I would first like to welcome the administrator to the land of basketball.  This makes 3 games now that I know you watched.  KU in person, Mizzou, and KU again.

On Thursday, NU played it’s game almost flawlessly en route to a 61-56 win over Missouri.  NU’s game plan was to slow down the game, pick their shots and make the Tigers live via the jump shot.  That’s exactly what they did, only allowing 10 points in the paint all game, while going inside themselves and scoring 38.  Alecs Maric had game highs for the Huskers with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocks.  The Huskers shot 47% from the field and held Mizzou’s high powered offense to 31%.  It wasn’t pretty for NU, but because they played hard and got after Missouri defensively, NU was able to inch closer to the elusive 20 season.  NU stood at 19-11 after this win and one more over KU would give the Huskers their first 20 win season since 1999 during the Cookie Belcher/Venson Hamilton days.

[see the box score courtesy of huskers.com]

KU CLAWS BACK IN SECOND HALF

Speaking of execution of game plan, NU worked it to near perfection in the first half of Friday’s quarterfinal game against the Jayhawks.  NU broke open a can of W.A. and looked to be clicking on all cylinders.  NU shot the ball extremely well from behind the arc, going 6 for 12, while the leagues best scoring defense held the high powered Hawks’ offense to a mere 22 points.  That tied a season low for KU, but luckily for them, halftime is mandatory.  NU’s momentum didn’t carry into the second half, nor did the luck they needed to go with it.  KU went on a 16-4 run to open the half and just like that (snap your fingers), the Huskers were down 38-31.  Nebraska soon showed what makes them the team they are by fighting back and making KU work for everything they got.  Unfortunately for NU, Kansas was able to get everything.  This included 21 more FT’s than Nebraska (31 for KU vs 10 for NU),  more points in the paint (30 vs. 18), and more fast break points (8 vs. 0).  The Huskers kept it respectable compared to the other two meetings against KU this year where the average margin of the Jayhawks victory was more than 28 points.  The hot shooting NU has become accustomed to the past several games vanished into thin air as Nebraska shot only 38% from the field.  Many points were left on the floor tonight (NU took 50 shots) and they can be pleased with the fact that they were aggressive and they ( and the Ref’s) beat themselves.

I listened to this game on the radio and I was thoroughly impressed by Kent’s and Matt’s call.  They made mention of the disparity in FT’s and summed it up by stating “Someone in this building wants KU vs. KSU in the semifinals, and they are all wearing the same black and white uniforms!”  There were a couple of times I thought Matt Davidson was going to physically go out onto the floor and hurt someone.  If this was one of Kent Pavelka’s last games, it was a good one, and I am glad I was able to listen to it.  You can’t deny the fact that KU was scared tonight and if only NU was able to capitalize on a few shots  here and there, we’d be playing in the semi’s tomorrow.  However, NU has nothing to hang their heads about because they had a tremendous year and according to NIT-ology, we are in like flint for the NIT tourney.  It disappoints me though.  Yesterday we were a 6 seed and could’ve faced Creighton in the first round at the Qwest, but now, we are a 7 seed who will face a 4 seed.  Texas Tech is listed as a 4 seed and this just makes me chuckle a little.  TT went 7-9 in conference (just as NU did ), went 16-15 overall,  and have lost their last 3 games.  They do have strong wins over KSU and Texas, but NU beat Oregon, KSU, Oklahoma, Texas A&M (all NCAA teams), Rutgers, and Arizona State ( a number 1 seed in the NIT).  NU should be a 4 or 5 seed.  They have showed what their defense can do by leading in scoring defense for one of the toughest conferences.  Put them where they need to be NIT (ok it’s getting late, I am starting to rhyme!).  Well, wherever we go, I am sure NU will play with everything they have and will not lie down and quit.  We have Doc to thank for that. 

