Today was one of those conference shitkickings that were pretty commonplace for Rutgers in its first few Big 10 seasons. The difference was Rutgers was on the giving and not receiving ends today, Today's 28 point win comes in behind last's years 30 point victory over Michigan State as Rutgers largest margin of victory in league play. 4 straight win, 2 straight league win, 3-1 Big 10 start all good things but looking deeper to me there is a lot of significance to this win albeit against a hapless Nebby. It points to meeting a bunch of challenges
Honestly, Nebraska is terrible. There is a reason they are 6-10 and have one road win in 28 league games. I do not think Hoiberg does a particularly good job at coaching his team and they may rival Eddie Jordan's teams as the worst defensive team in Big 10 history. While they are awful, that does not mean RU could not lose to them. We saw that last season. RU playing to shore up their NCAA resume laid a stinking turd and were thoroughly humiliated by Nebraska. Goes to show you that you must come to play every night. In approaching a team like Nebraska, who has talent, can score in bunches but is truly emotionally fragile and lacking confidence, Rutgers bringing it and playing their game was going to decide everything. That in itself was meeting a challenge. Without question this particular group the past couple seasons most notably early on this season, does not seem to ever get up for the less schools on the schedule. It nearly burned them vs Lehigh and its still smarting their ass from the stunning loss to Lafayette. While out of the gate perhaps a bit wobbly, RU asserted themselves by midway through the first half and away they went. Not only did RU do what they had to do to open a double digit halftime lead over bottom feeding conference foe but they also met the challenges of overcoming an off night by Geo and the usual 2nd half letdown of being up big and losing intensity. You do not beat Nebraska by being passive and running clock. You beat them by being aggressive, drawing fouls, making them look silly trying to defend. RU succeeded on all 3 counts and never let up.But big picture its overcoming the despair and disappointment of its poor out of conference vs the dregs on its schedule and hideous loss to Lehigh and now putting together 6 wins in the last 7 games. The season was truly on the verge of going down the tubes after the Illinois loss with Purdue coming into the RAC. This team has completely turned its season upside down and finding itself in ways that even the most optimistic fan could not have imagined. Step by step you see the confidence burgeoning from the starting core and the ugly duckling label that described the bench has incremently grown game by game where we know are getting hints of a complete team.
Bad team lose and find ways to lose. Good teams find ways to win and Rutgers is finding different ways to win. The thread the needle win RU got vs Purdue with Ron carrying the team isn't sustainable for stretches of games. Likewise relying on Geo to go off for a career night like vs Michigan is tough to replicate in this league. Today Geo was never on with his shot and Ron who finished with a superlative game had a rough start. Enter Andre Hyatt. Hyatt has been somewhat frustrating this year. I think fans put too high of expecations on him. He had some good games early but then a string of bad ones that got his minutes cut. Little by little the last few games Hyatt is showing us the X factor off the bench he can become. His sweet stroke to give the offense a lift at the right moment. After a Harper airball 3 and Nebby up 11-6, Hyatt changed the course of the game hitting his first shot, grabbing a rebound, knocking down 2 foul shots, grabbing a rebound off a Nebby miss and draining a 3 on the ensuing play that put RU up 17-16 and RU would never trail from there. That flurrry of place seem to reignite guys like Paul Mulcahy and Ron Harper and it seemed to put everyone the same page and it snowballed from there. Hyatt finished with 13 points on 4-6 shooting with 6 boards and 2 assists in just 20 minutes. Playing his role off the bench to perfection today. Much more satisfy that RU was jumped started today not because they rode Ron and Geo but because it was Aundre and then a guy named Threeiber
Not sure who coined the name, its in the game thread and they get the rights but Reiber had an unlikley breakout game. Forced into early action because of 2 quick fouls on Cliff, Reiber made the best of his minutes and earned a ton more today. Reiber made his presence known in tandem with Hyatt as he hit on a layup assited by Mulcahy. Dean grabbed a couple of rebounds but absolutely no one was ready for his draining that 3 wide open 3 that put RU up 20-16. Dean would play pretty solid defensively the rest of the way and Pike inserted him back in the game for the closing possesion which wound up with a Ron to Dean pass for an emphatic dunk that ended up the half and put RU up 44-31. Cliff took over in the 2nd but Dean would thrill everyone once again with yet another 3 from the corner that put RU up 75-54 and I think this was one unofficially over after that. Reiber had some night. 10 points on 4-6 shooting, 2-2 from 3 and 4 boards in 17 minutes. For a guy that had even struggled to look like he could play against the likes of Lehigh and Lafayette, this type of perfornance where not only did he see significant minutes but was a major part of why Rutgers will only strength Reiber's courage and aplomb....and Pike's too. Reality is RU is weak at the 5 spot. Any foul trouble with Cliff really knocks out what we are trying to do. Agee just doesnt seem to have the size or presence to be an adequate replacement. Reiber took leaps in his development today. Obviously we will not see him hoisting 3s against the stalwarts of the Big 10 but we will see making important contributions going forward as the backup to Cliff.
