Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.
I am not sure what went on in that lockerroom in Winston Salem Wedensday night following that horrific showing vs Wake. I tend to think in the aftermath it was probably a serious reflection time for both the coaching staff and each invididual player to identify what they could to to figure out the teams ills. It has been painfully obvious that this team needed some changes. Pike's tinkering with lineups and rotations has not been effective. Some guys deserved starts over others. Some guys needed to get the diapers taken off. This was a different team out there tonight. Had not seen them bring this air of confidence since maybe the Minnesota game and that was on February 1. I said after the Wake game to me the Seton Hall game moreso than winning or losing had to start with competing again. Not only did they did that, Rutgers found a layer of toughness and resilency not yet shown this season.
But any recap has to start with the return of Mawot Mag. RU fans have been waiting and waiting and waiting. Cleared to play yet fans were starting to get frustrated that Mag was not on the court for a team that definitely needed a jump start. His return was MAGNIFICENT! Making his debut in the starting lineup, Mag kickstarted the Rutgers failing heart right from the beginning. There were no slow starts tonight. Rutgers had some hops early and that by and large would never wane. Rutgers is not only deeper but they are just different with Mag in the lineup. Mag would have a very impressive debut playing 24 minutes with 4 points and 8 boards and showing no signs of rust really. That drive to the hoop in the first half for the bucket, now did he do that? Mag is just a better option than Wolf especially in a game vs SHU. Mag makes Cliff better. Mag makes the Rutgers defense better. Mag allows Hyatt to be more effective at what he does. No Mag is not a savior but you better damn believe that with Mag back in he fold this team radically changes.
Yet that was not the only change Rutgers saw tonight. The insertion of J Mike into the starting lineup turned out to be a brilliant move from Coach Pikiell. Is it too early to be talking about our own Diaper Dandies at RU. What we saw from J Mike in bits and pieces this year was only a sliver of what we got tonight. The sheer confidence from the kid. A sick stat line for a freshman....32 minutes, 11 points, 4-8 fg, 2-3 3pt, 6 assists, 2 boards, a block and a steal. J Mike at a level well beyond his experience level. To me his most impressive point of the night was his pass for an alley oop to Gavin late in the game. Perhaps a high risk play yet the needed aggressive play as RU was sort of getting to complacent on offense with the lead having been cut to just 10. Freshmen to freshmen, who had that on their bingo card? J Mike also had some timely 3s one early in the 2nd half and then another one that extended the lead to 17. I will even say that even though he didnt make both free throws. He did nail that first and that was huge as it put RU up 3 possessions with 38 seconds. Again its just one game but obviously its enough that at least for now J Mike deserves the start and deserves his opportunity to drive the Rutgers bus.
Hopefully that story arc called "What's the Matter with Cliff" effectively ended tonight. That's Amoure! Tonight Cliff showed us why we all fell in love with him years ago. Monster game....31 minutes, 11 points, 13 boards, 7 blocks. His defensive effort was superlative. Cliff drained all 5 foul shots and most importantly you could see he was having fun out there again. MVP performance finding that toughness we all know he possesses.
Noah Fernandes was the closer tonight. Board including me has been wondering just who the hell can you pick to have the ball at the end of the game. Tonight Noah made a very convincing argument that it is him. Noah scored 12 of RU's final 20 points in the last 8 and half minutes. Including two dagger type 3s, the latter of which put RU up 63-50 with under 3 to go. When Seton Hall started to inch closer in the final minute, no surprise that Pike made sure Noah had the ball in his hands and he delivered hitting all 4 of his free throws. 33 minutes, 19 points on 5-11 fg, 3-5 from 3, 6-6 at the line, it was his best overall offensive game of the season. Just looked more comfortable with J Mike rather than Simpson and plus the addition of Mag on the court. Perhaps this is the change needed to get him going on how most to effectively use his offensive skills.
Gavin Griffiths had a maddening 0-5, 0 point stat line at Wake when inserted into the starting lineup. He was back out of the starting lineup but it pretty obvious that Gavin underwent a change. The tentative Gavin who was a mess on both ends was suddenly in the perfect spot in the first half. Looking for his shot and shooting without hesitation. Though held to just that one bucket in the 2nd half, Gavin kept RU afloat in the first half with a trio of treys. Gavin finished a respectable 4-8 fg with 11 points in 22 minutes. Great bounce back from Gavin and he also had a nifty block which was his best defensive effort to date.
Andre Hyatt with Mag in the fold was allowed to do what he does best and that is to shoot 3s. Yeah only 9 points but he got RU going early in both halves and that was a timely 3 that put RU up 8 late in the first half. and I think the minutes at 24 reduced somewhat is something I approve of.
Oskar and Wolf only 9 minutes each. Quieter games but Wolf had 5 boards. Played their roles today. Obviously there will be games that require Wolf to play more, Seton Hall wasnt one of them.
