Game 2 Drexel: RU comes through

[bac2therac]

Much like the FDU, this team had some issues finding its way. This game even moreso as RU did come out on fire racing to a 29-16 lead but went through a funky period that lasted until Drexel cut the lead to 45-41. Looking at the box score at halftime I was trying to figure out just why RU was having trouble opening up a bigger lead. RU was shooting over 50%, rebounding well and seemed to be able to really get whatever shot they wanted including from 3 point land. But Drexel was scrappy...they were shooting almost 50% and alot of that was because the RU D just lacked the necessary pressure. On the other hand, RU was just too sloppy with the ball...9 turnovers in the first half and seemed to not handle the sudden pressue that the Dragons put on them.

After RU's lead wittled to 4, a Ron Harper Jr 3 followed by a Eugene 3 seemed to settle RU back in their groove on both ends and Eugene in particular seemed to take over in a key stretch. Overall RU had a 33-5 run at one point to get the lead to 88-53....remember vs FDU the run was 32-3....so what was so great to see is some complete and utter dominance of another team for a second straight game. It seems like this team with some young pieces and with Geo/Eugene settling into taking the leadership role takes some time to get rolling but when they do...look out. Key going forward and against better competition is for them to get into their groove sooner rather than later. But a great sign is this team keeps working even when they are struggling..eyes on the prize and they did that today and once that happened it was off to the races to dunk city. What was most impressive is even when its was a foregone conclusion that RU was going to win, there was no apparent dropoff in intensity and you can say that for the FDU game as well. Gotta love the intensity in the players and the work that Pikiell and his staff are doing

Again do not look for perfection in these non conference games against weaker. The team is a work in progress. There are obvious weaknesses with the defense. Its not the Pike defense from last year...yet, nor should it be compared to it. RU needs to replace Sanders and Freeman on defense and its way too early to expect a lock down defender yet. Its about getting the feet wet. Seeing alot of great things from Eugene, Johnson and Doorson in the interior which was a weakness last year so to see this area shows us some of the most improvement is a good sign. Harper Jr not as much scoring today and struggled with the shot but valuable 21 minutes and 5 assists. He is a player. Montez again...its about getting time and getting more conformtable and even still got 10 points. RU had 5 players in double digits...balance continues to be a strong point. Geo and Eugene have taken the necessary next step, its the first time since maybe the Waters years that I have seen players take that necessary step up. Both look to be the heart and soul of a program that has lacked any leadership since those Waters years. Thiam and Kiss once again shot the lights and these two will provide the scoring options when Geo or Eugene may be struggling.

How about 3 point shooting....14 made 3s..wow, only one behind the school record I believe....26 treys in the first two games...yes this isn't your brother's Rutgers team anymore. Things are changing.

Overall cannot say anything negative about today or the first two games besides the foul shooting. This team is playing well right out of the gate. I am not sure that means they can beat St John's but they most certainly will compete. These were quizzes and RU scored solid As on them, the real test is coming up vs St John's. Can the kids play within themselves for this game and provide their role, I am confident that the big guns will bring it.

 

[richthedentist]

Much like the FDU, this team had some issues finding its way. This game even moreso as RU did come out on fire racing to a 29-16 lead but went through a funky period that lasted until Drexel cut the lead to 45-41. Looking at the box score at halftime I was trying to figure out just why RU was having trouble opening up a bigger lead. RU was shooting over 50%, rebounding well and seemed to be able to really get whatever shot they wanted including from 3 point land. But Drexel was scrappy...they were shooting almost 50% and alot of that was because the RU D just lacked the necessary pressure. On the other hand, RU was just too sloppy with the ball...9 turnovers in the first half and seemed to not handle the sudden pressue that the Dragons put on them.

