Not a fan of these kind of games against 300 plus NET schools while seeing a bunch of other Big 10 schools playing ranked squads. Not sure that will ever change with Pike. If you are going to play these type of teams you better wipe the floor with them. Make no mistake aboutt LIU was overmatched on looks alone, appearing to seem more like a high school team when compared to Rutgers. And yet for a split second at 62-55, this game got uncomfortably close. Rutgers ends up getting a 22 point in a game that got uncomfortably close for a minute or two. Ultimately RU would lean on their most experienced players to deliver a 21-6 run of the last 7 minutes to choke the Sharks and send them back underwater
Its not that the team came out lacking energy. I thought the effort was there defensively and the press wrecked havoc on LIU causing 7 turnovers in the first 7 minutes forcing LIU Coach Rod Strickland to use 2 timeouts in less than a minute. RU was up 15-4 and looked well on their way to one of those laughable 80-40 scores. Unfortunately the rest of the half was played just content on trading buckets with the Blackbirds...err Sharks. To me I think a bunch of those turnovers and points came so easy that they started to not respect their opponent. Rutgers better learn they are not as good as they think they are. For much of the rest of the first half, RU relied on Cliff for most of their offensive production. Cliff wound up with 17 in the first half. While there have been games that Cliff did not show up against inferior opponents. This game he did, but to me thats a double edged sword. Sure its great that you have a Cliff and he is producing an excellent half exploiting the opponent, on the other hand having to basically have Cliff bail out an offense that was getting out little of its smaller guards Defensively there definitely was a big dropoff in intensity on the defensive end. The RU straight up half court defense was slipping and it was too easy at times for LIU to convert. I said at halftime, LIU should have every right to go into the lockerroom down 41-30 thinking that they could win because they built some momentum and were playing RU even at that point.
As mentioned before the trio of J Mike, Noah and Derek didnt have a good first half. Disappointing a bit for J Mike because I wanted to see him build off the SHU game. Fortunatley for him he came out strong and maybe he got a pep talk from Pike at halftime. J Mike would score 8 of RU's first 12 points in the first 5 minutes in half. A very impressive stretch for him and RU up 14 looked like they were about to pull away. Then the old bugaboo came back. A hideous scoring funk, RU would score just 7 points in almost 7 minutes and would go 5 minutes without a fg with the lone point because scored on dubious T called on Ecker layup that cut the gap to 7. Now I didnt ever think RU would lose this game but at that point I think everyone me included would not be surprised. RU had stopped playing and became a comedy of errors wth brick and turnovers and bad shot selection whereas LIU was heating up and was clearly out playing Rutgers. Now that worry did not last long
RU responded and they responded emphatically to close out the game basically shutting LIU offense down while hitting timely shots. It was all about the experienced guys delivering when it mattered. Mag with 8, Hyatt with 6, Cliff with 6 After ridiculously moving away from giving Cliff the ball, RU finally went back to him and Cliff would respond. The dagger of the game that sealed the deal for me was a Derek pass to Mag which he beautiful drained for 3 putting RU up 69-57 and that effectively would break the Sharks hearts. Great to see Mag's play during that time on both ends. You can see what he means to our D when things are starting to click. Hyatt would finally connect on a pair of 3s while cleaning up on the boards....half of his 12 boards wear in the last 4-5 minute stretch.
The individual numbers for RU were impressive in the end. Cliff 12-15 fg, career high 25 points, 12 boards, 3 blocks....so dominant and yes he never should have taken that one 3. Hyatt was 5-9 fg, 12 points, 2-5 from 3, 12 boards and 3 assists. He sort of had a rough period but closed strong. Mag with 10 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks in just 24 minutes seems to have simply picked up where he left off. J Mike again delivering with that strong start to the 2nd half, cannot ask for more at this point, 5-11 fg, 12 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 0 turnovers, 2 steals. Derek would once again struggle shooting but the big thing he is getting to the line and thats important for a team that often struggles to get good shots. Derek was the 5th player in double digit scoring with 10 on 2-7 fg, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, just 1 turnover in 26 minutes.
As for the rest of the team, Noah was particular poor today, in fact he was downright awful and not in sync and thats too bad coming off of what he showed at SHU. Noah was 0-6 fg, 1-2 ft coming on a technical shot, 4 assists but 3 turnovers and a whopping 1 point in 24 minutes. Not sure what was going on there. Gavin I really liked his first half, made some nice moves to the hoop, should have an assist on a perfect pass to Cliff which ended up being a badly blown dunk. 2nd half Gavin was not good and it hurt the team. Missed all 4 of his shots and continues the struggle at the line making just 2-5. RU needed a scoring punch in that 2nd half and Gavin was off badly and did not produce. 3-9fg, 2-5 ft and 1 board in 21 minutes. I will say there were some other things in his game I liked, He had a couple of assists, 3 steals and a block. So those kind of things are an improvement. Wolf only got 11 minutes so writing on the wall now with Mag back. Hit both his shots 2-2 but just 1-3 ft and 3 boards. Role player doing his job. Oskar was particular horrible this game. I mean really bad. Only played 3 minutes but it was that bad, 2 turnovers one of which he would have had an easy layup, then turned it over and scored upon easily by the guy he was defending. No time at all for Chol and thats too bad but thats the kind of game it turned out to be.
