The Rollcoaster that being fans puts us on. They are bums one minute, heroes the next. We will be stick to our stomachs one half and dancing in our underwear the next. This is what we signed up for. The twists and turns, the up and downs and sideways. We know its not good for our hearts but yet we keep coming back for more. When it delivers the high like it did today, its all worth it.
A tale of two halves. Wow. What a reversal. Yes the first half was about as a horrendous performance as you are going to see vs a team that is not good. I lost track of how many turnovers they had in the first half....was it 11? and Maryland scored 18 points at least off of turnovers. Paul Mulcahy alone had 5. Geo was an absolute ghost. RU was fouling constantly chasing MD giving them over a dozen points at the line. Little team ball, lots of jumpers. Lots of bad body language. Some inexplicably bad coaching and rota-8 froions by Pikiell that seemed to derail any momentum. Yes it was as bad as described in the game thrd. Coming off the listless performance at Penn State, this was a disgraceful effort basically around and the team seemed to be mailing it in by the end of halftime as adversity hit. Lets not revise history folks, the season was really truly was on the brink. Personally I stand by all what I posted about the team for that ridiculously bad first half. I own it. I also will vociferously praise the 2nd half.
The knock on this team over the past few years has centered on road issues, energy and lack of leadership. Well if the first half was complete trash, the 2nd half was a complete masterpiece. Arguably the best half of basketball that Rutgers has played all season long. A focused comeback that never wavered. An intensity that just grew and grew until they simply overwhelmed the Terrapins. Not only did RU win but they won going away and if the game was another 5 minutes they would have won by 20 plus. To a man, this was a complete team and coaching staff effort. I have no idea what the halftime speech was but it easily more inspirational than what us yahoos on the board were posting. To me the way that game was won with its focus, leadership and teamwork could have made it the most impressive performance I have seen by Rutgers this season including the win over Purdue.
Lets start with Paul Mulcahy. Liability in the first half....5 turnovers mostly careless. Seemed very overmatched against qucker Maryland guards. Paul went liability to catalyst. Right from the get go, yes he was rejected on his first drive to the hoop but converted on the next and then he was all over the floor in the next 5-6 minutes. Paul would be everywhere. Over a 4 minutes span, Paul hauled down 4 boards, scored 6 straight points, a corner 3 and then a traditional 3 point play and had a nice assist for a Reiber layup. RU cut the defecit from 11 to just 3 at 42-39 and RU was back in the game and then it was time for his teammates to takeover.
The knock on Geo has been his inconsistent play, the tendency to disappear, and not giving the leadership that you always want from a 5th year senior. Geo did not shoot the ball overall but he came through in the last 10 minutes. Geo did come out with a basket early in the 2nd half and a block on a Fats 3. I also noticed that Pike removed Geo for Jalen pretty early in that 2nd half, I liked that move from Pike, I thought Geo might have been falling into trying to do too much. It was an interesting move that I did note in the game thread. By the time we got midway through the 2nd half, Geo stepped up, hitting on a jumper and then a sweet pass that we have seen before to Ron for a 3 that put RU up 49-45. Geo doing the things needed to win without having to be the scorer.
And how about Ron, Paul started everything and got us close but this game was screaming for Ron to takeover and that he did. Tremendous leadership in the last 10 minutes. Ron delivered those back to back 3s that put RU up 49-45 and then after a 4 minute stretch where RU went scoreless losing the lead, Ron hit two more 3s. He was feeling it but he wasnt done, another 3 put RU up 65-57 with about 75 seconds left and probably sealed the deal. Down the stretch Ron was money at the free throw line nailing his one and ones. Ron was responsible for an amazing 20 of Rutgers last 26 points. That is just a sick stretch of basketball and Ron was playing good D as well. Ron a man unleashed tonight. Thats what leaders do, shake off the bad and step up. 31 points in 37 minutes, 10-16 shooting, 6-8 from 3, 5-6 from the line and 4 boards.
And back to Geo, I thought he did a nice job on Fats and when Fats left on the ground after a blocked 3. RU was down 6 and went on a 10-0 run after that. Little plays like that. Geo had 3 blocks and 7 assists. I thought another key Geo play late was when RU was up 57-55, Geo missed the open 3, got his own rebound and then dished to the win to Paul for an open 3 that swished and put RU up 60-55, it gave RU some breathing room with 2 minutes left and the Geo would also assist Ron on the following 3. This was a heady Geo today, Couldnt knock down the 3 but helped in so many other ways.
