GAME 15 MARYLAND: Welcome to R Nightmare

[bac2therac]

Welcome to R nightmare, whoa-whoa-oh
Welcome to your beatdown
I hope we didn't scare you
That's just the way we are when we come down
We sweat and laugh and scream here
'Cause life is just a dream here
You know inside you feel right at home here

Poor Maryland, they were terrorized and abused in such a bruising way. Kevin Willard knows the trappings of the lion's den he was entering. Unfortunately for him, I do not think even he could have envisioned the Rutgers defense asphyxiating his team in such a manner resulting in rigor mortis taking over. Throw in 8000 lunatics howling and cackling and the knightmare became all too real for the Terrapins who were sent back to College Park in straightjackets not sure what they just had physically and mentally endured

Rutgers fans, it was scary good tonight. The defense that Rutgers played for those first 20 minutes was national championship quality level. Do not get caught up too much in that the score was just 24-17 and that the offense squandered a chance to be up maybe 16-20 points. I was pissed at half time that it was that close but by games end, I had come to really appreciate what we just saw. This team is not perfect. Its going to struggle finishing at times and its going to sruggle in the half court set. The defensive spells that Pikiell continues to conjure up keep and coming and coming and coming. Rutgers put a sleeper hold on Maryland the for a 8:45 stretch holding the Terps scoreless while running off 15 points of their own, much of them off turnovers. In addition the man on ball defense was a work of beauty bothering Maryland who could never get into any rhythm. I do not have the exact number but Rutgers forced more than a couple shot clock violations or last second heaves with the assists going to a frenzied RAC crowd. By the time Maryland scored a couple of more buckets, the RU run was still 19-4 over 15 minutes. Maryland had just 8 points with 2:30 minutes left. Yes they had some bench players drain a few 3s at the end to cut that gap to just 7 at halftime, but in retrospect Rutgers was in complete control of their vice grips.

Second half played at a much different pace but still delivered the same results. Rutgers was going to drop an anvil on Maryland and his name was Paul Mulcahy. Mulcahy who had been so instrumental in securing the win at Purdue was equally vital in a key stretch that placed the Terrapans into a death rattle. Paul would score 9 of RUs 13 points in a stretch where RU stretch where the lead ballooned to 14. He was just warming up Mag hit him in stride in transition but on the next series, Paul got a steal headed up court where he was fouled hard by Reese of Maryland. It was a flagrant one and if anyone had any doubt that was the play of the game. Paul sank both free throws, RU got the ball and Andre scooped up a Reiber miss, Suddenly RU is up 42-30 and then once again Paul delivers putting RU up 14. The lead would extend at its most to 18, a 17-3 run buoyed by Paul the leader who was tough as nail today bullying a bunch of wannabee thugs from Maryland. Paul gets all the kudos tonight. After all he didnt miss a shot...6-6 fg, 15 points, 2 steals in 32 minutes. Only 2 assists tonight but with Maryland denying the ball to Cliff, it was going to be about Paul doing what he does best and he does it well. You almost wish he shot more.

But while Paul might be the player of the game, for the move of the game and the role player of the game we look elsewhere. Maryland had crept to 34-30. The defensive tempo of the first half was replaced and Maryland was more confident in figuring out the RU defense. Shots were starting to fall and RU was sputtering somewhat not being able to get Cliff untracked at all and now it was starting to matter. One little move from Pike to rest Cliff by inserting Reiber who got the call over Woolfolk was why Pikiell is such a good coach. I felt Willard was starting to outcoach Pike. He made the adjustments at half to move the ball and RU wasnt responding offensively. Needed a shakeup and oh boy did Reiber answer his call. You know I am going to eat a large plate of crow because in the Reiber thread I said the writing was on the wall and Woolfolk was going to take all his minutes. Never be that definitive bac...Reiber's name was called and his presence was the catalyst in that run that for all intents and purposes put the game away. Maryland went right after Reiber and it worked, Reiber fouled and Terps got an and one. Reiber in what had to be a set play made a brilliant dunk assisted by Derek to strike right back. Perhaps Maryland a bit caught off guard with Reibs in, instead of Cliff, Reiber also got a clean open look for 3 that missed on the next possession. Reiber would in another miss cleaned up by Hyatt and then a board down the other way. By the time Dean left, RU was up 14. Dean, Paul, Pike and the crowd were all responsible for those defining moments of the game. Reiber after so many tough games of being lost looked solid against a physical team and kept his head up giving very important minutes. Just 3 minutes but damn. And Pike knows what he is doing. Wolf was struggling a bit tonight so some nights it might be Reibers turn. Options are there.

