a common theme throughout this report card) is a nice improvement. BALL HANDLING: A- 11 turnovers (very good), 12 assists (pretty good). Take out a couple of careless Tai Webster turnovers (as Coach Miles noted on the postgame) and all of a sudden you're under ten. The one negative I saw tonight was that NU looked very gun shy against the press that Miami threw out in the final 5:00 of the game. There was a horrible turnover by Biggs (and almost a second earlier, where he threw his elbows) and a couple by Webster. You can be CERTAIN that NU will be seeing A LOT of full court looks from Creighton on Sunday, so this better be practiced and then practiced again. Pitchford also looked uncomfortable and unprepared when Miami turned up the intensity and heat on him in the early stages of the second half. As mentioned above, NU did a MUCH BETTER JOB of distributing the ball, almost to a point where it was TOO unselfish. Spacing was bad against the matchup zone on certain possessions but the best news was, NU seemed to understand what they were up against and executed the game plan more times than not. COACHING: A Get the rotation trimmed to eight (really seven and a half) guys? Check. Get through to team on how to play together and in an unselfish manner? Check. Improve vastly on defense? Check. Get a double digit win against an ACC opponent? Check. Show confidence in your freshman point guard, leaving him out there against the "Hack A Tai" defense? Check. I loved everything Coach Miles did tonight - I have zero complaints. OVERALL GRADE: B+ Sloppy? Yes. Highly entertaining? Not really. Impressive win? Yes. Nebraska played terrific defensively, improved offensively and took care of business at home against a team it should beat. They were lucky that Miami showed a little press, albeit Mickey Mouse, because we'll be seeing that a lot this Sunday and any practice against it in a game is a bonus, PLUS now the team will really understand they need to take it seriously after being shown up on a few possessions. Nebraska is only one win off the pace that even the most optimistic fan would want, and they have a true "gravy game" Sunday. Win, and you're on track for "best case scenario." Lose, and you're still only two games off the pace with a chance to still defeat Cincinnati to get right back on it. This team is showing obvious signs of growing and improvement, and while tonight's game isn't one I ever care to watch again, it was a good effort and something to take many positives from. PLAYER OF THE GAME: WALTER PITCHFORD 2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS: TERRAN PETTEWAY - 3 TAI WEBSTER - 2 LESLEE SMITH - 1 SHAVON SHIELDS - 1 WALTER PITCHFORD - 1 Click here to view the article

Nebraska 69 Miami 60

THANK YOU for doing this.

Let's beat Miami first and then worry about this game. CU will mean nothing if we can't protect our home court against a very plain jane team. With my coach speak out of the way , I'll put in my two cents. We win the Creighton game by 5. Why? Ray Gallegos gets hot and hits five three's. Book it.

