hhcdave

Tony, I'm at work and don't have my media guide in front of me. Can you, or someone else, check this: When was the last time a Husker mens basketball coach won his first ever road game? True road game, I'm talking, no neutral sites. I was wondering how long it took Doc, Barry and Danny to win their first road games (how many attempts) and who was the last coach to do what Miles did last night. Anyone know?

Wow, I didn't think I'd be the only one who thought Ray was Player of the Game. My view was, up to the point where he took the game over, we were still hanging on to 4-8 point leads, and once he got going, he single handedly carried us to a comfortable lead, based on his little scoring explosion in the second half. I agree with the sentiment that Almeida played lights out, however. Maybe I should have done Co Players of the Game.

Hang with us, we will get this figured out. I think this new software is worth it!

OFFENSE: A If the Huskers had scored a few more points in the first half, this would be an "A+." Either way, I can't imagine Nebraska playing any better offensively, as the Big Red shot 51% from the field en route to scoring 79 points! What's even better than the scoring is how NU achieved it, with virtually everybody contributing. The obvious place to start is with Rey Gallegos, who poured in a career high 20 points on 8-13 shooting, including 4-8 from downtown. There was a four minute stretch of the second half where I could swear I was watching a road red team with #23 on the back. It was difficult shot after difficult shot, with an amazing left handed lay up in between. Gallegos is a slam dunk Player of the Game. However, Andre Almeida was a close second, as the big man showed the kind of touch we all hoped he'd have when he set foot on campus. Almeida finished a staggering 9-10 (90%!!!!) from the field along with 2-2 from the foul line and tied a career high with 20 points of his own. Almeida also earned his first career double-double, as he pulled down a team leading 11 boards. Besides those two, Dylan Talley scored his normal 14'ish points, and even in only 18 minutes, Ubel put in 11. I also thought guys like Benny Parker and Mike Peltz looked good running the offense, other than Peltz's air ball, lean in jump shot that looked like my pickup game last week at Prairie Life. Nebraska had excellent spacing, worked the offense until a good shot presented itself and once it did, they took it and obviously, converted more times than not. This offense looked relaxed, focused and efficient. It was really rather amazing and not something I was expecting to see in the least. P.S. Nebraska scored 51 points in the second half!!! 51!!! I bet we don't see that again this year. DEFENSE: B+ Nebraska was pretty darn good defensively, though some of the Husker success was due to Wake Forest missing everything (including some open looks) in the first eight minutes of the game. Actually, this game was quite interesting, because I felt Nebraska really played better defense in the second half, outside of the last few minutes, yet Wake scored 39 points and connected on 54% from the field. It's hard to explain; it just seemed as if they had more contested shots in the second half but happened to make them, unlike the opening frame. However, Nebraska did allow Wake to get to the rim a lot more in the second half, too, so maybe my analysis is more because I was having so much fun in the second half, that I didn't care. REBOUNDING: A- 36 to 30 on the boards, another NU win. 10 offensive rebounds allowed is not great, but overall, this was another nice night for the Big Red boarding the basketball, especially with Ubel largely absent. As mentioned above, this was the first career double-double for Almeida, who pulled down 11 boards and as always, Talley was right behind (with 8). BALL HANDLING: A+ I believe Nebraska had only two turnovers the entire second half. Two. That's it! For the game, NU finished with a sparkling 8, including 12 assists. Wake also showed different looks and various presses against the Huskers and though NU mildly struggled at times, it was clear this team was well prepared and expecting this. COACHING: A+ I'm positive Tim Miles would be the first to admit that when you make some shots, the coach looks a hell of a lot more intelligent than he actually is. Still, I don't care, and its more than the fact that NU was making shots, or that Gallegos briefly turned into Michael Jordan. Nebraska was PREPARED for this game. The offense was crisp; great spacing, a clear plan, and most of all, the team just looked so freaking loose. Almeida looked probably the best he ever has, both offensively and defensively. Gallegos continues to improve. Talley looks like a new player. Parker looks serviceable. Even Ubel, who was mostly quiet for this party, has continued to evolve. Nebraska did a great job of taking away free throws from Wake Forest's arsenal, outside of the final few minutes of the game. The Huskers were prepared for Wake's various junk presses. Miles stole key minutes and was able to keep both Ubel and Almeida in the game while it still counted. Oh, and I should probably also mention that David Rivers looks like he could still become a basketball player yet. I went from thinking he had no chance at being in this program next season to now believing he could legitimately be a great 6th or 7th man for the remainder of his career. Tim Miles deserves a lot of credit. I would hug him if I saw him. OVERALL GRADE: A+ Nebraska won its biggest margin of victory on the road since December of 2003 at Minnesota. They represented the B1G well in the ACC/Big 10 challenge and they did so on National TV. This should also give NU some nice momentum and a nice Monday crowd against USC, when a young man from Europe makes his official visit to campus. I am on cloud nine. Wake Forest is not good; but Nebraska might be better than we thought. And that's exciting. GREAT WIN for our boys. Let's do our best to spread the word and get these kids a nice atmosphere on Monday - they deserve it. PLAYER OF THE GAME: RAY GALLEGOS 2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS: RAY GALLEGOS - 3 DYLAN TALLEY - 2 BRANDON UBEL - 1 Click here to view the article