Individually....Cliff really struggled, just 4 points and had only 2 shots at half. His D was decent and once again came through on the boards with 13. Maryland was really working hard to deny Cliff the ball and he just didnt seem good enough tonight to work through it. Cam was only 3-10 on the night but 3-6 from 3 and while he took 4 quick early shots, he disappeared for the rest of the first half. Cam would come up with some important treys that contributed to keeping the Terps at bay. Team leading 5 assists tonight and team leading 3 steals, Important part of that great D, Caleb took 8 shots in the first half and I dont like that stat, only took 4 in the 2nd, finished 4-12, 10 points, 4 boards, 2 steals, 0 turnovers...it was the typical Caleb game, just so good on locking down the guards on Maryland. Mag, 6pts, 4 boards, had some rough dribble moments early but once again so good on defense and he is so good on cleaning things up around the basket and he is getting into the habit of getting a steal under our own hoop for a quick score. Good thing Hyatt drained that 3 on RU's last possession in the first half..key moment up 21-14 but there was like 25 seconds on the shot clock so if you are going to take it you better make it, he did, RU went up 10 briefly before the last 2nd 3 cut it to 7 at half. Hyatt, 8 pts, 3 boards, is really settling into playing his role. Less forced shots and less dribbling to the hoop. Derek did some good things, made some mistakes forcing some bad passes leading to turnovers. !8 minutes and that is pretty appropriate for him right now, hit one of those Geo looking shots which is great for his confidence. I like that Pike has worked on getting him to play within himself. Woolfolk did struggle in his limited minutes and made an error on that last 3 Maryland hit before halftime. Guess what, thats okay, it happens to freshmen.

Give credit to Maryland, they could have packed it in totally a few times but kept plugging away at those 3s, some of which went in. Still they were just 8-22 for the night, Half of those coming from Carey off the bench. The lead would never get under 12 and RU while not perfect did enough needed things to close out the game without any danger. By games end, RU had forced Maryland into 20 turnovers and it seemed like the D was still playing just as strong in those last 5 minutes. Hungry team for sure...feed them. It used to be cupcakes now its filet mignon. The leap forward this year. Rutgers split with Maryland last year but lost the last 2 at the RAC vs the Terps. There was little doubt that Rutgers was the better team. You could see it. Do not know what to make of Maryland. Had a few nice wins early on but do not look like they have enough night in and night out to be a top half of the league school. Bubble maybe? They will have to get it together.

Rutgers is indeed a nightmare for any school at this point. There really is no question anymore. We know exactly the kind of defensive effort that RU will bring each night. Way different than last year season. The commitment and hunger is something I have not seen in all my time following RU since 1988. I said I wanted to wait til both Maryland and Iowa games were done to assess the goals and speculate on the future. I felt because of their style and chance they could be physical that this would be the toughest of the two. I do see Iowa rallied to beat Indiana after being down 21. Great recovery but wait until they meet the RU defense. On the other end, to beat a bad defensive team like Iowa is, you have to take it too them. The blueprint is the Wake game. I would be surprised if its a lower scoring game like last year or even tonight. Big game...get that win and its dream big dreams for the Knights......and continued knightmares for the rest of the Big 10

 

[richthedentist]

Great recap we are a very good team

 

[Scangg]

Dominating win start to finish. We have double digit wins where we don't even look like we are playing well at all offensively

This team can take it to the next level with Paul being more aggressive. He is focused and under control this year.

