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GAME 22 Maryland: That was a great win

bac2therac

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In simple terms, its a great win. Two road wins in a row. Who would have thought that after the Penn State debacle at the RAC. This was just a great win because it just built off that performance at Michigan. Just like at Michigan, RU recovered from a shaky first half to take control in the 2nd half. RU outtoughed, outfought, outcoached, outplayed Maryland. The unfortunate T on Derek turned this into a final possession game and made RU have to rewin it again by making plays. You always want to win by making plays. RU won this game 2x. It made all kinds of plays offensively in crunch time and then let its bread and butter get it done on the last possession. I absolutely love that Coach Pikiell did not foul Maryland there and let our D play it out. Once again another game where everyone contributed at some point with some individual superlative performances. To do so on the road with adversity of foul trouble and some questionable calls make this win all the more sweeter. So the first half so ugly from both teams. Yet I felt RU was so deserving of that win in the 2nd half. RU turned it over 12 times in the first half but only 3 in the 2nd and it showed. Do not have the exact stat but RU shot close to 50% in the 2nd half vs a very very good Maryland defense. Do not discount what a leap forward this is. RU made Maryland pay on a couple of key turnovers. Obviously the insertion of Jeremiah is changing alot on how Rutgers is defended.

Look its tough trying to make cheap win taste better. We all now the deficiencies with the roster this year and absolute struggles with shooting the ball. However Pikiell coming back from his darkest moments less than a week ago, has been given an infusion of flavor with the addition of Jeremiah Williams. I am always skeptical of a hype of a player who hasnt seen the court but J Will has answered that completely. He has blown away any expectations I had of him. J Will was active early perhaps a bit too active collecting 3 fouls in the first half and then quickly his 4th right away. Yet Pike rolled the dice and put Jeremiah back in after the 12 minute timeout and it proved to be a winning move. In a game like this where it was hard for either team to get a sniff of momentum, I noted the big shots by Jeremiah and Derek back to back which gave RU at 42-37 lead. At 9:48, Jeremiah with a smooth step back 3 with time running out in shot clock and the Maryland defender right on him was a game changer. J Will would haul the rebound and hand off to Derek who scurried down the court for a reverse layin that put RU up 5. Later J Will would get his hands on a missed Gavin 3 which Emmanuel Ogbole was able to put back in for a lay in. Suddenly RU up 44-37. J Will wasnt done yet. His steal and fearless drive to the hoop had RU up 46-39. In less than a 5 minute stretch, J Will had 5 points, 2 boards and a steal. Yet he would save his best for last. With Rutgers in panic mode as the shot clock would down, Williams getting the ball from I believe Derek with just about 2 seconds somehow was able to squirt in the lane and get off a shot with just .2 seconds left on the shot clock. A playmaker. All year long we have asked who should be the guy to take the last shot. Two games in and Jeremiah has already solved this issue. Fearless today throughtout, even when he had 4 fouls he was aggressive and risked his body. Not sure that Rutgers win this game if he wasnt in the lineup. Just 20 minutes but oh how impactful. 5-9 fg, 2-2 treys, 15 points, 5 boards. Bravo Jeremiah we are just scratching the surface now. The fact that there isnt much film on him at RU means that Pikiell has a bit of an upperhand versus the opponents.

Now let us move on to the defense. I know Maryland is not the best of offensive teams but Rutgers ability to limit anyone but Julian Reese was outstanding. Any time you allow your opponents to just 31% shooting and 2-18 from 3 you are doing something right. There were two Maryland droughts where the Terps were held to just one fg in like 6-7 minutes. Biggest of which was during that 13-4 run over 7 minutes where the score went from 37 all to RU up 50-41. In fact I believe in the last 10:22, the Terps had just 2 made fg. That is elite defense and quite frankly we have seen this showing up the last 3 halves. Maryland was missing at the rim. Maryland was missing from 3. To their credit Maryland stayed in late by hitting their free throws. On the last possession, as I said, love that Pike played it straight up without fouling. Mawot Mag was a big part of that last play there trapping and then defending that 3 and we had guys near the rim to thwart any shot off the rebound and was it Wolf? got a hand in their late and J Mike secured the final rebound. Was reminiscient of some great D down the stretch last year vs Wisky/PSU in similar spots.