Wake 73 Nebraska 60

OFFENSE: C+ A career high 27 points (with 6 rebounds) for Dylan Talley tonight, and that makes him our Player of the Game (obviously). Brandon Ubel also did a nice job attacking, especially in the latter stages of the first half and at the beginning of the second, finishing with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Both Ubel and Talley played 37 minutes, as well. In the first half, Ubel and Talley combined for 28 of the 33 NU points, which was both a good and bad thing. Good because 33 points in a half is excellent for this team; bad because nobody else was involved, almost literally. And bad again because they made 16 of the 20 converted NU shots for the ENTIRE NIGHT from the field. Benny Parker battled foul trouble all night, Andre Almeida was generally ineffective and hardly played in the second half (only 15 minutes for the game) and Ray Gallegos was on the back of a milk carton until he hit a key "bailout" three pointer at the end of a shot clock with 16 minutes left that at the time, looked like it could be huge (cutting NU's defecit from 7 to 4). For the evening, that would be the only shot Ray would hit (1-9). Once again, Nebraska couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from downtown (3-19) and once again, they struggled at the foul line (17-26). I'm especially surprised how much Ubel has struggled this year after being over 80% from the charity stripe in his first three seasons. For the evening, he was 5-10 from the stripe. DEFENSE: D+ Bob Knight always says: "The baseline is your most valuable defender." There were several times tonight that Nebraska didn't allow the baseline to be on its team and Kent State made them pay dearly, getting to the rim time and time again. Further, I LOVE the effort on trying to take a charge, but there must have been five times tonight when NU attempted to plant itself for a charge (namely Benny Parker and Mike Peltz) and the KSU players went right around them for an easy layup. If the opponent has good body control, you can't just close your eyes and stand in one place. Brandon Ubel DID take a nice charge in the first half, to be fair, and NU didn't play horrific on defense. Its just they played fairly poor, allowing Kent State to get the majority of its shots in the mid range game or closer (KSU shot 57% from the field and only attempted eight three pointers). To give credit where credit is due, Kent State also made some very difficult shots, too. I have a hard time believing that team won't make a run in the MAC, though they aren't supposed to in pre-season rankings. REBOUNDING: B+ Nebraska was solid on the boards tonight, especially considering they hardly played Almeida. Going into the half, the Huskers were up four on the boards and for the night, they finished up seven (34 to 27). The Huskers pulled down a VERY impressive 16 offensive boards, led by 6 from Ubel (13 total, leading the way). There were a couple of back breaking offensive boards allowed, however, including one that led to an "and one" late in the second half off of a free throw. Special "shout" to Mike Peltz tonight, too, who pulled down six boards. That kid is a fireplug who backs down to nobody, and I have a feeling we're going to really enjoy having him in the program the next few years. BALL HANDLING: B Nebraska did a nice job handling a "Mickey Mouse Press" (as my friend Beau Reid would call it). The Huskers had only nine turnovers (four at the half) and I continue to be pleasantly surprised by Peltz. He looks like a solid mid major point guard and we can deal with that as our backup this year and as a kid that can be a solid 10th man in future years. It would be nice if he'd look to shoot the ball when he's full steam toward the hoop and two feet away, such as the first half, when he didn't get free throws since he threw the ball fifteen feet back out as the foul occurred. But I can live with that - really like the kid. COACHING: B I credit Tim Miles for making adjustments in this game defensively, namely going with Rivers down the stretch over Almeida, though it didn't totally work. Miles had a couple of nice plays drawn up out of timeouts, such as the roll between Ubel and Talley that led to a Ubel dunk that was rejected. Its nice to see Miles draw up plays in a manner that our last two coaches would be proud of (both Collier and Sadler were also terrific at this). Miles did his best at managing minutes with the hand he has been dealt (lack of depth) but it was clear NU got fatigued as the game went on, too. As mentioned earlier, 37 minutes were played by Ubel, Talley and Gallegos. OVERALL GRADE: C Losing 74-60 at home against Kent State is disappointing, but we have to keep the big picture in mind. What do I mean by that? We're 4-1 through the first five and realistically, that's what we should have hoped for. Is that the best case scenario? No. But its the realistic expectation for this team. Nebraska has five tough games coming up and again, realistically, if we can go 2-3 during this stretch, you take it and get a couple of more wins against lesser opponents and bam, your 36 years in a row of winning seasons is still very much a possibility as we head into the B1G. I credit Kent State tonight and just chalk this up to "one of those nights." Not too low after tonight, though it was definitely frustrating to drop this one. PLAYER OF THE GAME: DYLAN TALLEY 2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS: DYLAN TALLEY - 2 RAY GALLEGOS - 2 BRANDON UBEL - 1 Click here to view the article