[see the box score courtesy of huskers.com]

The Men’s Husker Basketball run is over, although their 20-win season will likely garner an NIT bid. Nebraska came out with a solid game plan and held tough with KU until the last 10 minutes. Doc Sadler was visibly hot at the officiating was T’d up late in the game on a pair of *off-setting* technicals.

I was going to live blog the game like our football games, but I thought better of what would have likely been:

Tip Off
dribble
dribble
dribble
pass
dribble
pass
pass
dribble
shoot
rebound
shoot
score
inbounds pass
dribble
dribble
dribble
dribble

eh, you get the idea. By the way, FTW = For The Win. Thanks to my gamer brother-in-law for hooking me up the jargon.

In the opening round of the Big 12 Mens Basketball tournament, the Huskers beat Mizzou 61-56. A bit of sloppy play in the closing minutes turned this into a nail-biter but solid defense kept Nebraska in the lead until the final buzzer.

Nebraska is back in action tomorrow, March 14th, at 6:00 PM against the second seed Kansas Jayhawks.

I’m sure Brad will be along shortly with his game recap, but let the record reflect that I, Administrator, watched a full half of basketball and lived to tell about it. Is it football season yet?

Farewell Alecs Maric

Sunday was Senior Day at the Devaney Center and NU’s lone Senior, Aleks Maric didn’t disappoint.  Maric, who was very emotional before the game, finished with game highs in points (17), rebounds (16), assists (6), and blocks (2).  He also threw in a near game high of 3 steals in a blowout win over Colorado, 68-49.  Here’s to you big guy!!   I have been tough on Maric sometimes, but I was very glad to see him sent out this way, he deserved it!  The crowd of 12,000 let Maric know what he means to NU which caused a flow of emotion from Aleks and his parents.  Maric talked about getting a little teary eyed before the game.

“Very emotional, I’m not going to lie. We spoke about it in the locker room. We told each other to keep our emotions behind and try to be a man, and if one person lets the tears go, it’s going to go down the track, so it’s my fault. A river started coming out of my eyes actually.”

That, my friends, is what college athletics is all about.  Building relationships, being part of a team, and enjoying the experience.  Nebraska finished 7-9 in conference and is the seventh seed in this weeks Big 12 tournament.  NU plays Thursday at 6P.M. against Missouri, who they split games with during they regular season.  The game is on ESPN Plus, so I am hoping that means also on KXVO here in Omaha.

I haven’t really been a die hard basketball fan since MJ retired ( there is video of me at my oldest daughter’s birth watching him in the finals against Utah), but I have always been an NU basketball fan.  With writing these posts I have come to respect this team more and more each week.  They play hard all game and defend like no other Husker team in history.  They have a cohesiveness about them, no infighting or discouraging words, you never see someone so upset they are out of control, and they respect and buy into their coaches system.  Doc Sadler has put a product on the floor that we can all be proud of, even if it doesn’t translate into an NCAA Tournament bid (YET!).  All the kids are respectable young men, on and off the court, with a team GPA average of 3.016.  I love Coach Sadler’s honest explanations of his team and his genuine pride in their accomplishments.  Sadler is a man that believes in being successful on and off the court and his most exciting Husker moments are soon to come!  I heard Kent Pavelka on the radio say last week that early in the season NU seemed like it was trying to make the conference games competitive, and towards the middle and end, they believed they were going to win every game.  You could see the transformation and I believe this team will be very, very good and athletic next year.  I can’t wait!

Thanks to all who contributed to dialogue in these posts, hopefully with a run in the conference tourney and then some post season play, there will be more to come.

[see the box score courtesy of huskers.com]

I found this picture on someone’s sig on Rivals.  I laughed uncontrollably and thought I would share it with everyone else.

 Chris Balham

Nebraska, playing a ranked team for the second game in a row, did something they haven’t done since 1999 by beating a ranked opponent back to back.  The Huskers played one of their most complete games of the season in a 66-59 upset of 22nd ranked Texas A&M at home.  The crowd was taken out the game early as NU jumped to a lead and never let it go until the 8 minute mark of the second half.  Even George Herbert Walker Bush, who was in attendance, couldn’t help the Aggies out as NU just had too much mojo to be beat today. 