Cam with some huge much needed 3's. 6, 3pt attempts much better number today

Everyone contributed at times per usual. Mag rough first half. Very good 2nd

Cliff not letting lack of offense impact rebounding or picking up dumb fouls. A few big blocks

Simpson energy off the bench always

Dean cameo and a great plus minus

 

[bac2therac]

and to add, usually I would nitpick some things and yes I believe there are a good number of things we can clean up and improve upon. We are not completely sharp offensively and at our most efficient but yet still won handily...good sign.

Imagine if Cliff actually had a good night offensively in a game like tonight


we are a very good team.

 

[Scangg]

Also, wanted to point out the team composure after multiple hard fouls and dirty plays. Showing maturity and maintaining focus without backing down

Paul especially is much more under control this season handling his emotions

 

[Degaz-RU]

Good recap as usual. A few additional points:

1. Maryland did a terrific job of crowding Cliff and making it basically impossible for our guards to get him the ball. They also played very tight on the perimeter, really jamming up our offense.

2. We only scored 64 because Cam and Dre hit some timely threes and because Paul just took over in the 2nd half. Paul’s dribble penetration is becoming elite, and he’s aided because of the THREAT of him passing. As he’s coming into the lane, defenders are staying with their man, so Paul has room to maneuver, and he’s been MONEY the last two games in hitting all manner of creative 6 to 10 foot shots and driving bankers.

3. Cam has really gained confidence and is firmly one of our best players. Obviously our best shooter, but does so many other things that we weren’t expecting when Pike signed him as a “shooter.” He passes, he defends, he steals, he’s fiercely competitive, and he is AUTOMATIC at the line.

4. You can just SEE the fear and apprehension in the eyes and play of opponents when we’re in full court press. Our pressing is relentless and ferocious, but also under control, as we don’t get called for many fouls when we press. It’s just so well coached and is causing turnovers like we’ve not seen on the Banks in years.

5. Cliff is very sloppy and still awkward when he has the ball on the block and is getting double teamed, so I was glad to see we weren’t trying to force the ball down low. Lesson learned from the SHU game, when we kept forcing the entry passes despite SHU getting deflection after deflection. But Cliff was a MONSTER on the boards tonight.

6. Hyatt has been playing his role to perfection lately. He only had one bad moment in the first half when he tried going one on one and — predictably — coughed up the ball. He and Mag should be banned from ever taking more than three dribbles.

7. Simpson is a spark, but he’s still out of control at times. The box score only shows him with 2 TOs, but I counted 3. He needs to learn when to push and when to pull back.

8. Pike had a good rotation tonight, with starters all getting 26 to 34 minutes, and Hyatt and Simpson getting 22 and 18, respectively. Woolf and Reiber combined for 5 minutes because Cliff played 34.

9. One other negative - I love Caleb’s defense, and he provides good mid range offense, but he has been good for one or two boneheaded plays late in games over the past several games. That deep 3-pointer early in the shot clock when we’re trying to wax away the game with about 5 minutes left was just dumb. A 5th year senior needs to know better.

10. On to Iowa. They still have a really good offense despite all of the recent turmoil in Iowa City, so Sunday will not be a cakewalk. We need to bring our “A” game and will need to score at least 72 points to win. Luckily, Iowa’s defense is pretty bad, but our games are always dog fights. I expect nothing less on Sunday, especially after they gained some confidence in storming back for their first conference win tonight against Indiana.

 

[bac2therac]

Also, wanted to point out the team composure after multiple hard fouls and dirty plays. Showing maturity and maintaining focus without backing down

Paul especially is much more under control this season handling his emotions

more composure at the RAC than on the road...Its getting better on the road, but to win championships we will need it to even get better

 

[bac2therac]

great points Degaz....especially about the fouling..much better job tonight and we easily got some friendly whistles in the first half as they let things go but we were doing a better job too

yeah you are right about Caleb and the one or two bad plays late. He wont change we will have to live with it.

