All the fretting by the board coming into this game was for naught. This evening by games end Rutgers was running away with a solid 91-64 win over Quad 3 Columbia. The 27 point margin was their largest of the season and in some ways their most needed win . Make no mistake this game was a MUST win for ANY future NCAA hopes to remain. Rutgers did that but they also did what was needed for the program and fanbase by securing this one in impressive fashion.It marked the first time ALL year long that Rutgers by and large played a complete 40 minute game. Rutgers came out firing on all cylinders on offense and while not perfect on defense seemed to gather more prowess as the game wore on and that wore the Lions down who didnt have the pop in them to mount a comeback.
Columbia came in 11-1. I know they played weak schedule but winning at a high percentage and this was a confident team. There was a win over Villanova in there back in November. Not a team intimidated to play the big boys and they were not tonight. I thought they were well coached and had a good gameplan for a two pronged attack on Rutgers either by the back door or by the three point line. I thought the Lions were flustered at first getting down 18-6 but they hung in there and stuck to their gameplan. Some timely 3 point shooting kept them hanging around in the first half a few times cutting the defecit to 6. It seemed like RU was having a bit trouble lowering the knockout haymaker and that would continue for about for the first part of the 2nd half.
To me Rutgers bugaboo all season long has been putting their opponents away and building off of leads. While Rutgers was in control and Columbia was not exactly able to contain the Ace (first half) and Dylan (2nd half) show, I think most Rutgers fans had to be wondering was the inflection point coming this time. All year long Rutgers would be in this position and rarely had success but tonight....tonight was different. RU overcame a bit of a monkey on their back. After Columbia chopped the lead to 8 on yet another 3 after a desperate save inbound that went to an open Kenny Noland, things began to change. 54-46 and then timeout. It was a turning point and a step forward for the development of this team and there really was no looking back after that.
Dylan Harper...now I am going to back up a bit to the first half. I havent listened to anything Pike said in post game so do not know if this was his intention BUT Harper was only 1-3 fg in the first half, some say he was hurt. As the half wore on and I looked at his stats, I sort of got the impression that with Ace unguardable by Columbia, Pikes message to Harper was to be the floor general. Get Ace and others the ball and rebound the hell out of the ball. I believe Dylan had 6 assists and 6 boards at half and RU still had scored 44 points with only a sole 3 point shot from Harper. Was this a little plan by Pike to shake things up. Dylan was then unleashed in the 2nd half and a couple of treys but it was after timeout that he really turned the jets on. Finding the seam in the zone Dylan got a layup then played great D in getting a steal and an easy transition score. He was relentless with yet another steal but unfortunately Ace blew the layup. Saw some impressive defense out of Dylan all game long. Everyone and their mother knows he can score but exploiting other facets of his game may be the key to unlocking some of this teams hidden potential. Lets watch this going forward. It definitely does not hurt that Ace put up 17 in the first half. When Ace is making ridiculous NBA shots with ease boy does that relieve alot of the pressure for Dylan to have to be the man on offense EVERYTIME down the court. By the time Dylan's superlative little stretch was over with dagger 3, Rutgers had a new biggest lead of 64-48 and Columbia was forced to call timeout.
The Lions would not get closer than 66-55 and in fact we saw the best Rutgers defense and focus in the last 10:20 as Columbia was limited to overall just 9 points the rest of the way and at one point just 1 made fg over 7 minutes. This was a team that had made 12 of 23 fg at one point in the first half and I mentioned I did not like they were still shooting over 50% at half. Well Columbia would go 12 of 36 fg the rest of the way including a hideous 1-13 stretch late in the game. Rutgers defense had worn the Lions down who were throwing up bricks. Credit the defensive effort by Rutgers because they stuck to it. Rutgers really stopped the back door and generated turnovers. Unlike the Princeton game, this time the strategy was concentrated on the interior and there were a ton of open looks for Columbia on the perimter. They went 11-28 but De La Rosa was just 3-11 and RU limited him to just 17. Only Noland with 16 on 4-5 3 point shooting was able to get going and Columbia just did not have the bench players to compete with Rutgers.
