No Dylan Harper, no problem for Rutgers. In one of the most unlikely yet hungriest performance of the season, Rutgers went into Evanston and dispatched of the Cats with relative ease. It is nice to win again. I am going to give alot of credit to this team and the coaching staff. They really worked hard and were ready to play. Such a frustrating season for they players and coaching staff but they get to enjoy this one. Harper was pretty much everything for RU in the 2024 part of the season with Ace still trying to find his way. Harper has been hampered by various ills and the teams fortunes went down even as Ace developed into a NBA starter over the past few weeks. While Ace was the main ingredient tonight, the Knights would not have been victorious if the much maligned supporting cast did not step up and eat. Perhaps some players more comfortable without Harper on the court. It sure seemed like it. Upperclassmen stepping up with timely shots. The youth movement of more time and positive contributions from Grant and Dortsch given RU an added dimension of some length. I was struck by how committed RU was to rebounding and playing some tough defense. Northwestern really struggled getting into any flow and has RU hands and arms just enough to bother them. I saw alot of rushed type blown bunnies by the Cats. I came away unimpressed by Northwestern and do not think they have much NCAA hopes and will likely be competing to make the Big 10 tournament
First Ace Bailey just a sick first half. 9-10 fg and it didnt matter what kind of defense Northwestern played, Ace was making anything and everything. Ace has now made this his team in the absence of Dylan. A once in a lifetime talent for Rutgers. You can lament the disappointment of this season but Ace has delivered in spades. Not as deadly in the 2nd half but didnt need to be as his teammates stepped up. Ace finished with 37 points just 2 off his career high. 13-20 fg, 5-8 from 3, 6-6 at the line, 6 boards and 3 blocks. Ace will be the best player on the court ion every single game he plays the rest of the season. He will throw in some clunkers like vs Michigan State every now and then but you pretty much know he is capable of going off on these heaters every single night and that at least is a glimmer of hope for Rutgers fans to try and stay in games. Also liked that Ace kept his emotions in check tonight and let his stats do the talking. Man this kid just loves basketball, you can see it when he does post game interviews he practically cannot contain himself. Imagine if we could have him for one more year.
Yet unlike at Indiana or Penn State where Ace went off, this time Ace had some help. I think a key sequence with RU struggling to score at the start of the first half jumpstarted RU and never looked back. Zak Martini big time deep 3 to put RU up 50-42 and then Acuff came out of nowhere with a bucket to put RU up 10 and then later with a huge 3 to extend the lead to 12 and then flipped in a jumper when NW had crept to within 7. Acuff ended up with 13 on 5-7 fg shooting and 4 assists. J Mike was very good tonight. Its a shame we dont get this every night from him. Great court vision with 8 assists and he even contributed offensively with 8 points on 3-6 fg shooting and great defense with 3 steals. Big dunk at the end that effectively made this academic. Overall the supporting cast followed Ace's lead and fed themselves going 15-29 fg for 42 points. RU shot 57% overall and 57% from 3 at 8-14. Grant was solid early contributing 6. Dortsch continues to get his feet wet and isnt looking all that bad, just missing a great dunk as he was fouled...albeit his ft need work. J Will and JD absolutely did not have it tonight and good on Pike for recognizing that and limiting their minutes. J Will was plagued by the flu so only 15 minutes. Tough break for JD after his career 26 point game but he was forcing things too much and that was hurting the team. Lathan was good and bad but still battled with 9 points and 6 boards.
It is ridiculous but maybe having 2 NBA superstars on a team isnt a good thing. Can both coexist in a way where the rest of the team can breath and eat? Interesting question. Of course RU is more of a threat to win game with a healthy Harper and I am not forgetting everything he brings. Having both Ace/Dylan to me means less of the rest of the team about to feel confident and not worry about making mistakes. Hopefully Dylan can get healthy quickly and some of the development RU has show with some individual young player like Grant and Dortsch and the tougher defense RU has played of late can all be integrated together and at least for the fans we can have an entertaining last 6 weeks of the season.