I really would like to get Cliff figured out, he can be maddeningly inconsistent not only from game to game but half to half. Hands just have to get better

 

[Degaz-RU]

great points Degaz....especially about the fouling..much better job tonight and we easily got some friendly whistles in the first half as they let things go but we were doing a better job too

yeah you are right about Caleb and the one or two bad plays late. He wont change we will have to live with it.

I really would like to get Cliff figured out, he can be maddeningly inconsistent not only from game to game but half to half. Hands just have to get better

Don’t get me started about Cliff’s hands. It’s weird. He’s great at grabbing rebounds that are high above his head, but he almost NEVER can get a loose ball that is bouncing around below his waist when opponents are grabbing for it. But I digress.

 

[RU848789]

Lots of good points by bac and others, so no need to repeat. Two things, though. Why didn't we foul at the end of the first half, since we had only committed 2 fouls and there was only about 17 seconds left when they inbounded and maybe 10 seconds left when they got to midcourt. Should've used a couple of fouls to waste time, reducing the likelihood of them hitting another trey.

Second, Cliff's hands are Cliff's hands. They're unlikely to get more than marginally better, as that's what he was dealt. Just like you can't teach speed and size, you can't teach good hands (sure minor improvements can be made in all of these things, but coaching/training can't make a slow person fast or a short person tall or...). You can, however, teach post moves, although that too depends on hands to some extent (dribbling while protecting the ball).

 

[Degaz-RU]

One other point. Our FT shooting has been very good lately. 12-14 tonight and now up to 73.5% on the year. This is HUGE.

 

[urbanecane]

Shout out Hyatt for playing his role. Give me 8 points and some RU defense and that is more than enough.

 

[Caliknight]

Being down 10 points to us feels like us being down 7 to anyone in football.

 

[rubaseball78]

Lots of good points by bac and others, so no need to repeat. Two things, though. Why didn't we foul at the end of the first half, since we had only committed 2 fouls and there was only about 17 seconds left when they inbounded and maybe 10 seconds left when they got to midcourt. Should've used a couple of fouls to waste time, reducing the likelihood of them hitting another trey.

Second, Cliff's hands are Cliff's hands. They're unlikely to get more than marginally better, as that's what he was dealt. Just like you can't teach speed and size, you can't teach good hands (sure minor improvements can be made in all of these things, but coaching/training can't make a slow person fast or a short person tall or...). You can, however, teach post moves, although that too depends on hands to some extent (dribbling while protecting the ball).

I get your point on the fouls and wasting time but given how aggressive we play D, I wouldn't want to give away any fouls on starters or main bench players. Maybe put Miller in for the sole purpose of fouling in this situation.

 

[RU848789]

I get your point on the fouls and wasting time but given how aggressive we play D, I wouldn't want to give away any fouls on starters or main bench players. Maybe put Miller in for the sole purpose of fouling in this situation.

Miller was put in and I thought was going to give the foul, plus we had 3 other guys on the floor with zero fouls, so giving up one foul at that point was not an issue.

 

[G- RUnit]

Great review! We didn’t play all that well offensively, Cliff only scored 4 and we still won by 14. It didn’t seem that close.

RAC was amazing and a lot like old Giants Stadium, namely much louder on D.

We shot 12-14 from the line. We win by 14. Foul shooting was great.

Hyatt is getting better by the minute. It’s hard for us to lose when Paul plays well. Anybody else cringe when Paul was favoring his shoulder? As BAC noted great minutes by Reiber today. Although Cam shooting was off, those threes were so big. Caleb great effort and defensive game per usual. It is somewhat amusing that as a 5th year senior he comes up with at least one head scratching clunker a game. He’s got to fix those freshman mistakes.

Refs let us play and thought most fairly officiated game of the year. Did not recognize surfer ref. I would have tossed the Maryland player for flagrant foul. RU flagrant was just not the same.

As noted by above posters, we had so many fouls to give at the end of the first half. We should have inserted Oskar or Miller and foul away, disrupt their timing and don’t let them hit a three. Double digit lead literally and psychologically disappeared.

