Huskers get off to rough start against Wesleyan
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Doc Sadler sported a Red Zone T-shirt on the Nebraska bench Friday night.
There were times during Nebraska’s exhibition basketball game against Nebraska Wesleyan when Sadler may have wished he was in the students’ Red Zone section.
Like halftime, perhaps.
Related Media
NU vs. Nebraska Wesleyan - 11.2.07
See highlights from Nebraska's exhibition win over Nebraska Wesleyan on Friday, Nov. 2. (Ken Hambleton / JournalStar.com)...
That’s when Sadler’s Huskers were in a surprising 30-30 tie with crosstown Wesleyan, an NCAA Division III team.
“I was not happy with our effort,” said Sadler, “especially the first half.”
Nebraska still prevailed by a comfortable 70-50 margin before 6,822 fans at the Devaney Sports Center.
But getting outrebounded, losing battles for loose balls and shooting barely 50 percent from the free-throw line …
“That’s inexcusable,” said Sadler, beginning his second season as NU coach. “We’re not a basketball team that can show up and play basketball and think things are going to take care of themselves.”
Sadler gave ample credit to Wesleyan, which returned five starters from an 8-19 team, saying the Prairie Wolves played harder for 40 minutes.
“We ended up having to play 94 feet to get us to (play hard),” Sadler said, “and that’s inexcusable.”
Senior center Aleks Maric, a preseason first-team All-Big 12 selection by league coaches, led Nebraska with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
He described the Huskers’ game as “slow and rusty.”
“We didn’t play the way we should have, or with as much intensity,” Maric said. “It’s going to be a tough practice.”
Wesleyan, led by Ryan Thramer’s 14 points, took its first lead at 26-25 with 3 minutes, 14 seconds remaining in the first half, and extended it to 29-26 on a Brandon Arp three-pointer.
Maric gave Nebraska breathing room early in the second half, converting on three straight dunks, the first one off a breakaway.
Ryan Anderson’s only field goal of the night, a three-pointer, made it 44-34, and Wesleyan got no closer than seven points thereafter.
“We didn’t have enough intensity coming out,” said freshman Cookie Miller, who started at point guard. “We had to pick up full-court just to play harder.”
Juco transfer Ade Dagunduro had perhaps the strongest night of NU’s eight scholarship newcomers, scoring 13 points on 4-of-4 shooting and collecting five rebounds. Center Shang Ping had 11 points and six rebounds.
Only Jay-R Strowbridge and Alex Chapman sat out. Strowbridge, a sophomore, didn’t suit up because of academic reasons, and Chapman, a juco transfer, appears to be headed toward a redshirt season.
Also, sophomore Sek Henry played only 3 minutes, not returning after drawing a technical foul for trash-talking following his one-handed dunk over a Wesleyan player. Sadler described Henry’s play as “selfish.”
Sadler said the shuffling of players and a variety of lineups may have affected rhythm. He also shouldered blame for having just installed a zone offense earlier Friday.
But those aren’t excuses for Wesleyan’s 47-46 rebounding edge, or Nebraska’s 4-of-17 shooting from three-point range and 14-of-27 mark from the line.
“I’m not going to get too down about this, because we’ve been having way too many good practices,” said Sadler, whose team hosts Wayne State on Tuesday in a final exhibition. “We’ve just got some things to clean up, and we’ll do that.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
