Fans were treated to $10 voucher upon entering the RAC. Steve Pikiell said "Dinners on Me". We thought he meant a dog and a pretzel. Instead we were treated to a seven course meal of hoops. Much of it inedible in the first few courses until an unlikely tasty trio of treys kept our interest. But it was the main course called Wildcat Turnovers concocted with a special recipe that only Chef Pikiell knows, that filled our bellies. Everyone was on their feet. The party lights were on. The club music was relentless. The cake was baked. It took RU so long to bake. It would have been a shame to leave it out in the rain. Because not sure Rutgers will have ever this kind of recipe again for a win. Came down to one play, one stop and I know people disagree but I love RU not fouling and letting their bread and butter bring it home. And Rutgers did it. They iced the cake. They saved the win. They fed the RAC crazies.
The first half was really ugly. RU came out flat. RU only had 3 fg in the first 12 minutes. They fell behind 29-16 looking listless and in disarray on offense. Mag being out hurt no question but on the flip side Berry was not playing for NW and Langborg was tossed for elbowing into the jewels. I really think Jeremiah came up limping on one drive and was clearly not 100% or effective in that first. I think he was 2-4fg but sort of disappeared from our offense. The usual suspect were tossing bricks and RU was turning it over way too much. Pike was just trying to throw out all kinds of lineups. Oskar finally got some time. I dont know if we need to credit @BigEastPhil for giving Oskar a pep talk but Oskar would have the stretch of his career. A 3 point barrage in the final 2:20 for 9 points injecting a huge energy jolt for Rutgers taking RU from down 29-16 to down just 32-27. It would be his only points of the night but I am not sure Rutgers is in position to be able to win this game if Oskar did not resuscitate his teammates before halftime. Every team needs role players. Noah was the guy on Saturday. It will not be the same guy every night. It was Oskar's turn and he stepped up to the plate. Good on him.
2nd half RU looked like they were going to chip away, getting as close as 3 until a quick NW spurt on two Buie treys had them up 11 again. Then the defense took over. The first 6 minute scoreless stretch for Northwestern allowed RU to keep chip slowly away. Still a bit wobbly on offense. RU was able to get things back to 1. Whether it was J Will or Cliff or Derek or J Mike, the defense was stifling and they were expending alot of energy. I know Pike wanted to give them a bit of a rest but having Egbole/Oskar/Gavin on the court at the same time was no bueno and quickly the Cats exploited this lineup getting a bit of seperation at 51-44. So quickly back in the game the starters went. This game was perhaps a top 20 game for me and perhaps a top 5 defensive performance ever at the RAC. Rutgers held Northwestern to just one fg over 9 minutes (ironically a wide open 3 by Barnhizer that tied that game at 58). Unbelievably the Cats would suffer a 2nd 6 minute stretch without a point where RU outscored the Cats 12-0 to go from 51-44 down to 56-51 up. This 6-7 minute stretch saw Northwestern go 0-5 fg and 4 turnovers coming up empty on 9 straight possessions. It was as if Pikiell had unleashed an Iron Claw that rendered the Cats unconscious. 17 points for Buie in the first half but yet only 10 in the 2nd and after hitting 2 treys early in the 2nd half, Buie went the final 17: 14 without a fg. Let me repeat that. BOO BUIE WHO SCORED 27 TONIGHT WAS HELD BY RUTGERS WITHOUT A FG FOR THE FINAL 17:14 OF THE GAME. It was mainly driven by a plucky youngster named Jamichael Davis who had the defensive performance of his life. Buie is one of the best players in the league. He was schooled any other guard that RU put on him. J Mike rose to the task and denied, denied, denied. It would be J Mike with help from Cliff on the last possession. Some say J Mike fouled him. From my view it wasnt. Rutgers tenacity led to 10 steals and 15 Northwestern turnovers in total. I believe Northwestern came in the game one of the top teams IN NOT turning the ball over. And let me say through all of this the RAC crowd was the ultimate 6th man playing their own level of defense. Loudest crowd of the year and we need every bit of it.