Derek Simpson lost his starting role and will have to adust to that. Pike will call on him and some point so Derek has to keep his head up. Had a rough sequence later in the half with a miss one and one and turnover that allowed SHU to stay in the game. Just 15 minutes and 2 points but 2 assists.
Almost forget that no Austin Williams tonight because of injury but did not play a factor at all.
Overall Pike coached and prepped a great game. Big bounceback from him after the previous 2 game struggles. He has to be so glad to have Mag back. Motivation is a skill coaches have to have and Pike pushed all the right buttons not only with upperclassmen like Cliff but also with freshmen like J Mike and Gavin who played fearless
Teamwise RU was just tougher tonight. Those 50/50 balls started to go their way for once. What I really really like the most about this game was the way RU learned how to win and learned how to close things out. As the game drew on there were times that SHU would cut it down. Prime example was RU going through another bad stretch of offense with no fg for 5 minutes, yet SHU was only able to cut a 14 point lead to 6. RU would hold SHU scoreless for 5 minutes. A big thing with prior Pike squads was that if shots were not falling, they would still be able to hang in the game because of defense. RU sustained that SHU run by clamping down and rebounding until the offense got rolling again. Each time SHU made a bit of push, RU would respond with big time answers from Noah or J Mike from 3. And I know some RU fans were handwringing late as RU's 13 point lead shrunk to just 5, I really was not worried. Ball was in Noah's hands. RU was resilient, it does not to be perfect and pretty. Gavin will learn from that ill advised 3 with a new 20 seconds to play with. Overall RU did not panic. This wasnt a Minnesota type finish.You want your team to be challenged and to respond without crumbling. Not even sure RU had a lead in the last two games so tonight playing with one was a big step forward. Its not Howard or even Georgetown, this is a real big boy hoops school they played tonight. RU also overcame some one sided home calls by the refs but it really showed how much better RU was than Seton Hall.
Yet Seton Hall isnt very good. Looks like a big drop off from last year and besides Richmond rather ordinary. Egads 3-20 from 3 is absymal and Dawes 3-15 alone and 3-16 fg is pretty pathetic. Plus despite getting a ton of favorable calls shot a weak 16-27 at the line for 57%. It will likely be a bottom 3 or 4 finish for the Blue Smurfs and their fans most of which were long gone as the Prudential turned into the Little Red Schoolhouse North.
Where do we go from here.? Not sure but we are in a better space than we were yesterday. There is intrigue now and there is a flicker of hope so let's see us take care of business vs Long Island and then just a huge opportunity game back at Prudential that will say alot about where our expectations heading into the new year should be.
I am not sure what went on in that lockerroom in Winston Salem Wedensday night following that horrific showing vs Wake. I tend to think in the aftermath it was probably a serious reflection time for both the coaching staff and each invididual player to identify what they could to to figure out the teams ills. It has been painfully obvious that this team needed some changes. Pike's tinkering with lineups and rotations has not been effective. Some guys deserved starts over others. Some guys needed to get the diapers taken off. This was a different team out there tonight. Had not seen them bring this air of confidence since maybe the Minnesota game and that was on February 1. I said after the Wake game to me the Seton Hall game moreso than winning or losing had to start with competing again. Not only did they did that, Rutgers found a layer of toughness and resilency not yet shown this season.
But any recap has to start with the return of Mawot Mag. RU fans have been waiting and waiting and waiting. Cleared to play yet fans were starting to get frustrated that Mag was not on the court for a team that definitely needed a jump start. His return was MAGNIFICENT! Making his debut in the starting lineup, Mag kickstarted the Rutgers failing heart right from the beginning. There were no slow starts tonight. Rutgers had some hops early and that by and large would never wane. Rutgers is not only deeper but they are just different with Mag in the lineup. Mag would have a very impressive debut playing 24 minutes with 4 points and 8 boards and showing no signs of rust really. That drive to the hoop in the first half for the bucket, now did he do that? Mag is just a better option than Wolf especially in a game vs SHU. Mag makes Cliff better. Mag makes the Rutgers defense better. Mag allows Hyatt to be more effective at what he does. No Mag is not a savior but you better damn believe that with Mag back in he fold this team radically changes.
Yet that was not the only change Rutgers saw tonight. The insertion of J Mike into the starting lineup turned out to be a brilliant move from Coach Pikiell. Is it too early to be talking about our own Diaper Dandies at RU. What we saw from J Mike in bits and pieces this year was only a sliver of what we got tonight. The sheer confidence from the kid. A sick stat line for a freshman....32 minutes, 11 points, 4-8 fg, 2-3 3pt, 6 assists, 2 boards, a block and a steal. J Mike at a level well beyond his experience level. To me his most impressive point of the night was his pass for an alley oop to Gavin late in the game. Perhaps a high risk play yet the needed aggressive play as RU was sort of getting to complacent on offense with the lead having been cut to just 10. Freshmen to freshmen, who had that on their bingo card? J Mike also had some timely 3s one early in the 2nd half and then another one that extended the lead to 17. I will even say that even though he didnt make both free throws. He did nail that first and that was huge as it put RU up 3 possessions with 38 seconds. Again its just one game but obviously its enough that at least for now J Mike deserves the start and deserves his opportunity to drive the Rutgers bus.
