Some other comments. There was so much good competing on defense in the second half and overtime. These guys worked so hard on that end - I was right behind the basket we defended in the 2nd half, and let me tell you, our guys gave it all. We missed a couple times when we needed help because we had a smaller defender stuck, but we defended courageously at the rim and gave no breathing room whatsoever as they tried to run their offense. We had a lot of trouble on offense, because when stuff is happening like Livers turning down that corner shot that is HIS shot, youāre going to have problems. It is impossible to overstate how huge Duncan was in that game. He defended really well under the basket - I was like 20-30 feet away from there so you could see how game he was and it turns out heās a deeply tough-minded kid. That 3 in OT was manna from heaven. Going into OT, I just didnāt see how we were going to win. That 3 changed everything. I was getting ready to send Delany my unused tickets and demand a refund.
I guess we won four games last yearāand we are a deeper team this yearābut you have to wonder whether a fresher Nebraska has more in the tank down the stretch tomorrow. With luck our shooting will be good out of the gate.
My last comment for now - Iowa was exactly the scary team I feared they could be in this game. I had said I much preferred Illinois and wow, yes. Illinois is just limited. Iowa has some players, they can really shoot and they offensive rebound. What they do well, they did really well today. We lost some guys here and there when we were on D, but make no mistake, Iowa played an excellent (if heavily referee assisted) game. We worked our tails off to stay with their shooters and sometimes it wasnāt enough. If Iād have any criticism, I think there were a few times they could have had one of their bigs take a dribble or two and get a really good shot over s smaller defender from in the paint and they turned down those drives. Iāve got to say one thing, if you will humor me - I gave everything I had and the voice is in rehab to be ready tomorrow - I told you all I was LOUD - the two neutrals in front of me, unsolicited said āyou have the greatest fan voice weāve ever heard. Never heard anything like it.ā
Itās hurting pretty badly right now - overtime just put it through more than Iād prepared for (ran out of water), but with some intense rehab, just like the guys, Iāll be right back at it tomorrow!
I cannot believe we won that game. As unlikely a win as you will ever see. We basically were robbed of a game and weāre like, no, weāre going to win anyway. Incredible. Iām elated but also just sort of still mad and disgusted.
@Mattski itās a scary proposition. Nebraska will be coming downhill from the start. On the other hand, some guys didnāt play so many minutes right, because the refs were so busy trying to foul them out! This was an epic, though, and probably took a lot out of our guys emotionally. Still, they owe Nebraska and they know it. If we can get our shooting together, we should be right there. The key is can our guys defend just as hard as they did today. And Palmer will be more assertive than Cook. Must say that I saw a fair number of Nebby fans out and about - they should have decent representation tomorrow, and all the Sparties will be there from the noon game to root against us. Going to be very 50/50 tomorrow, Iād guess.
Loved hearing our fans today. You talk about a sixth manāI wouldnāt be surprised that the fans calling BS on the refs both buoyed the team and gave the refs a little bit of pause.
I shudder to think what the officiating would have been like if we didnāt have the crowd behind usā¦
I will say thisā¦
There isnāt a single season under Beilein where our two best players could foul out in a Big Ten game and play less than half of the game each and Iād still feel confident that we would win. That was the case today. The bench cannot be praised enough. Simmons, Teske, Robinson, and Poole are all guys who I feel totally comfortable with out there right now.
Also yay, top 10 kenpom defense for the time being (Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9)
Moe only played 16 minutes, MAAR 22. At least those two guys should be good to go. Zavier and Matthews played 39 and 41, but hopefully they bounce back quick.
And just like that, Duncan is up to 39% from three on the season. Iām glad the constant āThereās no way he can keep shooting this poorlyā comments have paid off!
I think tomorrow has to be a MAAR day. Get the switch of Roby on to him and go to work. Roby may bother Simpson but I donāt think he can consistently stick with MAAR. Too much of a threat to pull up that Simpson canāt provide.
The official started counting before Z picked up the ball. Iāve seen that before but not in that circumstance. Looked like MAAR and Z both went to get the ball to throw it in, Z eventually became the inbounder but the referee started the count before Z picked it up. Usually the ref only starts the count early after trying to give it to a player who is stalling for time and the ref sets the ball on the floor and starts counting. Z didnāt see that the ref had started counting. That said, I still think he got to five a nanosecond AFTER Z released the ball. This is in answer to wolverheel from about three hours ago, donāt know if anyone else answered this as I am just reading this thread.
Ref started counting before Z picked it up. I agree he shouldnāt have, but he did. Watch his visual count. As I said elsewhere, even so, I think Z beat the five seconds, but I AM biased, after all. Iām also really pissed at these refs!
I agree completely. wolverheel. I have a LONG history of being upset with refs!
I assume weāre pulling for Northwestern to win as many BTT games as possible (except against us) to get that loss out of Quadrant 3?
What the hell is Rutgers running on offense? ISO 1on1 brick it to the rackā¦fundamentally unsound.
They look awful!
If Indiana could score the ball theyād be down by 30. 7 points in 10 minutes of playā¦
Iām still wondering how Rutgers took Sparty to OT in Breslinā¦
Whoa - Rutgers is winning? I turned this off when they were down about 15 in the first half.