Mag was excellent tonight. His 3 game stretch of woeful play definitely unnerved some people but we have Mag back and he was magnificent tonight. Mag just like he did vs Michigan kept RU in the game with offense in the first half. This time with 9 of RRU's 22 first half points Mag had a nice slash to the hoop during the decisive RU run. Another fine stat line, in 28 minutes, 6-9 fg, 15 points and defense that cannot be measure. Yet it was his play in crunch time that magnanoumous tonight. Mag with the one and one of the his life.....the first of which appeared was going to pop out but bounce back in. The second was swish and RU up 56-53. Then the aformentioned Mag D on that last play. Players making plays. That is how you win. When you have guys stepping up like J Will and Mag, you know you are starting to get better.

Emmanuel Ogbole has been a pleasant surprise to me. Huge body and was able to get a nice putback and grabbed a couple of boards in spot minutes for Cliff. 8 minutes, Pike did roll with a smaller lineup most of the time without Cliff but I think at least O Bole is showing he can hold his own out there.

Derek Derek Derek its always the good with the bad. Just 2-9 fg, 3 boards for 6 points. As mentioned earlier, he was part of that decisive 5 point turning point following the J Will 3 with his bucket. Before that Derek was a black hole on offense going 0-7 with many way off the mark. He played 31 minutes but I think there was an obvious concerted move for others to get shots rather than him in the 2nd half. With just under 3 minutes it looked like Derek sealed the game with a jumper that put RU up 52-43 but was called for technical for excessive celebration...We see these tauntings happen alot and most of the time its not called. This time it was. The announcers thought it was the right call. I do not know the rules to be honest, if there is a certain threshold that has to be crossed. I would hope that Derek would be smart enough to just let his play do the talking rather than his mouth or taunts. That play was just one play. While it gave Maryland 2 points, RU was still up 7. RU made a few mistakes on defense and then sputttered on offense as Maryland turned up the heat. You have to react in the right way. In the end, Rutgers did. They overcame the T. They overcame a few bad plays and in the end responded with plays of their own. Derek was certainly a part of that great D in the end. Learning lesson is just never let the refs decide for you. Still the response by RU in digging deep is more the story than almost blowing it because of the T.

Cliff also had some foul trouble this game picking up 3 in the first. Do not discount some big time plays he made before fouling out. We needed every bit he gave in the paint on both ends. Just 4-10 fg in 22 minutes, 8 points, 3 blocks. Somehow Pike was able to cobble together some tough D without Cliff even in the lineup by going smaller with Mag/Hyatt and sprinkling in some Egbole. Hyatt is taking on a new role now. It cannot be easy. Out of the starting lineup but forced into more minutes tonight with Cliff/JWill foul trouble. It wasnt a bad game. Seems odd Hyatt now just taking 4 shots, one of them a really bad look, made 2 but had 4 boards and 2 blocks. If the new role is Hyatt is to contribute in other ways besides scoring, mission accomplished tonight IMO. JMike was solid not spectacular but solid. Tough D on some good Maryland guards with a couple of steals. Just 1-3 fg but hit a big 3 in the 2nd half and grabbed that last board of the game. To me another progession is Big 10 playing wars against solid competition. Noah was not good early where he had most of his 4 turnovers but did contribute with 5 boards and did have a steal which he converted into a transition bucket. Again learning to accept a reduced role but contributing when asked. Gavin had an 0-4 night with just one rebound but I think he played better than his stat line in 20 minutes. I loved his assist to Cliff a beauty of a delivery for a bucket. Gavin's first shot attempt was a 3 that was 95% down before somehow spinning out. I think he was active. I do not think his defense hurt the team in the 2nd half. Wolf just 7 minutes with 3 boards but Pike trusted him late on the last defensive play.