NU took an early lead and never looked back, leading 32-25 at the half.  The Huskers received a balanced offensive attack paced by  Ryan Anderson and Chris Balham, both with six points.  Balham tied his career high in points during the first half, but that would soon fall.  C.B. played the best game of his career, scoring 10 points, but none was prettier than the screen and roll dunk that he threw down in emphatic fashion to lead a Husker charge.  Steve Harley, after his career game against K-State,  continued his impressive ways by aggressively going after the basket and hitting key pull up jumpers.  Harley, along with Sek Henry, led all Huskers with 11 points.  Sek Henry played another energetic game and after missing his first two 3 pointers Henry connected on two very important treys late in the game.

Texas A&M came out with great energy to start the second half.  The crowd was swaying and getting into the game and the calls were all going the Aggies way.  TAMU closed a once 9 point gap methodically and went on a 7-0 run to lead NU for the first time all game, 53-50.  NU forced a loose ball that Cookie Miller was chasing down when an Aggie barreled into his shoulder, causing Miller to leave the game with an undisclosed shoulder injury.  Bad call number one was the foul the refs called on Miller while  he lay on the floor writhing in pain.   After an unsuccessful A&M offensive sect, NU brought the ball up the floor with Steve Harley who found Aleks Maric on the low post.  Maric, who finished without a double double for the first time in 7 games with 10 points and 5 rebounds, threw the ball back out to Sek on the wing and he knocked down a 3 to tie it at 53 all.  Bad call number two soon followed when after getting some pressure, a TAMU player bounced the ball off his own knee and out of bounds.  The refs didn’t know what to call so they went with the possession arrow, which favored Texas A&M.  Doc Sadler was very livid and, I would say,  pretty close to getting T’d up.  The two teams traded a couple of baskets when, with just over a minute remaining, Sek took a screen and a couple of dribbles and knocked down another 3 to lead for good, 60-57.  Steve Harley added 4 clutch free-throws, while Jay-R Strowbridge added another, and NU had two of their 3 offensive rebounds to close out the game for the Huskers.

WOW, what a game.  I can’t remember the last time I talked to my T.V. so much during a basketball game.  NU finally found out what will work last week when they played KSU.  Aggressive moves to the baskets by our guards will bring the double team and open up the middle all day long.  NU worked the screen and roll to perfection today and some of the passes that came out of those were nothing short of awesome!  Ryan Anderson had some of the best passes I have seen at NU since Tyronn Lue and when Balham was on the court, there was an athleticism that hasn’t been seen this entire year.  Balham continues to impress me, even if he does need knee and shoulder surgery.  Last year, C.B. looked almost scared to shoot and on Saturday he was feeling it all day, well at least for the 11 minutes he was in the game.  Balham, shooting a crazy 74% from the field this year mainly from the paint, even knocked down a 12 footer with 30 seconds left on the shot clock when the game was close late.  Luckily for him, he made it.  I wouldn’t have wanted to go over to Doc Sadler after that shot if it was missed.  Ryan Anderson had a tough assignment today guarding someone four inches taller and forty pounds heavier, but put in another stellar effort with 9 points, all on 3’s.  R.A. had 4 steals to go with 5 assists and 2 boards, but played much bigger than his listed 6′4″, as he gave up nothing easy all day.  It’s nice to see this team put it all together, unfortunately it looks like that might be without Cookie Miller now.  There is still no word on his injury, but it didn’t look pretty.   After watching Miller get up time and time again all year long, for him to stay down, it must be serious.  Cookie has played huge all year long, but had been getting better and better as time has gone on.  A team that doesn’t have him must go on, but it will be tough without him.  Every player had a solid game today and the only bad stat that stands out is the less than 60% shot from the free throw line.  NU finished 13-22 for 59.1 percent.  Luckily for them they shot 59 percent from the field to offset their bad day from the charity stripe.  I guarantee no coach wants to play this team right now and I could see NU making a run in the conference tournament, which starts March 13th in Kansas City.  This team is definitely an NIT team, but it would be nice to get into the main event, not the consolation match.