After RU's lead wittled to 4, a Ron Harper Jr 3 followed by a Eugene 3 seemed to settle RU back in their groove on both ends and Eugene in particular seemed to take over in a key stretch. Overall RU had a 33-5 run at one point to get the lead to 88-53....remember vs FDU the run was 32-3....so what was so great to see is some complete and utter dominance of another team for a second straight game. It seems like this team with some young pieces and with Geo/Eugene settling into taking the leadership role takes some time to get rolling but when they do...look out. Key going forward and against better competition is for them to get into their groove sooner rather than later. But a great sign is this team keeps working even when they are struggling..eyes on the prize and they did that today and once that happened it was off to the races to dunk city. What was most impressive is even when its was a foregone conclusion that RU was going to win, there was no apparent dropoff in intensity and you can say that for the FDU game as well. Gotta love the intensity in the players and the work that Pikiell and his staff are doing

Again do not look for perfection in these non conference games against weaker. The team is a work in progress. There are obvious weaknesses with the defense. Its not the Pike defense from last year...yet, nor should it be compared to it. RU needs to replace Sanders and Freeman on defense and its way too early to expect a lock down defender yet. Its about getting the feet wet. Seeing alot of great things from Eugene, Johnson and Doorson in the interior which was a weakness last year so to see this area shows us some of the most improvement is a good sign. Harper Jr not as much scoring today and struggled with the shot but valuable 21 minutes and 5 assists. He is a player. Montez again...its about getting time and getting more conformtable and even still got 10 points. RU had 5 players in double digits...balance continues to be a strong point. Geo and Eugene have taken the necessary next step, its the first time since maybe the Waters years that I have seen players take that necessary step up. Both look to be the heart and soul of a program that has lacked any leadership since those Waters years. Thiam and Kiss once again shot the lights and these two will provide the scoring options when Geo or Eugene may be struggling.

How about 3 point shooting....14 made 3s..wow, only one behind the school record I believe....26 treys in the first two games...yes this isn't your brother's Rutgers team anymore. Things are changing.

Overall cannot say anything negative about today or the first two games besides the foul shooting. This team is playing well right out of the gate. I am not sure that means they can beat St John's but they most certainly will compete. These were quizzes and RU scored solid As on them, the real test is coming up vs St John's. Can the kids play within themselves for this game and provide their role, I am confident that the big guns will bring it.

Agree fun to watch I am more than pleasantly surprised by Kiss he has some real hops to his game besides his shot. The only thing we need to clean up is our foul shooting

 

[knightfan7]

Much like the FDU, this team had some issues finding its way. This game even moreso as RU did come out on fire racing to a 29-16 lead but went through a funky period that lasted until Drexel cut the lead to 45-41. Looking at the box score at halftime I was trying to figure out just why RU was having trouble opening up a bigger lead. RU was shooting over 50%, rebounding well and seemed to be able to really get whatever shot they wanted including from 3 point land. But Drexel was scrappy...they were shooting almost 50% and alot of that was because the RU D just lacked the necessary pressure. On the other hand, RU was just too sloppy with the ball...9 turnovers in the first half and seemed to not handle the sudden pressue that the Dragons put on them.

After RU's lead wittled to 4, a Ron Harper Jr 3 followed by a Eugene 3 seemed to settle RU back in their groove on both ends and Eugene in particular seemed to take over in a key stretch. Overall RU had a 33-5 run at one point to get the lead to 88-53....remember vs FDU the run was 32-3....so what was so great to see is some complete and utter dominance of another team for a second straight game. It seems like this team with some young pieces and with Geo/Eugene settling into taking the leadership role takes some time to get rolling but when they do...look out. Key going forward and against better competition is for them to get into their groove sooner rather than later. But a great sign is this team keeps working even when they are struggling..eyes on the prize and they did that today and once that happened it was off to the races to dunk city. What was most impressive is even when its was a foregone conclusion that RU was going to win, there was no apparent dropoff in intensity and you can say that for the FDU game as well. Gotta love the intensity in the players and the work that Pikiell and his staff are doing