Great win! We won when we weren’t all that great offensively. Beginning to look like magical season.

Like that Iowa needed a great comeback to win. Maybe we catch them flat, cross country trip, and 11:00 Iowa time Sunday morning.

 

[rubaseball78]

Miller was put in and I thought was going to give the foul, plus we had 3 other guys on the floor with zero fouls, so giving up one foul at that point was not an issue.

Again, even if our starters have zero fouls I would not give away any additional fouls before half.

 

[RU848789]

Great review! We didn’t play all that well offensively, Cliff only scored 4 and we still won by 14. It didn’t seem that close.

RAC was amazing and a lot like old Giants Stadium, namely much louder on D.

We shot 12-14 from the line. We win by 14. Foul shooting was great.

Hyatt is getting better by the minute. It’s hard for us to lose when Paul plays well. Anybody else cringe when Paul was favoring his shoulder? As BAC noted great minutes by Reiber today. Although Cam shooting was off, those threes were so big. Caleb great effort and defensive game per usual. It is somewhat amusing that as a 5th year senior he comes up with at least one head scratching clunker a game. He’s got to fix those freshman mistakes.

Refs let us play and thought most fairly officiated game of the year. Did not recognize surfer ref. I would have tossed the Maryland player for flagrant foul. RU flagrant was just not the same.

As noted by above posters, we had so many fouls to give at the end of the first half. We should have inserted Oskar or Miller and foul away, disrupt their timing and don’t let them hit a three. Double digit lead literally and psychologically disappeared.

Great win! We won when we weren’t all that great offensively. Beginning to look like magical season.

Like that Iowa needed a great comeback to win. Maybe we catch them flat, cross country trip, and 11:00 Iowa time Sunday morning.

Good points. Wasn't worried about Paul's shoulder, since he was holding his right shoulder, whereas he injured the left shoulder earlier in the season.

 

[whofrewdatmataRU13]

Again, even if our starters have zero fouls I would not give away any additional fouls before half.

It resets

 

[rubaseball78]

It resets

Fouls don't reset. Each player gets a max of 5 for the game.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Great review BAC. Yet another game that reinforced the narrative that this team plays good enough defense to overcome its offensive limitations simply by keeping the turnovers under control.

 

[colbert17]

Nice workman like win. Just our style.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

and to add, usually I would nitpick some things and yes I believe there are a good number of things we can clean up and improve upon. We are not completely sharp offensively and at our most efficient but yet still won handily...good sign.

Imagine if Cliff actually had a good night offensively in a game like tonight


we are a very good team.

We need to capture what we did on offense for 29 minutes …whixh starts with not turning over rhe ball

Still shot in the 45% range. Purdue was in the low 40%. Solid, but not blazing

The last 11 minutes of the first half …8 turnovers …and only 9 pponts

Take the other 29 minutes …extremely efficient baskerball with 53 points …and it wasn’t on a lot of shots

It seems like we play 28 minutes of good offensive basketball a game . We had those 9-12 minute offensive malaise in a lot of games where there are less possessions (partially befecuse we run the other team down on the shot clock a lot )

We aren’t getting 40. But if we can get that 28 minutes up to the 35 minute range -and stop turning it over …we will push out scoring in these games from the mid 60s, to the low 70s…it’s a win 90% of the time…as there isn’t going to be many teams getting 70 on us on any
Night

We are very very good …and if we do thsat, we can be an ELITE team

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Good points. Wasn't worried about Paul's shoulder, since he was holding his right shoulder, whereas he injured the left shoulder earlier in the season.

Didn’t realize it was the other one! I’d make a terrible doctor.

 

[Rocky72]

I always enjoy your recaps BAC, but wasn't expecting an Alice Cooper reference this morning. Nice!

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

The 1st 10 minutes had the best D I have ever seen.

Strange game in that we were elite on D and bad on offense in 1st half. 2nd half we were pedestrian on D and our offense bailed us out.

Paul has morphed back to Magic Johnson mode we saw last year for the 4.5 game stretch. Earvin 2.0!

