Now that is a performance that all Rutgers fans can get behind. An improbable turn 25 point turnaround that saw RU go from down 15 to winning by 10. Rutgers gathered themselves and once they got the lead, they simply ran away with it. In the end it wasnt even close. RU gutted the Wolverines spirit as Michigan collapsed like a wet chalupa stomped down into the ground. A second half performance that was so striking for this Rutgers team this year in how they did. it. Team ball, trusting with each other and sharing with each other. There was a hunger out there today that has been rarely seen this season. A willingness to impose will. Some sick runs....37-12, 30-8, 20-4, 18-2
As for the game, it started with a first half full of sputters and bricks. It looked like more of the same futility on offense as I believe RU hit just 1 fg in the first 7 minutes falling behind 14-5. Plus even worse on defense as Michigan was hitting at 54% fg and draining 6 3s. Did not look like we were bothering Michigan at all on the defensive end. Even a mini comeback toward halftime that got the defecit to 5 was thwarted by a disastrous last 10 seconds of play that saw Michigan build the lead back to 9. Mag with 11 was mainly the only reliable offense in the first half w Michigan would run off 8 straight points to take their biggest lead of 15 at 47-32 and it appeared that RU was ready to pack it in and be blown out to a 7-14 team. What came next was a very unexpected flip off the script by Rutgers. The Knights began a 37-12 run rather innocuously with a Derek Simpson layin with 16:37 left and the defecit was still 12 with 12:43 left. From there it complete domination by Rutgers. RU would outscored Michigan 30-8 to end the game.
Everyone contributed. Jeremiah, Hyatt, Cliff, Derek not only by finally making buckets but with his assists. Finally it looked like a team. There were no "me" shots. Rutgers had purpose. Rutgers smelled blood and they exploited that. To me a huge takeaway. RU imposed their will for the first time on a team since Indiana way back in the first week on the year. RU converted on 6 straight possessions cutting the gap to just 55-51. RU revved their D up. Loved the double teaming to deny anything inside. Just had the feeling that Michigan was choking and if RU could just get the lead this one was going to go their way. Derek hit a layup and completely an and one and there it was RU up 59-57 with 4:40 and never looked back. RU would pour it on from there smothering the Wolverines. RU took advantage of sloppy Michigan passing. 19 turnovers in all, I think maybe 10 in the first half but overall RU scored 19 points off turnovers and made Michigan pay for their mistakes in a key stretch. Two back to back UM turnovers led to buckets by Hyatt and Cliff and suddenly RU was up 8. Michigan would muster their only fg in the last 7 minute but it was meaningless. J Mike answered with a sweet drive attacking. Michigan was finished. Rutgers had their most impressive game of the season since way back at Seton Hall. Yet arguably it might have actually been their most impressive stretch of play of the season. Team ball rolling the ball of confidence play by play by play getting more powerful as the game wore on. Rebounding battle was close early on but RU just flat out wanted it more as the game wore on. RU would win the battle 40-32 and 15-6 on the offensive end and end up taking 14 more shots than Michigan. How about 13-17 at the line, such a big improvment there. 8 RU steals among the 19 turnovers Michigan while RU taking care of the ball with just 9 such a reversal from the 20 plus stinkfest vs Penn State
Need to address the long awaited debut of Jeremiah Williams. His long saga has been debated ad nauseum but finally got cleared and Pike wasted no time inserting him in the starting lineup along with J Mike sending Austin Williams and Aundre Hyatt to the bench. J Will was active early grabbing a board on the first Michigan miss and then getting to the line shortly thereafter where he made his free throws, J Will would score a couple of buckets for 6 points in the first half. Playing a whopping 29 minutes, Jeremiah would finish with 10 points on 4-12 shooting, 6 boards, and 2 assists. His sheer presence on the court is a game changer on how this team has to be defended. A guy who can slash and create his own shot but also a guy who has the vision to distribute. For RU opponents not having any film on him is a plus for RU and RU definitely took advantage of it today. Again not putting any expectations on him, not fair to J Will. But yeah having another guy who can step in and take 12 shots while making other guys better looks to be an obvious plus going forward. Just getting his feet wet today, there will be ups and downs but no doubt it looks we are just scratching the surface with him right now.
