Nebraska Basketball: View from the Cheap Seats – CU Edition

Where do I start? Tim Miles and his Nebraska basketball team fell short to the Creighton Bluejays by a score of 65-55 inside of Pinnacle Bank Arena after jumping out to a 10 point lead midway through the first half.

It was an ugly game offensively for Nebraska who was held to 37.7% shooting. Meanwhile, their opposition shot 47.1% including 10 three pointers. Nebraska hit six three-balls, attempting 23 of them.

It was ‘same old, same old’ from NU or so it seemed. Issues with post play, issues getting consistent offense and plenty of problems with defending the three point shot. These have been consistent from Nebraska in recent years so questions should arise for coach Tim Miles. Can he find answers? He’ll need to fast if NU wants a repeat appearance in the NCAA tournament.

I am here to tell you not all is lost, but this one really hurt a team, a coaching staff and a fan base who are searching for reasons to believe that last season wasn’t some fluke run. It’s an incredibly long season and Nebraska Basketball in general will need a short memory as Incarnate Word and Cincinnati both come to Lincoln this week. But, how did this game look from the cheap seats? Hint: It wasn’t pretty.

Dec 7, 2014; Lincoln, NE, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers forward Walter Pitchford (35) leaves the court after losing to the Creighton Bluejays in the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Creighton won 65-55. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

– Terran Petteway led all scorers with 21 points. Bad news was those 21 points game on 20 field goal attempts. Worse, No. 5 jacked up 11 three-point attempts, only hitting four. Petteway is a streaky shooter and has plenty of self confidence, but too often in this game Nebraska’s offense was halted by a bricked three-point attempt.

– Nebraska forced the Jays into 10 turnovers in the first half. The second half? Just two. Where was the defensive intensity from NU in  the last two minutes? When there were turnovers in the first half there seemed to be a wide open blue shirt hitting a three.

– The defensive game plan for Jays’ head coach Greg McDermott worked to perfection. Postgame he mentioned that his team was fine with allowing Petteway to “get his”, and shutting down Shavon Shields was the priority. It worked. Shields scored seven points on a three for ten shooting effort. When the Kansas City native can’t get to the rim it makes for a tough day for Nebraska Basketball and the Jays packed in the paint preventing driving lanes for No. 31.

Dec 7, 2014; Lincoln, NE, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Shavon Shields (31) looks to pass against Creighton Bluejays guard Austin Chatman (1) and forward Zach Hanson (40) in the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Creighton won 65-55. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

– The last part of Nebraska’s ‘big three’, Walter Pitchford, also came up short in a big game. The big man was cold from the floor going one for nine. What’s worse? Zero three-pointers in five attempts. Pitchford has to find his shooting touch again or Nebraska is in trouble. They can’t count on enough minutes from Moses Abraham to make up for Pitchford’s poor play and they certainly can’t count on Abraham to score enough points to make up the difference.

– It wasn’t all bad. Two guys who stood out, even from the top of the 300 level of Pinnacle Bank Arena, were point guard Benny Parker and forward David Rivers. Both played well, with Rivers adding nine points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes while Parker scored eight points. Neither were perfect and that is shown in full by Parker’s three turnovers, all of which involved him not realizing his court placement and stepping out of bounds with the ball in his hands.

– This isn’t a season ending type of loss. Far from it, but it certainly hurts. As former Nebraska Basketball player Nick Krenk said above, this could end up being in that ‘bad loss’ column for the Huskers if they can figure out a way to get in tournament contention. At this point, that should be the furthest thing from their minds.

The biggest question for Tim Miles and his team should be: Who wants to get better?

Hopefully the answer is every single one of them.