Pike gave Caleb the long 2nd half rest I was looking for. I am worried about our legs against Iowa, but if I were an Iowa fan my worried list would be a lot longer.

 

[richthedentist]

Didn’t realize it was the other one! I’d make a terrible doctor.

Yeah he got fouled on that play the defender I am not sure which one was trying to box him out and the defenders elbow came right down on his shoulder and he also pushed Paul out of the way on the rebound

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Welcome to the Black Parade (if we would have been wearing black)

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Yeah he got fouled on that play the defender I am not sure which one was trying to box him out and the defenders elbow came right down on his shoulder and he also pushed Paul out of the way on the rebound

Paul was talking to the ref about it

 

[richthedentist]

Lots of good points by bac and others, so no need to repeat. Two things, though. Why didn't we foul at the end of the first half, since we had only committed 2 fouls and there was only about 17 seconds left when they inbounded and maybe 10 seconds left when they got to midcourt. Should've used a couple of fouls to waste time, reducing the likelihood of them hitting another trey.

Second, Cliff's hands are Cliff's hands. They're unlikely to get more than marginally better, as that's what he was dealt. Just like you can't teach speed and size, you can't teach good hands (sure minor improvements can be made in all of these things, but coaching/training can't make a slow person fast or a short person tall or...). You can, however, teach post moves, although that too depends on hands to some extent (dribbling while protecting the ball).

First of all kudos for being on the big screen a couple of times last night!!
I still can't see Cliff making it to the NBA without 1 more year and I can't see him being a second round pick. His offensive/post play/moves is just not good he gets the ball down low and unfortunately many times it is like a black hole; he had 4 turnovers last night and some horrendous shots; his passing out of the double team is not good and like last night when he can't score he forces up some ridiculous shots

 

[richthedentist]

The 1st 10 minutes had the best D I have ever seen.

Strange game in that we were elite on D and bad on offense in 1st half. 2nd half we were pedestrian on D and our offense bailed us out.

Paul has morphed back to Magic Johnson mode we saw last year for the 4.5 game stretch. Earvin 2.0!

Pike gave Caleb the long 2nd half rest I was looking for. I am worried about our legs against Iowa, but if I were an Iowa fan my worried list would be a lot longer.

The first 16 minutes they only had 8 points with about 4 minutes to go and hit 3 3 pointers to get to 17 at the half defense was awesome but for some reason we let our foot off the pedal so to speak to start the second half not sure why

 

[Loyal_2RU]

We were at 17-4 for like 5-8 minutes. So half closed 13-7 MD. I didn't like that. Don't know how long we were scoreless but a long time.

Player of the game: bench coaching.
Substitution patterns gave Willard stuff he was not prepared for and that blunted MD. Clearly they had a great plan and execution to neutralize Cliff's offense. Completely neutralized when Cliff is off the floor. Paul read also out during that run, he was not using the dribble effectively early in second half, then he did.

I'd like to see over unders. I suspect Reibs excellent and Cliff's disappointing with Paul in middle.

Did anyone else notice a missed 30 second violation on MD that led to 2 free throws? Shot clock operator reset the clock when a last second shot missed the rim and foul on the follow up?

 

[RUtrumpet92]

Pike gave Caleb the long 2nd half rest I was looking for. I am worried about our legs against Iowa, but if I were an Iowa fan my worried list would be a lot longer.

Murray played all 40 minutes for the second game in a row. Rebraca played 38. Connor 36. The Iowa bench is pretty shorthanded at the moment.

 

[zebnatto]

First of all kudos for being on the big screen a couple of times last night!!
I still can't see Cliff making it to the NBA without 1 more year and I can't see him being a second round pick. His offensive/post play/moves is just not good he gets the ball down low and unfortunately many times it is like a black hole; he had 4 turnovers last night and some horrendous shots; his passing out of the double team is not good and like last night when he can't score he forces up some ridiculous shots

Agree. Feeding Cliff in the post is not the answer.

