Before I get started, kudos to Stonehill. They really deserved this win and worked hard to keep themselves in and chip away. They certainly didnt play a great game or even shoot well. The better TEAM did not win actually.
Before this game, I accepted this team is not going to make the NCAA tournament and likely headed to a bottom 4 Big 10 spot. I recognized its a poorly constructed team with a lack of true Big 10 talent with little identity but still some pieces for Pikeill to work with going forward. . However today was a revelation even for me. I thought that with acceptance I would not have to write harsh recaps or any recap for this game really. Rutgers exceeded any definition of bad basketball today. You all saw it. You saw the stats. TWO FRIGGING MADE FIELD GOALS (both by Hyatt) IN THE LAST 15 MINUTES before Dereks game winner against a school down to 6 scholorship players rated as one of the worst in all of college basketball.
Everyone can understand a team playing down to its level of opponent during the holidays. Its understandable if you shoot poorly, lack the energy but still put forth enough effort to win by 10-12 whatever. That wasnt this. This was a team so messy and weak that it was in a buzzer beater down to the last second. This looked like a team completely in tatters with no confidence, leadership but as you dig down deeper you realize the talent level is just so poor here and it becomes somewhat understandable this game was close. In most of recaps this year RU has endured some hideous scoring droughts. This is a constant. Trouble was brewing vs LIU (another bottom 20 team) only down 7 and stifled for 5-6 minutes in the 2nd half. Against better teams like Wake, Illinois and Mississippi State the scoring droughts were painful. These are not going away. These are constants. Rutgers does not half the defense they used to have so forget about that carrying them through. This team goes through adversity every single game and cowers in the corner everytime. They panic. Pike panics. The whole thing unravels into an unsightly mess. Certainly not the way we have been accumstomed to Rutgers basketball under Pikiell. I do not see anyone willing to step up and say wait a minute, we need to stop this and work on our shots, keep our heads down and do our thing. Instead we see the team repeatedly engage in an act of self flaggellation time and time again up the court.
Not having J Mike today hurt no question. Its unfortunate because this is a game where he could have shown his stuff. We have seen flashes from him and we see him becoming more comfortable game by game. Its a no brainer that he is our point guard and not Noah. Sadly J Mike is the only bright spot on the team currently. Still should the loss of one player cause a complete horror show like we saw today. I am not talking about next year..Pike recruited an incredible class. This year is this year and Pikes thread the needle approach to recruiting which has seen more than its share of misses caught up to us last year and unfortunately the ugly mess on full display this year. Pike brought in a portal point guard in the A10 that is producing nothing. That was before the defections of Cam and Paul and one can argue that Paul would still be here if Noah was not brought in. Obviously Pike got caught with bad luck with Cam/Paul but that is part of managing a program. Maybe then you do not take in a transfer guard who is sitting or maybe you dont take a flyer on a injured center who is sitting and remember Noah himself was injured. I was never a big fan of Hyatt. He has been okay this year but I didnt think he was that good today even with 15. When he is your leading offensive player who is one dimensional shooting 3 for 10 then you know you are in trouble but thats where RU is at. Cliff has shown not to be a legitimate offensive threat. Today Cliff never could get anything clean and was fouled on most of his shot attempts. Did decent at the line, just enough for RU to score any points in the last 10 minutes. That there is no easy way for Cliff to score or to pass out for an open shot is a big indictment on Pike and where this program is. Derek made a game winning 3. Great, unlike Jerrry Carino who made some ridiculous tweet about it digging RU fans who are still laughing at his column from 3 years back, making one shot does erase a ton of bricks today and blown layups and the sheer idea of him putting up 14 shots is ludricous. But Pike allows this and in fact encourages it. If people want to get warm fuzzies because he hit a big shot late....by all means go ahead, go ahead and celebrate the idea of a last second shot needed against a glorified high school team.
And then the biggest issue this season is Gavin Griffiths. Much heralded but seems to be regressing in the wrong direction. At this point his mistakes seem to be magnified. Gavin was bad early but didnt get much chance to redeem himself. Certainly not the same rope as Noah and Hyatt and Derek seem to get. The thing is Gavin based on his high school credentials has the most upside. We saw a few glimpses earlier this year. Sorry but just sticking the guy on the perimeter and telling him to shoot 3s makes me question if this coaching staff is putting in the TRULY hard work it needs to get this program better this season. Because without a developing Gavin in the offense, RU is going to be on the short of end of some 75-50 scores this year in the Big 10. I am not giving up on Gavin at this point but clearly if Pike and staff do not change their thinking about integrating him into the offense or on the quick yanks on his mistakes where exactly is the offense coming from? Does Pike just think Derek will shoot himself into 20 point games is he takes 20 shots. RU is becoming pathetically predictable to defend on offense...and that was by Stonehill. Plus we have guys just jacking up 3 after 3 after 3 even in crunch time but its infuriating that RU took that many 3s in this game. The main concern today was to just get a lead and coast from there working on some different stuff. Instead RU had zero flow in the first half and the concern then reverted to just trying to eek out the win.
It all comes back to talent, talent, talent and its not there this year. Yet this team is not even playing with energy or much care. Pike's teams have all been known for lunch pail and working hard but I do not see it in them this year. That is on them but its also on PIke. I think the coaching staff is still confused at what to do, almost a hands in the air approach and its pretty lame to see Pike trying to get the RAC crowd on its feet to lift them to a win over lowly Stonehill. To its credit the RAC was loud today, might be the loudest it is all season.
Maybe this team will be limited by their talent but they sure hell can put forth a better effort and actually care. I mean they do get paid now. Next November cannot come soon enough but we all still have to get through this year and we all do not want to watch a bunch of fragile players night in and out. SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUPS! There is nothing worse in sports than being called soft
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