Rutgers when faced with the question "What are you going to do now?" responded better than they ever did this season turning a game where Columbia was hanging around just one run away from making it a game to turn into one of those old fashion feel good games where even in the late stages you were laying back in your chair and unbuttoning your top pants button. A first for me this year! So that to me is progress. No it doesnt erase 11 games and it does not mean we need to start talking NCAA again BUT it was a needed step we had to see. Winning a game by 5 or 10 is a go through the motions thing. Rutgers did not go through the motions. It was their finest full 40 minutes of the season. One can hem and haw about some stretches or some individual play or shots that are not going down but you cannot complain at all about the performance tonight. Crashing the boards, committed to playing defense and exploiting and attacking the wilting Lions late were all big plusses. Getting out to a great start was big to set the tone for the rest of the game to put Rutgers in position to control throughout. Ace was sick early and J Will and J Mike were hitting. RU was up 7-0 on offensive rebounds and I believe turned the ball over just 1 time while forcing Columbia into some early cough ups.
Individually it all starts with Dylan. A sublime stat line not seen for over 40 years at Rutgers. 16 points, 12 assists, 11 boards and 3 steals. 5-7 fg in the 2nd and only 10 fg on the night but Dylan provided so much more as said earlier. Best defense I have seen from him all year and he made his teammates look better and dare I say this team looked like a team. Ace was NBA Ace in the first half. I think 17 on 8-10 or 11 fg shooting. Ended up 11-18 fg for a team leading 24 points and also came down with 8 boards and 2 blocks. J Will had key stretches offensively in the first and then later in the 2nd half in finding the seams. Just 22 minutes, got banged up a bit but finished with 9 points on 4-10 fg and he made a difference in slowing down De La Rosa. J Mike had his best game this year by far if not one of his best ever at RU. I know everyone cringes a bit at him shooting 3s but he delivered a couple of daggers. 11 points on 4-8 shooting and a nifty 7 assists and 3 steals. Was definitely a key part in stopping the ball going inside tonight. If if if we could get that in Big 10 games...great tonight but going to need these nights every night in league play. Summerville very solid tonight offensively. Columbia really couldnt defend him when he got the ball...5-7 fg 11 points in just 19 minutes, 5 boards, 2 offensive. EO was solid as well in 14 minutes with 5 boards. Again against Columbia they look better than they are. Versus the Big 10 I am still unconvinced of the different liabilities they bring.
Unfortunately the rest of the bench really did not provide much. Acuff hit two very late garbage time 3s but before those 3 attempts was just 0-4 fg and did not like his game tonight. The others went a dreadful 2-12 including Hayes just 1-5 on treys and he got caught celebrating and RU was burned the other way with Hayes picking up a foul. Hayes had a couple of rebounds and assists but his playing time will go away if he cannot connect on a better rate from 3 and these were open misses. Derkack didnt have one of his best games either. Just 1-5 fg, he still forces some tough shots. Did make 3 free throws and got 2 steals so he did contribute in some other ways but thought he should be able to finish more against the likes of Columbia but he was limited to just 16 minutes as J Mike is really taking over his minutes. Martini put up 2 bricks in just 9 minutes and I just do not think its going to happen here. Awesome to see Noble drain that 3 with the shot clock expiring. I do not care what Pike wanted. There was still like 12 second left in the game so Columbia would get the ball..play the game and I dont mind running the score up. You do you Noble with the assist from Derkack.
Team stats we see the eye popping assist number. I dont know if its a record but 26 assists...WOWEE. Rebounding RU cleaned up at 45-31 including a decisive 14-3 margin offensively. Just 4 turnovers to the Lions 14. The only somewhat negative stat was the 11-34 32% from 3 vs the zone. RU was 25-42 on 2 point fgs and I think after a few tough possessions they generally figured out the Columbia zone
Onward and upwards. We close 2024 not where we want this team to be but a big opportunity to change course at a vulnerable Indiana Thursday and if....and its a big IF, Rutgers can steal that one, it sets up an interesting and opportunistic stretch of 3 straight games at the RAC that could salvage the season. Til then....HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE AND BEST OF LUCK IN 2025!
