First game at the RAC the game just came down to play, a made basket, a stop, a missed free throw, a made free throw. Could not get too disappointed in that. After watching tonight's game, a pretty disjointed uneven performance by RU where they never got their traction for various reasons I am going to say we just got beat by a better team. Iowa is better than Rutgers. Two games, two losses, I have seen enough. Nothing wrong with that. We know RU is not the best team in the league or a Big 10 title contender. We do know that RU can beat any team in this league on any given night. RU is in the standings basically where they fit. RU is a top half of the league but in that middle position of 6-9. Nothing more nothing less. That is okay. We do not have an All American mational player of the year candidate. We do not have multiple or even one legit consistent 3 point threat. Still what stood out in this game is that Iowa had an answer for everything in this game. Everytime RU got to 10 or 8 or 6, they would hit a big 3 and RU was left scrapping to get it back and chip away but RU never was able to get it under 6 in the 2nd half. Just way too many options on offense and to Iowa's credit, they had guys step up tonight, unfortunately RU did not. In their limited opportunity to really cut into the lead, Baker and Harper missed wide open 3 pointers. You will not beat a team like Iowa by not hitting those big shots. Say what you want about Fran but the guy is an excellent offensive coach. His charges know exactly where they need to be. They do not hesitate, their passing is crisp and on point and move the ball in the way it needs to be. For all the criticism he gets for Iowa being a poor defensive team, they certainly did a good job negating anything RU threw at them early and by the time RU got hot, the game was already out of reach.
I am going to credit RU for basically playing Iowa evenly in the 2nd half. RU competed, they didnt compete in the first half. They let foul trouble effect their play yet again, not learning their lesson. They turned it over way too much and once again a couple of bench players fell in love with just some poor decisions on the offensive end trying to do too much. So if we can take any positives, its that RU did not curl up and get blown out. They fought and made Iowa have to rewin the game again with some big shots and Iowa did. As far as the foul issues, yes those were questionable calls on Myles and yet when Myles came in the 2nd half and he was ineffective. Cliff actually played well in his time. What I did not like was continuing to lose composure over foul situations. In a game where RU is just down 6 or 8 in the first half and Myles on the bench, there was way too much pressing to try and make a play that was not there. By the time this team start to play smart and stabilize toward the latter part of the first half, the game was basically over and RU had dug too much of a hole. You cannot trade baskets with Iowa in a comeback. If you are not turning them over like we did last year in an illfated comeback you got to make your big open shots.
Got to make shots. That is the name of the game. At one point, RU was 2-20 from 3 and quite a bit of them were absolutely wide open, meanwhile Iowa smoothly made 3s guarded or not guarded. Garza hit from 3 and Weiskemp just shredded RU all night. Iowa came in on a bad streak. Look they were due for a win, RU was not going to beat them not playing their best. What impressed me about Iowa was their other pieces on the team were not flashy but did all the little things including boarding up and not turning it over and you contrast that to RU which didnt seem to have that hustle for the boards tonight
As for the refs, some bad calls on Myles certainly contributed to the struggles early but RU made plenty of mistakes on their own so again save the ref argument for someone else. When RU had their chances they did not take advantage, end of story.
No time to hang your head, its one game, one loss and this was our 2nd toughest of our last 7. Northwestern is up next and that is a pivotal game to get back on track. Not too concerned about this loss on the teams psyche at all.
I am going to credit RU for basically playing Iowa evenly in the 2nd half. RU competed, they didnt compete in the first half. They let foul trouble effect their play yet again, not learning their lesson. They turned it over way too much and once again a couple of bench players fell in love with just some poor decisions on the offensive end trying to do too much. So if we can take any positives, its that RU did not curl up and get blown out. They fought and made Iowa have to rewin the game again with some big shots and Iowa did. As far as the foul issues, yes those were questionable calls on Myles and yet when Myles came in the 2nd half and he was ineffective. Cliff actually played well in his time. What I did not like was continuing to lose composure over foul situations. In a game where RU is just down 6 or 8 in the first half and Myles on the bench, there was way too much pressing to try and make a play that was not there. By the time this team start to play smart and stabilize toward the latter part of the first half, the game was basically over and RU had dug too much of a hole. You cannot trade baskets with Iowa in a comeback. If you are not turning them over like we did last year in an illfated comeback you got to make your big open shots.
Got to make shots. That is the name of the game. At one point, RU was 2-20 from 3 and quite a bit of them were absolutely wide open, meanwhile Iowa smoothly made 3s guarded or not guarded. Garza hit from 3 and Weiskemp just shredded RU all night. Iowa came in on a bad streak. Look they were due for a win, RU was not going to beat them not playing their best. What impressed me about Iowa was their other pieces on the team were not flashy but did all the little things including boarding up and not turning it over and you contrast that to RU which didnt seem to have that hustle for the boards tonight
As for the refs, some bad calls on Myles certainly contributed to the struggles early but RU made plenty of mistakes on their own so again save the ref argument for someone else. When RU had their chances they did not take advantage, end of story.
No time to hang your head, its one game, one loss and this was our 2nd toughest of our last 7. Northwestern is up next and that is a pivotal game to get back on track. Not too concerned about this loss on the teams psyche at all.