OFFENSE: D+ Nebraska scored a borderline acceptable 63 points (based on the opponent) but how they did it was again not impressive. The Big Red connected on just 40% from the field (including 35% in the second half) and left thirteen points at the free throw line (20-33). The Huskers also finished only 20% from downtown (3-15). Once again, way too selfish and some very forced shots. Even more were some very odd offensive decisions that could easily go under "Ball Handling" but we'll put here. Number one, the 4 on 1 with Shavon Shields taking the ball the entire way down the floor and getting bailed out by contact. Horrible spacing, yes, so I'm not entirely blaming Shields, but that has got to be like clockwork for this team, not like a Chinese Fire Drill. Number two, the decision to throw the alley oop pass late in the second half with only a four point lead that resulted in a turnover and one of just two second half timeouts taken by Tim Miles. A lot of this stuff is honestly just youth and inexperience, but as we keep saying, the free throw shooting has GOT to improve, at the very least, if NU is going to be able to survive this year with its current offensive setup. DEFENSE: B I thought Nebraska was good on defense and while Coach Miles said on the post game he thought the interior defense was poor, I didn't see it as that bad. Overall, the Huskers held Northern Illinois to a solid 58 points on just 37% shooting. Free throws also go both ways - NIU left nine points at the line (19-28) and while its true that nobody is going to make all of their free throws as a team, NU is lucky they didn't decide to connect on 24-28 or this would cap off a thoroughly bad sports weekend in Nebraska. BTW, I'll have to go back and check, but I think Nebraska did force a season high 16 turnovers, so props for that. REBOUNDING: C The two teams shared the exact same rebounding numbers - 12-26-38. I'm going to go ahead and give Leslee Smith the Player of the Game, even though Deverell Biggs (18 points) certainly could be considered for how he helped carry NU after Shavon Shields fouled out. He was NU's go to guy down the stretch and without him, NU may not have won. However, I'll argue the same for Smith, who made some big plays early in the game and had a team high nine rebounds to go along with 13 points. Add in the fact that Smith has become a team leader and I think he deserves the nod in this one. BALL HANDLING: D- Early on, Nebraska looked pretty good with the ball in its hands, but the Huskers finished with a season high sixteen turnovers on just ten assists. Add in the above mentioned poor spacing several times and bad decisions of when to shoot and when to force/slow tempo, and I think the "D-" was well earned. COACHING: C- I know Coach Miles really trusts Shields, I know he didn't expect this to be a 40 minute game and I know that Shields and others need to learn to play with four fouls. However, why in the world would you bring him back out in a single digit game with 9:00 remaining on the clock? I don't understand that and the decision backfired. I have noticed a trend on Miles not using timeouts when "the going gets tough" in the second half of games this year, too. NU didn't use its first until after the horrible decision on the aforementioned alley oop. If you're struggling over and over, and playing with such a young team, why not call time outs more frequently to "instruct" and help ease the team through the growing pains? I'm not going to be harsh on Miles for his team having some mental errors and coming out flat, however. The team is coming off of a mini break and a long week, playing an early game in front of a less than enthusiastic crowd against lesser competition. Plus, seeing some other Big 10 teams struggle yesterday (most notably Illinois) has me not really being that worried. OVERALL GRADE: C- Nebraska played a lower end of average game, just above "poor." I'm not very concerned, as every Big 10 team has 2-3 games like this out of conference and Northern Illinois isn't awful. Plus, NU won - its not that big of a deal in margin of victory within college hoops unless you win, especially when you're destined for NIT or bust anyways. I'm fine with today and expect to see a much better effort against Miami on Wednesday night. PLAYER OF THE GAME: Leslee Smith 2013-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS: TERRAN PETTEWAY - 3 TAI WEBSTER - 2 LESLEE SMITH - 1 SHAVON SHIELDS - 1 This post has been promoted to an article