Up next is Oklahoma at the Devaney Center on Wednesday the 27th.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M. and there is no T.V. as of yet so a stream from 1110 KFAB might have to do.

[see the box score courtesy of Huskers.com]

Kansas State coach Ray Martin said it best. 

“If you go play for Doc Sadler, you’ll understand that losing’s not acceptable. They had lost two games in a row and they came out playing like a team that wanted to win. They fought us, they punched us in the mouth and we ran away.”

Nebraska did everything right Wednesday night in front of a packed house (almost) and a nationally televised audience.  The result was a very well played game plan that NU executed to perfection in defeating 25th ranked Kansas State 71-64. 

Micheal Beasley, who tied Carmelo Anthony for the Freshman record of double doubles, was never a factor in this game as he was harassed all game long.  His frustration was evident many a times and he finished 9 points under his average with 17.

NU ran a faily uptempo first half, choosing to run with K-State.  There were many screen and rolls and back door cuts, which provided many good looks for Steve Harley.  He turned in a career high 20 points on many uncontested lay-ups.  K-State looked lost on many of his baseline plays and Harley arguably played his best game as a Husker, connecting on 9 of 12 from the field.

Nebraska held leads at 7-6, 14-12, 20-19, and led by as many as eight before scoring four points to close the half and take a 34-31 lead going into the locker room.  KSU came out swinging and tied the game at 34 off a 3 pointer by Clent Stewert.  The Wildcats took their first lead of the second half, off a 3 by Blake Young, and led 45-44.  The Huskers went on a 7-0 run sparked by a well placed elbow from Ade Dagunduro, and never trailed again.  Leading only by one at 65-64, Cookie Miller went to the free-throw line.  He made one of two and Ryan Anderson grabbed the rebound away from Beasley, who was visibly upset.  The Huskers couldn’t capitalize on the extra possession and after Maric pulled down one of his season high 17 rebounds on the other end, he was fouled.  Shooting 2 free-throws, Maric made them  both, to push the lead to four at 68-64.  Beasley put up an airball down at the other end and NU added three more points from a free-throw from Ryan Anderson and two from Harley.  Up next is Texas A&M at College Station on Saturday.  The game will be televised locally on KXVO and nationally on ESPN Plus.

My thoughts on this game are very simple.  Where has this team been?  NU showed some athleticism tonight I didn’t even know they had.  Chris Balham had a wicked dunk off a back pick and played the best I have ever seen him play.  Maric, who is not the fleetest of foot, took Beasley off the dribble for a lay up and knocked down a 20 footer right before that.  Harley was going baseline all game long, and Ade even took some drives to the hole.  NU has lost 7 games, but of those 7, 4 could easily have been wins.  NU realistically could be sitting at 8-3 in conference due to the fact they have the league’s leading defense.  This brings a slight smile to my face, as next year, they will be 10x’s more athletic.  I wish Doc Sadler would toy with having Balham move to the power forward spot while having Maric in the game.  They played tonight together for a few minutes, but I think with Balham coming into his own as of late,  getting him on the move and away from the center will help him.  He is very good with the ball when he gets it within 10 feet and is starting to move without the ball even better lately.  If the Huskers had 2 big bangers on the inside, this will help out Maric, as he has to fight quite a bit on the inside by himself.  Also, I think NU was at it’s best tonight when Ade was sitting.  Ade did make a couple nice drives but no one can match the energy Sek Henry brings.  He can also create off his dribble, penetrate and control the ball slightly better.  His defense has been getting better and better and I think it’s time to play him more.   It was a refreshing win tonight which, at the same time, makes me irritated that this team is 4-7 in conference.  A few more games like this and NU could easily  be in the top 3 of the conference.  Baby steps, I know. 