Coaching staff again have done wonders after Penn State. Pike had to scramble a bit in this game with the foul trouble but somehow cobble together a plan that had RU down only 2 despite their futility on offense. I loved Pike won halftime again. Better feel for subs now and Pike has certainly had a talk with a few players. Doesnt mean they will not be called on more in certain situations but Pike had to do something and of course havin Williams now helps everything.

So where we is RU at 6 days after the Penn State loss....two Big 10 road wins stacked together and this team probably headed bac2therac arguably the most confident that they have been all year long. Two big time games coming up vs 2 likely NCAA opponents. The first coming up Saturday vs #11 Wisconsin and then followed up by a very good Northwestern next Thursday. Certainly not an easy task as its an upgrade from Michigan and Maryland. Yet here is RU who probably needed to win 2 of its last 3 to keep NIT hopes now 4-7 in league and here comes the RAC known for its magic especially where RU is coming in as the underdog. I do not know what happened with Penn State but RU played Purdue down to the final minutes. Do not discount what confidence and the RAC can do. What I like is that this team appears to be as loose as they have been in a couple of years. Perhaps the burden of eyeing the NCAA tourney (yes its not in our sights) removed combined with the addition of J Will makes Rutgers the fresh threat in the Big 10 going forward.
 
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That 2nd half sequence with all of those winning plays by JWill… wow.

If we’re going to make a run here, we will need SOMEBODY to start hitting threes.

Somebody call Stuff Yer Face - they need to put the Emmanuel Og-Boli on the menu!
 
Everything you said and just reiterating how great it is to have Jeremiah Williams playing right now. Whole vibe is different. He’s a grown man. I’m seeing the little things get done better, even if the result is the same. So its very encouraging.
 
It's not by accident that we have won three straight times at Maryland.
I felt bad for the 12 or so people that tried to continue the airball chants all first half at Derek Simpson. Their place and fans are horrible, if not for bunch of bad calls in 19-20 we should have 4 straight wins in that cavernous quiet arena.
 
Great recap.

“Cliff also had some foul trouble”

How about ridiculous biased officiating again?

We match up well with Maryland. Our guards can contain Young. Pike is in Willard’s head.

If officiating was remotely fair we win this going away.

Great win for confidence and next year showing we can win a close game on the road back to back and despite ridiculously biased officiating.

9-11 for line was nice too!
 
We've shot well from the line all year away from JMA.

N Princeton 7-7
@ Ohio St 12-14
@ Iowa 15-19
N Miss St 11-14
@ Michigan 13-17
@ Seton Hall 12-16
@ Wake 8-11
@ ILL 8-11
...lowest was @ Mich St 8-13
Total on road 94-122 77.0%
+9-11= 103-133 77.4%
 
I do find it funny and very Pikiellian that the team forced to its lowest point in years by horrendous offense found a spark by just playing even more elite defense.

The last two games have been below average adjusted offensive performances, even for us, but we’ve won with otherworldly defense
 
We've shot well from the line all year away from JMA.

N Princeton 7-7
@ Ohio St 12-14
@ Iowa 15-19
N Miss St 11-14
@ Michigan 13-17
@ Seton Hall 12-16
@ Wake 8-11
@ ILL 8-11
...lowest was @ Mich St 8-13
Total on road 94-122 77.0%
+9-11= 103-133 77.4%
This has got to be the most mind boggling stat in the pantheon of mind boggling stats this year. This means we’re probably shooting about 55% from the line at the RAC.

Ponderous. F’n ponderous.
 
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The Penn State loss was painful, and one can say they are a bad team,b ut Penn State beat Wisconsin 87-83, and beat Indiana on the road after beating RU, winning 85-71--yeah, big deal. Maybe Penn State is finding itself under a new coach. Or maybe they do suck. But they are in the middle of the B1G standings with 5 wins.
Wisconsin, Northwester, Minnesota, Purdue are up next, all currently "top" teams in the conference.
 
