Game 2 Thoughts: Central Connecticut St
- Thread starter bac2therac
- Start date
I wonder how many points we scored when Mensah was in the game. No team can afford to have a guard on the court who cannot - or does not - shoot at all. And that goes double for RU.
I am hopeful on Baker but even his foul shots that went in had little rotation. Otherwise there's lots of potential there.
I am hopeful on Baker but even his foul shots that went in had little rotation. Otherwise there's lots of potential there.
He played a total of 9 minutes....is that your concern, a guy who played 9 minutes? He is a 5-10 min per game guy. Guys that play those limited minutes are not the reason that this game was close. Even if he did pass up a few open shots or even if CCSU went zone.
Rutgers is going to see a lot of Zone this year until they shoot better than 27% from 3 Point Range........ with or without Mensah. Minus Williams....Sanders, Thiam and Baker shot 10% on 3's.
This team needs to attack the zones the middle of a zone, not rely on outside shots against zones. If we go the entire season trying to shot over the top of zones, we are in trouble. Green FIG is correct, Eugene or Freeman need to get into the middle of the zone and the guards need to work the ball thru them.
Just to answer, the first run in the first half came when Mensah, Eugene and Williams came into the game. There was better ball movement that resulted in some open looks and good shots.
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Agree with first paragraph. Disagree with second. Sometimes it's hard to close out a game you're up comfortably against a team you know you're better than. Not surprised they just went through the motions in the final few minutes.
I like to repeat myself so : Corey is a solid four year college guard. Unfortunately we like to tag the few four-star guys we get as game changers. He won't be that player but he will be a big part of our successes.
Last year I thought our spacing was a glaring weakness. This year I think it's the screen game. We are a bad screening team - both setting screens and settling up screens. And with that our timing within the offense, and getting the ball to those guards coming off them, needs a lot of work.
We rarely if ever get a clean look right off a screen I don't know how that's even possible.
Nice Observation.....where is the Screen Game on offense ? So good, it will prompt me to go back and watch some of this last game to see how often they are setting screens.
I noticed our bigs made a few attempts for our guards when they would cut across the baseline and up to the wing. They were largely unsuccessful.
There is really no excuse...screens should be attempted every time down the court...unless you get a good quick shot.
I didn't read everyone's comments, but will chime in. I was there yesterday.
To me, the conversation begins and ends with interior defense and a lack of an ability to make shots.
While we ultimately scored more points in the paint, that was probably due to a big advantage in transition buckets.
CCSU made way to many easy interior passes for chippies and easy baskets.
We'll lose by 50 to B10 teams with that sort of interior defensive effort.
I actually thought our perimeter defense was a plus.
Baker had at least 3 shots go in about as far as possible and pop out. If those shots drop, his day looks much different.
I was surprised how many minutes he played. I was very close to the RU bench and you could see a certain trust that Pike has in Baker.
In the preseason Pike commented that Souf was the fastest player on the team. If that's true, I'm Allen Iverson. Souf looks like a guy who would get picked 9th in my old Wednesday night men's league. The dude doesn't even pretend to look at the basket when he was the ball.
If there is an athlete on earth that exudes "i don't give a f@ck" more than Corey, i'd like to see him. The kid is an athletic freak, but he just doesn't come across that he cares enough for my taste.
And I'm sure @bac2therac is pleased that Hobbs has fixed the pretzel situation. Bought 2 at halftime and they were hot, soft and delicious. lol
To me, the conversation begins and ends with interior defense and a lack of an ability to make shots.
While we ultimately scored more points in the paint, that was probably due to a big advantage in transition buckets.
CCSU made way to many easy interior passes for chippies and easy baskets.
We'll lose by 50 to B10 teams with that sort of interior defensive effort.
I actually thought our perimeter defense was a plus.
Baker had at least 3 shots go in about as far as possible and pop out. If those shots drop, his day looks much different.
I was surprised how many minutes he played. I was very close to the RU bench and you could see a certain trust that Pike has in Baker.
In the preseason Pike commented that Souf was the fastest player on the team. If that's true, I'm Allen Iverson. Souf looks like a guy who would get picked 9th in my old Wednesday night men's league. The dude doesn't even pretend to look at the basket when he was the ball.