 

[richthedentist]

We were at 17-4 for like 5-8 minutes. So half closed 13-7 MD. I didn't like that. Don't know how long we were scoreless but a long time.

Player of the game: bench coaching.
Substitution patterns gave Willard stuff he was not prepared for and that blunted MD. Clearly they had a great plan and execution to neutralize Cliff's offense. Completely neutralized when Cliff is off the floor. Paul read also out during that run, he was not using the dribble effectively early in second half, then he did.

I'd like to see over unders. I suspect Reibs excellent and Cliff's disappointing with Paul in middle.

Did anyone else notice a missed 30 second violation on MD that led to 2 free throws? Shot clock operator reset the clock when a last second shot missed the rim and foul on the follow up?

Yes 100% they missed the 30 second violation and Pikell was livid and like you said it led to 2 free throws and in a close game this can't happen as far as referreeing is concerned they can't be missing so many obvious calls its scary
We only scored I think 9 points the last 10 minutes of the half and had a bulk of our turnovers in that period

 

[motorb54]

Imagine if Cliff actually had a good night offensively in a game like tonight


we are a very good team.

There are times when the lob to Cliff is off a little and he still tries to jam it down. Wish he would just catch the ball, come down, and then go back up for the jam. Would probably get "and one" on many of those.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

2 times out of a MD timeout Pike goes a possession zone. LOVE IT!

 

[Big boy stan]

Nice to see our guards handling their press so easily. I dont remember any turnovers and only a few where we were even close to a 10 sec violation. MDs press looked energetic so it was not like they were doing token pressure. Should send a message to anyone else who wants to try this.

 

[kcg88]

Gotta mention the early block that Hyatt had when Maryland had a 3 on 1 fast break. Hyatt has been doing a much better job defensively lately.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

The adjustments by Pike and staff may be viewed as taking too long, but I believe they're tied to when a team gets to see them and then doesn't have a chance to adjust again.

When Reiber came in, it was clearly because Cliff was screening and then waiting for a handoff/pass to our guards, to minimize the amount if dribbling. BUT it was the same Purdue defensive gameplan, which is leave Cliff open at the foul line or top of the key/3 point line.

You either live with Cliff taking a wide open 3 or long 2, which is a win for the opponent......OR we continue to run the offense and hope Cam, Caleb, etc get a better shot.

By putting Reiber in, he is your Stretch 4/5 and prevents teams from sagging off.....if he can make a pass, then the offense reopens, lanes become open again and things look better.

So Reiber at this stage is a better situational fit, when teams decide to have their 5, stand in the middle of the lane, 5 feet off of Cliff. If and when Woolfolk play in that scenario and prove they can hit that 15/18 footer AND can then score in the post and rebound......that's when RU goes from Round of 32 to Sweet 16/Elite 8 territory, whether this season or beyond.

The tradeoff of looking for offense from Reiber is he has to play like last night on the glass and be a step faster on defense when the guards get beat on the perimeter and drive and kick. The guard defense with the perimeter is masked by Cliff, Caleb, Mag and taking 10 seconds off the shot clock, by pressing 3/4 court after baskets.

I think Iowa presents major issues on some levels, because Kris Murray looks healthy and in sync.....and they don't have any reasons to do anything other than launch 3s, which takes away our rebounding advantages.

We will need to score and set up the 3/4 court for sure and make Iowa knows they're in for a hornets nest early. I think we might see more of Reiber vs Iowa, it's probably a better matchup for him to score inside AND at the 3 point line.....Rebraca from Iowa is going to score so we have to make him play defense and defend Cliff and Reiber.

And I need to emphasize, how confident Cam Spencer is looking and sounding. Sitting downstairs and very close to the action last night isn't where I usually sit. But Spencer and the Maryland guards were chatting a LOT and maybe thats because he's from Maryland and has played against some of their DMV guards before. But the Spencer we are seeing in the last 4 to 5 games is a more aggressive and looking for his offense guy......and it's a must have. Mix that with a more aggressive and looking to score Mulcahy and a lot of pieces are falling into place.