Again do not look for perfection in these non conference games against weaker. The team is a work in progress. There are obvious weaknesses with the defense. Its not the Pike defense from last year...yet, nor should it be compared to it. RU needs to replace Sanders and Freeman on defense and its way too early to expect a lock down defender yet. Its about getting the feet wet. Seeing alot of great things from Eugene, Johnson and Doorson in the interior which was a weakness last year so to see this area shows us some of the most improvement is a good sign. Harper Jr not as much scoring today and struggled with the shot but valuable 21 minutes and 5 assists. He is a player. Montez again...its about getting time and getting more conformtable and even still got 10 points. RU had 5 players in double digits...balance continues to be a strong point. Geo and Eugene have taken the necessary next step, its the first time since maybe the Waters years that I have seen players take that necessary step up. Both look to be the heart and soul of a program that has lacked any leadership since those Waters years. Thiam and Kiss once again shot the lights and these two will provide the scoring options when Geo or Eugene may be struggling.

How about 3 point shooting....14 made 3s..wow, only one behind the school record I believe....26 treys in the first two games...yes this isn't your brother's Rutgers team anymore. Things are changing.

Overall cannot say anything negative about today or the first two games besides the foul shooting. This team is playing well right out of the gate. I am not sure that means they can beat St John's but they most certainly will compete. These were quizzes and RU scored solid As on them, the real test is coming up vs St John's. Can the kids play within themselves for this game and provide their role, I am confident that the big guns will bring it.

Great write up as usual.

Yes, the 14 3's was one short of the record of 15 at the Carrier Dome in '06. IIRC that was the game Rickey Shields was hitting everything from half court in.

According to the AP today also marked the 1st time RU scored 90+ twice in a row vs D1 teams since '90-'91. Hmmmmm.

 

[Degaz-RU]

Agree fun to watch I am more than pleasantly surprised by Kiss he has some real hops to his game besides his shot. The only thing we need to clean up is our foul shooting

Disagree that FTs are the only thing to clean up.

The defensive rotations need to be cleaned up too. We’ve given up WAY too many easy buckets these first two games. Didn’t hurt us due to the competition level, but you can see it’s an issue.

Also, too many sloppy turnovers. Now maybe that’s because the offense is playing faster, but the TOs can be reduced even with the quicker pace.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Some of my takeaways:

- Geo could have went for over 30 points if he really wanted to.
- Issa's confidence and shot is so beautiful to watch as he is zoned in.
- Eugene's 3 point shooting is a sight to behold. Truth be told, I heard/ read a lot about this and was nervous that he'd fall in love with his outside shot and forget his inside prowess - but he continues to do both magnificently to date.
- Peter Kiss continues his solid play and it's refreshing to see one of our guys do the verbal jabbing with the game to back it up. Who was our last guy like this? Douby / Kent?
- Montez has athlete written all over him and when he lets the game come to him, he'll be terrific to watch. Seems like a real serious guy and I hope he plasters a SJU player next week with a facial.
- Myles continued his 2 way contributions even with the new hairdue...:) So refreshing to see one of our big men make a difference offensively and defensively.
- Harper seems so comfortable out on the court; very poised and so aware of his surroundings as evidenced by another alley oop today.
- McConnell looked better as well. He's 6"6" which is such a plus once he settles in more.
- Shaq Doorson hitting both FT's at one point during the game was such a testament to another kid who has busted his ass to improve and stay healthy.
- We will need Mamadou and Shaq Carter to step up especially during conference play when other squads have big guys just as big; strong and athletic.

Again, the unselfishness; cohesiveness and all the players that have bought into Pike's game plan is so exciting and fun to watch.

 

[Goku]

The defense will improve. Coach is not happy about it and you better believe he will address it in practice. I worry about missing Corey’s defense against quicker guards this year (and even he had issues with quick guards at times last year) but I don’t think we’ll miss Freeman’s defense. His rebounding was decent at times last year but he was prone to taking annoying chances for the strip on his man only to get beat and then leave his teammates exposed and undermanned to make up for his mistake.

