What a fun night at the RAC. Complete turnaround from the miserable experience that was Ohio State. Rollcoaster, see saw, up and down, jekyll and hyde, box of chocolates or part of the process...whatever you want to call it that is the way to describe this season. You never know quite what you are going to get from RU on a given night. The one thing I kept saying in the early season games that this team needs to give a full or as fullest a 40 minute effort to be able to win league games. Tonight was the perfect example of the difference between some lackluster play or effort in other games and that which you saw tonight.
Alot has been made about Mike Williams injury hurting this team. Yes its a loss no doubt, but its not a loss that can be overcome. A key part of tonight's win were other players, not the usual suspect stepping up and putting RU in a postion to actually go into cruise control for the latter stages of the game. Issa Thiam step right up. Issa scored 14 points including 4 3pt fgs in a 11 minute span that saw RU take control of the game and go up 14 and they never really looked back from there. RU is a team desperate to find another scoring option besides a struggling Freeman and the Sanders/Baker combo. Issa put forth a yeomans effort in stepping up and answering Pike's call. He played 35 minutes, hit 5-9 fgs scoring 16 points and playing strong defense throughout., I've been saying Pike needs to get Issa and Eugene involved more..more them, less reliance on Freeman and thats what we got. Eugene put in some valuable minutes going 3-4 and grabbing 5 boards. Geo Baker had just an exquisite game, finally showing some of those flashes from earlier in the year. He had 17 points on 6-10 shooting, 3-5 from 3, with 5 boards and 5 assists and 4 steals in 35 minutes. Along with Issa, he stepped up in that first half that gave RU its big cushion. Like Geo's steadiness and calm at the point and his anticipation on defense for some steals was excellent.
Then there is Corey. Corey only 2 points in the first half despite solid D...very quiet and I noted that but Corey turned on the jets in the 2nd half. He calmed the team when Iowa cut into the lead and then solidified the win with his free throws and that monstrous dunk that will surely be on ESPN's top 10 plays of the day tonight. Ended up 16 2nd half points, 18 for the game on 6-13 shooting, hit 6-7 from the line and had an unbelievable 8 assists in a big time 39 minute effort. Perhaps with some of the pressure off of him in the first half, he was able to regroup in the 2nd half. Its alot easier when you do not have to be the #1,2, and 3 scoring options. Freeman also came up big tonight, lots of criticism much of it deserved of late. Tonight Freeman was successful because he played within his abilities and it wasnt about him having to do it all with Sanders. He trusted his teammats, was not a ball hog, was relentless on D...14 points and 8 boards. This was Freeman as we want him to be. Again it helps when your teammates are knocking down shots.
Lets also give some credit to Candido Sa. He played 19 minutes, the most of any of our centers and he stepped up to answer the call having a very solid game....6 points and 3 boards...played the role Pike asked from tonight as Doorson and Doucoure got less minutes. Sa can be an asset to this team in certain matchups and tonight was one of them. Then we have Bullock...now that was a surprise. Great to see him finally get minutes and actually not look lost at all. Even greater to see him knock down that one shot. Overall got 8 minutes of really solid play in the first half where RU was playing at a high level...ditto Dadika who got 3 minutes.
And now major credit to Pikiell. The sheer awfulness of the offense in the last game and the loss of Williams just screamed something had to be shaken up. I felt Pike had sort of fallen in love with a certain lineup, certain rotation, certain guys being the focal point of the offense. A key thing I saw tonight from coach was willingness to trust others to step up. Its a big release for a coach who has to always be second guessing his moves and not wanting to risk failure to reach reward but he did...he did tonight. He played Sa, he played Bullock, he played Dadika, he played Thiam 35 minutes. He trusted Corey and Geo to play as much as they did, 35 minutes each, The big question about RU dealing with no Mike Williams is who will step up and can they step up. Tonight it was answered, now yes RU shot at a clip 53% way over their heads but now you can see that an adjustment here and a player getting more minutes there or inserted to play a role can change how a team looks. And its amazing how much better a team looks when they can knock down shots..eh?
But probably to me the best thing of the night was the defense...it was absolutely delicious. This was a very high scoring Iowa team coming in, they like to push tempo and run and they couldnt do that because RU was hitting on offense and Iowa seemed to really struggle and perhaps had not encounter a team in the Big 10 that stresses defense so much. Iowa was clearly bothered and rattled and RU disrupted any kind of flow. Only that brief flurry from Bonhannon was all the Hawkeyes could muster. They struggled outside and inside, RU turned them over 17 times, alot of shots were deep into the shot clock. RU dictated the pace and tempo especially in the first part of the 2nd half where while RU was not scoring all that much they simply were shutting down Iowa and keeping them at bay. Even though Iowa got it down to 11 and me and people on this board were starting to feel nervous, the fact is this game was never in doubt from the first few minutes of the 2nd half on, RU was never going to let Iowa comeback and they certainly proved it in the last few minutes sealing the deal emphatically.
