Huskers fine-tuning roles as offense continues to struggle
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Tonight probably isn’t the best night to expect any huge offensive breakthroughs from the Nebraska men’s basketball team.
For one thing, it’s early in the season, and the Huskers, shooting a mere 41 percent from the field, are still adjusting to life without 6-foot-11 Aleks Maric.
“Everybody’s just trying to find their role,” guard Cookie Miller said, referring to coach Doc Sadler’s various lineups. “Our offense is kind of slow right now, but it was like that last year, too.”
Then there’s the opponent. The Rick Majerus-coached St. Louis Billikens put a premium on defense, as evidenced by their victories against Missouri-St. Louis (48-33) and Boston College (53-50). Each time, the opponent shot 33 percent.
“You know you’re going to take contested shots,” Sadler said, “and you know that you’re going to have to execute, because they’re going to be so fundamentally sound, that they’re not going to give you opportunities from mistakes that they make. You’ve got to have some patience offensively.”
Sadler’s Huskers are 3-0 but have been sporadic offensively, at times scoring points in bunches, and other times struggling through long scoreless periods. NU had field-goal droughts of 8 minutes, 8 seconds against San Jose State and 9:08 against TCU.
Every team, Sadler said, will play in spurts this early in the season, and few teams will be executing as well now as they will be in two months.
Sadler points to two reasons Nebraska has been slow to find a crisp offensive flow. Both relate to the loss of Maric. To begin with, the Huskers need to get the ball inside more often, big man or no.
“We’ve got to get it down there on the block, no matter who’s down there, no matter who’s posted up,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s Cookie Miller. The ball has to go to the low post, and we’ve got to understand that.”
The Huskers will also need more than three games to work on improving their spacing on the court.
“They’re used to playing with Aleks, and that’s changed their style up,” Sadler said. “And then you’ve got new guys, also. It’s going to be an issue. It sounds simple, but spacing is a difficult thing to coach, and a difficult thing to execute.”
Ade Dagunduro said he’s one player who benefited the most with Maric on the court, as he played on the opposite side of Maric. When the defense sucked in, it gave Dagunduro more space with which to work.
“This year, it’s a little different,” Dagunduro said. “Our spacing is a little bit different, certain holes to attack are a little bit different.”
Dagunduro said there’s no excuse, though, for him not rebounding better. When Sadler said after Saturday’s 67-53 victory against Arkansas-Pine Bluff he needed more from his 6-6 senior guard, Dagunduro knows rebounding is a primary area his coach was referencing.
He had one rebound Saturday, and has nine for the season. He said he should have at least six a game.
“I’ve got to sacrifice my body out there,” Dagunduro said.
St. Louis, which also lost in overtime to Kent State at home, is averaging 13.6 offensive rebounds through three games.
“It’s going to be the first team that we’ve actually played that’s really going to try to take advantage of our inside game,” Sadler said. “They’re really tough, and it’s a concerted, concentrated effort to be on that block and to make plays on that block, not just be down there.”
Briefly
* Toney McCray, who played only 8 minutes Saturday and missed the second half with what Sadler said was an intestinal illness, should be full-go. “I saw him eating a sandwich in there a while ago,” Sadler said Monday.
* Alex Chapman, who’s yet to play this season while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery in October, didn’t practice Monday after tweaking his knee Sunday, Sadler said.
* Eric Piatkowski will be making his second career debut in a game against St. Louis, this time as the TV color analyst on Fox Sports Midwest. Piatkowski, the second-leading scorer in NU history, scored 15 points in his first career game, a 107-79 victory against St. Louis in 1990.
* As of Monday morning, roughly 1,400 tickets remained for Saturday night’s home game against Creighton.
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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