uneblinstu's post game chatter: ed 7, vol 28 - Illinois

[uneblinstu]

- With no Walt, an ineffective Moses and Leslee dealing with more knee issues, why didn't Fuller get in the game?

- Leslee Smith is a goddam hero for this team. I wonder what this team could have been had he been healthy this year.

- I'm pretty sure this team hasn't "quit", I'm just not sure there's anything left in the tank.

- Rivers played some great D tonight.

- Lots of assists, too. 

- Shields with a nice bounce back game.

- That shot Rice hit to put them up 9 always goes in vs. NU. Always. 

 

[HuskerFever]

Will the players get their iPads and smoothies back?

[Silverbacked1]

yeah can't disagree any.

Okay fun question about Sunday... we win do we rush the court?

Got see some sunshine after this one.

[brfrad]

yeah can't disagree any.

Okay fun question about Sunday... we win do we rush the court?

Got see some sunshine after this one.

The answer is we will rush the court WHEN we win!!

[GATA]

A little surprised with Fuller, but this was a bad, bad, bad matchup for him. Illinois has a lot of athletes out there who are talented scorers.

[Silverbacked1]

David was too slow for Nunn early so...

[AuroranHusker]

Rivers & L. Smith played as large on the interior as they possibly could.  Moses tried his best.  Not having Walt P. for 3 hurt too much.  Illini basically doubled Terran when he crossed half court.  Our team gave it their all, didn't have enough tonight. GBR

[HuskerFever]

On the post game show, they were saying that we start the game out -11 (taking free throw and three-pointer differentials into account) on average throughout the entire season.

[brfrad]

Opponents have shot 111 more free throws in 17 games.  We have attempted 18 fewer 3's.  I can understand if we shot 3's like crazy, but to shoot less, and get fouled less is something that needs to be looked at.  We have to learn how to get to the line.  Our team struggles shooting and scoring.  We need easy points.  It's too late in the season to emphasize this, but we have to look at it next year.  Hopefully, we find shooters, and teams can't pack the lane.

[Rachoo]

Why no Nick Fuller???

 

Free throw comparison:  NU  4 of 5  ;  Illinois  20 of 23!!!

 

One of our "stars" -  5 of 15 from field -  1 of 9 from 3 point.  (not unusual for him these last several games)

 

Heck of an effort in many respects - kudos to Rivers, Shields, L. Smith, T Smith, T Webster  but the above factors pretty much tell the story.  

[hhcmatt]

[lang]

Time to give 'em their locker room back.   These guys have given us everything they've got.   This team is pretty offensively challenged and the season has proved it.   We can't get to the line, we apparently foul like crazy, we can't hit anything and have 2 proven scorers.  Pretty impossible to overcome that.  I ain't gonna question their effort.  Fine you can nitpik on that, I won't.  They've  fought hard through a tough season.  Just like every other team in the conference, they've continued to battle.   Let's hope we can knock off the Terps and win a game or two in the B10 tourney. 

 

BTW, since Groce isn't our coach, man is he easy to not like....what a lunatic.

[hhcmatt]

We have to learn how to get to the line.

 

We even subtracted 20+ minutes per game of Gallegos not being fouled.

It's very possible that last year's rule change and this year's reversal might be the best explanation for how you explain the same group of guys overachieving last year and underachieving this year.

[hhcmatt]

Free throw comparison:  NU  4 of 5  ;  Illinois  20 of 23!!!

 

Some of that was our now standard lack of aggression...especially after Egwu set the tone in the paint from the start. Illinois statistically doesn't foul as much as most teams so it's harder to rack up FTs on them.

 

On our end we sure had a few aggression fouls that didn't need to happen....that's how Shields ends up on the bench less than 2 minutes into the game. While the FT margin was 18, the foul margin was only 6.

[huskerbaseball13]

Petteway during the losing streak......

 

FG-33/104 (32%)

3 PT-11/53 (21%)

 

We are not going to win many games when he is shooting so poorly.  Plain and simple.  He is still rebounding and playing defense but his offensive slump is killing us.  I get the opposing team wants to deny us driving lanes but unless he's feeling it Petteway should never be averaging 7.5 three pointers a game. 

[hskr4life]

 

Free throw comparison:  NU  4 of 5  ;  Illinois  20 of 23!!!

 

Some of that was our now standard lack of aggression...especially after Egwu set the tone in the paint from the start. Illinois statistically doesn't foul as much as most teams so it's harder to rack up FTs on them.

 

On our end we sure had a few aggression fouls that didn't need to happen....that's how Shields ends up on the bench less than 2 minutes into the game. While the FT margin was 18, the foul margin was only 6.

 

 

A lot of fouls for the other team seem to always come either toward the end of the half, or away from the ball... we don't get many calls when we are driving this year and that sucks.  There are times they will make a call on one end, and then not call a foul on the drive at our end.  They'll make that up with an off ball foul that doesn't do much for us though.

 

I will say that we don't drive as hard as we did last year though, but I think that may have to do with the fact that we think we won't get a call if we do.

[hhcmatt]

Petteway during the losing streak......

 

FG-33/104 (32%)

3 PT-11/53 (21%)

 

We are not going to win many games when he is shooting so poorly.  Plain and simple.  He is still rebounding and playing defense but his offensive slump is killing us.  I get the opposing team wants to deny us driving lanes but unless he's feeling it Petteway should never be averaging 7.5 three pointers a game. 