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Something I thought of this morning that is a HUGE advantage for us, most guys on floor are feeling the wear and tear of three months of a season and playing 22-23 games, 11-12 games in conference, on their bodies, and we have two guys like JWill and Ogbole fresh as daisies only two games with no nicks or dents, a step quicker than anyone at this point in the season over the last 9 games.
 
I was thinking that fouling on the final play was the right coaching move but certainly preferred to win it the way we did.

BTW, was Pike in the MD huddle before that play or something. I swear every RU player knew exactly what MD was trying to run and completely shut it down. First Mag letting #5 run off the ball screen unguarded and heading straight to Young, then Ja closing off any path for Young to get to the corner and finally not fouling on the put back attempt, it was really well coached and executed. A great final play.
 
I was thinking that fouling on the final play was the right coaching move but certainly preferred to win it the way we did.

BTW, was Pike in the MD huddle before that play or something. I swear every RU player knew exactly what MD was trying to run and completely shut it down. First Mag letting #5 run off the ball screen unguarded and heading straight to Young, then Ja closing off any path for Young to get to the corner and finally not fouling on the put back attempt, it was really well coached and executed. A great final play.
It legit looked like they knew Maryland's exact play. Maybe they did an excellent job scouting and did know the play
 
I was thinking that fouling on the final play was the right coaching move but certainly preferred to win it the way we did.

BTW, was Pike in the MD huddle before that play or something. I swear every RU player knew exactly what MD was trying to run and completely shut it down. First Mag letting #5 run off the ball screen unguarded and heading straight to Young, then Ja closing off any path for Young to get to the corner and finally not fouling on the put back attempt, it was really well coached and executed. A great final play.
We went to zone. They called a play for man. Players are well coached and executed well. Pike won the timeout.
 
In simple terms, its a great win. Two road wins in a row. Who would have thought that after the Penn State debacle at the RAC. This was just a great win because it just built off that performance at Michigan. Just like at Michigan, RU recovered from a shaky first half to take control in the 2nd half. RU outtoughed, outfought, outcoached, outplayed Maryland. The unfortunate T on Derek turned this into a final possession game and made RU have to rewin it again by making plays. You always want to win by making plays. RU won this game 2x. It made all kinds of plays offensively in crunch time and then let its bread and butter get it done on the last possession. I absolutely love that Coach Pikiell did not foul Maryland there and let our D play it out. Once again another game where everyone contributed at some point with some individual superlative performances. To do so on the road with adversity of foul trouble and some questionable calls make this win all the more sweeter. So the first half so ugly from both teams. Yet I felt RU was so deserving of that win in the 2nd half. RU turned it over 12 times in the first half but only 3 in the 2nd and it showed. Do not have the exact stat but RU shot close to 50% in the 2nd half vs a very very good Maryland defense. Do not discount what a leap forward this is. RU made Maryland pay on a couple of key turnovers. Obviously the insertion of Jeremiah is changing alot on how Rutgers is defended.