Hopefully that story arc called "What's the Matter with Cliff" effectively ended tonight. That's Amoure! Tonight Cliff showed us why we all fell in love with him years ago. Monster game....31 minutes, 11 points, 13 boards, 7 blocks. His defensive effort was superlative. Cliff drained all 5 foul shots and most importantly you could see he was having fun out there again. MVP performance finding that toughness we all know he possesses.
Noah Fernandes was the closer tonight. Board including me has been wondering just who the hell can you pick to have the ball at the end of the game. Tonight Noah made a very convincing argument that it is him. Noah scored 12 of RU's final 20 points in the last 8 and half minutes. Including two dagger type 3s, the latter of which put RU up 63-50 with under 3 to go. When Seton Hall started to inch closer in the final minute, no surprise that Pike made sure Noah had the ball in his hands and he delivered hitting all 4 of his free throws. 33 minutes, 19 points on 5-11 fg, 3-5 from 3, 6-6 at the line, it was his best overall offensive game of the season. Just looked more comfortable with J Mike rather than Simpson and plus the addition of Mag on the court. Perhaps this is the change needed to get him going on how most to effectively use his offensive skills.
Gavin Griffiths had a maddening 0-5, 0 point stat line at Wake when inserted into the starting lineup. He was back out of the starting lineup but it pretty obvious that Gavin underwent a change. The tentative Gavin who was a mess on both ends was suddenly in the perfect spot in the first half. Looking for his shot and shooting without hesitation. Though held to just that one bucket in the 2nd half, Gavin kept RU afloat in the first half with a trio of treys. Gavin finished a respectable 4-8 fg with 11 points in 22 minutes. Great bounce back from Gavin and he also had a nifty block which was his best defensive effort to date.
Andre Hyatt with Mag in the fold was allowed to do what he does best and that is to shoot 3s. Yeah only 9 points but he got RU going early in both halves and that was a timely 3 that put RU up 8 late in the first half. and I think the minutes at 24 reduced somewhat is something I approve of.
Oskar and Wolf only 9 minutes each. Quieter games but Wolf had 5 boards. Played their roles today. Obviously there will be games that require Wolf to play more, Seton Hall wasnt one of them.
Derek Simpson lost his starting role and will have to adust to that. Pike will call on him and some point so Derek has to keep his head up. Had a rough sequence later in the half with a miss one and one and turnover that allowed SHU to stay in the game. Just 15 minutes and 2 points but 2 assists.
Almost forget that no Austin Williams tonight because of injury but did not play a factor at all.
Overall Pike coached and prepped a great game. Big bounceback from him after the previous 2 game struggles. He has to be so glad to have Mag back. Motivation is a skill coaches have to have and Pike pushed all the right buttons not only with upperclassmen like Cliff but also with freshmen like J Mike and Gavin who played fearless
Teamwise RU was just tougher tonight. Those 50/50 balls started to go their way for once. What I really really like the most about this game was the way RU learned how to win and learned how to close things out. As the game drew on there were times that SHU would cut it down. Prime example was RU going through another bad stretch of offense with no fg for 5 minutes, yet SHU was only able to cut a 14 point lead to 6. RU would hold SHU scoreless for 5 minutes. A big thing with prior Pike squads was that if shots were not falling, they would still be able to hang in the game because of defense. RU sustained that SHU run by clamping down and rebounding until the offense got rolling again. Each time SHU made a bit of push, RU would respond with big time answers from Noah or J Mike from 3. And I know some RU fans were handwringing late as RU's 13 point lead shrunk to just 5, I really was not worried. Ball was in Noah's hands. RU was resilient, it does not to be perfect and pretty. Gavin will learn from that ill advised 3 with a new 20 seconds to play with. Overall RU did not panic. This wasnt a Minnesota type finish.You want your team to be challenged and to respond without crumbling. Not even sure RU had a lead in the last two games so tonight playing with one was a big step forward. Its not Howard or even Georgetown, this is a real big boy hoops school they played tonight. RU also overcame some one sided home calls by the refs but it really showed how much better RU was than Seton Hall.
Yet Seton Hall isnt very good. Looks like a big drop off from last year and besides Richmond rather ordinary. Egads 3-20 from 3 is absymal and Dawes 3-15 alone and 3-16 fg is pretty pathetic. Plus despite getting a ton of favorable calls shot a weak 16-27 at the line for 57%. It will likely be a bottom 3 or 4 finish for the Blue Smurfs and their fans most of which were long gone as the Prudential turned into the Little Red Schoolhouse North.
Where do we go from here.? Not sure but we are in a better space than we were yesterday. There is intrigue now and there is a flicker of hope so let's see us take care of business vs Long Island and then just a huge opportunity game back at Prudential that will say alot about where our expectations heading into the new year should be.