Team win for sure but some really great individual performances. Derek Simpson has simply been awful with his shooting percentage this year. His effort is there yet it has been deflating to see miss after miss. Today Derek had a monster game. 7-13 fg 19 points, 5 boards and 6 assists. Derek was in on every play and such a balance between knowing when to shoot and knowing when to share. I think Derek was only 2-4 fg with 5 points in the first half so his 2nd half was pretty incredible. Simpson seemingly was in on every play whether by hoop or assist in a stretch where RU would take control. Great to see hard work pay off and him to stick with it. I know I have been hard on his poor shooting so hopefully some consistency can be developed. Certainly Cliff took advantage of Derek today. Finally with someone to feed him, Cliff really had himself a game asserting himself on both ends of the court. Cliff played 32 minutes, scored 15 points, hauled down 11 boards including 5 on the offensive end. The ball movement and spacing was better today but it was the transition game which looked even better than previous games. Mawot Mag basically kept RU alive in the first half scoring 11. After 3 straight goose egg of games, this was a game we needed to see from Mag. Perhaps he was suffering some lingering injury because Mag was really active in the first half on both ends. Mag would also score 15 on 6-12 fg shooting and 3 steals. This is the Mag that we all know and love so hopefully he can put that 3 game egg behind him. J Mike got the start today which he earned. Not great in the first half but he had a solid game in that 2nd half. A big defensive steal at 63-57 and quite the fearless drive to the hoop late put RU up 67-59. Just 2-5 fg but guess what after shooting 12 in his last game, this wasnt a game where J Mike needed to be taking alot of shots. J Mike contributed with 5 boards, 2 assists and just one turnover. Hyatt lost his starting job at least for today. That has to be tough for him. He did not play alot. Yet Hyatt played a role in this win. Pike called on him in the later stages and Aundre delivered for his coach. Hyatt had a stretch with RU down 1 where he grabbed a couple of boards, then came up with a big time steal which moments later led to a layup assisted by J Will putting RU up 6.
Ogbole finally got off the bench. Was really rusty and uncomfortable but still contributed 8 minutes. Not sure I liked Pike rolling the dice with him with more than 17 minutes left in the first half but I think Pike was just looking to shake up this team. Ogbole would end up with 3 boards and 1-2 at the line with 2 turnovers. We shall see how it goes from here but its a start. Gavin after showing signs of turning the corner last 2, took a couple steps backward with a 0-5 fg performance and his time was very limited in the 2nd half logging in with just 14 minutes. Noahs minutes reduced to 4..wow never thought I would see that and I would imagine there will be games he gets more. Its a needed call though by Pike especially if J Will is getting things done in practice. Just 3 for AW so thats also a big decrease. Monitor that going forward. Oskar did not see any time. Shockingly neither did Wolf so what is up with that. All and all no issue with Pike minute distribution today including Hyatt but did like that he gave Hyatt those minutes in crunch time. Overall Pike made some huge adjustments with his starting lineup and seemed much more flexible to letting the sub patterns being determined by performance rather than a set pattern. Pike has an uncanny ability to be able to keep a team fighting after such a rock bottom performance at the RAC. Even with a lackluster first half and down 15, he pushed all the right buttons so nice bounce back for him after the low point on Wednesday.
Wins have been hard to come by. Its been tough as a RU fan this year. Perspective here, Michigan is every bit as bad as their 7-14 record. Yet they were dominating RU and RU pummelled them in the end. Do not go crazy but be encouraged all things considered. RU is likely not the worst team in this league. That ironically may be come down to Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio State. Now with J Will and to a much lesser extent Ogbole in the rotation lets see what he have going forward. Admittedly its a daunting stretch with a trip to Maryland and home games vs Wisconsin and Northwestern but lets hope the Knights can build off of this victory that they worked so hard to earn. Til then...