 

[G- RUnit]

Excellent review.
Thought perimeter D was fine. Transition D was a bit lazy. Most worried about defensive rebounding.
Love Johnson’s passing.
Gio, Eugene, Thiam and Kiss plus Harper. Been a long time since we have had such accurate shooters. Shields/Coleman/Douby?
Even missed foul shots seemed accurate.
Gio just seemed so smooth.
It’s odd as at beginning of game Drexel seemed pretty good. Then we just turned it on. There was a good five minutes when nobody missed
Last 3:30 of 1st half was ugly. Thought Mathias getting two threes was big.
Gonna be fun to watch.
Did The Pep band play the RU rah rah song? Don’t recall it. Thought odd.
118 is still a mistake. Notice Hobbs keeps his seat.

 

[Spare130]

This is the first RU team since the Douby era where, when a players is about to shoot a 3, i believe he will knock it down. Lets see if it keeps up.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Defense is a big issue. Baker and Kiss were beaten off the dribble badly and often. How will we match up defensively with St. John's

On a separate note I saw something I haven't seen in a long time......a team with a game plan to double our low post player. Twice Eugene got the ball and Drexel sent a man to double (which ended bad for them :smiley:)

 

[Scangg]

The defense would be a bigger issue if the offense was as bad as last year. Easier for them to improve there then on offense. The awesome thing is we have so many shooters now that when I guy like Harper is ice cold we still shoot amazing as a team overall and score 90 points. We have maybe 6 players that can score 15 any given night for the first time since who knows

 

[BellyFullOfWhiteDogCrap]

The defense will improve. Coach is not happy about it and you better believe he will address it in practice. I worry about missing Corey’s defense against quicker guards this year (and even he had issues with quick guards at times last year) but I don’t think we’ll miss Freeman’s defense. His rebounding was decent at times last year but he was prone to taking annoying chances for the strip on his man only to get beat and then leave his teammates exposed and undermanned to make up for his mistake.

He may have driven you nuts on offense, but Freeman was a solid defender.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Defense is a big issue. Baker and Kiss were beaten off the dribble badly and often. How will we match up defensively with St. John's

On a separate note I saw something I haven't seen in a long time......a team with a game plan to double our low post player. Twice Eugene got the ball and Drexel sent a man to double (which ended bad for them :smiley:)

Pike said he was not happy with how we looked defensively at the Court Club Meeting on Monday but right on target he did say we were better offensively than we were last year. One thing on the defensive front is that we have made halftime adjustments and in both games so far - we looked much better defensively in the 2nd half.

 

[Rutgers25]

Defense is a big issue. Baker and Kiss were beaten off the dribble badly and often. How will we match up defensively with St. John's

On a separate note I saw something I haven't seen in a long time......a team with a game plan to double our low post player. Twice Eugene got the ball and Drexel sent a man to double (which ended bad for them :smiley:)

I’m wondering if he’ll show some zone was SJU

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Pike said he was not happy with how we looked defensively at the Court Club Meeting on Monday but right on target he did say we were better offensively than we were last year. One thing on the defensive front is that we have made halftime adjustments and in both games so far - we looked much better defensively in the 2nd half.

not in the 1st 4 minutes of the 2nd half....i have never seen him so animated in the 1st media timeout.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I’m wondering if he’ll show some zone was SJU

i dont think we have seen a possession yet in the 1st 2 games

 

[BigEastPhil]

not in the 1st 4 minutes of the 2nd half....i have never seen him so animated in the 1st media timeout.