NU 85 NIU 60

OFFENSE: A- Funny how Nebraska actually scored LESS than the other day (73 versus 74) and yet, I have their letter grade much, much higher. That's because the way Nebraska achieved the points today was MUCH MORE impressive, for a number of reasons: 1. Nebraska shot only four bad shots (by my count) the entire game, versus 10+ against UAB and UMass. 2. Nebraska had a solid ten assists, but that number is very misleading (as in, it seemed like many more). The Huskers did a nice job of sharing and distributing the basketball, and waiting for a good shot. 3. They attacked the rim and as a result, got to the free throw line a lot. 4. They made an AWESOME 82% (22-27) from the line, which was the difference in the game. And who was a big reason for #4? Our Player of the Game, Tai Webster, who literally took this one over in the final 8:00 of this contest. Webster finished with 14 points (7-9 at line), 3 assists and ZERO turnovers, with nearly all of that coming in the second half. Also nice to see Ray Gallegos drop in 11 points (including 3-5 from downtown) and Walter Pitchford (12 points) recover after I called him out last game, including a very nice move in the post in the second half. Also, Leslee Smith is MUCH BETTER than advertised with the basketball. I am shocked by how soft his hands are and the ability he has to break down other big guys off of the dribble. DEFENSE: C+ I thought Nebraska was on the higher end of "average" throughout this game and certainly much better than the previous two games. Credit to Coach Miles for switching and mixing some 2-3 zone into the game, as it was quite effective in slowing down UGA. Nebraska actually played better defensively than the 65 points indicate, as the Bulldogs hit a number of B.S. shots that they don't make most nights. Still, the Huskers fouled Georgia so much that the 'Dawgs attempted 30 free throws - this is obviously a combo of the games being called differently, but also Nebraska allowing deep penetration far too much of the time. I thought Terran Petteway played an awfully nice game defensively. REBOUNDING: B- Nebraska actually out boarded Georgia (36 to 35) but allowed fourteen offensive rebounds. That's just too many. As mentioned above, Smith has been a nice addition to this roster and at least for me, much better than expected. Not only does he have the aforementioned ability to score, but he pulled down a team high 11 rebounds in just 25 minutes (including four offensive). Petteway and Shavon Shields also had nice rebounding games, finishing with 7 and 6, respectively. BALL HANDLING: A- 10 assists and 7 turnovers were an improvement and as I mentioned above, it really seemed better than that. I can't get over how well Webster played in this game - SO NICE to see. COACHING: A For as bad as I thought Miles had his teams prepared for the first two games, it was clear that was the complete opposite today. 1. Team seemed to understand TEAM CONCEPT on offense and eliminated the majority of bad shots and decisions we'd seen throughout first two games of this tournament. 2. Miles mixed defenses and his team actually looked competent at the 2-3 zone. 3. Miles switched up the starting lineup and whether that had anything to do with it or not, Webster responded with his best game as a Husker. 4. Miles did a nice job of mixing and matching combinations to ease us through late first half foul trouble (though the last two minutes were a disaster) and as the game went on, he tightened up the subs to take advantage of effective combos. 5. Miles' team had more life than the first two games and played well in a near "must win game" for my NIT goals. OVERALL GRADE: A- I'm really quite pleased with this game. I think Nebraska could be a little better defensively and eliminate just a couple of more bad shots a game, but otherwise, they couldn't play a ton better than today. They attacked, got to the line, CONVERTED, played average defense and defeated a BCS team in convincing fashion. PLAYER OF THE GAME: TAI WEBSTER 2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS: Terran Petteway - 3 Tai Webster - 2 Shavon Shields - 1 This post has been promoted to an article

Nebraska 78 Georgia 70

Agree to disagree then. Now don't mind me, I'm going to go put my Creighton shirt on and see how much longer I can fool people into believing I care about Nebraska basketball.

I'm wondering after today how rare it is for a team at the NCAA level (in the modern era) to shoot over 80% from the field for a half. Off the top of my head, I don't think I've ever seen it, and I watch more college basketball than one should be allowed to do. I wish ELIAS could answer this - but does anyone out there EVER remember a Nebraska team either shooting or allowing 80% from the field in a half? I have this weird feeling that it probably happens once a year in all of college basketball. Not trying to overharp on today, just trying to understand exactly how amazing it was that UAB was allowed to do that, because I still can't comprehend it.

Hey,this is no time for perspective! Instead, the sky is falling, even though another way to look at it is a 6 point loss at a neutral site to a veteran, talented team, with a bunch of inexperienced youngsters is actually sign of progress. But no, it's better to not give UMass credit, and announce that the coaching sucked, a terrible decision was made to not re-recruit some dude named Fahro, and that we really struck out by not getting all those great players that were available in April last year. I apologize for having expectations and believing we should do better than three stops in an entire half against an NIT caliber team that we will see 18 times in the Big 10. I refuse to do what we've done the last ten years - give ourselves credit for moral victories based on "good teams we played." I also think if we had Fahro, we'd be close to an NCAA Tournament team this year. Miles decided we didn't want him, and took Serg in his place. He wasn't going to recruit two "marginal" Bigs in the same class that late in the game. He chose Serg. Sure, we had one other scholly open, but he's not going to clog them on two "projects." He chose the wrong one - it happens. Nobody hits 100%. But I think its relevant for me to bring this up for the first time ever (I NEVER have) the day we play the guy and he lights us up. Correct me if I'm wrong on that being relevant or not.

I'm confused as to why this is overreacting? The report card is about this game only - not the grand scheme of the program. With that said, I DID say we'd compete for 8th and make the NIT, which is more optimistic than any "expert." But I'm confused as to what I wrote about this particular game (which is what the report card is about - one game only) is incorrect? UAB is a solid team but we will see them 18 games in the Big 10, and name a game (other than yesterday) where you've seen a WORSE defensive effort in the last 20 years? Thanks. I'll hang up and listen off the air.