If there is an athlete on earth that exudes "i don't give a f@ck" more than Corey, i'd like to see him. The kid is an athletic freak, but he just doesn't come across that he cares enough for my taste.
And I'm sure @bac2therac is pleased that Hobbs has fixed the pretzel situation. Bought 2 at halftime and they were hot, soft and delicious. lol
Agreed. If Souf won't/can't shoot I'd rather see Dadika - he's just as gun shy, but knows his teammates better, makes decent passes and plays with great effort. I've been hard on Souf thus far, but he did have a decent second half albeit it in very few minutes.
Exactly. It was puzzling that RU made so little effort to do this. As I remarked elsewhere, it looked like the team had never seen a zone before. I'm sure attacking this problem is high on Pike's list when reviewing the tape.
Jelly - Lot's of good points. I especially agree with the total lack of help defense. Some of that might be the influx of new players that need to gel, but it is a major concern that needs to be fixed. I've never seen such an inferior and vertically challenged team get so many uncontested layups against RU.
As for Freeman - he absolutely must pass our of the low post when he's double and triple-teamed against the zone. There were plenty of 10 to12-foot jumpers available for his teammates when CCSU's zone collapsed, but Freeman chose just to force up a shot. I expect more from a senior captain. RU also needs someone who can reliably hit those jumpers besides the guards. Maybe Eugene will be that guy as the season progresses.
Towards the end of last season I thought he finally got out of that habit. Hope this game was just an anomaly
This Almost looks a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation for all the guards, including Souf. One of the biggest complaints from the last game was settling for outside shots.
This is exactly what most defenses want offenses to do. They want a team to settle for Outside Shots as opposed to Attacking the Rim and getting into the Paint. Obviously, there is a balance that you have to find in any offense, when to shot it, when to attack.
IMO, Attacking the Rim should always be a priority. Even if you miss you have a great opportunity for Offensive Rebounds....especially if the driver forces help to come over.
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Sunday game against a team everyone expects to crush following a Saturday night at home and the team plays poorly? Color me #shocked
good to see you came out of hiding. Didnt go for the pretzels as I do find them hit or miss and I its alot of empty carbs brah.
Yes our defense was terrible....usually its not. RU beat this same team by 42 last year 79-37 and take that with the ridiculous 94-38 win over CCNY and I think this team just assumed that they would come on the court and win. Now they did turn it on to go up 15 and if they ended up winning by 10-15 I think most would not be that upset but that last 4 minutes was atrocious to let CCSU actually get within 4 and have a legit shot to sneak a win ih the last 30 seconds. Too many experienced players on the team for them to meltdown like that. I agree with you on Souf and Corey
I took a closer look and I see that CCSU is quite a different team now. They got three Junior college transfers who are all legitimate. Tyler Kohl was heavily recruited by RU as well as a number of legitimate Division I programs out of high school. I am not saying that this was an acceptable performance, but Central Connecticut State University is certainly not what they were last year. https://247sports.com/college/rutge...er-Kohl-signs-with-Hutchinson-Kan-CC-37546842
How many times have we heard that before.......Jackson state isn't a normal low conference team and the guy who scored 35 will be in the NBA.:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Yes, I am concerned about a guy who played nine minutes. That's close to 1/4 of a team's possessions where we are effectively playing 4 on 5 offensively. Our opponent's coach would be happy with that anytime. I don't see how Souf can be left in the rotation.
Okay maybe, but when the other team is in a zone and a guard can't shoot he can be ignored. It's a little less a problem for inside players.
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RUHud,
You do have a way with words. Spoken like a true Hudsonian. I know because I was one. I guess you really are Allen Iverson and play in the FIBA world league on Weds and Coach Pike is really John Thompson. Get over yourself dude. Btw, Kenny Britt has not lost any sleep about your dumbass comments from years ago as he continues to cash NFL checks.
GO RU
You would think with the amount of fadeaways we take that our head coach was Kobe Bryant.
Go to the basket and good things happen. Way too much chucking.
Geo looks smooth so most confident he’ll get it sorted.
Go to the basket and good things happen. Way too much chucking.
Geo looks smooth so most confident he’ll get it sorted.
We tend to forget we're starting two freshmen this year. Doucoure and Baker look good but significant growing pains. Most notable difference will be low post interior defense. Doucoure often slow to help out underneath and out of position.
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