HuskerBB

Got a break there.

Why Wilhelm here and not Keita?

Sometimes I feel like I say this too much but I don't think you can underestimate the impact that Bandoumel has had on this team - even post injury. He is a leader by example in more ways than one.

I have to believe that Keita set 2 NCAA records if anyone was able to do the research. Most minutes (23) and most rebounds (11) by someone who did not play in the first half of a game. It has been so nice to have fun at PBA again this year. Even the loss to Purdue was a great fan experience. This is obviously not our most successful or most talented team - but they have been fun to watch this season.

Very true. This is a year where Senior night should be very special. For Walker in particular - but also for Greisel and Bandoumel who both are very easy players to root for and who both have made huge impacts on the program even though only here for one season.

Agree. Was nice to finally see Keita back on the floor but he was obviously rusty. I am about to give up hope of Wilhelm being a solid contributor. He does some good things but just too many obvious mental mistakes and that doesn't seem to be improving.

We took the lead at 50-48 right. So game was 24-6 after that? But Illinois got ALOT of help after that point.

Rewound it and watched it back and still not sure what Greisel did to get that foul call??

Boy Walker has trouble vs Illinois - not sure he played 20 minutes in either game this year.

Killer cheap foul on Walker on a really late call. Almost like the ref was looking for a way to call a foul on Walker.

How many times can we get called for fouls when trying to block out for a defensive rebound and not leaving our feet in the process. I count 4 in this game so far?

OK that one on Griesel was even worse.

My God that was a horrible call

Meyer gets 3 gift FT's off a ticky tack foul call - then whines when he gets called for a pretty obvious foul on the other end

Ridiculous to call that flagrant. If the kid had not come down awkwardly on his own without regard to any contact and then hit the official they would have never even thought about that being anything other than a common foul

Sloppy turnovers killing us again this game.

Just because the defender's feet are not outside the arc does not mean any contact was a charge. No way that should have been a foul on Keisei

Is Keita ever going to play again?

What the F was Wilhelm trying to do there? He has a hard time dribbling with one guy around him - he has to know he can't dribble between two defenders. Silly turnover leads to 3 points on the other end.

If teams pass and space well and make 3's we are going to struggle - particularly with our two defensive stoppers out of the lineup. Northwestern played well and the Berry kid was absolutely unconscious shooting in the first half - probably had the game of his life - I assume his halftime total was a career high for a full game. Was kind of ironic in the 2nd half when he had a completely wide-open look he threw up an airball. Made me wonder if we should have just tried not to guard him before then :). All that said as Norm pointed out the real difference in the game (and in this game vs our past games) was rebounding. Early it seemed like the ball just never bounced our way - but later it was more a reversion to the old failures. Given those struggles the one thing that did not make sense to me was not having Dawson on the floor more. I think he just had 21 minutes and he is clearly our best remaining rebounder. Maybe Fred thought we needed more offense on the floor but there were several times I wondered why Dawson was not in the game. Is Keita ever going to play again? The last home game he seemed to be limping so was not surprised he did not play but did not notice that tonight. He is someone that we need to be giving minutes and he certainly could not have been worse than Wilhelm was tonight. One other positive I saw was during a first half timeout - Bandoumel was out on the court specifically coaching Jamarquez presumably on defense. Was good to see that from Emmanuel and I really hope Lawrence tries to pattern himself off Bandoumel's game. If he tries to become the player Bandoumel has been then I am excited about his future. We are going to struggle the rest of the season. Greisel and Walker are keys to the team obviously - but I think the whole team got their energy from Gary and Bandoumel and we really are going to miss that for the rest of the year. P.S. I thought on the radio that Fred said Greisel was +11 tonight - which seems impossible as that would mean we would have been -26 in the 7 minutes he as not in the game. Maybe he meant we were +11 with Sam Hoiberg on the floor ? FWIW I don't think those numbers are really statistically significant in a single game - too small of a sample - but does anyone know a website that shows the +/- numbers for players for games. Is that on huskers.com somewhere?

That was the one I came up with - I think it was Craig Sanders that played when his dad was the baseball coach.

In over 50 years of watching Nebraska basketball Emmanuel Bandoumel may very well be my favorite Husker who played no more than one season (less than a season in his case). Just love what this kid brings to the court in terms of effort. Not sure what his future plans are - but it would be wonderful to give this kid a graduate assistant spot to stay connected to the team the next couple years if he has any interest at all in coaching. But I suspect he loves playing so much that he will want to continue as a player somewhere - likely abroad.

Was really disappointed to see Keisei miss that free throw. Had hopes he would get through the whole year without any misses. Not 100% sure but I watched a little bit of the game off my DVR later and I think the announcers said the kid from Ohio State had not missed any all year either - until he missed one early in our game - and then both off the technical.

Ugly game - but effort was there again. Exemplified by Bandoumel - could not hit a shot all night but did not let that impact his effort and he made some big steals late - along with nailing a couple key free throws. If there was anything uglier that the shooting tonight it was the officiating. Some unbelievable no calls and then a couple of pure phantom calls when nothing happened. Only time I can remember Hoiberg getting a T - and he probably deserved it but it was ridiculous that the two refs right next to him did not do anything and the third ref comes running from half way across the floor to call a T. Love how Denim Dawson has stepped up in Gary's absence. Continue to love the effort on defense and the boards. But we need to find a way to make some shots if we want to get to 15 wins.

I get this point - but also would say the impatience with Miles is not a reason to not be patient with Hoiberg. (Although I don't think that is what you are saying). One could argue that maybe some might have learned from Miles that we should be more patient. I for one am just so tired of this revolving door of coaches and I don't think that is the way to build a program. As Norm said in the other post - I would have supported giving Miles more time but was also thrilled when we got Hoiberg. Results under Fred have been very disappointing but I for one (maybe the only one) am not anxious to start over again with someone else.