I don't remember all the games, so I'm sure there must've been at least a few great wins and comebacks during our 10 lost years under HillRiceJordan, but this has to be one of the best since the Waters era. I kept wondering when we were going to go on a run and waited and waited and waited and was worried we might not get one, because Hartford was just unconscious shooting in the 2nd half (at one point they were 12-24 from three).
But then it finally came - from down 70-57 with under 5 minutes left to 72-66 with under 3 minutes left to tying it up at 73 with 1:42 left and then CJ tipping that ball in with 6 seconds left to win, followed by Corey's awesome steal, so they didn't even get a chance to tie/win. Incredible team energy and for a couple of minutes the RAC almost sounded like the RAC of old. Wow, just wow!
Gotta love Freeman's game today - what a warrior with 26/10 - he kept us in shouting distance. And while Sanders isn't scoring, he scored all 7 of his points down the stretch to go along with 10 - TEN!! assists, 6 steals and 4 boards, so his contributions were certainly there. Other than Gettys 10/5 and Nigel's 11, nobody else really played that well (Thiam did have 3 nice treys in the 2nd half), IMO, but we did just enough to win.
Also, I know this is doing to sound odd, but I could swear that they had all the luck today, i.e., with regard to where the ball bounced - it seemed to just go to them far more often than the 50/50 one would normally expect. But we never gave up and kept fighting and fighting until we caught up and won. Haven't seen a lot of that over the years. It was also pretty special for me, since my son, who's a senior at RU, came to his first game in 4-5 years (he's only a casual fan and when we've sucked his interest just wasn't there - he had a blast today) - he does remember the Waters years fondly.
I know we're going to lose some (and probably many) games against the much tougher competition coming up soon, but 6-0 is still 6-0 and you have to love the way this team plays hard and together and I know we're going to upset a couple of good teams this year and there's no way we get manhandled regularly in the B1G this year, like last year. We may still "only" win 5-6 conference games, but we're going to be competitive in most games. Can't wait to see how we do.
Fans ought to start coming out soon, I think - seemed like a bigger crowd than the last few (maybe 5K?), except for the students, who were absent again, although most are on break right now.
But then it finally came - from down 70-57 with under 5 minutes left to 72-66 with under 3 minutes left to tying it up at 73 with 1:42 left and then CJ tipping that ball in with 6 seconds left to win, followed by Corey's awesome steal, so they didn't even get a chance to tie/win. Incredible team energy and for a couple of minutes the RAC almost sounded like the RAC of old. Wow, just wow!
Gotta love Freeman's game today - what a warrior with 26/10 - he kept us in shouting distance. And while Sanders isn't scoring, he scored all 7 of his points down the stretch to go along with 10 - TEN!! assists, 6 steals and 4 boards, so his contributions were certainly there. Other than Gettys 10/5 and Nigel's 11, nobody else really played that well (Thiam did have 3 nice treys in the 2nd half), IMO, but we did just enough to win.
Also, I know this is doing to sound odd, but I could swear that they had all the luck today, i.e., with regard to where the ball bounced - it seemed to just go to them far more often than the 50/50 one would normally expect. But we never gave up and kept fighting and fighting until we caught up and won. Haven't seen a lot of that over the years. It was also pretty special for me, since my son, who's a senior at RU, came to his first game in 4-5 years (he's only a casual fan and when we've sucked his interest just wasn't there - he had a blast today) - he does remember the Waters years fondly.
I know we're going to lose some (and probably many) games against the much tougher competition coming up soon, but 6-0 is still 6-0 and you have to love the way this team plays hard and together and I know we're going to upset a couple of good teams this year and there's no way we get manhandled regularly in the B1G this year, like last year. We may still "only" win 5-6 conference games, but we're going to be competitive in most games. Can't wait to see how we do.
Fans ought to start coming out soon, I think - seemed like a bigger crowd than the last few (maybe 5K?), except for the students, who were absent again, although most are on break right now.