Sounds like my last relationship, Dimes.

Nebraska 66 Kent State 59

OFFENSE: A- Nebraska did a much better job attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line. In fact, the Huskers got to the stripe a respectable nineteen times, though they did lose too many points of those points, too (missing 8 of the 19). With that said, the Huskers also grade higher because of their efficiency downtown, too, which is exactly what got them down graded a bit last game. It's amazing what made jump shots will do for an offense. Case in point, this contest, in which NU hit SEVEN first half trey's and for the night, ended over 50% at 10-19 (53%)! That's nearly the same as the Big Red shot from the free throw line. Our Player of the Game is Rey Gallegos for not only hitting four three's and the critical free throws at the end, but also for his work defensively, too. Dylan Talley is a close, close second, for ANOTHER terrific game of 14 and 7 (how long has it been since a guard led NU in rebounding for a season?) DEFENSE: A- I thought Nebraska played well defensively, though they did allow Josh Davis (19) and Jordan Callahan (16) their fair share of points. Tulane shot just 39% from the field (19-49) though and you do have to tip your hat on four or five of those shots, for they were just athletic plays made by the superior athletes. As mentioned above, big shout out to Gallegos and Talley, but also to Andre Almeida. I thought he was much better tonight defensively than we've seen the majority of the time he's been at NU. REBOUNDING: F Nebraska gave up five points directly off of offensive rebounds in the first half alone and for the game, 11 second chance points. There were several key moments, as a matter of fact, including toward the very end of the contest on the "phantom timeout play" where Tulane got a board off of a missed shot and somehow got a timeout falling out of bounds with questionable possession. (Lindsay Lohan knows all about that) For the night, the Green Wave out boarded the 'Skers 33-26 and finished with eleven offensive rebounds (which seemed more like twenty). BALL HANDLING: B+ Nebraska did a good job of getting into its sets, although at times, I felt like the spacing wasn't the best, with some overload on the court. Hats off to Benny Parker, who played 31 minutes and committed just one turnover. Very nice game for the KC frosh. Speaking of KC frosh, great to see Shavon Shields out there, too! His athleticism and basketball IQ is notable, right off of the bat. COACHING: B+ Had Nebraska not layed an egg the first ten minutes of the second half, I'd have given Miles an "A." Either way, though, his team has now earned victories in two games that Las Vegas had Nebraska as an opening line underog. That says something. Also, this team has shown the ability to make in game adjustments, such as tonight, when the Huskers completely shut the door on Tulane down the stretch. In fact, Tulane didn't score a single field goal hte last 7:02 of this game. OVERALL GRADE: A- I really, really like this win. Some will say it wasn't impressive; I disagree. I really like Tulane, too. They're a solid NIT team in a solid conference, and I find it quite encouraging NU can pull out wins against the like of Tulane and Valpo this early in the season with so many question marks. For someone hoping NU can get to eleven wins this year, we're off to a great start! And damn, winning feels so good, doesn't it?!? PLAYER OF THE GAME: RAY GALLEGOS 2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS: RAY GALLEGOS - 2 DYLAN TALLEY - 1 BRANDON UBEL - 1