[see the box score courtesy of Huskers.com]

The story remains the same this week in Huskerland.  Two games played, one at home and one away, but both games, Nebraska either held the lead or had the momentum to drive them to victory, but in the end, came up short.  The problem is no one told that to Iowa St. or Missouri and NU’s lack of a true shooting threat, sealed the fate of Nebraska.

Alecs Maric was playing in front of his parents again Wednesday against Missouri and arguably had his best game for NU this year.   Maric finished with 32 points on 10-18 shooting, collected 16 boards , and drilled 12-14 from the FT line.  NU clawed all game long and Steve Harley, with 9 seconds left, made an aggressive move to the basket, drawing a foul and setting up possibly the game tying free-throws.  NU was down 71-69 when Harley cooly sank his first free-throw.  Mizzou, trying to ice him, called a timeout.  Steve calmly sank the second free-throw to tie the game at 71.  In overtime, Nebraska forgot that Alecs Maric was on the floor and had dominated the Tigers on the inside.  Maric only touched the ball once in overtime and NU just couldn’t shoot itself to a win.  Ryan Anderson hit two late 3’s to make it respectable at 86-78.  NU had the momentum, but still couldn’t capitalize, much in the same way against Iowa St on Saturday.

Iowa St. honored all it’s basketball alumni in a ceremony to commemorate 100 years of Cyclone basketball.  During the first half, NU decided to dishonor them by holding them to an all time Iowa St. low of 11 points.  The 11 points is also a Big 12 conference low, and Nebraska looked like they could be on their way to a series sweep of Iowa St.  The only problem?  NU scored only 24 first half points and seem to think their defense would be able to shoulder the load all game.  Iowa St. quickly jumped on the Huskers to start the half and went on a run of 19-3 to start the half and turned a 13 point deficit into a 3 point lead at 30-27.  The Cyclones never looked back and played some inspired ball after being humiliated during the first half.  NU’s once stifling defense turned to mush and gave up 49 points to the Cyclones over the course of the second half.  The result was an embarrassing loss for Nebraska, 60-52.

Not really much can be said about these two games.  Up and down is the best way to describe this team.  One minute they can shoot, the next they can’t.   They make free-throws, they don’t.  Next year will be much more promising, and it can’t get  here soon enough.  Thankfully, spring football practice starts next month, so that should cushion the blow of this disappointing season.  Up next for NU is a nationally televised game on ESPN2 Wednesday against Kansas State.  Tip-off is scheduled for 8 P.M.

[see the Iowa St. box score courtesy of Huskers.com] 

[see the Missouri box score courtesy of Huskers.com]

  Now that the Huskers are back at home, who better to play than a team that is 2-8 on the road this year. Texas Tech came to the Devaney Center on Saturday with hopes of easing their road woes under new coach Pat Knight.  Things looked pretty good for the Red Raiders early as they jumped out to their largest lead of the game when the score was 19-11.  Nebraska buckled up the defense and started to create plays for their shooters, as well as Maric, and NU turned in an impressive 21-2 run which led to a 6 minute scoring drought for TT.  The Huskers led 40-28 at the half, but more importantly was how they led.  Maric, who was playing in front of his mom and dad, was very aggressive.  There were a lot of dunks and not very many of those sky hooks he has been shooting lately.  He put the ball on the floor and made a few moves.  When he was doubled he kicked it out to an open teammate.   Steve Harley, who finished with 12 points, had 10 in the first half in arguably one of his best games as a Husker, as he was able to hit the open shot and protect the ball on offense.  Ryan Anderson, who in my last post I asked where has he gone, showed up in a BIG way on Saturday.  R.A. hit 8-9 from the field and 3-3 from behind the arc in tying his career conference high of 19 points.  He was relentless on defense with pressure and steals and on offense he was hitting open shots and was aggressive on the glass with 7 rebounds.  He was the player we all thought he could be and NU needs that 1-2 punch with Maric to be successful.