At halftime I thought to myself whats my opening line going to be. I thought it would be you can play all the elite defense you want but if you can put it in the basket, you are not going to win games. The offense was a bit painful to watch tonight. RU left alot of points off the board mainly at the free throw line where at one point they were just 11-20 before finishing 15-25 the one miss being Hyatt with a chance to seal the game with 10 seconds. RU could only muster 8 fast break points and while RU did score 16 points off turnovers it should have been so much more. Alot of rushed frenetic out of control moves to the hoop and some blown point blank dunks and bunnies. It was a tough slog but RU finally wrested the lead away from some timely makes by J Mike, J Will and Derek....the latter as particularly frustrating he is with his shot, hit two big ones with confidence. Aundre Hyatt didnt have a great night shooting but the pass from Derek to Aundre for that wide open 3 he nailed to put RU back up 3 after Northwestern had tied the game. J Will of course the guy you want with the ball once again with a really tough one handed shot falling to the side....a dramatic type bounce up and in on that critical possession with RU clinging to a 61-60 approaching 20 seconds. When it counted our offense showed up. That is a great sign. You are seeing multiple players now making big time shots that answer and count.
10 steals, forcing 15 turnovers, 9 blocks, holding Northwestern to 18-50 36% shooting. But its you cannot see how good the defense was from the box score. I am sure the defensive efficiency numbers got even better after tonight.
Cliff 9 points, 9 boards, 5 blocks, 2 steals. Jeremiah 15 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, 3 blocks, Derek 8 points, 4 assists, 4 steals!, Noah 5 boards, 3 assists. J Mike 11 points, 2 steals. Hyatt 10 points, 6 boards. Oskar 9 points, Egbole 1 point. Gavin was pretty bad. Wolf no minutes. Hopefully Mag gets healthy quick because we need him alot and it took a half to figure something out without him.
This team somehow can absolutely pull your hair out from one half to another. We have seen it all season long. Just when you are ready to throw in the towel, this team claws and fights and pound nails, chews on them and spits them out at their opponents. I cannot DOWNPLAY how big this win was today. It was Rutgers last chance to have another chance to dance. This was a must win for any NCAA hopes. I did not see any realistic path of not winning this game and then rallying to win 6 of 7. Northwestern is only a Quad 2 win but they are likely a NCAA participant. The victory gives Rutgers 4 wins now vs NCAA projected schools with 3 more opportunities to come. This would be the "easiest" of the 4 they had left. The momentum stays alive. One game at a time but suddenly Rutgers has won 4 in a row and now have crept up legitimately as a bubble school. . Lest we forget about Chef Pikiell.....boy he is whipping up quite the recipe for a possible NCAA tourney run. We are so lucky to have him. Just an amazing knack for getting his team to be resilient and play through the tough times and somehow finding ways to thread that needle over and over. Where Rutgers goes from here is unknown. But one thing is for sure after written off for dead following the Penn State "dogshit" performance, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will not lie down nor go quietly
Yeah, we're gonna tear it up
We gonna trash it up
Gonna round it up
Gonna shake it up
Oh no no no, I will not lie down
Turn this thing around
I will not go quietly
I will not lie down
I will not go quietly
I will not lie down
I will not go quietly
I will not lie down
No, I will not lie down, no
The first half was really ugly. RU came out flat. RU only had 3 fg in the first 12 minutes. They fell behind 29-16 looking listless and in disarray on offense. Mag being out hurt no question but on the flip side Berry was not playing for NW and Langborg was tossed for elbowing into the jewels. I really think Jeremiah came up limping on one drive and was clearly not 100% or effective in that first. I think he was 2-4fg but sort of disappeared from our offense. The usual suspect were tossing bricks and RU was turning it over way too much. Pike was just trying to throw out all kinds of lineups. Oskar finally got some time. I dont know if we need to credit @BigEastPhil for giving Oskar a pep talk but Oskar would have the stretch of his career. A 3 point barrage in the final 2:20 for 9 points injecting a huge energy jolt for Rutgers taking RU from down 29-16 to down just 32-27. It would be his only points of the night but I am not sure Rutgers is in position to be able to win this game if Oskar did not resuscitate his teammates before halftime. Every team needs role players. Noah was the guy on Saturday. It will not be the same guy every night. It was Oskar's turn and he stepped up to the plate. Good on him.