Nebraska 65 Tulane 61

I guess I was taking into account not only our talent, as I mentioned in an earlier report card, but also, our competition. I am quite disturbed that even on a down year, we're going to be content putting up 75 points against UNO. 75, not 95, mind you. 75 is not that impressive. Just my thoughts.

OFFENSE: D+ Nebraska did a poor job of playing to its strength against UNO, which was clearly a low post advantage. While Andre Almeida (19) and Brandon Ubel (11) both had nice scoring games, especially Almeida, who is our Player of the Game, neither big man was utilized enough. Instead, the Huskers were cranking up three point shot (22 attempts!!!!) after three point shot (converting on only three, or 14%) and if it wasn't a three point shot the Huskers took, it was a perimeter jump shot. For the game, Dylan Talley and Ray Gallegos combined to shoot 3-18 from downtown (1-7 for Talley; 2-11 for Gallegos). That, my friends, is ugly.It's no doubt Nebraska is going to continue to struggle offensively if they can't get the ball to the rim and thus, to the free throw line. Hopefully NU can continue to improve in this area as the season unfolds, because the Huskers attempted only nine free throws in this game (as compared to UNO's thirteen). DEFENSE: C Nebraska allowed too many open shots on the perimeter, though to UNO's credit, they DID convert on some difficult shots. For the game, UNO shot 47% from the field (21-45) which is of course not what NU was looking to allow, nor was 62 points. One question - can we somehow get Justin Simmons into our program?!? That kid can play, with 19 points on some highly difficult field goal conversions. REBOUNDING: A Nebraska's work on the boards weren't a surprise, as they had a clear low post advantage. For the afternoon, Nebraska had TWENTY FOUR more shot attempts than UNO, and that's mainly because they grabbed sixteen offensive rebounds! That's right, 24 extra shot attempts on 16 offensive boards, including FIVE by Almeida! Overall, the Huskers out boarded the Mavs, 39-28. BALL HANDLING: B+ Nebraska turned the ball over just nine times, which you will take every game of the year. The low post sagging defense the Mavs played wasn't literally difficult on Nebraska from a turnover standpoint, but it did take the Huskers out of feeding the rock to the post, which was a big reason for the high number of perimeter heaves. COACHING: B Since I criticized Miles in game number two for lack of timeouts, I must praise him for using a couple at key moments in this game, including a point where NU was down 5. Out of the timeout, the Huskers came out on a roll and took the momentum back, as well as the lead. The team came out a little lethargic but credit UNO some for that, too. OVERALL GRADE: C+ A sloppy and underwhelming victory, but a solid victory nonetheless. Every win NU gets is a good one this year, and let's hope they can keep it going against a "game" Tulane opponent on Wednesday. PLAYER OF THE GAME: ANDRE ALMEIDA 2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS: BRANDON UBEL - 1 RAY GALLEGOS - 1 ANDRE ALMEIDA - 1 Click here to view the article

I definitely see the counterpoint to my argument. And I'd agree with you if we were scoring on a somewhat consistent basis during that stretch. However, we went over 7 minutes without a field goal, and there were a couple of possessions that I thought were going nowhere in a hurry with 10-15 seconds left that could have used a timeout. Anyway, we'll see how things continue to go and obviously, it didn't matter at all in this scenario since we had a nice win!

Nebraska 65 UNO 55

I too am a bit concerned about AuroranHusker. I hope he is okay. You sometimes fear the worst about someone when they're consistent, consistent, then drop off the face of the earth.