Now to touch on the starters. I mean Ron Harper Jr.....geez is he coming on or what. 29 points on 8-13, 3-6 from 3 and absolute monster at the line going 10-10, 7 of those in the first half. You could see his confidence with the 3 and you could see he realize that Nebraska could not defend him. Ron just kept going to the basket for a stretch later in the first half and was tallying points in bunches. Ron had a better game then he did vs Michigan overall and just might earn Big 10 player of the week honors. No surprise that in RU's biggest 4 wins this year, he has 29, 20, 30, and 23. His back to back 3s early in the 2nd that put RU up basically indictated to Rutgers fans, relax, we are going to win this one. He really is blossoming his senior year into that consistent night in and night out player that RU fans are used to seeing at the elite schools.
Geo Baker had an off shooting night and kudos to him for realizing that and deferring to those that were on. Geo was just 1-5 in the first and took 2 the rest of the way but showed leadership in deciding not to force things. Geo had 6 assists including some 3 straight beauts to Ron. Had 3 steals and thought he played pretty good D tonight.
Let us talk Paul tonight. Did he actually have a dunk? Paul was aggressive today with the ball not only shooting but distributing. A whopping 8 assists, Paul was not shy shooting either take 111 shots and scoring 10 points and grabbing 7 boards. It seemed like everytime you looked up the ball was in Paul's hands. Paul made Nebraska look silly at times and dominated for stretches. Caleb had solid game contributing some nice buckets, playing his usual solid D and think had 4 assists. Think came out at one point for a wrist issue and did get into some foul trouble at times that probably preventing him from putting up a better line but man is he becoming consistent now. Cliff foul trouble derailed him but he came back in the 2nd and hit some nice shots away from the basket. Man if he can start hitting them against the tougher opponents on our slate, RU is going to be a tough out. Ended up still in double figures at 10 on 5-7 shooting in just 17 minutes. Thought his D could have been a little better early against Andre.
Not a line but a whopping 17 minutes for Jalen Miller, 4 points, 3 boards....big minutes for him getting comfortable. I liked his D and energy and playing with different combos out there. The more minutes he plays getting his sea legs under him the better it is for RU going forward. Alot of chatter about Jones not playing but the fact is he didnt need to play significant minutes today and I like Pike for recognizing that. Its not that Jaden will not be called upon but in this particular game it was first about getting up enough to secure the victory and about developing others...Hyatt, Reiber, Miller. You dont want to just throw Jones in their and mess up the good synergy that was going on. I did like Jones came in the last 4 minutes and hit for 5 points including a 3, pretty effortless shots so even in the garbage minutes those are positives. Aiden Terry had a career night, no points but 2 boards and an assist, great to see him get a few minutes and you could tell his teammates are really rooting for him.
Coach Pikiell and staff once again really doing a great job reading the pulse of this team and the in game rotations. Allowing Hyatt and Reiber more time out there especially when Nebby started making up ground right after he took those guys out. Pike knows what his bread and butter core can give him but he is also gaining more courage in allowing others to contribute. His game plan was perfect vs Nebraska. Its not a game you want to grind out. You want to exploit a bad defensive team and make them pay and in that respect Pikiell simply outclassed Hoiberg today in every which way.
At the end of the day, we must realize that every game is not going to go like today. Nebraska is a last place team. Be optimistic now going forward but do not get too caught up in how "good" we are. Rutgers still has a lot to prove and especially on the road. RU does not have a road win this season. 2 closes losses against mediocre at best competition, a blowout defeat to one of the tops in the league and a competitive yet unspectacular showing vs SHU. Be happy that Rutgers is now starting to win games in bunches. Be happy that each game RU is showing the incremental improvement that a team needs to make to put themselves in position to reach their goals. We have learned so much about Rutgers in the past 10 days and we are going to learn so much more in the next two. Two winnable games against perceived 2nd tier league schools. RU has had some wins at Penn State in the Big 10 but not the past two season and RU did beat Maryland last year on the road. As usual its best to take a game by game approach. You are never as good as your last win or never as bad as your last conference road loss. Challenges met over the past several weeks yet it never ends. A new set of unique challenges presented on the road where the team must create its own energy and must overcome adversity without the familiar confines of the RAC to fall back on.