Now back to Paul.....Man that 3 he hit with 2 minutes left was the one where I thought, I think we are going to win this one now. Clutch shot made with confidence and again you cannot say enough about how he came back from that first half horror show and asserted himself. Might have been his best half ever. 15 points, 6-8 shooting, 2-2 from 3, 6 boards, 3 assists...yeah 7 TOs were basically all made up for in the end.
Now lets get to Caleb....a quiet game, his game was about defending today. Took only 3 shots, one a 3 that was basically down and swirled out but I want people to know he hit an absolutely huge shot, a beautiful floater that put RU up 62-57. His only shot of the game...clutch. Players making plays and teamwork. 34 minutes and 7 boards. Every starter would contribute something down the stretch. Big Cliff didnt get enough touches, just 4 shots, made 3. only 6 points but 10 boards. His defense and rebounding was key during the RU push to take the lead but more importantly Cliff stayed out of foul trouble in the 2nd half. I think first half RU just didnt make an effort to relax and get it to Cliff.
Hyatt has a quick 6 points in the first half but then basically did nothing after that in 8 minutes. Reiber looked solid in his time out there spelling Cliff. Mag and Miller got a few minutes that were needed but generally non factors
This game to me was Pike riding the starters. He had to. Maybe it was a challenge at halftime. They got RU into the mess and they were going to get RU out of the mess. As bad as Pike was in the first half with the rotations, there was not much tinkering in the 2nd. Pike was rolling the dice with his main 5 and thats the way it needed to be. Listen I was hard as any on Pike in that first half, how could a team come out that flat and then look to be in disarray through much of the half. They truly looked lost and to me this team simply was not competing and that would make 3 halves in a row including Penn State. This team is mindboggling to figure out. A true Jekyll and Hyde, you see when they are playing as a team and in sync how good they can be. You see like in the first half they look like they have never played together before. I think this is why the Big 10 analysts are tough on RU. They know that guys like Harper and Baker can play better and more consistent so they are perplexed at why some games they seem AWOL. Only Pike and the players know their mindset. Frustrating for us as fans so wild swing from game to game and within the game. RU outscored Maryland 43-21 in a complete dominant half. We can only be happy as fans, something clicked in.
The road monkey is off the shoulders. This was a game they HAD to have. How they did it was impressive because it got back to what the success under Pikiell has all been about it. Lunch pail, defensive effort and teamwork...for some reason that was missing early on and we lost it again at Penn State and the first half of this game. Trying to predict this team can be a real challenge right now. We can be happy we live to see another day, survive and advance and another opportunity awaits vs Iowa.
A tale of two halves. Wow. What a reversal. Yes the first half was about as a horrendous performance as you are going to see vs a team that is not good. I lost track of how many turnovers they had in the first half....was it 11? and Maryland scored 18 points at least off of turnovers. Paul Mulcahy alone had 5. Geo was an absolute ghost. RU was fouling constantly chasing MD giving them over a dozen points at the line. Little team ball, lots of jumpers. Lots of bad body language. Some inexplicably bad coaching and rota-8 froions by Pikiell that seemed to derail any momentum. Yes it was as bad as described in the game thrd. Coming off the listless performance at Penn State, this was a disgraceful effort basically around and the team seemed to be mailing it in by the end of halftime as adversity hit. Lets not revise history folks, the season was really truly was on the brink. Personally I stand by all what I posted about the team for that ridiculously bad first half. I own it. I also will vociferously praise the 2nd half.
The knock on this team over the past few years has centered on road issues, energy and lack of leadership. Well if the first half was complete trash, the 2nd half was a complete masterpiece. Arguably the best half of basketball that Rutgers has played all season long. A focused comeback that never wavered. An intensity that just grew and grew until they simply overwhelmed the Terrapins. Not only did RU win but they won going away and if the game was another 5 minutes they would have won by 20 plus. To a man, this was a complete team and coaching staff effort. I have no idea what the halftime speech was but it easily more inspirational than what us yahoos on the board were posting. To me the way that game was won with its focus, leadership and teamwork could have made it the most impressive performance I have seen by Rutgers this season including the win over Purdue.
Lets start with Paul Mulcahy. Liability in the first half....5 turnovers mostly careless. Seemed very overmatched against qucker Maryland guards. Paul went liability to catalyst. Right from the get go, yes he was rejected on his first drive to the hoop but converted on the next and then he was all over the floor in the next 5-6 minutes. Paul would be everywhere. Over a 4 minutes span, Paul hauled down 4 boards, scored 6 straight points, a corner 3 and then a traditional 3 point play and had a nice assist for a Reiber layup. RU cut the defecit from 11 to just 3 at 42-39 and RU was back in the game and then it was time for his teammates to takeover.