Wasn't referring to "we" as in us. Was referring to the "we" as in the program/coaching staff. He still wanted to come here after the coaching change and thought he was going to get to. I'll just leave it at that. I also have no problem with his tweet. That's the kind of kid I want playing in my program - one that's want to win and be a proud member.

OFFENSE: D+ Nebraska shot just 43% from the field and 66% from the line. More than that, they had no offensive structure or identity, outside of let Terran Petteway shoot whenever he wants and for small stretches, remember to try and run some stuff for Shavon Shields. Seriously, this "motion offense" is going to be more fun to watch than in years pass because of the athletes we have. However, at the moment, it looks like there is no structure and no offensive identity outside of Petteway. That's not good. A strength of this team should be that it has plenty of potential scorers and that anyone could carry you on any given night. But it looks like we have no clue what we want to do most of the time and no semblance or structure. A lot of that is that guys are just playing their third game together as a full team and the last two against superior competition. That's hard to accept - but true. UAB and UMass are better than us right now, and it's not really close. I expect this team to get better as the year progresses and think we'll score our fair share of points, but between bad decisions, bad shots leading to early offense the other way (and transition points), bad free throw shooting and no semblance of strategy, this is not good at the moment, 74 points or not. DEFENSE: F Three stops in the second half. Against UAB. Not Michigan. Not Indiana. Not Michigan State. UAB. I'm not joking when I say this - I would put GOOD MONEY that Nebraska Wesleyan could get three stops in a half against UAB. Being serious. Not trying to mock anyone. That's how mind blowing that stat is. UAB shot 54% for the game and 83% from the field in the second half. 83%. Scoring 56 points. And that was all legitimate - no fouls at the end to drag it out. Nebraska played even more careless on defense (hard to imagine) than it did on offense. Gamble here, gamble there. Dumb mistake here, dumb mistake there. And on the once in five possessions UAB missed a shot, they got the damn rebound and scored or were fouled. I don't claim to know the answers, I'm just telling you what is obvious - Nebraska is the worst looking defense team (right now) that I have ever seen out of the 20 years I've been following this program inside and out. Even Danny Nee's "bad" teams played much better defense than this. REBOUNDING: F Walter Pitchford needs to become a guard. He's softer than Charmin. 6 rebounds? Not awful on the stat sheet. But good lord, how many times did he not box out? Or when he did, get shoved four feet? Some of the offensive boards UAB got off of missed free throws were insane. And it's not just Pitchford - its probably not fair of me to single him out that much. He's a good kid and I expect he'll become a solid player by the time he's done here. I know he's certainly capable of much better on the boards. Leslee Smith with ONE rebound? Totals - UAB 41 (14 offensive), Nebraska 28 (11 offensive). BALL HANDLING: D Nebraska only turned it over six times. Good thing. Bad thing? The GOD AWFUL inbounds pass by Petteway that took us from down 2 to down 4 in the blink of an eye (literally). That was the beginning of the stretch of the game where things got away. Nebraska struggled with spacing and once again, had virtually no assists (seven). But that's what happens when you have no semblance of offensive structure. COACHING: F Eye test, as far as athleticism and improvement? No doubt - very solid. Eye test, as far as team concept (offense and defense)? No doubt - completely inept. Coach Miles is seeing virtually no passion from his team, especially on the defensive end. No structure. His team looks lost. This crap is unacceptable, rebuilding year or not. Three stops in a half? Huck and chuck offense? Don't box out? Once again, I love Coach Miles and this is a bump on the road. But I'm embarrassed as a Nebraska basketball fanatic right now, based on these two games, than any time in recent history. I can take losing when its hard fought and a lot of effort, and when their is competence on at least one side of the floor. But this? I'd rather watch CSPAN. BTW, are we still glad we didn't want Fahro Alihodzic in favor of Serg? Didn't think so. OVERALL GRADE: F I may as well have just copy and pasted yesterday's report card. Nebraska played truly pathetic. I can't think of any other way to put it. Especially in the second half - NO INTENSITY ON DEFENSE. Ever. No fire. Ever. Notice how yesterday, UMass slapped the floor on "D" and would get excited to play it? Their sidelines were really into it. Today, UAB looked aggressive and like they enjoyed playing defense. Our guys look like they are getting their wisdom teeth taken out when they try to play "defense." They don't want to do it. They hate it. We have so many offensive minded and selfish players right now that it needs to be pounded into their heads that they can actually GET POINTS off of defense. If we told them that, maybe they'd start caring. No fire. No passion. Lackluster. Maddening. I'm fully aware its game five and we are young. This is a long season. I still expect Nebraska to compete for the NIT and 8th place in the Big 10. But if this is how we're going to play defense and rebound, and if our offensive philosophy is going to be to just jack up shots and play like we're at the Rec Center, then the pre-season pollsters know a hell of a lot more about this team and its future fortune than any of us around here did. PLAYER OF THE GAME: TERRAN PETTEWAY 2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS: Terran Petteway - 3 Tai Webster - 1 Shavon Shields - 1 This post has been promoted to an article