In the end everything turned out okay, 22 point win at home, scoring over 80, much of the stat line looks good but come on. For one this is probably one of the worst free throw shooting teams I have ever seen at RU. 13-26 today will not cut it in Big 10 play and if you take Derek out its a woeful 7-20. J Mike needs to get better period since he will going there alot. Gavin...what is the problem here. One would never expect this but here we are and now its getting a bit mental I think. Wolf will never be a good free throw shooter. Mag 0-3 but willing to cut slack for now. I do like the team is getting to the line more this year. I do not like the team is having trouble converting.
3 point shooting, yeah 12-24 or whatever they did at SHU is fools gold. 4-20 today and 3 of those were actually later in the game. RU I think was 0-10 at one points. Total bricks at times from Hyatt, Derek and Gavin like not even close. To me there was too much reliance on taking them at points in the game. Almost as if there was no situational awareness. Alas I think its actually part of our offense. Shoot as many time as you want, it as if everyone has the greenlight by Pike.
So I did not know what to take from the SHU game. Certainly having Mag back is huge but he isnt going to automatically make RU a NCAA team. You see today the same inconsistencies from player to player game to game...even within in game are cropping up. Going 5 minutes without a field goal vs LIU is frightening to me given we had long droughts vs Illinois and Wake. Difference is while LIU is so bad that RU can overcome those droughts, most of the Big 10 will not be. Not sure there is an answer but the younger guys just becoming more consistent. I think RU left about 15 points off the table in the first half so finishing around the rim, converting in transition and making free throws is where they need to start. RU just makes it so hard for themselves at times. Like to see less one on one moves and more teamball and I think those last 7 minutes getting back to Cliff and then moving the ball for better shots, we did that so kudos to Pike for what happened during the under 8 timeout. The D has flashes of the old RU at times but still lacking and saw too many easy spots that LIU shooters were able to get to for open shots. Is it just a playing down to opponent thing? I do not know but it needs to get better. Some of the toughness I liked vs Seton Hall was missing today.
Crowd lulled to sleep so not very loud at all. Kudos though for 5500-6K showing up. Even our worst attended games are solid attendance given the opponent. Not sure what kind of crowd I expect at the Rock for a funky time and game for a non conference hoops game.
To me Mississippi State is a must win. Have to have that one quality non confernce win and cannot go 1-3 vs schools with a pulse. Would expect a better and more focused effort than today and does not hurt having a game experience there and I think its just going to be rough for Mississippi State flying up here for this game so close to Christmas. I would be surprised if RU does not win this game. Yet one thing is clear EVERYONE still needs to get better on this team if the post season goals are to be even within our grasp. The final score is nice and all but the details continue to be a bit on the messy side.
Its not that the team came out lacking energy. I thought the effort was there defensively and the press wrecked havoc on LIU causing 7 turnovers in the first 7 minutes forcing LIU Coach Rod Strickland to use 2 timeouts in less than a minute. RU was up 15-4 and looked well on their way to one of those laughable 80-40 scores. Unfortunately the rest of the half was played just content on trading buckets with the Blackbirds...err Sharks. To me I think a bunch of those turnovers and points came so easy that they started to not respect their opponent. Rutgers better learn they are not as good as they think they are. For much of the rest of the first half, RU relied on Cliff for most of their offensive production. Cliff wound up with 17 in the first half. While there have been games that Cliff did not show up against inferior opponents. This game he did, but to me thats a double edged sword. Sure its great that you have a Cliff and he is producing an excellent half exploiting the opponent, on the other hand having to basically have Cliff bail out an offense that was getting out little of its smaller guards Defensively there definitely was a big dropoff in intensity on the defensive end. The RU straight up half court defense was slipping and it was too easy at times for LIU to convert. I said at halftime, LIU should have every right to go into the lockerroom down 41-30 thinking that they could win because they built some momentum and were playing RU even at that point.
As mentioned before the trio of J Mike, Noah and Derek didnt have a good first half. Disappointing a bit for J Mike because I wanted to see him build off the SHU game. Fortunatley for him he came out strong and maybe he got a pep talk from Pike at halftime. J Mike would score 8 of RU's first 12 points in the first 5 minutes in half. A very impressive stretch for him and RU up 14 looked like they were about to pull away. Then the old bugaboo came back. A hideous scoring funk, RU would score just 7 points in almost 7 minutes and would go 5 minutes without a fg with the lone point because scored on dubious T called on Ecker layup that cut the gap to 7. Now I didnt ever think RU would lose this game but at that point I think everyone me included would not be surprised. RU had stopped playing and became a comedy of errors wth brick and turnovers and bad shot selection whereas LIU was heating up and was clearly out playing Rutgers. Now that worry did not last long
RU responded and they responded emphatically to close out the game basically shutting LIU offense down while hitting timely shots. It was all about the experienced guys delivering when it mattered. Mag with 8, Hyatt with 6, Cliff with 6 After ridiculously moving away from giving Cliff the ball, RU finally went back to him and Cliff would respond. The dagger of the game that sealed the deal for me was a Derek pass to Mag which he beautiful drained for 3 putting RU up 69-57 and that effectively would break the Sharks hearts. Great to see Mag's play during that time on both ends. You can see what he means to our D when things are starting to click. Hyatt would finally connect on a pair of 3s while cleaning up on the boards....half of his 12 boards wear in the last 4-5 minute stretch.