The knock on Geo has been his inconsistent play, the tendency to disappear, and not giving the leadership that you always want from a 5th year senior. Geo did not shoot the ball overall but he came through in the last 10 minutes. Geo did come out with a basket early in the 2nd half and a block on a Fats 3. I also noticed that Pike removed Geo for Jalen pretty early in that 2nd half, I liked that move from Pike, I thought Geo might have been falling into trying to do too much. It was an interesting move that I did note in the game thread. By the time we got midway through the 2nd half, Geo stepped up, hitting on a jumper and then a sweet pass that we have seen before to Ron for a 3 that put RU up 49-45. Geo doing the things needed to win without having to be the scorer.
And how about Ron, Paul started everything and got us close but this game was screaming for Ron to takeover and that he did. Tremendous leadership in the last 10 minutes. Ron delivered those back to back 3s that put RU up 49-45 and then after a 4 minute stretch where RU went scoreless losing the lead, Ron hit two more 3s. He was feeling it but he wasnt done, another 3 put RU up 65-57 with about 75 seconds left and probably sealed the deal. Down the stretch Ron was money at the free throw line nailing his one and ones. Ron was responsible for an amazing 20 of Rutgers last 26 points. That is just a sick stretch of basketball and Ron was playing good D as well. Ron a man unleashed tonight. Thats what leaders do, shake off the bad and step up. 31 points in 37 minutes, 10-16 shooting, 6-8 from 3, 5-6 from the line and 4 boards.
And back to Geo, I thought he did a nice job on Fats and when Fats left on the ground after a blocked 3. RU was down 6 and went on a 10-0 run after that. Little plays like that. Geo had 3 blocks and 7 assists. I thought another key Geo play late was when RU was up 57-55, Geo missed the open 3, got his own rebound and then dished to the win to Paul for an open 3 that swished and put RU up 60-55, it gave RU some breathing room with 2 minutes left and the Geo would also assist Ron on the following 3. This was a heady Geo today, Couldnt knock down the 3 but helped in so many other ways.
Now back to Paul.....Man that 3 he hit with 2 minutes left was the one where I thought, I think we are going to win this one now. Clutch shot made with confidence and again you cannot say enough about how he came back from that first half horror show and asserted himself. Might have been his best half ever. 15 points, 6-8 shooting, 2-2 from 3, 6 boards, 3 assists...yeah 7 TOs were basically all made up for in the end.
Now lets get to Caleb....a quiet game, his game was about defending today. Took only 3 shots, one a 3 that was basically down and swirled out but I want people to know he hit an absolutely huge shot, a beautiful floater that put RU up 62-57. His only shot of the game...clutch. Players making plays and teamwork. 34 minutes and 7 boards. Every starter would contribute something down the stretch. Big Cliff didnt get enough touches, just 4 shots, made 3. only 6 points but 10 boards. His defense and rebounding was key during the RU push to take the lead but more importantly Cliff stayed out of foul trouble in the 2nd half. I think first half RU just didnt make an effort to relax and get it to Cliff.
Hyatt has a quick 6 points in the first half but then basically did nothing after that in 8 minutes. Reiber looked solid in his time out there spelling Cliff. Mag and Miller got a few minutes that were needed but generally non factors
This game to me was Pike riding the starters. He had to. Maybe it was a challenge at halftime. They got RU into the mess and they were going to get RU out of the mess. As bad as Pike was in the first half with the rotations, there was not much tinkering in the 2nd. Pike was rolling the dice with his main 5 and thats the way it needed to be. Listen I was hard as any on Pike in that first half, how could a team come out that flat and then look to be in disarray through much of the half. They truly looked lost and to me this team simply was not competing and that would make 3 halves in a row including Penn State. This team is mindboggling to figure out. A true Jekyll and Hyde, you see when they are playing as a team and in sync how good they can be. You see like in the first half they look like they have never played together before. I think this is why the Big 10 analysts are tough on RU. They know that guys like Harper and Baker can play better and more consistent so they are perplexed at why some games they seem AWOL. Only Pike and the players know their mindset. Frustrating for us as fans so wild swing from game to game and within the game. RU outscored Maryland 43-21 in a complete dominant half. We can only be happy as fans, something clicked in.
The road monkey is off the shoulders. This was a game they HAD to have. How they did it was impressive because it got back to what the success under Pikiell has all been about it. Lunch pail, defensive effort and teamwork...for some reason that was missing early on and we lost it again at Penn State and the first half of this game. Trying to predict this team can be a real challenge right now. We can be happy we live to see another day, survive and advance and another opportunity awaits vs Iowa.