As Huey Lewis sang....
All I want from tomorrow
Is to get it better than today
Step by step, one by one
Higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung
Climbing and climbing
Honestly, Nebraska is terrible. There is a reason they are 6-10 and have one road win in 28 league games. I do not think Hoiberg does a particularly good job at coaching his team and they may rival Eddie Jordan's teams as the worst defensive team in Big 10 history. While they are awful, that does not mean RU could not lose to them. We saw that last season. RU playing to shore up their NCAA resume laid a stinking turd and were thoroughly humiliated by Nebraska. Goes to show you that you must come to play every night. In approaching a team like Nebraska, who has talent, can score in bunches but is truly emotionally fragile and lacking confidence, Rutgers bringing it and playing their game was going to decide everything. That in itself was meeting a challenge. Without question this particular group the past couple seasons most notably early on this season, does not seem to ever get up for the less schools on the schedule. It nearly burned them vs Lehigh and its still smarting their ass from the stunning loss to Lafayette. While out of the gate perhaps a bit wobbly, RU asserted themselves by midway through the first half and away they went. Not only did RU do what they had to do to open a double digit halftime lead over bottom feeding conference foe but they also met the challenges of overcoming an off night by Geo and the usual 2nd half letdown of being up big and losing intensity. You do not beat Nebraska by being passive and running clock. You beat them by being aggressive, drawing fouls, making them look silly trying to defend. RU succeeded on all 3 counts and never let up.But big picture its overcoming the despair and disappointment of its poor out of conference vs the dregs on its schedule and hideous loss to Lehigh and now putting together 6 wins in the last 7 games. The season was truly on the verge of going down the tubes after the Illinois loss with Purdue coming into the RAC. This team has completely turned its season upside down and finding itself in ways that even the most optimistic fan could not have imagined. Step by step you see the confidence burgeoning from the starting core and the ugly duckling label that described the bench has incremently grown game by game where we know are getting hints of a complete team.
Bad team lose and find ways to lose. Good teams find ways to win and Rutgers is finding different ways to win. The thread the needle win RU got vs Purdue with Ron carrying the team isn't sustainable for stretches of games. Likewise relying on Geo to go off for a career night like vs Michigan is tough to replicate in this league. Today Geo was never on with his shot and Ron who finished with a superlative game had a rough start. Enter Andre Hyatt. Hyatt has been somewhat frustrating this year. I think fans put too high of expecations on him. He had some good games early but then a string of bad ones that got his minutes cut. Little by little the last few games Hyatt is showing us the X factor off the bench he can become. His sweet stroke to give the offense a lift at the right moment. After a Harper airball 3 and Nebby up 11-6, Hyatt changed the course of the game hitting his first shot, grabbing a rebound, knocking down 2 foul shots, grabbing a rebound off a Nebby miss and draining a 3 on the ensuing play that put RU up 17-16 and RU would never trail from there. That flurrry of place seem to reignite guys like Paul Mulcahy and Ron Harper and it seemed to put everyone the same page and it snowballed from there. Hyatt finished with 13 points on 4-6 shooting with 6 boards and 2 assists in just 20 minutes. Playing his role off the bench to perfection today. Much more satisfy that RU was jumped started today not because they rode Ron and Geo but because it was Aundre and then a guy named Threeiber
Not sure who coined the name, its in the game thread and they get the rights but Reiber had an unlikley breakout game. Forced into early action because of 2 quick fouls on Cliff, Reiber made the best of his minutes and earned a ton more today. Reiber made his presence known in tandem with Hyatt as he hit on a layup assited by Mulcahy. Dean grabbed a couple of rebounds but absolutely no one was ready for his draining that 3 wide open 3 that put RU up 20-16. Dean would play pretty solid defensively the rest of the way and Pike inserted him back in the game for the closing possesion which wound up with a Ron to Dean pass for an emphatic dunk that ended up the half and put RU up 44-31. Cliff took over in the 2nd but Dean would thrill everyone once again with yet another 3 from the corner that put RU up 75-54 and I think this was one unofficially over after that. Reiber had some night. 10 points on 4-6 shooting, 2-2 from 3 and 4 boards in 17 minutes. For a guy that had even struggled to look like he could play against the likes of Lehigh and Lafayette, this type of perfornance where not only did he see significant minutes but was a major part of why Rutgers will only strength Reiber's courage and aplomb....and Pike's too. Reality is RU is weak at the 5 spot. Any foul trouble with Cliff really knocks out what we are trying to do. Agee just doesnt seem to have the size or presence to be an adequate replacement. Reiber took leaps in his development today. Obviously we will not see him hoisting 3s against the stalwarts of the Big 10 but we will see making important contributions going forward as the backup to Cliff.