Look its tough trying to make cheap win taste better. We all now the deficiencies with the roster this year and absolute struggles with shooting the ball. However Pikiell coming back from his darkest moments less than a week ago, has been given an infusion of flavor with the addition of Jeremiah Williams. I am always skeptical of a hype of a player who hasnt seen the court but J Will has answered that completely. He has blown away any expectations I had of him. J Will was active early perhaps a bit too active collecting 3 fouls in the first half and then quickly his 4th right away. Yet Pike rolled the dice and put Jeremiah back in after the 12 minute timeout and it proved to be a winning move. In a game like this where it was hard for either team to get a sniff of momentum, I noted the big shots by Jeremiah and Derek back to back which gave RU at 42-37 lead. At 9:48, Jeremiah with a smooth step back 3 with time running out in shot clock and the Maryland defender right on him was a game changer. J Will would haul the rebound and hand off to Derek who scurried down the court for a reverse layin that put RU up 5. Later J Will would get his hands on a missed Gavin 3 which Emmanuel Ogbole was able to put back in for a lay in. Suddenly RU up 44-37. J Will wasnt done yet. His steal and fearless drive to the hoop had RU up 46-39. In less than a 5 minute stretch, J Will had 5 points, 2 boards and a steal. Yet he would save his best for last. With Rutgers in panic mode as the shot clock would down, Williams getting the ball from I believe Derek with just about 2 seconds somehow was able to squirt in the lane and get off a shot with just .2 seconds left on the shot clock. A playmaker. All year long we have asked who should be the guy to take the last shot. Two games in and Jeremiah has already solved this issue. Fearless today throughtout, even when he had 4 fouls he was aggressive and risked his body. Not sure that Rutgers win this game if he wasnt in the lineup. Just 20 minutes but oh how impactful. 5-9 fg, 2-2 treys, 15 points, 5 boards. Bravo Jeremiah we are just scratching the surface now. The fact that there isnt much film on him at RU means that Pikiell has a bit of an upperhand versus the opponents.

Now let us move on to the defense. I know Maryland is not the best of offensive teams but Rutgers ability to limit anyone but Julian Reese was outstanding. Any time you allow your opponents to just 31% shooting and 2-18 from 3 you are doing something right. There were two Maryland droughts where the Terps were held to just one fg in like 6-7 minutes. Biggest of which was during that 13-4 run over 7 minutes where the score went from 37 all to RU up 50-41. In fact I believe in the last 10:22, the Terps had just 2 made fg. That is elite defense and quite frankly we have seen this showing up the last 3 halves. Maryland was missing at the rim. Maryland was missing from 3. To their credit Maryland stayed in late by hitting their free throws. On the last possession, as I said, love that Pike played it straight up without fouling. Mawot Mag was a big part of that last play there trapping and then defending that 3 and we had guys near the rim to thwart any shot off the rebound and was it Wolf? got a hand in their late and J Mike secured the final rebound. Was reminiscient of some great D down the stretch last year vs Wisky/PSU in similar spots.

Mag was excellent tonight. His 3 game stretch of woeful play definitely unnerved some people but we have Mag back and he was magnificent tonight. Mag just like he did vs Michigan kept RU in the game with offense in the first half. This time with 9 of RRU's 22 first half points Mag had a nice slash to the hoop during the decisive RU run. Another fine stat line, in 28 minutes, 6-9 fg, 15 points and defense that cannot be measure. Yet it was his play in crunch time that magnanoumous tonight. Mag with the one and one of the his life.....the first of which appeared was going to pop out but bounce back in. The second was swish and RU up 56-53. Then the aformentioned Mag D on that last play. Players making plays. That is how you win. When you have guys stepping up like J Will and Mag, you know you are starting to get better.

Emmanuel Ogbole has been a pleasant surprise to me. Huge body and was able to get a nice putback and grabbed a couple of boards in spot minutes for Cliff. 8 minutes, Pike did roll with a smaller lineup most of the time without Cliff but I think at least O Bole is showing he can hold his own out there.

Derek Derek Derek its always the good with the bad. Just 2-9 fg, 3 boards for 6 points. As mentioned earlier, he was part of that decisive 5 point turning point following the J Will 3 with his bucket. Before that Derek was a black hole on offense going 0-7 with many way off the mark. He played 31 minutes but I think there was an obvious concerted move for others to get shots rather than him in the 2nd half. With just under 3 minutes it looked like Derek sealed the game with a jumper that put RU up 52-43 but was called for technical for excessive celebration...We see these tauntings happen alot and most of the time its not called. This time it was. The announcers thought it was the right call. I do not know the rules to be honest, if there is a certain threshold that has to be crossed. I would hope that Derek would be smart enough to just let his play do the talking rather than his mouth or taunts. That play was just one play. While it gave Maryland 2 points, RU was still up 7. RU made a few mistakes on defense and then sputttered on offense as Maryland turned up the heat. You have to react in the right way. In the end, Rutgers did. They overcame the T. They overcame a few bad plays and in the end responded with plays of their own. Derek was certainly a part of that great D in the end. Learning lesson is just never let the refs decide for you. Still the response by RU in digging deep is more the story than almost blowing it because of the T.