Columbia came in 11-1. I know they played weak schedule but winning at a high percentage and this was a confident team. There was a win over Villanova in there back in November. Not a team intimidated to play the big boys and they were not tonight. I thought they were well coached and had a good gameplan for a two pronged attack on Rutgers either by the back door or by the three point line. I thought the Lions were flustered at first getting down 18-6 but they hung in there and stuck to their gameplan. Some timely 3 point shooting kept them hanging around in the first half a few times cutting the defecit to 6. It seemed like RU was having a bit trouble lowering the knockout haymaker and that would continue for about for the first part of the 2nd half.
To me Rutgers bugaboo all season long has been putting their opponents away and building off of leads. While Rutgers was in control and Columbia was not exactly able to contain the Ace (first half) and Dylan (2nd half) show, I think most Rutgers fans had to be wondering was the inflection point coming this time. All year long Rutgers would be in this position and rarely had success but tonight....tonight was different. RU overcame a bit of a monkey on their back. After Columbia chopped the lead to 8 on yet another 3 after a desperate save inbound that went to an open Kenny Noland, things began to change. 54-46 and then timeout. It was a turning point and a step forward for the development of this team and there really was no looking back after that.
Dylan Harper...now I am going to back up a bit to the first half. I havent listened to anything Pike said in post game so do not know if this was his intention BUT Harper was only 1-3 fg in the first half, some say he was hurt. As the half wore on and I looked at his stats, I sort of got the impression that with Ace unguardable by Columbia, Pikes message to Harper was to be the floor general. Get Ace and others the ball and rebound the hell out of the ball. I believe Dylan had 6 assists and 6 boards at half and RU still had scored 44 points with only a sole 3 point shot from Harper. Was this a little plan by Pike to shake things up. Dylan was then unleashed in the 2nd half and a couple of treys but it was after timeout that he really turned the jets on. Finding the seam in the zone Dylan got a layup then played great D in getting a steal and an easy transition score. He was relentless with yet another steal but unfortunately Ace blew the layup. Saw some impressive defense out of Dylan all game long. Everyone and their mother knows he can score but exploiting other facets of his game may be the key to unlocking some of this teams hidden potential. Lets watch this going forward. It definitely does not hurt that Ace put up 17 in the first half. When Ace is making ridiculous NBA shots with ease boy does that relieve alot of the pressure for Dylan to have to be the man on offense EVERYTIME down the court. By the time Dylan's superlative little stretch was over with dagger 3, Rutgers had a new biggest lead of 64-48 and Columbia was forced to call timeout.
The Lions would not get closer than 66-55 and in fact we saw the best Rutgers defense and focus in the last 10:20 as Columbia was limited to overall just 9 points the rest of the way and at one point just 1 made fg over 7 minutes. This was a team that had made 12 of 23 fg at one point in the first half and I mentioned I did not like they were still shooting over 50% at half. Well Columbia would go 12 of 36 fg the rest of the way including a hideous 1-13 stretch late in the game. Rutgers defense had worn the Lions down who were throwing up bricks. Credit the defensive effort by Rutgers because they stuck to it. Rutgers really stopped the back door and generated turnovers. Unlike the Princeton game, this time the strategy was concentrated on the interior and there were a ton of open looks for Columbia on the perimter. They went 11-28 but De La Rosa was just 3-11 and RU limited him to just 17. Only Noland with 16 on 4-5 3 point shooting was able to get going and Columbia just did not have the bench players to compete with Rutgers.