2nd half RU looked like they were going to chip away, getting as close as 3 until a quick NW spurt on two Buie treys had them up 11 again. Then the defense took over. The first 6 minute scoreless stretch for Northwestern allowed RU to keep chip slowly away. Still a bit wobbly on offense. RU was able to get things back to 1. Whether it was J Will or Cliff or Derek or J Mike, the defense was stifling and they were expending alot of energy. I know Pike wanted to give them a bit of a rest but having Egbole/Oskar/Gavin on the court at the same time was no bueno and quickly the Cats exploited this lineup getting a bit of seperation at 51-44. So quickly back in the game the starters went. This game was perhaps a top 20 game for me and perhaps a top 5 defensive performance ever at the RAC. Rutgers held Northwestern to just one fg over 9 minutes (ironically a wide open 3 by Barnhizer that tied that game at 58). Unbelievably the Cats would suffer a 2nd 6 minute stretch without a point where RU outscored the Cats 12-0 to go from 51-44 down to 56-51 up. This 6-7 minute stretch saw Northwestern go 0-5 fg and 4 turnovers coming up empty on 9 straight possessions. It was as if Pikiell had unleashed an Iron Claw that rendered the Cats unconscious. 17 points for Buie in the first half but yet only 10 in the 2nd and after hitting 2 treys early in the 2nd half, Buie went the final 17: 14 without a fg. Let me repeat that. BOO BUIE WHO SCORED 27 TONIGHT WAS HELD BY RUTGERS WITHOUT A FG FOR THE FINAL 17:14 OF THE GAME. It was mainly driven by a plucky youngster named Jamichael Davis who had the defensive performance of his life. Buie is one of the best players in the league. He was schooled any other guard that RU put on him. J Mike rose to the task and denied, denied, denied. It would be J Mike with help from Cliff on the last possession. Some say J Mike fouled him. From my view it wasnt. Rutgers tenacity led to 10 steals and 15 Northwestern turnovers in total. I believe Northwestern came in the game one of the top teams IN NOT turning the ball over. And let me say through all of this the RAC crowd was the ultimate 6th man playing their own level of defense. Loudest crowd of the year and we need every bit of it.
At halftime I thought to myself whats my opening line going to be. I thought it would be you can play all the elite defense you want but if you can put it in the basket, you are not going to win games. The offense was a bit painful to watch tonight. RU left alot of points off the board mainly at the free throw line where at one point they were just 11-20 before finishing 15-25 the one miss being Hyatt with a chance to seal the game with 10 seconds. RU could only muster 8 fast break points and while RU did score 16 points off turnovers it should have been so much more. Alot of rushed frenetic out of control moves to the hoop and some blown point blank dunks and bunnies. It was a tough slog but RU finally wrested the lead away from some timely makes by J Mike, J Will and Derek....the latter as particularly frustrating he is with his shot, hit two big ones with confidence. Aundre Hyatt didnt have a great night shooting but the pass from Derek to Aundre for that wide open 3 he nailed to put RU back up 3 after Northwestern had tied the game. J Will of course the guy you want with the ball once again with a really tough one handed shot falling to the side....a dramatic type bounce up and in on that critical possession with RU clinging to a 61-60 approaching 20 seconds. When it counted our offense showed up. That is a great sign. You are seeing multiple players now making big time shots that answer and count.
10 steals, forcing 15 turnovers, 9 blocks, holding Northwestern to 18-50 36% shooting. But its you cannot see how good the defense was from the box score. I am sure the defensive efficiency numbers got even better after tonight.
Cliff 9 points, 9 boards, 5 blocks, 2 steals. Jeremiah 15 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, 3 blocks, Derek 8 points, 4 assists, 4 steals!, Noah 5 boards, 3 assists. J Mike 11 points, 2 steals. Hyatt 10 points, 6 boards. Oskar 9 points, Egbole 1 point. Gavin was pretty bad. Wolf no minutes. Hopefully Mag gets healthy quick because we need him alot and it took a half to figure something out without him.
This team somehow can absolutely pull your hair out from one half to another. We have seen it all season long. Just when you are ready to throw in the towel, this team claws and fights and pound nails, chews on them and spits them out at their opponents. I cannot DOWNPLAY how big this win was today. It was Rutgers last chance to have another chance to dance. This was a must win for any NCAA hopes. I did not see any realistic path of not winning this game and then rallying to win 6 of 7. Northwestern is only a Quad 2 win but they are likely a NCAA participant. The victory gives Rutgers 4 wins now vs NCAA projected schools with 3 more opportunities to come. This would be the "easiest" of the 4 they had left. The momentum stays alive. One game at a time but suddenly Rutgers has won 4 in a row and now have crept up legitimately as a bubble school. . Lest we forget about Chef Pikiell.....boy he is whipping up quite the recipe for a possible NCAA tourney run. We are so lucky to have him. Just an amazing knack for getting his team to be resilient and play through the tough times and somehow finding ways to thread that needle over and over. Where Rutgers goes from here is unknown. But one thing is for sure after written off for dead following the Penn State "dogshit" performance, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will not lie down nor go quietly
Yeah, we're gonna tear it up
We gonna trash it up
Gonna round it up
Gonna shake it up
Oh no no no, I will not lie down
Turn this thing around
I will not go quietly
I will not lie down
I will not go quietly
I will not lie down
I will not go quietly
I will not lie down
No, I will not lie down, no