And if tomorrow find us together
Right here the way we are, would you mind
Sharing the night together, oh, yeah
Sharing the night together, oh, yeah
Sharing the night
As for the game, it started with a first half full of sputters and bricks. It looked like more of the same futility on offense as I believe RU hit just 1 fg in the first 7 minutes falling behind 14-5. Plus even worse on defense as Michigan was hitting at 54% fg and draining 6 3s. Did not look like we were bothering Michigan at all on the defensive end. Even a mini comeback toward halftime that got the defecit to 5 was thwarted by a disastrous last 10 seconds of play that saw Michigan build the lead back to 9. Mag with 11 was mainly the only reliable offense in the first half w Michigan would run off 8 straight points to take their biggest lead of 15 at 47-32 and it appeared that RU was ready to pack it in and be blown out to a 7-14 team. What came next was a very unexpected flip off the script by Rutgers. The Knights began a 37-12 run rather innocuously with a Derek Simpson layin with 16:37 left and the defecit was still 12 with 12:43 left. From there it complete domination by Rutgers. RU would outscored Michigan 30-8 to end the game.
Everyone contributed. Jeremiah, Hyatt, Cliff, Derek not only by finally making buckets but with his assists. Finally it looked like a team. There were no "me" shots. Rutgers had purpose. Rutgers smelled blood and they exploited that. To me a huge takeaway. RU imposed their will for the first time on a team since Indiana way back in the first week on the year. RU converted on 6 straight possessions cutting the gap to just 55-51. RU revved their D up. Loved the double teaming to deny anything inside. Just had the feeling that Michigan was choking and if RU could just get the lead this one was going to go their way. Derek hit a layup and completely an and one and there it was RU up 59-57 with 4:40 and never looked back. RU would pour it on from there smothering the Wolverines. RU took advantage of sloppy Michigan passing. 19 turnovers in all, I think maybe 10 in the first half but overall RU scored 19 points off turnovers and made Michigan pay for their mistakes in a key stretch. Two back to back UM turnovers led to buckets by Hyatt and Cliff and suddenly RU was up 8. Michigan would muster their only fg in the last 7 minute but it was meaningless. J Mike answered with a sweet drive attacking. Michigan was finished. Rutgers had their most impressive game of the season since way back at Seton Hall. Yet arguably it might have actually been their most impressive stretch of play of the season. Team ball rolling the ball of confidence play by play by play getting more powerful as the game wore on. Rebounding battle was close early on but RU just flat out wanted it more as the game wore on. RU would win the battle 40-32 and 15-6 on the offensive end and end up taking 14 more shots than Michigan. How about 13-17 at the line, such a big improvment there. 8 RU steals among the 19 turnovers Michigan while RU taking care of the ball with just 9 such a reversal from the 20 plus stinkfest vs Penn State
Need to address the long awaited debut of Jeremiah Williams. His long saga has been debated ad nauseum but finally got cleared and Pike wasted no time inserting him in the starting lineup along with J Mike sending Austin Williams and Aundre Hyatt to the bench. J Will was active early grabbing a board on the first Michigan miss and then getting to the line shortly thereafter where he made his free throws, J Will would score a couple of buckets for 6 points in the first half. Playing a whopping 29 minutes, Jeremiah would finish with 10 points on 4-12 shooting, 6 boards, and 2 assists. His sheer presence on the court is a game changer on how this team has to be defended. A guy who can slash and create his own shot but also a guy who has the vision to distribute. For RU opponents not having any film on him is a plus for RU and RU definitely took advantage of it today. Again not putting any expectations on him, not fair to J Will. But yeah having another guy who can step in and take 12 shots while making other guys better looks to be an obvious plus going forward. Just getting his feet wet today, there will be ups and downs but no doubt it looks we are just scratching the surface with him right now.
