DON'T GIVE UP, DON'T EVER GIVE UP! Not sure if its been in the pregame introduction video all year long but I distinctly remember hearing it today. By games end those words could not be more appropriate. Full disclosure, I am plagiarizing from google inspirational quotes...this one perfect.......IT'S HARD TO BEAT A PERSON WHO NEVER GIVES UP. Geo this one is for you. Geo seemed to will that last 3 pointer in. Its not the first time he took that winning shot and it will not be his last. Up until the last 3 minutes, Geo had a rough day. Full disclosure I texted my brother that Geo should sit on the bench. Obviously the injury has made him uncomfortable with his shot but unlike the Indiana and Minnesota games where Geo was contributing in positive ways besides scoring, today it was as if when he was in, he was hurting team. He missed his first 4 shots badly and just seemed like he did not have the confidence and calmness about him. THERE ARE USES TO ADVERSITY AND THEY DO NOT REVEAL THEMSELVES UNTIL TESTED. In the last 3 minutes was there any doubt who Coach Pikiell put his trust in to try and get RU out of this mess and salvage a win. Geo drew a foul but missed the one and one and yeah things were not looking good when Nebby converted on the other end to go up 72-66. Then came Geo, knocking down a 3 to cut the gap to 3, RU came up with a big stop defensively and then Geo again driving to the hoop missed but big rebound by Myles who kicked to an open Yeboah for the tying 3. After another stop, Geo had the ball and a clear out was illfated, a critical turnover at the wrong time by Geo and didnt get bailed out by a foul call. And when the RAC came alive to assist RU on that last stop there was no doubt who would have the ball again..it was Geo..missing his first 3 but Yeboah with the rebound and then we got the patented Geo step back 3 that seemed to spin and take forever to go through the hoop with about a second left and RU up 75-72. ANY MAN CAN WIN WHEN THINGS GO HIS WAY. IT'S THE MAN WHO OVERCOMES ADVERSITY THAT IS THE TRUE CHAMPION. Can only love this kid. Injuries suck and he is working through this win. Whether it was the dunk last week or lifting Jacob Young's head up at Iowa, or the winning shot today, Geo is the heart and the soul and the leader of this incredibly hard working and most unlikliest third place team in the Big 10 standings
Sometimes you get more out of a game like this then you do in a 20 point win. Let us be honest. Today RU played much of the game uninspired and not with the usual focus. RU easily could have been up 20 points if they just stuck their mind to it on offense. Losing a 14 point lead and down 6 to the 13th place team is a 31-11 run....no one can hide that one and saying RU played good today. They did not. They played subpar. Nebraska really seemed to want it more and I felt that Hoiberg outcoached Pikiell today albeit that Pikiell won halftime adjustments. In RU's two losses this year on the road it came down to the last 2 minutes, Illinois and Iowa made plays, RU did not today. Today RU made the plays and that is all that matters so no Nebby did not deserve to win it. Rutgers did. I do think the #24 ranking and all the press attention has had an effect on play this week. Defense wasnt as sharp at Iowa and I do think today RU had somewhat of a hangover from that game. I think they sort of took the game for granted in some ways because you could see RU able to get the lead up to double digits at times and you thought okay this one is over. But it seemed like the same bad habits from the first half came back in the 2nd with some bad defense and then just a crappy run on the offensive end where they turned things over more than a pancake machine. It started innocuously enough with a missed Mathis 3 up 60-49, but in a 6 minute span RU was outscored 16-2, made only one fg, misses 5 others, committed 4 turnovers and 3 fouls. Nebraska was dominating on all ends and the disappointing thing is, it did not seem like RU was responding at all. They took blow after blow and not until Yeboah drained a 3 did RU resuscitate their game. I truly believe today is the kind of shock to the system that can wake the team up and refocus and get back to the Rutgers team we have come to know and love all game
So while Geo came up big late, special credit goes to Yeboah because he flat out played like a beast tonight. His threes incredibly timely both in the first half and late. He also came up with that critical rebound off the first Geo miss from 3 and didnt panic by looking for a shot right away and passed it back so RU could take the last shot. Yeboah had a phenomenal line...6-10, 3-6 from 3, 5-6 ft, 7 boards, 20 points. He seemed to just be in the right spot tonight everytime we needed him. Last couple of games really stepping up his offensive production with some inconsistencies from some of the others. He is a special player and integral to RU's success tonight. Would have not won this game without him. I will say Myles was a monster defensively tonight with 5 blocks and dug down deep late. Myles got a block, a steal, a huge board and an assist in the last 3 minutes. When RU was able to get him the ball which wasnt often enough, Myles was successful. Caleb and Montez both had some solid moments today. I think Jacob got shut down in the 2nd half. Young had 12 in the first half and 0 in the 2nd and had some bad turnovers in a key stretch. Seems like again trying to do too much and I think defensively wasnt there today which can be said for a few players. Mulcahy and Carter were non factors but damn what was up with Harper, Ron played a team high 31 minutes but was dreadful on the offensive end just 1-7 for 2 points., From 29 to 2 in just one game. Obviously RU did not attack that zone very well and who knows why they did not but alot of teams are going to see the tape from this game and try to duplicate Nebby's success
Give some credit to Nebraska. Hoiberg is an outstanding coach. Nebby is somewhat like Pikiell's first teams in that they play hard, are opportunistic and do not give up. They do not win much and will likely finish in 13th place but they will fight you to the end. When Fred get his players in, Nebraska is going to be a tough program. I felt he made some big adjustments during timeout to attack RU defensively and to generate turnovers and their transition game really took it too Nebraska. I mean anytime a team outscored another 31-11 on their home court, they are playing some impressive basketball. In the end though its RU who made the plays.