Now....Iowa plays horrible defense...they were just the tonic for an RU offense that was struggling. I felt really good early on as RU was getitng the shots they wanted in the offense and these were not prayers or low percentage shots. If not for Bohannon, RU would have been up over 20 in the first half. I think the first half was RU's 2nd best half of hoops behind the SHU game. RU was screaming for a drop down in competition level...just go through the teams...MSU 2x, Purdue, OSU, Minn...all probable NCAA tourney teams and 3 of them on the road. Hard to get a read on how RU fit in especially because they looked so dead vs OSU. Now we see that RU clearly can compete in this bottom 7 half of the Big 10. Win over Wisconsin at home and win at home over Iowa. RU has a bunch of games in this grouping, they will not win every one, but I have a high confidence that they will compete in these games. Tonight went a long way to dispelling a little negativity that was creeping after the OSU game and the Williams injury
Alot has been made about Mike Williams injury hurting this team. Yes its a loss no doubt, but its not a loss that can be overcome. A key part of tonight's win were other players, not the usual suspect stepping up and putting RU in a postion to actually go into cruise control for the latter stages of the game. Issa Thiam step right up. Issa scored 14 points including 4 3pt fgs in a 11 minute span that saw RU take control of the game and go up 14 and they never really looked back from there. RU is a team desperate to find another scoring option besides a struggling Freeman and the Sanders/Baker combo. Issa put forth a yeomans effort in stepping up and answering Pike's call. He played 35 minutes, hit 5-9 fgs scoring 16 points and playing strong defense throughout., I've been saying Pike needs to get Issa and Eugene involved more..more them, less reliance on Freeman and thats what we got. Eugene put in some valuable minutes going 3-4 and grabbing 5 boards. Geo Baker had just an exquisite game, finally showing some of those flashes from earlier in the year. He had 17 points on 6-10 shooting, 3-5 from 3, with 5 boards and 5 assists and 4 steals in 35 minutes. Along with Issa, he stepped up in that first half that gave RU its big cushion. Like Geo's steadiness and calm at the point and his anticipation on defense for some steals was excellent.
Then there is Corey. Corey only 2 points in the first half despite solid D...very quiet and I noted that but Corey turned on the jets in the 2nd half. He calmed the team when Iowa cut into the lead and then solidified the win with his free throws and that monstrous dunk that will surely be on ESPN's top 10 plays of the day tonight. Ended up 16 2nd half points, 18 for the game on 6-13 shooting, hit 6-7 from the line and had an unbelievable 8 assists in a big time 39 minute effort. Perhaps with some of the pressure off of him in the first half, he was able to regroup in the 2nd half. Its alot easier when you do not have to be the #1,2, and 3 scoring options. Freeman also came up big tonight, lots of criticism much of it deserved of late. Tonight Freeman was successful because he played within his abilities and it wasnt about him having to do it all with Sanders. He trusted his teammats, was not a ball hog, was relentless on D...14 points and 8 boards. This was Freeman as we want him to be. Again it helps when your teammates are knocking down shots.
Lets also give some credit to Candido Sa. He played 19 minutes, the most of any of our centers and he stepped up to answer the call having a very solid game....6 points and 3 boards...played the role Pike asked from tonight as Doorson and Doucoure got less minutes. Sa can be an asset to this team in certain matchups and tonight was one of them. Then we have Bullock...now that was a surprise. Great to see him finally get minutes and actually not look lost at all. Even greater to see him knock down that one shot. Overall got 8 minutes of really solid play in the first half where RU was playing at a high level...ditto Dadika who got 3 minutes.
And now major credit to Pikiell. The sheer awfulness of the offense in the last game and the loss of Williams just screamed something had to be shaken up. I felt Pike had sort of fallen in love with a certain lineup, certain rotation, certain guys being the focal point of the offense. A key thing I saw tonight from coach was willingness to trust others to step up. Its a big release for a coach who has to always be second guessing his moves and not wanting to risk failure to reach reward but he did...he did tonight. He played Sa, he played Bullock, he played Dadika, he played Thiam 35 minutes. He trusted Corey and Geo to play as much as they did, 35 minutes each, The big question about RU dealing with no Mike Williams is who will step up and can they step up. Tonight it was answered, now yes RU shot at a clip 53% way over their heads but now you can see that an adjustment here and a player getting more minutes there or inserted to play a role can change how a team looks. And its amazing how much better a team looks when they can knock down shots..eh?
But probably to me the best thing of the night was the defense...it was absolutely delicious. This was a very high scoring Iowa team coming in, they like to push tempo and run and they couldnt do that because RU was hitting on offense and Iowa seemed to really struggle and perhaps had not encounter a team in the Big 10 that stresses defense so much. Iowa was clearly bothered and rattled and RU disrupted any kind of flow. Only that brief flurry from Bonhannon was all the Hawkeyes could muster. They struggled outside and inside, RU turned them over 17 times, alot of shots were deep into the shot clock. RU dictated the pace and tempo especially in the first part of the 2nd half where while RU was not scoring all that much they simply were shutting down Iowa and keeping them at bay. Even though Iowa got it down to 11 and me and people on this board were starting to feel nervous, the fact is this game was never in doubt from the first few minutes of the 2nd half on, RU was never going to let Iowa comeback and they certainly proved it in the last few minutes sealing the deal emphatically.
Now....Iowa plays horrible defense...they were just the tonic for an RU offense that was struggling. I felt really good early on as RU was getitng the shots they wanted in the offense and these were not prayers or low percentage shots. If not for Bohannon, RU would have been up over 20 in the first half. I think the first half was RU's 2nd best half of hoops behind the SHU game. RU was screaming for a drop down in competition level...just go through the teams...MSU 2x, Purdue, OSU, Minn...all probable NCAA tourney teams and 3 of them on the road. Hard to get a read on how RU fit in especially because they looked so dead vs OSU. Now we see that RU clearly can compete in this bottom 7 half of the Big 10. Win over Wisconsin at home and win at home over Iowa. RU has a bunch of games in this grouping, they will not win every one, but I have a high confidence that they will compete in these games. Tonight went a long way to dispelling a little negativity that was creeping after the OSU game and the Williams injury
