Nebraska @ UCLA - 3/3, 10 PM CST (FS1)

[carrolltonsker]

dang it

Agreed. I watched the game. Northwestern had their chances but made way too many mistakes. Also, Purdue was very fortunate.

 

[Hosskerz]

The pressure is so much easier to put on the Huskers because we haven't made teams pay for it. I don't see as much back cutting for easy buckets as we did earlier, and some of that is because the lane seems congested. Frager seems less eager to go all the way to the rim and let the chips fall where they may. Instead he's stopping, getting eaten up by pressure, and not getting shots or passes off. He needs to be fearless if he's going to go into the lane.

It's interesting to see how Mast has not been as successful in the paint as he was early in the season, in part because they are doubling him, and he's not finding someone open to make them pay. One on one, he's good, but that double hurts him because he doesn't elevate. We seem a little worried about picking up fouls on screens, which leads to us not getting any space when we try to rub guys off. I say put in Garcia or Leo, tell them to head hunt, and set some hard picks, fouls be damned, get the defenders less comfortable, and tell the offense to come shoulder to shoulder with the guy setting the pick.

All of these things are fixable in short order, but I do have a couple of beefs with how we are playing. One is we aren't attacking the pressure, we are drifting away from it. Look at the 3s we are taking now as oppose to earlier in the year. 3 to 5 feet further out, and we just aren't good enough to do that. We need to start the offense where WE want to, not where the defense wants. Second, we are standing and watching too much. The hardest guy to cover is the one that never stops moving, and always makes you work to keep that 'ball and man' integrity. I'm seeing a little too much floating and drifting around, not moving with purpose.

@LarstheRed Thank you for the response. This is so much of what I’ve been seeing but you do a great job of explaining it.

I know Fred and the rest of the staff have to be seeing it as well and that is what is frustrating me watching lately as NU doesn’t seem to be making those adjustments to counter.

 

[LarstheRed]

@LarstheRed Thank you for the response. This is so much of what I’ve been seeing but you do a great job of explaining it.

I know Fred and the rest of the staff have to be seeing it as well and that is what is frustrating me watching lately as NU doesn’t seem to be making those adjustments to counter.

I saw a few cutters making backdoor moves, but it was pretty tight in the passing lanes. Still, we need to make a few just to keep defenders honest.

I understand Fred being concerned about some of the guys deeper on the bench being able to defend as well. Blue and Leo are a step down, but when the offense is struggling, a few minutes of greenlight for those guys might create some flow, and that can rub off on guys who aren’t shooting as comfortably as usual.

 

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

Well, that was disappointing to say the least.

 

[HuSkaBob]

I saw a few cutters making backdoor moves, but it was pretty tight in the passing lanes. Still, we need to make a few just to keep defenders honest.

I understand Fred being concerned about some of the guys deeper on the bench being able to defend as well. Blue and Leo are a step down, but when the offense is struggling, a few minutes of greenlight for those guys might create some flow, and that can rub off on guys who aren’t shooting as comfortably as usual.

Leo and Blue have different bodies -- both can look over the defense a little, as opposed to a sub-6 foot guard. Leo isn't afraid to try to box people out, even if he doesn't succeed in that he might get rebounds just because he so tall. He's got nice moves around the basket as well.