Now to touch on the starters. I mean Ron Harper Jr.....geez is he coming on or what. 29 points on 8-13, 3-6 from 3 and absolute monster at the line going 10-10, 7 of those in the first half. You could see his confidence with the 3 and you could see he realize that Nebraska could not defend him. Ron just kept going to the basket for a stretch later in the first half and was tallying points in bunches. Ron had a better game then he did vs Michigan overall and just might earn Big 10 player of the week honors. No surprise that in RU's biggest 4 wins this year, he has 29, 20, 30, and 23. His back to back 3s early in the 2nd that put RU up basically indictated to Rutgers fans, relax, we are going to win this one. He really is blossoming his senior year into that consistent night in and night out player that RU fans are used to seeing at the elite schools.
Geo Baker had an off shooting night and kudos to him for realizing that and deferring to those that were on. Geo was just 1-5 in the first and took 2 the rest of the way but showed leadership in deciding not to force things. Geo had 6 assists including some 3 straight beauts to Ron. Had 3 steals and thought he played pretty good D tonight.
Let us talk Paul tonight. Did he actually have a dunk? Paul was aggressive today with the ball not only shooting but distributing. A whopping 8 assists, Paul was not shy shooting either take 111 shots and scoring 10 points and grabbing 7 boards. It seemed like everytime you looked up the ball was in Paul's hands. Paul made Nebraska look silly at times and dominated for stretches. Caleb had solid game contributing some nice buckets, playing his usual solid D and think had 4 assists. Think came out at one point for a wrist issue and did get into some foul trouble at times that probably preventing him from putting up a better line but man is he becoming consistent now. Cliff foul trouble derailed him but he came back in the 2nd and hit some nice shots away from the basket. Man if he can start hitting them against the tougher opponents on our slate, RU is going to be a tough out. Ended up still in double figures at 10 on 5-7 shooting in just 17 minutes. Thought his D could have been a little better early against Andre.
Not a line but a whopping 17 minutes for Jalen Miller, 4 points, 3 boards....big minutes for him getting comfortable. I liked his D and energy and playing with different combos out there. The more minutes he plays getting his sea legs under him the better it is for RU going forward. Alot of chatter about Jones not playing but the fact is he didnt need to play significant minutes today and I like Pike for recognizing that. Its not that Jaden will not be called upon but in this particular game it was first about getting up enough to secure the victory and about developing others...Hyatt, Reiber, Miller. You dont want to just throw Jones in their and mess up the good synergy that was going on. I did like Jones came in the last 4 minutes and hit for 5 points including a 3, pretty effortless shots so even in the garbage minutes those are positives. Aiden Terry had a career night, no points but 2 boards and an assist, great to see him get a few minutes and you could tell his teammates are really rooting for him.
Coach Pikiell and staff once again really doing a great job reading the pulse of this team and the in game rotations. Allowing Hyatt and Reiber more time out there especially when Nebby started making up ground right after he took those guys out. Pike knows what his bread and butter core can give him but he is also gaining more courage in allowing others to contribute. His game plan was perfect vs Nebraska. Its not a game you want to grind out. You want to exploit a bad defensive team and make them pay and in that respect Pikiell simply outclassed Hoiberg today in every which way.
At the end of the day, we must realize that every game is not going to go like today. Nebraska is a last place team. Be optimistic now going forward but do not get too caught up in how "good" we are. Rutgers still has a lot to prove and especially on the road. RU does not have a road win this season. 2 closes losses against mediocre at best competition, a blowout defeat to one of the tops in the league and a competitive yet unspectacular showing vs SHU. Be happy that Rutgers is now starting to win games in bunches. Be happy that each game RU is showing the incremental improvement that a team needs to make to put themselves in position to reach their goals. We have learned so much about Rutgers in the past 10 days and we are going to learn so much more in the next two. Two winnable games against perceived 2nd tier league schools. RU has had some wins at Penn State in the Big 10 but not the past two season and RU did beat Maryland last year on the road. As usual its best to take a game by game approach. You are never as good as your last win or never as bad as your last conference road loss. Challenges met over the past several weeks yet it never ends. A new set of unique challenges presented on the road where the team must create its own energy and must overcome adversity without the familiar confines of the RAC to fall back on.
As Huey Lewis sang....
All I want from tomorrow
Is to get it better than today
Step by step, one by one
Higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung
Climbing and climbing
