Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
The Nebraska Cornhuskers only have one player currently on a NBA roster and that is Isaiah Roby with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Roby was performing well at our last check-in on Feb. 1, but how did the rest of the season go and what is the outlook moving forward for the second year pro?
Roby was in his first full season with the Thunder this year after being traded by the Dallas Mavericks mid-way last season and mostly playing in the G-League before COVID-19 derailed it. While the Thunder did play in the bubble in Orlando, Roby was dealing with plantar fasciitis and did not play.
Thunder fall to Utah 109-93
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Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
The Oklahoma City Thunder continued its trek towards the bottom of the league standings on Friday, falling to the Utah Jazz 109-93 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Utah (51-20) marched to its league-best 51st win after jumping out to a 61-57 lead in the first half. After giving up a 31-19 run in the third quarter, Oklahoma City’s 50th loss was all but in the books.
The short-handed Thunder (21-50) shot just under 43% and battled, even with two rookies and three second-year bigs in the starting lineup. OKC made the score somewhat respectable with a 27-17 run in the fourth quarter.
Game Flow
As games wind down for the Thunder and valuable minutes on the floor dwindle, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is using the opportunity to explore his roster and the players who haven’t had the opportunity to build the large body of work inside of an NBA game. As a result, the Thunder has seen major action from player such as two-way forward Jaylen Hoard who logged his second consecutive game in double figures while recording a career-high 16 points in 21 minutes of action.
“He continues to impress. We talk all the time about bringing a level of competitiveness and plugging into the team and he does that. He executes on both ends of the floor. There s really nothing sexy but his game yet, but he competes every night, he plays inside of a team and he executes what we re trying to do on both ends with a high level of reliability,” said Daigneault. “He’s strung together some good performances here when he s gotten his opportunities.”
Whether Dort has been in the lineup or not, the Thunder defense has struggled mightily as of late, allowing Sacramento to knock down nearly 53 percent of their attempts from the field.
A few Thunder players showed out on the offensive end of the floor, however, trying to keep OKC in the game as the regular season winds down.
Game Ball: Jaylen Hoard
For the second straight game, forward
Jaylen Hoard brought some nice energy to the contest off of the Oklahoma City bench. The second-leading scorer for the Thunder on the night, Hoard scored 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, smartly picking his shots against the Kings.