As if the turbulence created by Tshimanga's situation wasn't rough enough, Miles came under more fire after Nebraska's loss at Penn State for his decision to sit leading scorer James Palmer for all but seven minutes in the second half and all of overtime.
Palmer had clearly struggled all night, shooting just 1-of-9 from the field for a season-low five points, and Miles said that also included some defensive mistakes that only compounded his poor outing.
Add all of that to the fact that the Huskers made their second-half comeback without Palmer on the floor, he had no regrets about keeping the standout junior on the bench even when the game was on the line.
“I took him out earlier in the game for about 45 seconds and then put him back in because he’d made a couple errors," Miles said. "Any time a guy goes down and makes an offensive error, or a couple of them, coupled with a defensive error, and we’re on the road, I usually want to get their attention.
"So we’ll either call a timeout or we’ll sub and just talk, really. I’ll say, ‘Here’s the issue, here’s what’s got to be solved, and it’s got to be solved now, all right? Next dead ball you’re going in for this guy.’ I just felt like even in the second half we were always missing on a defensive assignment or missing an easy shot. And quite frankly, we were making a run with other guys, so I just ran with them.”
While plenty of fans still question the decision to sit your best scorer and a player who's attempted 116 free throws this season - 54 more than any other Husker - Miles said Palmer would be back to being a key piece in NU's starting lineup next time out vs. Illinois on Monday.
“James is a go-to guy for us," Miles said. "I’m going to roll him out there and expect him to play great against Illinois and Michigan for us this week. It was just a tough night.”
