Nebraska 63, Arkansas Pine-Bluff 49: Post-game Reaction and Report Card

The best part of having a lot of defensive lapses against Arkansas-Pine Bluff is that they came against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.  Too many easy buckets by the Golden Lions came from holes in the NU defense, and led to some insane 66% shooting from Pine Bluff late in the first half.

Of course, it didn't matter.  Pine Bluff still turned the ball over like it was diseased, and a full third of UAPB possessions ended in turnovers (twice, they couldn't even get an inbounds pass off).  Nebraska didn't have a major offensive lapse today, though -- they were fairly deliberate and methodical, and never fell into any major funks once they got going.

Report Card

Offense: B+.  There was a brief slump in the first half which let Pine Bluff take a big lead early, but that had more to do with poor D than poor shooting.  Nebraska shot 45.6% for the game, which was pretty good, and shot over 40% in the second half for the first time all year.

Defense: B-.  All-in-all, forcing 24 TOs should be considered a good defensive performance, but we should expect better than giving up endless easy shots in the first half.  For another team, this would be considered a good game, but for a Doc Sadler team, a game like this against a bad team isn't good enough.

Rebounding: C-.  The Huskers got out-rebounded, but not by too much.  They still gave up 8 offensive boards out of 23 missed Pine Bluff shots -- and you can't let better teams get second chances on a third of their misses.

Ball Handling: B.  14 TOs isn't good, especially since they led to a lot of easy points.  A few of them were offensive fouls, though, which doesn't reflect as much on the ball control.

Coaching: B+.  Doc kept the team focused the whole game, and kept fresh players and hot hands in the game.  The defense struggled a lot, though.

Overall: B-.  The Huskers are as good as their defensive performances this year, and this is an example why.  They won this game because they played an inferior opponent, not because they played well enough to win.

Player of the Game: Sek Henry.  Sek seemed to be in on every play this game, and hit key shots every time Pine Bluff started to get some momentum.  Sek's really coming along very well this season, and I look forward to seeing him continue to grow.

Next Up: Tuesday vs. Saint Louis, 7 PM, on FSN Midwest.