Cliff also had some foul trouble this game picking up 3 in the first. Do not discount some big time plays he made before fouling out. We needed every bit he gave in the paint on both ends. Just 4-10 fg in 22 minutes, 8 points, 3 blocks. Somehow Pike was able to cobble together some tough D without Cliff even in the lineup by going smaller with Mag/Hyatt and sprinkling in some Egbole. Hyatt is taking on a new role now. It cannot be easy. Out of the starting lineup but forced into more minutes tonight with Cliff/JWill foul trouble. It wasnt a bad game. Seems odd Hyatt now just taking 4 shots, one of them a really bad look, made 2 but had 4 boards and 2 blocks. If the new role is Hyatt is to contribute in other ways besides scoring, mission accomplished tonight IMO. JMike was solid not spectacular but solid. Tough D on some good Maryland guards with a couple of steals. Just 1-3 fg but hit a big 3 in the 2nd half and grabbed that last board of the game. To me another progession is Big 10 playing wars against solid competition. Noah was not good early where he had most of his 4 turnovers but did contribute with 5 boards and did have a steal which he converted into a transition bucket. Again learning to accept a reduced role but contributing when asked. Gavin had an 0-4 night with just one rebound but I think he played better than his stat line in 20 minutes. I loved his assist to Cliff a beauty of a delivery for a bucket. Gavin's first shot attempt was a 3 that was 95% down before somehow spinning out. I think he was active. I do not think his defense hurt the team in the 2nd half. Wolf just 7 minutes with 3 boards but Pike trusted him late on the last defensive play.

Coaching staff again have done wonders after Penn State. Pike had to scramble a bit in this game with the foul trouble but somehow cobble together a plan that had RU down only 2 despite their futility on offense. I loved Pike won halftime again. Better feel for subs now and Pike has certainly had a talk with a few players. Doesnt mean they will not be called on more in certain situations but Pike had to do something and of course havin Williams now helps everything.

So where we is RU at 6 days after the Penn State loss....two Big 10 road wins stacked together and this team probably headed bac2therac arguably the most confident that they have been all year long. Two big time games coming up vs 2 likely NCAA opponents. The first coming up Saturday vs #11 Wisconsin and then followed up by a very good Northwestern next Thursday. Certainly not an easy task as its an upgrade from Michigan and Maryland. Yet here is RU who probably needed to win 2 of its last 3 to keep NIT hopes now 4-7 in league and here comes the RAC known for its magic especially where RU is coming in as the underdog. I do not know what happened with Penn State but RU played Purdue down to the final minutes. Do not discount what confidence and the RAC can do. What I like is that this team appears to be as loose as they have been in a couple of years. Perhaps the burden of eyeing the NCAA tourney (yes its not in our sights) removed combined with the addition of J Will makes Rutgers the fresh threat in the Big 10 going forward.
I’m not exactly sure how the conference tournament is set up but I’m going to assume that is the bottom four who have to play the first night. That I think is huge. If we can avoid that game and continue to play, well, or at least improved, I think we’ve got a chance to win the conference. Likelihood, no. But as of today, February 7 I think we still have a 10% shot.Under the scenario of having to play the extra game, and then knocking off who’s ever in front of us.
 
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I was thinking that fouling on the final play was the right coaching move but certainly preferred to win it the way we did.