The individual numbers for RU were impressive in the end. Cliff 12-15 fg, career high 25 points, 12 boards, 3 blocks....so dominant and yes he never should have taken that one 3. Hyatt was 5-9 fg, 12 points, 2-5 from 3, 12 boards and 3 assists. He sort of had a rough period but closed strong. Mag with 10 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks in just 24 minutes seems to have simply picked up where he left off. J Mike again delivering with that strong start to the 2nd half, cannot ask for more at this point, 5-11 fg, 12 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 0 turnovers, 2 steals. Derek would once again struggle shooting but the big thing he is getting to the line and thats important for a team that often struggles to get good shots. Derek was the 5th player in double digit scoring with 10 on 2-7 fg, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, just 1 turnover in 26 minutes.
As for the rest of the team, Noah was particular poor today, in fact he was downright awful and not in sync and thats too bad coming off of what he showed at SHU. Noah was 0-6 fg, 1-2 ft coming on a technical shot, 4 assists but 3 turnovers and a whopping 1 point in 24 minutes. Not sure what was going on there. Gavin I really liked his first half, made some nice moves to the hoop, should have an assist on a perfect pass to Cliff which ended up being a badly blown dunk. 2nd half Gavin was not good and it hurt the team. Missed all 4 of his shots and continues the struggle at the line making just 2-5. RU needed a scoring punch in that 2nd half and Gavin was off badly and did not produce. 3-9fg, 2-5 ft and 1 board in 21 minutes. I will say there were some other things in his game I liked, He had a couple of assists, 3 steals and a block. So those kind of things are an improvement. Wolf only got 11 minutes so writing on the wall now with Mag back. Hit both his shots 2-2 but just 1-3 ft and 3 boards. Role player doing his job. Oskar was particular horrible this game. I mean really bad. Only played 3 minutes but it was that bad, 2 turnovers one of which he would have had an easy layup, then turned it over and scored upon easily by the guy he was defending. No time at all for Chol and thats too bad but thats the kind of game it turned out to be.
In the end everything turned out okay, 22 point win at home, scoring over 80, much of the stat line looks good but come on. For one this is probably one of the worst free throw shooting teams I have ever seen at RU. 13-26 today will not cut it in Big 10 play and if you take Derek out its a woeful 7-20. J Mike needs to get better period since he will going there alot. Gavin...what is the problem here. One would never expect this but here we are and now its getting a bit mental I think. Wolf will never be a good free throw shooter. Mag 0-3 but willing to cut slack for now. I do like the team is getting to the line more this year. I do not like the team is having trouble converting.
3 point shooting, yeah 12-24 or whatever they did at SHU is fools gold. 4-20 today and 3 of those were actually later in the game. RU I think was 0-10 at one points. Total bricks at times from Hyatt, Derek and Gavin like not even close. To me there was too much reliance on taking them at points in the game. Almost as if there was no situational awareness. Alas I think its actually part of our offense. Shoot as many time as you want, it as if everyone has the greenlight by Pike.
So I did not know what to take from the SHU game. Certainly having Mag back is huge but he isnt going to automatically make RU a NCAA team. You see today the same inconsistencies from player to player game to game...even within in game are cropping up. Going 5 minutes without a field goal vs LIU is frightening to me given we had long droughts vs Illinois and Wake. Difference is while LIU is so bad that RU can overcome those droughts, most of the Big 10 will not be. Not sure there is an answer but the younger guys just becoming more consistent. I think RU left about 15 points off the table in the first half so finishing around the rim, converting in transition and making free throws is where they need to start. RU just makes it so hard for themselves at times. Like to see less one on one moves and more teamball and I think those last 7 minutes getting back to Cliff and then moving the ball for better shots, we did that so kudos to Pike for what happened during the under 8 timeout. The D has flashes of the old RU at times but still lacking and saw too many easy spots that LIU shooters were able to get to for open shots. Is it just a playing down to opponent thing? I do not know but it needs to get better. Some of the toughness I liked vs Seton Hall was missing today.
Crowd lulled to sleep so not very loud at all. Kudos though for 5500-6K showing up. Even our worst attended games are solid attendance given the opponent. Not sure what kind of crowd I expect at the Rock for a funky time and game for a non conference hoops game.
To me Mississippi State is a must win. Have to have that one quality non confernce win and cannot go 1-3 vs schools with a pulse. Would expect a better and more focused effort than today and does not hurt having a game experience there and I think its just going to be rough for Mississippi State flying up here for this game so close to Christmas. I would be surprised if RU does not win this game. Yet one thing is clear EVERYONE still needs to get better on this team if the post season goals are to be even within our grasp. The final score is nice and all but the details continue to be a bit on the messy side.