NU 76 UAB 71

*** NOTE *** I watched the game, in entirety, this morning, but had to leave for work right when it ended. Thus, me just now getting around to this. Also, haven't had a chance to read anything else on the board yet, so sorry if I repeat stuff already discussed. OFFENSE: A For some reason, it feels dirty to give the Huskers an "A" on offense, even though the RESULTS are 90 points against a very good basketball team and obviously, that's "A" material. It just felt like there were some bad shots taken, especially in the first half, and shots that the majority of nights, aren't going to go down. The Huskers also struggled on FREE THROWS FREE THROWS and FREE THROWS in the first half (66%, leaving six points at the line) but in the second half, recovered well (17-21, or 81%). That put NU at 74% for the night, but still, the Huskers left a total of ten points at the line (29-39). That was easily the difference in the game (amongst many other things, too). Our Player of the Game started off in very inauspicious form, forcing some bad shots and playing questionable defense, but finished strong after the initial few minutes. Congratulations to Terran Pettaway on scoring a career high 28 points, including 11-12 from the line. DEFENSE: F Completely horrendous defense. God awful. I don't care if we had half of our team out of the game on B.S. foul calls (and there were a lot). For the first ten minutes of the second half, it was the same play, over and over, with the same result - layup or on the rare miss, layup off of the miss. AWFUL defense. The zone was a complete train wreck and I have never understood why Nebraska's last several coaches refuse to even work on it much, based on the lack of athleticism/talent NU has had in the last decade compared to other clubs. Think back to the last three coaches - all hated zone and their teams were AWFUL when they did play it. Why not practice it and be more competent at it when you know you're going to need it? Especially with Miles continually saying "We are one big short." If you know this, WORK ON IT. This part could go in coaching, but that frustrated me. Bad officiating or not, Nebraska's defense was embarrassing. Without re-watching, I believe NU got exactly THREE stops in the first ten minutes of the second half. That's truly pathetic. 96 points allowed. 50% from the field allowed. And 43 foul shot attempts allowed. Just to note my obsession with foul shots - had UMass not shot 77%, and instead, shot 70%, NU wins this game. Such an important stat. REBOUNDING: D The only reason this isn't an "F" is because Nebraska did grab 18 offensive boards of their own (while UMass had 17). Overall, the Minuteman out boarded the 'Skers 42-37 (though NU missed many more shots than UMass). BIG SHOUT to Leslee Smith for doing a really nice job today - he's the runner up for Player of the Game, as he finished with 10 boards (to go along with 12 points). That was nice to see. Walter Pitchford was a complete nonfactor, bad foul calls or no. We need a lot more out of him. 5 points and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes aint gonna win us any big games this year. BALL HANDLING: D+ 13 turnovers versus 6 assists is not good, but not as bad as it sounds, since Petteway scored so many points and pretty much all of them came off of individual takes. Also, NU had several points off of the offensive glass. Still, that's not a great stat, though 13 turnovers isn't awful. COACHING: F I saw no adjustments defensively. I saw a team shot the "last shot of the half" way too damn early and cost themselves two key points off of a foul by Mike Peltz as a result (foul on the rebound). I saw no discipline in the team early and questionable energy the first five minutes. I also noted above about the zone. Am I being too hard on Coach? Probably. But am I too high on him sometimes, too? Probably. So it evens out. Miles is still my man crush and hero, but today was not one of his finer moments. OVERALL GRADE: C Nebraska played badly for the majority of this game - though to their credit, they came back admirably and just about damn near won. Were they screwed by the refs? Absolutely. I have no idea how Coach Miles didn't blow a gasket. But they played AWFUL defense. They didn't rebound well. They fouled way too much and were in foul trouble all night. And they missed open layups down the stretch and free throws early in the game. I was overall pleased with how this game ended - had they been blown out or lost by 10+, I wouldn't be near as kind. I liked the resiliency and how they competed. Let's get a win tomorrow - can't afford to drop the first two. P.S. Did anyone else get annoyed as hell with the main announcer for this one? The play by play guy? And how he'd say "UMass?" He said it so damn annoying. It wasn't "YOU-MASS". It was like "YU-MASS". He emphasized it wrong. Was it just me? PLAYER OF THE GAME: TERRAN PETTEWAY 2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS: Terran Petteway - 2 Tai Webster - 1 Shavon Shields - 1 This post has been promoted to an article