Also the RAC was somewhat neutered by Nebby in the first half so more credit to them. Started to pick up when RU got up 14 but geez it was like a deflated balloon during that stretch coming up to 7 minutes. But we all hung tough and the RAC came alive on those last couple of key defensive stops and we all were rewarded when Geo hit the game winner and we went nuts. Going to need to keep bringing that energy for Purdue and hopefully a little bit more oomph to start the games when RU is defending to try and not let the Boilermakers get comfortable
15-5...6-3 in the Big 10. The difference between winning and losing this game was ginormous. I predicted an 8 point win as I just thought we would have some trouble today and we did. In the end, the standings and NET rankings are not going to care that RU got outplayed today, they will look at one thing. It was a win. Take it and move on to the next game. The players, the coaching staff and fans know we averted disaster today but I think ALL OF US will be better for it. Take nothing for granted and keep focused on the true goals.
Sometimes you get more out of a game like this then you do in a 20 point win. Let us be honest. Today RU played much of the game uninspired and not with the usual focus. RU easily could have been up 20 points if they just stuck their mind to it on offense. Losing a 14 point lead and down 6 to the 13th place team is a 31-11 run....no one can hide that one and saying RU played good today. They did not. They played subpar. Nebraska really seemed to want it more and I felt that Hoiberg outcoached Pikiell today albeit that Pikiell won halftime adjustments. In RU's two losses this year on the road it came down to the last 2 minutes, Illinois and Iowa made plays, RU did not today. Today RU made the plays and that is all that matters so no Nebby did not deserve to win it. Rutgers did. I do think the #24 ranking and all the press attention has had an effect on play this week. Defense wasnt as sharp at Iowa and I do think today RU had somewhat of a hangover from that game. I think they sort of took the game for granted in some ways because you could see RU able to get the lead up to double digits at times and you thought okay this one is over. But it seemed like the same bad habits from the first half came back in the 2nd with some bad defense and then just a crappy run on the offensive end where they turned things over more than a pancake machine. It started innocuously enough with a missed Mathis 3 up 60-49, but in a 6 minute span RU was outscored 16-2, made only one fg, misses 5 others, committed 4 turnovers and 3 fouls. Nebraska was dominating on all ends and the disappointing thing is, it did not seem like RU was responding at all. They took blow after blow and not until Yeboah drained a 3 did RU resuscitate their game. I truly believe today is the kind of shock to the system that can wake the team up and refocus and get back to the Rutgers team we have come to know and love all game
So while Geo came up big late, special credit goes to Yeboah because he flat out played like a beast tonight. His threes incredibly timely both in the first half and late. He also came up with that critical rebound off the first Geo miss from 3 and didnt panic by looking for a shot right away and passed it back so RU could take the last shot. Yeboah had a phenomenal line...6-10, 3-6 from 3, 5-6 ft, 7 boards, 20 points. He seemed to just be in the right spot tonight everytime we needed him. Last couple of games really stepping up his offensive production with some inconsistencies from some of the others. He is a special player and integral to RU's success tonight. Would have not won this game without him. I will say Myles was a monster defensively tonight with 5 blocks and dug down deep late. Myles got a block, a steal, a huge board and an assist in the last 3 minutes. When RU was able to get him the ball which wasnt often enough, Myles was successful. Caleb and Montez both had some solid moments today. I think Jacob got shut down in the 2nd half. Young had 12 in the first half and 0 in the 2nd and had some bad turnovers in a key stretch. Seems like again trying to do too much and I think defensively wasnt there today which can be said for a few players. Mulcahy and Carter were non factors but damn what was up with Harper, Ron played a team high 31 minutes but was dreadful on the offensive end just 1-7 for 2 points., From 29 to 2 in just one game. Obviously RU did not attack that zone very well and who knows why they did not but alot of teams are going to see the tape from this game and try to duplicate Nebby's success
Give some credit to Nebraska. Hoiberg is an outstanding coach. Nebby is somewhat like Pikiell's first teams in that they play hard, are opportunistic and do not give up. They do not win much and will likely finish in 13th place but they will fight you to the end. When Fred get his players in, Nebraska is going to be a tough program. I felt he made some big adjustments during timeout to attack RU defensively and to generate turnovers and their transition game really took it too Nebraska. I mean anytime a team outscored another 31-11 on their home court, they are playing some impressive basketball. In the end though its RU who made the plays.
Also the RAC was somewhat neutered by Nebby in the first half so more credit to them. Started to pick up when RU got up 14 but geez it was like a deflated balloon during that stretch coming up to 7 minutes. But we all hung tough and the RAC came alive on those last couple of key defensive stops and we all were rewarded when Geo hit the game winner and we went nuts. Going to need to keep bringing that energy for Purdue and hopefully a little bit more oomph to start the games when RU is defending to try and not let the Boilermakers get comfortable
15-5...6-3 in the Big 10. The difference between winning and losing this game was ginormous. I predicted an 8 point win as I just thought we would have some trouble today and we did. In the end, the standings and NET rankings are not going to care that RU got outplayed today, they will look at one thing. It was a win. Take it and move on to the next game. The players, the coaching staff and fans know we averted disaster today but I think ALL OF US will be better for it. Take nothing for granted and keep focused on the true goals.
I am happy for the win 
