throwback

The refs allowed it to become a brawl on the boards, but we didn't rise to RU's level of intensity and physicality. We've got a lot of veteran players - we have to understand how the game is being called and adjust. Of course, losing our 'dawg' was a huge contributing factor as well. I think we really needed our big guys to hit 3s like we did vs PU - pull the shot blocker away from the rim more often and open up driving lanes, especially when the momentum started to flip late in the 1st H and 2nd H. Our big guys just didn't have it from deep on Wednesday, and I think we played tentatively offensively as a result because we didn't think we could get to the rim and draw fouls. It felt like we settled for jumpers on offense repeatedly over the final 8+ minutes of regulation.

He had some good assistant coaches who were excellent buffers and organizers for a stretch in there - Danny and those guys played off each other well, until a couple of the really good ones moved on. Plus Danny could always pull in the talent.

Fred talks to the media this afternoon

NU 84 NW 78

Keisei going to be showcased on The Journey today - 5 pm on BTN before the game and again at 11 pm today

If there's a more frightening 3-word phrase in the English language, I'd be surprised. God speed, fellas.

Yup - you start looking at the 7 road games we have left, needing a minimum of 2 wins (and 3 would be preferrable), this might be the most winnable. Can't let this one get away like we did up at Minny. 1/17 at Rutgers 1/27 at Maryland 2/4 at Illinois 2/7 at N'western 2/21 at Indiana 2/29 at Ohio St 3/10 at Michigan

NU 78 RU 68

Exactly. We just went from one extreme to the other. 4 of 26 from 3 says "no legs" to me ... as did the inability to stay in front of anyone ... and the late closeouts on 3s ... and the slow start ... etc. Throw in all the energy we had to spend just to get it back to even early in the 2nd half, and the collapse over the final 15 minutes probably shouldn't have been that big of a surprise (although things like this always seem to catch me off guard as they're happening). We just had too much emotion and too much energy involved Tuesday to bounce back that fast against a team that hadn't traveled since Jan 2 had almost a full week to rest up / prepare. There was a reason Vegas made us a 4.5 point dog. The bounce back games are always really tough. Makes Wednesday's game in the armpit of the B1G all that more important. I feel like we have to get 3 B1G road wins at some point to be comfortable.

I think Fred said NU actually has to take both Saturday and Sunday off (per NCAA rules) because they've had so many games and travel days in a row.

Good news: The blizzard didn't force them to pull 3 U of I student rec league officials out of the dorms to do the game. Bad news: The blizzard didn't keep Kipp Kissinger at home.

Just will leave this here Would be fun to only have to drive to downtown Omaha and take over the building of a certain team not to be named in March. https://haslametrics.com/ratings.php

I don't know if anyone else follows Message Board Geniuses on X, but they were making fun of some random Auburn fan calling this about 12 hours earlier. You never know what's true on message boards.

Didn't realize watching live that we scored on 8 straight possessions late in the first half with 2.75 pts per possession (22 total). Crazy. I'm not sure I've seen NU do that before at that clip in a conference game. Maybe we were close late in the game in that win at Iowa in 2019? Not sure we scored on 8 straight possessions that day but we had like 15 pts in the final minute, I think?

Likely a small crowd anyway because most of their fans will be sitting in the Bob watching NU-Iowa wrestling or sitting at home watching wrestling on BTN before the basketball game. Thanks for the scheduling help, BTN! I just hope they don't broadcast the wrestling match on the big screens in Carver-Hawkeye during the basketball game warmups. Then the crowd will be huge.

Watching the replay, Mast's defense off the ball was incredible. He was so physical with Edey. Reminded me of D Walker last year. Probably fortunate the refs let us play that way against Edey. Not sure that happens in West Lafayette.

At the one-quarter point, NU's 5 opponents so far are 13-8 in league play / 11-5 outside of playing NU - above average. Next 5 opponents are 7-12 in league play so far - below average. Final 10 opponents are 20-18, so back to the norm. Big opportunity upcoming over the next 5 to make a move.

Been giving this a lot of thought this season - we all remember the plethora of offensive scoring droughts we've had over many years, many coaches, and many rosters. This year, though, it's NU creating the scoring droughts for other teams. That's where you win games -- the 13-0 run to close the half won the game last night, I thought. It's all fueled by defense. And it seems like a lot of our big runs / forced scoring droughts come at the end of half and game situations. Shows determination and paying the price in the offseason with conditioning, as well as staying out of foul trouble for the most part. Purdue - No FGs for first 5:44 of game (8-2 NU run) / No FGs for final 5:54 to close first half & start second half (13-0 NU run) / 1 FG for final 4:28 of game (9-2 NU run) Wisconsin - No 4+ min scoring droughts Indiana - 1 FG for 7:14 middle 2nd half (20-8 NU run) S Carolina St - 1 FG for first 10:26 of game (23-3 NU run) / 1 FG for 7:50 to close first half & start second half (19-2 NU run) North Dakota - No FGs for 5:52 early 2nd half (14-2 NU run) / no FGs for 4:40 middle 2nd half (14-2 NU run) / no FGs for 3:57 late in 2nd half (11-2 NU run) Kansas St - No FGs for 4:18 to close first half & start second half (10-3 NU run) / no FGs for 9:39 middle second half (17-1 NU run) / no FGs for final 5:06 of game Michigan St - 1 FG for 5:09 to close first half & start second half (11-2 NU run) / no FGs for final 3:11 of game (15-5 NU run) You get the idea. Our offense is really good -- 10 80+ point scoring games in 16 contests shows that. But being able to shut down the other team for several minutes, often more than once a game, is what is winning games right now.

For anyone interested in a replay, BTN has the 60-minute version on now. "BTN Basketball in 60" is listed on BTN a few times over the next couple of days without listing teams, so NU-Purdue could be on a few more times in those time slots as well.

Happily hungover, thanks for asking!

NU 89 IU 86

Absolute gold in the replies. I said after the trip to Madison that very few teams in the country would've won that game with the way Wisky shot it. After this game, I can definitely say that no team in the country could've won in Lincoln last night with the way NU shot it, played defense, and competed.