Team win for sure but some really great individual performances. Derek Simpson has simply been awful with his shooting percentage this year. His effort is there yet it has been deflating to see miss after miss. Today Derek had a monster game. 7-13 fg 19 points, 5 boards and 6 assists. Derek was in on every play and such a balance between knowing when to shoot and knowing when to share. I think Derek was only 2-4 fg with 5 points in the first half so his 2nd half was pretty incredible. Simpson seemingly was in on every play whether by hoop or assist in a stretch where RU would take control. Great to see hard work pay off and him to stick with it. I know I have been hard on his poor shooting so hopefully some consistency can be developed. Certainly Cliff took advantage of Derek today. Finally with someone to feed him, Cliff really had himself a game asserting himself on both ends of the court. Cliff played 32 minutes, scored 15 points, hauled down 11 boards including 5 on the offensive end. The ball movement and spacing was better today but it was the transition game which looked even better than previous games. Mawot Mag basically kept RU alive in the first half scoring 11. After 3 straight goose egg of games, this was a game we needed to see from Mag. Perhaps he was suffering some lingering injury because Mag was really active in the first half on both ends. Mag would also score 15 on 6-12 fg shooting and 3 steals. This is the Mag that we all know and love so hopefully he can put that 3 game egg behind him. J Mike got the start today which he earned. Not great in the first half but he had a solid game in that 2nd half. A big defensive steal at 63-57 and quite the fearless drive to the hoop late put RU up 67-59. Just 2-5 fg but guess what after shooting 12 in his last game, this wasnt a game where J Mike needed to be taking alot of shots. J Mike contributed with 5 boards, 2 assists and just one turnover. Hyatt lost his starting job at least for today. That has to be tough for him. He did not play alot. Yet Hyatt played a role in this win. Pike called on him in the later stages and Aundre delivered for his coach. Hyatt had a stretch with RU down 1 where he grabbed a couple of boards, then came up with a big time steal which moments later led to a layup assisted by J Will putting RU up 6.
Ogbole finally got off the bench. Was really rusty and uncomfortable but still contributed 8 minutes. Not sure I liked Pike rolling the dice with him with more than 17 minutes left in the first half but I think Pike was just looking to shake up this team. Ogbole would end up with 3 boards and 1-2 at the line with 2 turnovers. We shall see how it goes from here but its a start. Gavin after showing signs of turning the corner last 2, took a couple steps backward with a 0-5 fg performance and his time was very limited in the 2nd half logging in with just 14 minutes. Noahs minutes reduced to 4..wow never thought I would see that and I would imagine there will be games he gets more. Its a needed call though by Pike especially if J Will is getting things done in practice. Just 3 for AW so thats also a big decrease. Monitor that going forward. Oskar did not see any time. Shockingly neither did Wolf so what is up with that. All and all no issue with Pike minute distribution today including Hyatt but did like that he gave Hyatt those minutes in crunch time. Overall Pike made some huge adjustments with his starting lineup and seemed much more flexible to letting the sub patterns being determined by performance rather than a set pattern. Pike has an uncanny ability to be able to keep a team fighting after such a rock bottom performance at the RAC. Even with a lackluster first half and down 15, he pushed all the right buttons so nice bounce back for him after the low point on Wednesday.
Wins have been hard to come by. Its been tough as a RU fan this year. Perspective here, Michigan is every bit as bad as their 7-14 record. Yet they were dominating RU and RU pummelled them in the end. Do not go crazy but be encouraged all things considered. RU is likely not the worst team in this league. That ironically may be come down to Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio State. Now with J Will and to a much lesser extent Ogbole in the rotation lets see what he have going forward. Admittedly its a daunting stretch with a trip to Maryland and home games vs Wisconsin and Northwestern but lets hope the Knights can build off of this victory that they worked so hard to earn. Til then...
And if tomorrow find us together
Right here the way we are, would you mind
Sharing the night together, oh, yeah
Sharing the night together, oh, yeah
Sharing the night
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