That was a pretty soft performance in a moment where Rutgers had a chance to show they were for real against a very ordinary mediocre Penn State in front of no atmosphere at Bryce Jordan. Now 0-5 on the road, is anyone truly suprised that Rutgers belched up this performance tonight. This same group has shown traditionally that they cannot translate their energy and effort they bring from games at the RAC to the road. They also have shown the same tendency to swell their heads after stringing wins together. Saw that the previous two seasons and now once again laying an egg. Again you are never as good as your last win or as bad as your last loss. It does not end the longshot RU NCAA hopes. Its one game, one loss on the road and there may be other opportunities for road wins, namely Maryland on Saturday. RU can certainly recover from the loss tonight The last month of play was great and hid some of the bad characteristics this team possess. Unfortunately this team is still capable of thowing up stinky eggs full of no energy, no leadership and horrible decision making. Know that going forward. We have seniors who lay eggs and lack the consistency to elevate this team from game to game.
I didnt think Penn State did anything special this game. RU started out poorly but did hang around and chipped into the lead at times, I think got it to 4 at one point but quickly PSU built that lead up to 12. I think despite the struggles offensively with the shot not going down, to me it was the RU defense that disappointed me the most because they did not get the stops when they needed to. If you are not hitting you can still get back in the game by getting stops and rebounding and I saw players looking up as Penn State at one point had 3 chances for a tip in they finally converted. I will give Penn State credit that by midway through the game, PSU sensed blood in the water and went in for the kill. Rutgers wilted like a wallflower tonight. That to me being called soft like charmin, feeble, wallflower is the worst thing a team can be called. When you are a veteran team like RU its even worse. Thats why I think this team needed an ego check...swelling heads yet their resume had some horrible losses and had not yet done a damn thing on the road.
Player wise, saying less is more. Ron and Geo's performance spoke for itself. 7 points for each...they should be embarrassed. Caleb and Paul was just as bad as they were in the first couple games. I suppose Hyatt and Cliff showed the most energy and thats stretching it for Hyatt. 12 and 12 for Cliff yet but those numbers don't show he was not even impactful. Meanwhile Pikiell rotations were bizarre. Playing Palmquist that much was inexcusable. This is not a science experiment. Limiting Millers time and giving Jones zero time on a team that was doing zilch was another bad look. Just a dreadful performance in preparation and in game coaching by Pikiell and company who along were their players were simply abused
So onto Maryland. Rutgers still has a lot to prove. Have played like crap all year on the road and there does not seem to be any indication that is going to change. As for a post season, one game at a time, but maybe a needed reality check for all of us, this team isnt a top 25 team nor are they even a NCAA bubble team at this juncture. This feeble performance underscores how much work they need to do to secure victories. Very obvious that efforts like this will not cut the mustard, deflate those swelling heads and get back to working and not expecting you can just walk on the court and turn it on when you want to.
I didnt think Penn State did anything special this game. RU started out poorly but did hang around and chipped into the lead at times, I think got it to 4 at one point but quickly PSU built that lead up to 12. I think despite the struggles offensively with the shot not going down, to me it was the RU defense that disappointed me the most because they did not get the stops when they needed to. If you are not hitting you can still get back in the game by getting stops and rebounding and I saw players looking up as Penn State at one point had 3 chances for a tip in they finally converted. I will give Penn State credit that by midway through the game, PSU sensed blood in the water and went in for the kill. Rutgers wilted like a wallflower tonight. That to me being called soft like charmin, feeble, wallflower is the worst thing a team can be called. When you are a veteran team like RU its even worse. Thats why I think this team needed an ego check...swelling heads yet their resume had some horrible losses and had not yet done a damn thing on the road.
Player wise, saying less is more. Ron and Geo's performance spoke for itself. 7 points for each...they should be embarrassed. Caleb and Paul was just as bad as they were in the first couple games. I suppose Hyatt and Cliff showed the most energy and thats stretching it for Hyatt. 12 and 12 for Cliff yet but those numbers don't show he was not even impactful. Meanwhile Pikiell rotations were bizarre. Playing Palmquist that much was inexcusable. This is not a science experiment. Limiting Millers time and giving Jones zero time on a team that was doing zilch was another bad look. Just a dreadful performance in preparation and in game coaching by Pikiell and company who along were their players were simply abused
So onto Maryland. Rutgers still has a lot to prove. Have played like crap all year on the road and there does not seem to be any indication that is going to change. As for a post season, one game at a time, but maybe a needed reality check for all of us, this team isnt a top 25 team nor are they even a NCAA bubble team at this juncture. This feeble performance underscores how much work they need to do to secure victories. Very obvious that efforts like this will not cut the mustard, deflate those swelling heads and get back to working and not expecting you can just walk on the court and turn it on when you want to.