Nebraska 72 Umass 71

I thought about Biggs a lot. Gallegos briefly. Even Leslee Smith got strong consideration. I went with Webster just based on his improvements today from the stripe, getting there so often and playing so even keeled while not turning the ball over. Biggs would have been my second choice, followed by Smith and Gallegos. I also wanted to reward Webster for his play so far and give him his first "POTG" before giving it to a guy who had been suspended.

OFFENSE: B+ It's weird to score 83 points and see five players in double digit scoring for the first time in nearly two years, and not feel completely satisfied. But for some reason, that's how I felt offensively after this one, maybe because Nebraska seemed kind of sluggish at times and continued to take some questionable shots. Overall though, 46% from the field and 72% from the free throw line are pretty good marks, as well as (obviously) the 83 points (albeit against SCSU). How about the 2013-2014 debuts for Ray Gallegos and Deverell Biggs? Gallegos put in 18 points on six three's, while Deverell Biggs scored 17 (though again, our PG's have to start making free throws - 6-10 from Biggs ain't gonna get it done this year). 7-11 from the line for Tai Webster was an improvement - that's one big thing to take away from this game - the point guard play. As in, Nebraska will be really solid this year with two terrific distributors who can also get to the basket and free throw line. Combined, 13-21 from the two - make that 17 or 18 of 21 and we've really got something. Do I need to see a psychologist for as obsessed with harping on free throws as I am?!? DEFENSE: C That team should not have scored 31 points in the first half - that's just unacceptable. Also, even 57 for the game is too high. With the above mentioned, let's get to why the point total was a bit bloated (hint: it wasn't all on the defense). REBOUNDING: F Nebraska allowed the MEAC's South Carolina State to gather SEVENTEEN offensive rebounds. Let me repeat - seventeen. SCSU also out boarded the Huskers overall (42-36) which should never happen, even if NU shot over 10% better from the field. Leslee Smith had a pretty nice game and brought down seven boards (including five on the offensive end). BALL HANDLING: A 11 assists to 5 turnovers - pretty damn good. Funny quote from Coach Miles after the game: "Our turnover count is so low because we take bad shots before we have a chance to turn it over." Touche - let's hope they keep going in. COACHING: A This is really a hard game to assess coaching on. The two teams were on completely different levels and the game was a snooze fest. Nebraska won the game handily in the end, which is all that mattered, and finally played at full strength (minus Mr. Hawkins). In other words, this almost feels like an "N/A" for this particular game. OVERALL GRADE: B- I didn't think Nebraska was particularly good in this game, but they still won by almost 30. Offense and defense were shoddy at times, and the rebounding was putrid. But everyone played and NU goes into the Charleston Classic at 3-0 with its roster at full strength and a chance to win at least 2 games. Do that, and you're looking really good heading into the last few tough non-conference games. PLAYER OF THE GAME: TAI WEBSTER 2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS: Tai Webster - 1 Terran Petteway - 1 Shavon Shields - 1