Well another get out with a win game and this one was not the most enjoyable to watch. I felt like I was being lulled to sleep by the sloppy play of the Jayhawks and the slow it down style of the Huskers. Why we insist on not putting the foot on the throat of opponents is beyond me but I suppose that killer instinct takes time to develop.
Glad we had Sherron, glad we got the win and although the game flow would seem to indicate we were never truly secure in our lead until later in the 2nd half I was never worried. Irritated yes, worried no. On to Norman and what I hope will be a far better performance by the Jayhawks.
More Stats, Charts and Breakdown after the jump...
Keys to the game and no surprise here as our team seems to have developed an identity. Not the identity I would have hoped for but nonetheless it is what it is. We're a solid shooting team and seem to typically be right on average due to our ability to work it down low to Cole and get good shots from outside with Sherron, Brady etc. We as a general rule of thumb will win the rebounding contest and that certainly helps us a lot in overcoming what has become our Achilles heel in taking care of the ball. Free throws were decent in this one despite the refs letting them play for the most part but getting to the line has been inconsistent at times and with so many young guys we do seem to help other teams out in the same regard.
Player impact is as full of a whole lot of Sherron and Cole today. Markieff Morris though with a very solid contribution on the boards today which is great to see. Also managed to earn himself sixth man of the game recognition on the broadcast.
Team Stats pretty close to the averages as far as shooting, not to much to complain about. As I would've expected against the undersized Huskers we had a decisive rebounding edge and ultimately no team should be able to compete when you double them up like we did. 12 point spread and a 17 point win, means we took care of business and then some. The one area that I still can't get past is the turnover department and today we had em early and often and it seemed like we may have been forcing things a little at times. Not a big deal today, I guess I'm being overly critical in this area because it will be the death of us this year.
Player stats, well surprise Sherron and Cole were both dominating and carrying the team in this one. The goal as we discussed in the OGT should be to have them only dominating while others step up as well. Early things looked good for Marcus Morris but a return to his fouling woes led to brother Markieff being the most significant contributor from "The Law Firm." As a whole the trio of Little, Morris and Morris can go a long way in helping us make a run this year, but all three have lacked any sort of consistency to date and that's what's a touch concerning. Still though solid day for Markieff. Our Kansas boys struggled a bit today but I'm ok with that because Reed and Morningstar do seem to bounce back off of a sub par game and we're going to need them Monday.