So Pike has been criticized so much this year, its time to give him some credit for keeping the team together and pushing the right buttons without Harper in the lineup. I have seen better RU teams mail it in vs Northwestern who is usually well coached but looked more like pussycats rather than Wildcats tonight. 11-10 on to 2 game home stretch bac at the rac vs 2 very good NCAA bound teams but 2 teams that have shown some vulnerability in the past few games. It would be a perfect time for some legendary RAC hocus pocus that might feed the Rutgers faithful's love tank to keep us warm in February.
First Ace Bailey just a sick first half. 9-10 fg and it didnt matter what kind of defense Northwestern played, Ace was making anything and everything. Ace has now made this his team in the absence of Dylan. A once in a lifetime talent for Rutgers. You can lament the disappointment of this season but Ace has delivered in spades. Not as deadly in the 2nd half but didnt need to be as his teammates stepped up. Ace finished with 37 points just 2 off his career high. 13-20 fg, 5-8 from 3, 6-6 at the line, 6 boards and 3 blocks. Ace will be the best player on the court ion every single game he plays the rest of the season. He will throw in some clunkers like vs Michigan State every now and then but you pretty much know he is capable of going off on these heaters every single night and that at least is a glimmer of hope for Rutgers fans to try and stay in games. Also liked that Ace kept his emotions in check tonight and let his stats do the talking. Man this kid just loves basketball, you can see it when he does post game interviews he practically cannot contain himself. Imagine if we could have him for one more year.
Yet unlike at Indiana or Penn State where Ace went off, this time Ace had some help. I think a key sequence with RU struggling to score at the start of the first half jumpstarted RU and never looked back. Zak Martini big time deep 3 to put RU up 50-42 and then Acuff came out of nowhere with a bucket to put RU up 10 and then later with a huge 3 to extend the lead to 12 and then flipped in a jumper when NW had crept to within 7. Acuff ended up with 13 on 5-7 fg shooting and 4 assists. J Mike was very good tonight. Its a shame we dont get this every night from him. Great court vision with 8 assists and he even contributed offensively with 8 points on 3-6 fg shooting and great defense with 3 steals. Big dunk at the end that effectively made this academic. Overall the supporting cast followed Ace's lead and fed themselves going 15-29 fg for 42 points. RU shot 57% overall and 57% from 3 at 8-14. Grant was solid early contributing 6. Dortsch continues to get his feet wet and isnt looking all that bad, just missing a great dunk as he was fouled...albeit his ft need work. J Will and JD absolutely did not have it tonight and good on Pike for recognizing that and limiting their minutes. J Will was plagued by the flu so only 15 minutes. Tough break for JD after his career 26 point game but he was forcing things too much and that was hurting the team. Lathan was good and bad but still battled with 9 points and 6 boards.
It is ridiculous but maybe having 2 NBA superstars on a team isnt a good thing. Can both coexist in a way where the rest of the team can breath and eat? Interesting question. Of course RU is more of a threat to win game with a healthy Harper and I am not forgetting everything he brings. Having both Ace/Dylan to me means less of the rest of the team about to feel confident and not worry about making mistakes. Hopefully Dylan can get healthy quickly and some of the development RU has show with some individual young player like Grant and Dortsch and the tougher defense RU has played of late can all be integrated together and at least for the fans we can have an entertaining last 6 weeks of the season.
So Pike has been criticized so much this year, its time to give him some credit for keeping the team together and pushing the right buttons without Harper in the lineup. I have seen better RU teams mail it in vs Northwestern who is usually well coached but looked more like pussycats rather than Wildcats tonight. 11-10 on to 2 game home stretch bac at the rac vs 2 very good NCAA bound teams but 2 teams that have shown some vulnerability in the past few games. It would be a perfect time for some legendary RAC hocus pocus that might feed the Rutgers faithful's love tank to keep us warm in February.