Rutgers when faced with the question "What are you going to do now?" responded better than they ever did this season turning a game where Columbia was hanging around just one run away from making it a game to turn into one of those old fashion feel good games where even in the late stages you were laying back in your chair and unbuttoning your top pants button. A first for me this year! So that to me is progress. No it doesnt erase 11 games and it does not mean we need to start talking NCAA again BUT it was a needed step we had to see. Winning a game by 5 or 10 is a go through the motions thing. Rutgers did not go through the motions. It was their finest full 40 minutes of the season. One can hem and haw about some stretches or some individual play or shots that are not going down but you cannot complain at all about the performance tonight. Crashing the boards, committed to playing defense and exploiting and attacking the wilting Lions late were all big plusses. Getting out to a great start was big to set the tone for the rest of the game to put Rutgers in position to control throughout. Ace was sick early and J Will and J Mike were hitting. RU was up 7-0 on offensive rebounds and I believe turned the ball over just 1 time while forcing Columbia into some early cough ups.
Individually it all starts with Dylan. A sublime stat line not seen for over 40 years at Rutgers. 16 points, 12 assists, 11 boards and 3 steals. 5-7 fg in the 2nd and only 10 fg on the night but Dylan provided so much more as said earlier. Best defense I have seen from him all year and he made his teammates look better and dare I say this team looked like a team. Ace was NBA Ace in the first half. I think 17 on 8-10 or 11 fg shooting. Ended up 11-18 fg for a team leading 24 points and also came down with 8 boards and 2 blocks. J Will had key stretches offensively in the first and then later in the 2nd half in finding the seams. Just 22 minutes, got banged up a bit but finished with 9 points on 4-10 fg and he made a difference in slowing down De La Rosa. J Mike had his best game this year by far if not one of his best ever at RU. I know everyone cringes a bit at him shooting 3s but he delivered a couple of daggers. 11 points on 4-8 shooting and a nifty 7 assists and 3 steals. Was definitely a key part in stopping the ball going inside tonight. If if if we could get that in Big 10 games...great tonight but going to need these nights every night in league play. Summerville very solid tonight offensively. Columbia really couldnt defend him when he got the ball...5-7 fg 11 points in just 19 minutes, 5 boards, 2 offensive. EO was solid as well in 14 minutes with 5 boards. Again against Columbia they look better than they are. Versus the Big 10 I am still unconvinced of the different liabilities they bring.
Unfortunately the rest of the bench really did not provide much. Acuff hit two very late garbage time 3s but before those 3 attempts was just 0-4 fg and did not like his game tonight. The others went a dreadful 2-12 including Hayes just 1-5 on treys and he got caught celebrating and RU was burned the other way with Hayes picking up a foul. Hayes had a couple of rebounds and assists but his playing time will go away if he cannot connect on a better rate from 3 and these were open misses. Derkack didnt have one of his best games either. Just 1-5 fg, he still forces some tough shots. Did make 3 free throws and got 2 steals so he did contribute in some other ways but thought he should be able to finish more against the likes of Columbia but he was limited to just 16 minutes as J Mike is really taking over his minutes. Martini put up 2 bricks in just 9 minutes and I just do not think its going to happen here. Awesome to see Noble drain that 3 with the shot clock expiring. I do not care what Pike wanted. There was still like 12 second left in the game so Columbia would get the ball..play the game and I dont mind running the score up. You do you Noble with the assist from Derkack.
Team stats we see the eye popping assist number. I dont know if its a record but 26 assists...WOWEE. Rebounding RU cleaned up at 45-31 including a decisive 14-3 margin offensively. Just 4 turnovers to the Lions 14. The only somewhat negative stat was the 11-34 32% from 3 vs the zone. RU was 25-42 on 2 point fgs and I think after a few tough possessions they generally figured out the Columbia zone
Onward and upwards. We close 2024 not where we want this team to be but a big opportunity to change course at a vulnerable Indiana Thursday and if....and its a big IF, Rutgers can steal that one, it sets up an interesting and opportunistic stretch of 3 straight games at the RAC that could salvage the season. Til then....HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE AND BEST OF LUCK IN 2025!
