HuskerBB

Getting destroyed on the boards now. Early we rebounded well but not the last 10 minutes.

Way too many turnovers early - but good that despite the turnovers we have a lead. Just need to focus on valuing the basketball.

Nice D by Eli. Like to see that.

Actually 5 by 5 players now.

4 3's by 4 different players.

Yeah CJ typically doesn't show that much emotion - but at that one point Josiah had to run over and get between him and the ref and calm him down or he likely would have gotten T'd up.

Watching the UCLA / Arizona game - and have to mention that Kelly Pfeiffer is also a bad ref in the Pac 10.

Nice to get the win against what really is a quality veteran team. Huge shot by Keisei at the end when he finally broke free. Kind of ironic as I had said earlier how it was clear Collins had clearly told his team they could not let Keisei get loose as he was getting pushed and held all game away from the ball. The way he gets treated when he tries to make cuts would be charged as assault if it happened anywhere other than a basketball court. Not sure why Big 10 refs seem completely unable to see anything happening to players who do not have the ball.

Yes and Yes. Newborn in 1962 so don't remember that one - but I very clearly remember listening to Kent call that 1982 game at Missouri. Was a student at NU then. That was before Dave Hoppen - but did have some key members (Greg Downing most prominently) of the NIT Final Four team a couple years later. Most interesting thing I always say about that 1982 team is how we had a starting center on that team that couldn't dunk - Lenard Johnson. Remember sitting in the stands at home games that year and Jaime Williams from the football team would be giving Lenard a hard time about it. Of course the backup center Terry Smith (who was also just 6-6) was a great dunker. Downing was too - seemed like once every game Moe would have a designed play to get Downing an alley-oop dunk.

That was a pure flop. What a joke

That call on Gary was a killer. we need him on the floor.

Wisconsin is really good a ball movement and player movement without the ball which is the secret to attacking our defense.

Brice and CJ both struggling - has CJ even take a shot yet?

Bad matchup for Eli to cover the big guy - especially when he is able to take 6 steps without dribbling

Unusual lineup right now - no PG

Don't like when we sit Keisei and Brice at the same time. Got away with it the last couple times because CJ went off during those times. Need that to happen again I guess.

Figured this was going to be a long day as soon as I saw DJ Carstenson's shiny head.

Good point and contrast it with a couple years ago when I can remember Bryce McGowens standing still waiting for a ball rolling towards him from 5 feet away while opposing team players from 15 feet away came and got it first. That is why - regardless of record - this years team (and last years as well) are so much more fun to watch than the teams Fred had his first couple years. Without disagreeing with your reference to Denim Dawson (who did always play very hard) I credit it more to the attitude that we got when Emmanuel Bandoumel and Juwan Gary joined the team. Those two were "effort" leaders from the beginning and I think Juwan very much still plays that leadership role with this team, both on the floor and in the locker room. One thing I noticed last night is that well after most everyoone else had left the floor and Keisei was waiting for the TV interview Juwan came all the way out to half court to give him 5 and tell him good game. Showed to me that Juwan is great in that leadership role. Related to that another thing I noticed was the late in the game after Keisei got really gassed and came of the game. Usually whenever a player comes out they go all the way to the end of the bench slapping hands with the whole team. When Keisei came out that time the guys at the end motioned to him to just sit down because you could see he was really tired. But then after he was sitting and the game continued first CJ Wilcher and then Reink Mast made a point of getting up and walking down to where Keisei was sitting near the scorers table to slap his hand and say "good job" (or something to that efffect). Evidence to me of a team that enjoys playing with each other. I also saw a moment early in the 2nd half game where Keisei and Brice had a moment together like that on the court. I always thought the posts early in the year about conflicts between Brice and Keisei were overblown. Both of them play with a scoreers mentality so they are always looking for their shot first - but I don't think there is any significant animosity or jealousy between them and I think they both know that having the other one on the team only serves to open up opportunities for themselves because the defence has to share the focus.

Was right in front of my and I thought it was a flop immediately. Of course I am biased :). Was not as bad as the floppy guy we played against a few games ago (can't remember which team off the top of my head) but for whatever reason refs seem to be letting players get away with those flops again after purportedly being a "point of emphasis" to stop previously.

That exchange was right in front of me. Really odd for a ref to talk to a fan that long - but I don't think it ever got "heated". Made me wonder if they knew each other. I do think the fan was questioning the calls (Oglesby was awful last night - made several really bad calls including the one right before that timeout) and Ogleby was defending himself - but they both had smiles on their faces during most of the conversation.

Pretty sure Lloyd was not at the game tonight. Is he officially off the team?

This is a game we easily could have lost. North Dakota came in and gave us a good shot. They played hard and played well and I actually think they will do well this year. #4 and #20 could play for anybody IMO. Taking that shot and having to battle back to get the win despite not having Mast will do us more good in the long run than a blowout win would have done. Loved the scoring boost we got from CJ and having 6 guys in double figures. Rebounding was a big issue in the first half and we did get after the boards much better once we got some momentum in the 2nd half. Teams do lose these kinds of games - even good teams - so getting the W is enough for me tonight.

What I saw was surgery - but likely just a scope as projection was just out 2-3 weeks. So should be back by mid-January.

I get that - but it is a bad rule at least as applied. The goaltending call itself creates a dead ball "break in the action". If you are going to review it then review it right then. Otherwise it is going to effect other things that happen in the game in the meantime. Certainly did last night. If you have a questionable goaltending call with 3 minutes left in the game and the game plays out the rest of the way without a "breack in the action" and ends up being a 1 point game do you look at that call after the game and then reverse who wins? I understand that is unlikely - but theoretically at least that would be a result of this "rule".

Great win - and a much needed one tonight. Mast was completely different player tonight from Wednesday. MSU bigs are not as physical as the Minnesota ones were - but Reink really had a nice game. For the most part we let the game come to us tonight which was different from Minnesota where players seemed to be forcing things too much. Particularly Brice who did not score in the 1st half but made some huge plays in the 2nd half. The 3 he hit to give us the lead with 2 minutes left was probably the biggest shot of the night - and obviously made some clutch free throws at the end. I for one think this team is fun to watch. They play very hard on D and play together well. I get that the goaltending call was a bad call - but I don't think it is fair to reverse it 3 minutes later. Particularly when the other ref made a very obvious make-up call on the very next play that I don't think there is any way he calls if the goaltending call had not been made. Izzo really got in the ref's heads a couple of times tonight and was very effective at getting calls as a result. If you are going to review that call do it right away - too much stuff happens in 3 minutes of play before you go back to it. I was out of town for the Creighton game and did not go to Minnesota - so I have seen us play live 8 times this year and we have won all 8. Anyone want to buy me a ticket to the game in Manhattan? :)