Overall not sure if anyone is surprised at the final outcome, it was the most likely. Today seemed to show all the things that we love and hate about this team. Love the fight, that took a 17 point down to just 3 on the road. Hate the ice cold shooting that makes this team unbearable to watch at times. Some hot streaky play where you say hey we really are a decent team vs some lethargic bonehead cringeworthy sequences that make you want to shut the tv off. Today was frustrating because we can all identify some of things that went wrong...ie 3 point shooting, missed chippies, bad shot selection, not hustling at times, and the dreaded youth. If, if,if they just did this or that it could have been different. But it wasn't. Today was a good MRI of the state of the program currently. Again the result isn't much of a surprise. The team is just not there yet and in year 3 we knew this would happen. You can see the pieces and the parts and what Pikiell is trying to do but its like a puzzle piece where you sort of hit a wall. It will come but you will have to wait.
The team lost because it was horrible shooting the ball. Do not need much discussion about any individual plays. RU was horrific from outside and in the paint just missed a plethora of easy bunnies or put backs that would have kept the game closer. You cannot dig such a large deficit on the road against a SHU team who has a guy like Powell. Powell's 3 at 61-58 effectively took the wind out of RU's sails. Good comeback try, great fight and hustle but the game was lost once again in the last 5 minutes of the first half and first 5 minutes of the 2nd half...hmm where have we seen that before. Cannot win when 3 of your starters...Geo, Euge, Issa are basically MIA in the first half. For whatever reason I didnt think it was an acceptable effort from either but credit to Geo and Eugene for fighting in the 2nd half and coming to the table. RU's effort on the board was enormous and really the only thing that kept this from being a 25 plus point loss.....RU won the battle 52-38 but a whopping 25-8 on the offensive end.
So unlike in the Fordham game there are some positives here. Besides their positive response to adverisity but not quitting. You saw that rebounding effort...pretty enormous considering how poorly the offense looked. Doorson a force there...12 rebounds...Eugene 8 and how about Myles Johnson...9 rebounds....thats huge for a freshmen.. Yes he gave nothing on offense but that is some major experience in the paint today against a good team. Montez Mathis I think had his most comfortable game as a Scarlet Knight, I particularly loved his one drive to the hoop with 3 and change left in the game that cut the gap to 61-58. It was a beauty of a drive and I loved that he know has the confidence to take that shot and be in control....4-9 fg, 8 points, I know we all want to jump ahead but Mathis has shown as a defender and offensively that we will be a key player over the next 4 years. Peter Kiss streaky player...5-12 today, 14 points, he hit some big shots during the comeback,. he has just struggled with consistency but RU needs outputs like this if they hope to win. I think Mc Connell gave good minutes when Geo was struggling, cannot ask more from him right now. Harper struggled today, that will happen, just wasnt going to be his day. I think though are getting a clearer picture of where we stand right now. A well coached flawed team that plays hard for the most part but has such deficiencies on offense and lacks the firepower and consistency to be able to win games against opponents better than them. I hope everyone starts to realize..this team is going to finish under 500 this year. I had them at 7-3/5-15 for 12-18 and I think that is going to stick.
One thing I think Pikiell and staff are struggling a bit right now is finding the right combination of players and how to juggle the lineup. You have inconsistency from certain players and you have youth and I think there are some big growing pains as to finding who should be playing and at what time. I think going forward its obvious that Mathis will be seeing alot more time. I think McConnell deserves more time. I think they need to work on the right times to be playing Kiss who is so streaky, you want him in there when he makes a shot not taken out. I would have liked to see more time from Carter today and not sure why the staff went more with Johnson who had a very good game rebounding but Carter provides an offensive option. Thiam...I cannot figure out, I am sure there will be threads on this. I think we are at a critical point in what should be done with him.
So its tough to sit at 5-5 and after the Miami win somewhat disappointing but not hardly surprisingly looking at it objectively. Exam time coming up with just 2 games on the next 2 Saturdays so RU will really benefit from the practice time and hopefully some tinkering with the lineups for Maine and Columbia
The team lost because it was horrible shooting the ball. Do not need much discussion about any individual plays. RU was horrific from outside and in the paint just missed a plethora of easy bunnies or put backs that would have kept the game closer. You cannot dig such a large deficit on the road against a SHU team who has a guy like Powell. Powell's 3 at 61-58 effectively took the wind out of RU's sails. Good comeback try, great fight and hustle but the game was lost once again in the last 5 minutes of the first half and first 5 minutes of the 2nd half...hmm where have we seen that before. Cannot win when 3 of your starters...Geo, Euge, Issa are basically MIA in the first half. For whatever reason I didnt think it was an acceptable effort from either but credit to Geo and Eugene for fighting in the 2nd half and coming to the table. RU's effort on the board was enormous and really the only thing that kept this from being a 25 plus point loss.....RU won the battle 52-38 but a whopping 25-8 on the offensive end.
So unlike in the Fordham game there are some positives here. Besides their positive response to adverisity but not quitting. You saw that rebounding effort...pretty enormous considering how poorly the offense looked. Doorson a force there...12 rebounds...Eugene 8 and how about Myles Johnson...9 rebounds....thats huge for a freshmen.. Yes he gave nothing on offense but that is some major experience in the paint today against a good team. Montez Mathis I think had his most comfortable game as a Scarlet Knight, I particularly loved his one drive to the hoop with 3 and change left in the game that cut the gap to 61-58. It was a beauty of a drive and I loved that he know has the confidence to take that shot and be in control....4-9 fg, 8 points, I know we all want to jump ahead but Mathis has shown as a defender and offensively that we will be a key player over the next 4 years. Peter Kiss streaky player...5-12 today, 14 points, he hit some big shots during the comeback,. he has just struggled with consistency but RU needs outputs like this if they hope to win. I think Mc Connell gave good minutes when Geo was struggling, cannot ask more from him right now. Harper struggled today, that will happen, just wasnt going to be his day. I think though are getting a clearer picture of where we stand right now. A well coached flawed team that plays hard for the most part but has such deficiencies on offense and lacks the firepower and consistency to be able to win games against opponents better than them. I hope everyone starts to realize..this team is going to finish under 500 this year. I had them at 7-3/5-15 for 12-18 and I think that is going to stick.
One thing I think Pikiell and staff are struggling a bit right now is finding the right combination of players and how to juggle the lineup. You have inconsistency from certain players and you have youth and I think there are some big growing pains as to finding who should be playing and at what time. I think going forward its obvious that Mathis will be seeing alot more time. I think McConnell deserves more time. I think they need to work on the right times to be playing Kiss who is so streaky, you want him in there when he makes a shot not taken out. I would have liked to see more time from Carter today and not sure why the staff went more with Johnson who had a very good game rebounding but Carter provides an offensive option. Thiam...I cannot figure out, I am sure there will be threads on this. I think we are at a critical point in what should be done with him.
So its tough to sit at 5-5 and after the Miami win somewhat disappointing but not hardly surprisingly looking at it objectively. Exam time coming up with just 2 games on the next 2 Saturdays so RU will really benefit from the practice time and hopefully some tinkering with the lineups for Maine and Columbia