 

Looking at the FT attempts and seeing him taking almost half the team's 3pt'ers really stood out tonight.

 

Here is our win/loss record this year with TP taking 5 or more FTs and 4 or less

 

5+ Attempts 9-5

4 or less: 4-11

[Miles ahead of the rest]

Rivers & L. Smith played as large on the interior as they possibly could.  Moses tried his best.  Not having Walt P. for 3 hurt too much.  Illini basically doubled Terran when he crossed half court.  Our team gave it their all, didn't have enough tonight. GBR

 

Maybe this is is just me, but Terran is much more effective when he goes 1 on 1 when attacking a defender.  The problem is that we ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use ball screens up top and it is not effective whatsoever!  Every team just hard hedges the screen and Terran goes around it and then were back to square one.  Why not let him just go 1 on 1 with the defender and try to beat them that way?

[bigred4]

My guess with Nick Fuller not playing is Miles is sending him a message that he should look elsewhere at the end of the year.  We still need a big and we have basically 3 guys coming in who are similar skill set to Nick in Michael Jacobsen, McVeigh, and White.

 

I don't buy the he doesn't match up well with Illinois or Ohio State because he played 30 minutes against a top 15 team on the road two weeks ago and played the best on the team (except for Pitchford hitting a some threes).  He makes off hand reverse layups and we have guys I don't even know if they have ever used their off hand.

 

Don't think he is the answer, but no reason why he should be playing 20 minutes right now, to see if he can help us next year.

[Handy Johnson]

Rivers/Smith played some inspired Basketball which was nice to see. Couple of poor shots & turnovers cost us the game at the end. I've got a dumb hunch we win Sunday, so Ol' MO will be wearing a Red jersey when we hit Chicago!

[GATA]

My guess with Nick Fuller not playing is Miles is sending him a message that he should look elsewhere at the end of the year.  We still need a big and we have basically 3 guys coming in who are similar skill set to Nick in Michael Jacobsen, McVeigh, and White.

 

I don't buy the he doesn't match up well with Illinois or Ohio State because he played 30 minutes against a top 15 team on the road two weeks ago and played the best on the team (except for Pitchford hitting a some threes).  He makes off hand reverse layups and we have guys I don't even know if they have ever used their off hand.

 

Don't think he is the answer, but no reason why he should be playing 20 minutes right now, to see if he can help us next year.

Maryland is a top-15 team, but they didn't have the players to punish Fuller in the paint or to explode past him on the wing. Illinois has that in bunches.

[Huskerpapa]

I do think the fact that both Shavon and TP have struggled over the past month is a major cause of our slump.  They are our scoring threats.  The fact that they are banged on, double teamed, and well scouted all play a role.  I am not dissing them in the least.  Both work hard...expectations are a bitch sometimes.  They are good kids, so any hate that may be thrown their way is bush, especially in light of the plight the Petteway family is going through right now.

 

Here is my wish, I pray that TP's Mom recovers...I hope that TP comes back next year for a big senior run, and I am sure he will re-find his offensive game.

[49r]

Rivers/Smith played some inspired Basketball which was nice to see. Couple of poor shots & turnovers cost us the game at the end. I've got a dumb hunch we win Sunday, so Ol' MO will be wearing a Red jersey when we hit Chicago!

 

It'll be a white jersey though, since Penn State Lost.  We're guaranteed no worse than 12th place which means we wear white in that first game.  

[Norm Peterson]

We had a positive assist:turnover ratio, which is nice (and not very common this season.)  We got beat on the boards, but only slightly, which, on the road against a team with some size, is nothing to be ashamed of.  Good effort there.

 

Two big differences were the 3-pt shooting and the FT shooting numbers.  They didn't take near as many treys and hit a couple more of them than we did.  And then the foul shooting disparity.

 

Now, some will say we weren't aggressive attacking the rim and so didn't draw shooting foul calls.

 

BUT ... I distinctly remember a drive to the rack in the first half by Shavon where he drew some hard contact on the body by his defender on a play where Egwu blocked the shot.  On the replay, it looked to me like maybe Shavon gets the shot off if not for the body contact by whoever his man was.  The contact slowed Shavon up just enough that it allowed Egwu to get there and swat the shot.  And there was no call.

 

Contrast that with a call against Shavon on the other end of the floor where Rice is driving from the wing and Shavon cuts off his path to the rim, turns is body so that he's basically jumping away from Rice and towards the hoop, but Rice is moving faster and collides with Shavon's back. 

 

Seems to me if one was a foul, the other should have been as well.  Both or neither.  But you don't call contact where the offensive player for the home team initiates contact on a drive, but then not call contact where the visiting player initiates the contact.

 

That was just one example.

 

But, hey, bottom line:  The boys played well under tough circumstances and credit Leslee Smith with a hell of a game.  Wish he could have gotten a medical redshirt and returned for another year. 

[hhcmatt]

I don't buy the he doesn't match up well with Illinois or Ohio State because he played 30 minutes against a top 15 team on the road two weeks ago and played the best on the team

 

Will you if he plays 20 minutes vs Maryland? Is it a coincide that of the 5 games where he's played over 10 minutes that two of them have been against Iowa?

 

Miles isn't Tom Crean...he doesn't need to send messages like that. If he doesn't think Fuller is going to play and thinks he should transfer, he's going to meet with him at the end of the year and tell it to his face.