Did notice that......if I recall correctly, he yanked Kiss and put Mathis in about 90 seconds into the 2nd half. The message got thru to the rest of the squad after that.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Did notice that......if I recall correctly, he yanked Kiss and put Mathis in about 90 seconds into the 2nd half. The message got thru to the rest of the squad after that.

he was also going to yank Geo, but thought better of it. Geo has rope others dont have. For the message to really resonate all players have to be accountable for D lapses, even if they can't be missed offensively

 

[winfield102]

This is the 1st year we've run an actual offense that's looking to score. While they were a little sloppy, it's understandable. I can't wait to see this group after they have had 40 games together. These guys all seem to move well without the ball and they all seem to be aware of the open guy for the dump off.

 

[bac2therac]

good point....I think we are used to such plodding offenses where everything is about trying to play defense because they cannot hit a bucket consistently. There will be some drop off in defense when you have a score first mentality which you simply have to have if you want to make the NCAA tournament. Obviously there are things to clean up defensively but it will come, at this point I would rather have them being able to put the ball in the hoop and then clamp down on D as needed for the big stops

 

[RUHouston]

Excellent review.

Did The Pep band play the RU rah rah song? Don’t recall it. Thought odd.

That would be "The Bells Must Ring" and it's typically played during time-outs after a big play....just trying to help a brother out!

 

[RUTrack94]

This is the 1st year we've run an actual offense that's looking to score. While they were a little sloppy, it's understandable. I can't wait to see this group after they have had 40 games together. These guys all seem to move well without the ball and they all seem to be aware of the open guy for the dump off.

Me too ... will be some NCAA final!

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

good point....I think we are used to such plodding offenses where everything is about trying to play defense because they cannot hit a bucket consistently. There will be some drop off in defense when you have a score first mentality which you simply have to have if you want to make the NCAA tournament. Obviously there are things to clean up defensively but it will come, at this point I would rather have them being able to put the ball in the hoop and then clamp down on D as needed for the big stops

In both games there have been stretches where our D has been poor and then a few times I look up at the scoreboard in amazement that we have a 15 point lead. Happened both games in the 2nd half. Just not used to possession after possession of points.

 

[jonS]

In the past , on the rare occasion when Rutgers was able to mount 20-25 point leads it seemed like it took numerous turnovers , missed opponent shots and many minutes of playing time to build up leads of that amount. However, what a difference it makes to be able to make treys consistently and in volume. The 30+point runs seemed to happen in a blink of an eye without any noticeable fall off in play by the opponent. ...And unlike in the past , if Rutgers falls behind by 15-20 points against tough opposition , deficits can shrink rather quickly.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

In the past , on the rare occasion when Rutgers was able to mount 20-25 point leads it seemed like it took numerous turnovers , missed opponent shots and many minutes of playing time to build up leads of that amount. However, what a difference it makes to be able to make treys consistently and in volume. The 30+point runs seemed to happen in a blink of an eye without any noticeable fall off in play by the opponent. ...And unlike in the past , if Rutgers falls behind by 15-20 points against tough opposition , deficits can shrink rather quickly.

There was a stretch when Drexel couldn't miss

 

[RU-ROCS]

Looking at the box score at halftime I was trying to figure out just why RU was having trouble opening up a bigger lead. RU was shooting over 50%, rebounding well and seemed to be able to really get whatever shot they wanted including from 3 point land. But Drexel was scrappy...they were shooting almost 50% and alot of that was because the RU D just lacked the necessary pressure. On the other hand, RU was just too sloppy with the ball...9 turnovers in the first half and seemed to not handle the sudden pressue that the Dragons put on them.

Bac - Good points all around. As for the first half, I think that in addition to sloppy ball handling which you notes, RU's overall defense was bad. Along with the lack of a capable and experienced backup PG, defense has been a major concern so far with this team. Pike has harped on it and I expect that it will get better as so many new players learn what it takes to defend at this level. We also have to hope that McConnell is just a little overwhelmed right now, but that he calms down and becomes a contributor. I shutter to think of what happens if Geo even misses a game or two with the flu like last year.

 

[RICOelectric]

I just think this team is going to have more than a punchers chance in a lot of our conference games this year !