OFFENSE: C- Nebraska shot just 37% from the field tonight but luckily, connected on 42% from downtown (though only five triples and twelve attempts). The Huskers got 50 points by the skins of their teeth and somehow, that was enough to get the job done tonight. A number of things were quite concerning to me on the offensive end. 1. The inability to get Dylan Talley the ball with any kind of space and the inability to get him the ball where he could shoot the three. He never even attempted one and he is our best long range shooter. There is no way Rey Gallegos will shoot like he did in opening 4-4 from downtown, but luckily, he also won't finish as cold as he did, either. The point is, we will HAVE to get Talley going, both outside and to the hole, to have any kind of success this year. 2. Andre Almeida has GOT to find a different move besides the guarded hook shot and layups. He has not gotten any better since two years ago and really, you could argue he's regressed. Foot work might be a tad better but that's about it. 3. Nebraska needs to find a way to score in the open court. There were a few times tonight they could have pushed and gotten to the line. They MUST get to the line more than 11 times if they're going to compete this year. To do that they'll need to push the issue. I expect that will come with more experience from Benny Parker and others. 4. Nebraska needs to get easy baskets off of its defense. I don't recall a single time tonight where they were even remotely close to a steal and easy basket at the other end. Of course, the flip side to that is, they never went for it, and probably saved themselves 2-6 points by doing so. That could have also been the difference in the game, playing "at home" and disciplined defense, so this one goes both ways. DEFENSE: A I don't think you can spin the defense any other way - they "stayed at home," kept Valpo away from fastbreak points (they had zero) and did a nice job of hedging some screens to help prevent shots from downtown. Valpo can fill it up and Nebraska did a nice job of keeping them out of that. Some of that was Valpo probably played a "D" level game offensively, but you have to give Nebraska at least 50% of the credit for that. Was very impressed with the defense of David Rivers tonight. I believe he'll develop into an adequate offensive player with time and be a very good 8th or 9th man his last two years at NU. He is one of the few guys on this team that we can expect to be in the rotation next year (him, Parker, Shields and Gallegos). Holding Valpo to 48 points is HUGE. REBOUNDING: B+ Somehow, Nebraska gave up eight offensive rebounds and lost the battle on the glass by four (36 to 32). But from watching this game, I never felt like NU did a poor job on the boards. It didn't even seem they got out rebounded. Do you agree? Talley once again plays big on the boards, leading the 'Skers with 6. BALL HANDLING: B- 12 assists, 12 turnovers. You can live with it. Again, 12 turnovers in the Big 10 is ideal. 12 against Valpo is maybe a tad elevated. But not bad, either. As noted above, and in previous report cards, I'm a bit concerned about NU at the point guard position. I do think Benny Parker will become a pretty good one, though, but he's still so young. He does have a nice shot. Peltz looked a lot more capable tonight than he did against Southern. Eventually he'll need to at least show that he's willing to shoot, however, or teams will completely not guard him. I like the unselfish attitude though and he moved better tonight. COACHING: B Wasn't real thrilled with Miles' use (or misuse) of timeouts. You have a use it or lose it in the first half, and never took it. It's not as if we were smooth on offense and didn't want to stop a run. In second half, we only used two, and one of them was taken in the last few seconds. Again, we had about seven minutes where we didn't score and during that, used ONE timeout. There was a time we nearly got five seconds, no timeout. Two times we had the ball at ends of shot clocks in a 4-6 point game with under 3 minutes left, no timeouts. Perhaps this is how Miles always is, and perhaps he wants them to play through things and not be babied - a young team growing stronger. But I didn't like it tonight. Great job on substitutions to keep Rivers, Almeida and Ubel from fouling out. All three big men had four fouls and never fouled out. He did a nice job of shuffling walk ons in and out so that they were never on floor for too long. Defense was spectacular. Offense, as Miles described, was "like a root canal." OVERALL GRADE: B+ A nice win at home against a likely NCAA Tournament team or at worst, a high seed in the NIT. It wasn't pretty and the way it was won was very unlikely - the Skers won't win another game this year by scoring 50. But for tonight, it got the job done, and any win this team can get to get them towards .500 for the season is huge. PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ray Gallegos 2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME STANDINGS: BRANDON UBEL - 1 RAY GALLEGOS - 1 This post has been promoted to an article

Which members have we not seen over here on the new site yet, who were posting as recent as late last season or early spring? Anyone we need to hunt down?!?!

Great writeup@!!

Valpo 65 Nebraska 57

Good call on the score - very close!

Nice call by ESPN simulation on the 11!