NU opened up it’s lead in the second half to 18 points when TT went to a full court press and started to make a ball game out of it, down only by seven, at 62-55.  The Red Raiders were sparked by Mike Singletary and Alan Voskuil, but couldn’t overcome a 9-3 run by the Huskers that put the lead back to 71-58 with 2:05 to play.  NU continued to play hard even though the outcome was already clear.  It was a good win at home, and with 2 of the next 3 at the Devaney, NU can try to make a late season run for a strong conference record.

Next up is Missouri at home on Wednesday at 7 P.M.   This game is not televised but will be broadcast on 1110 KFAB, which has an internet stream available also.

[see the box score courtesy of Huskers.com]

Nebraska travelled to #20 K-State on Wednesday and in the process aquainted themselves with possibly the number one overall pick for next year’s NBA draft.  Michael Beasley was effortless in scoring 35 points and pulling down  13 boards on 15 of 21 shooting, while leading his cats past the Huskers 74-59.

Nebraska took an early 4-0 lead only to watch as Beasley scored 10 points in under two minutes to cap a 12-0 run by K-State.  Nebraska’s perimeter defense was a step behind in the first half as the Wildkitties hit 43% of their three point attempts and 54% of their total shots.  Just like the Creighton game, when NU let them score at will and build up a huge halftime lead, Kansas State also had a commanding 45-30 lead heading into the locker room.  Beasley led all ( and almost NU ) with 23 points and Dagunduro led the Huskers with 9, followed by Maric with 8.

The similarities to the Creighton game didn’t stop there.  Just like in that game, NU found it’s defense, this time, going to a box-in-1 on Michael Beasley.  The result let NU back into the game, cutting a once 15 point lead down to 5 twice, at 55-50 and then 57-52.  That is as close as it would get for the Huskers as the offense stalled for NU and started to heat up for K-State.  Turnovers and rebounds plagued NU during this stretch, but they played hard until the end, so you couldn’t really ask for anything else.

A few afterthoughts after watching the game are:

1. I wonder why, with K-State’s size advantage, Doc  didn’t tinker with having Maric, Balham, and Ping in the line-up at the same time.  I think Ping is in the Doc dog house, or maybe it’s just Balham’s finally starting to come into his own.
2. Steve Harley made 3 really bad turnovers in a minute span that led to 6 quick KSU points when NU was clawing back.  He also didn’t seem to have his shooting touch all night, as nothing was really even close. 
3. Alecs Maric continued with the sky hooks and lay-ups all game long and I continue to wish he would just put the throwdown on one of those balls.  He did have 16 points and 15 rebounds but many were put backs or lay-ups and rebounds that came right to him.  Balham is much more physical all while giving up 3 inches and 40 pounds.
4. Sek Henry needs to start!  With Harley and Dagunduro struggling, Henry continues to impress with defense and quick slashes to the hoop.  Sek has come a long way this year defensively, and I say give the kid the ball!
5. I would love to have a whole team of Cookie Miller!  I love this kid.  Nobody leaves it all on the court more than C.M.  I get tired of watching him sometimes, that is how hard he works, non-stop.  In high school, he set the record for most points scored, so we know he can do that, but what impresses me the most is he is full speed all the time.  When you are the smallest guy out on the court every game and you still find ways to get rebounds in traffic, hit the open shot, create off the dribble and steal as many balls as he does, that is impressive!  When he finds his scoring touch again, look out!  During the game on Wednesday he messed up and didn’t rotate on a pick.  Doc was yelling at him from the sideline, and like a seasoned vet, Cookie pointed his hand to his ear as if to say “what Doc, can’t hear you”. 
6. Ryan Anderson, where did you go?  Last year R.A. averaged 10.1 points while shooting a respectable 47% from the field and 43% from behind the arc.  This year he averages 8.8 points, shooting 42 percent from the field and 38% behind the arc.

Up next is Texas Tech at home Saturday at 3 P.M. which will be on ESPN Plus.

[See the Box Score courtesy of Huskers.com]