BTW, was Pike in the MD huddle before that play or something. I swear every RU player knew exactly what MD was trying to run and completely shut it down. First Mag letting #5 run off the ball screen unguarded and heading straight to Young, then Ja closing off any path for Young to get to the corner and finally not fouling on the put back attempt, it was really well coached and executed. A great final play.
Not in this game. Fouling wasn’t the way to go. Maryland was struggling to score in the halfcourt sets. Forcing them to make a play there was the best move.

Did you see the close call on the inbounds play before the one where Mag was fouled? No way Pike wanted to have to inbound it again.
 
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I would have to overlook quite a bit to consider this a great win. I like the effort and intensity but the quality of play on offense for the most part was bad. Yes maybe some of it could be attributed to the defense but the many of the turnovers in the first half were of the unforced variety.

One the positive side they held on after the Simpson T when it was looking rather dire for a couple of minutes there. We can debate the merits of the T but Simpson needs to learn from that which is a lot easier after a close win rather than a close loss. While he did not make a lot of his shots, they were not forced for the most part and he is one of the few on the team that can elevate and get a clean look off the dribble. Thus I would encourage him to keep shooting.

Our defensive rotations were pretty good for most of the night and I guess Maryland is as bad at shooting the three as we are. We did a good job of knowing where Young was on most possessions and made things difficult for him. It was a team effort on that front. While Reese has talent I don't like how he carries himself. He seemed to be looking for a altercation. Maybe he should work on his FT's because they cost his team the game.

While it is great to win these last two, I came away from both thinking what a down year it is for the conference. While Wisconsin is a better team, I think we can give them a game at home over the weekend.
 
I would have to overlook quite a bit to consider this a great win. I like the effort and intensity but the quality of play on offense for the most part was bad. Yes maybe some of it could be attributed to the defense but the many of the turnovers in the first half were of the unforced variety.

One the positive side they held on after the Simpson T when it was looking rather dire for a couple of minutes there. We can debate the merits of the T but Simpson needs to learn from that which is a lot easier after a close win rather than a close loss. While he did not make a lot of his shots, they were not forced for the most part and he is one of the few on the team that can elevate and get a clean look off the dribble. Thus I would encourage him to keep shooting.

Our defensive rotations were pretty good for most of the night and I guess Maryland is as bad at shooting the three as we are. We did a good job of knowing where Young was on most possessions and made things difficult for him. It was a team effort on that front. While Reese has talent I don't like how he carries himself. He seemed to be looking for a altercation. Maybe he should work on his FT's because they cost his team the game.

While it is great to win these last two, I came away from both thinking what a down year it is for the conference. While Wisconsin is a better team, I think we can give them a game at home over the weekend.
I disagree with the sentiment that is was a great win but rather a satisfying win. When we turn the ball over 12 times against Maryland and 10 times against Michigan in the first half , we look ugly and incompetent which is how we mostly looked last night in the first half . But remarkably only 3 second half turnovers last night and only 2 against Michigan and guess what we almost shot 50% in the second halves.
Conques was nice enough to answer a question I posed on offensive efficiency and said it was 1.13 per possession against Maryland and 1.22 against Michigan in the second halves compared to .682 against Maryland and .882 against Michigan in our first halves.
Playing with little to no turnovers ( 3and 2 per half
) allows us to have those insanely good offensive efficiency #’s and gives us a chance in every game the rest of the way.
If 2 halves happen like the second halves of Maryland and Michigan then I will call that a great win.
 
Maryland has been playing quite well.
They were 10-2 at home.
They are kinda of our B1G rival.
Pike/RU v Willard rivalry.
Maybe would have been a double digit win if ref didn’t interfere.
Two away wins in a row.
I am okay with “Great Win”
 
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I would have to overlook quite a bit to consider this a great win. I like the effort and intensity but the quality of play on offense for the most part was bad. Yes maybe some of it could be attributed to the defense but the many of the turnovers in the first half were of the unforced variety.

One the positive side they held on after the Simpson T when it was looking rather dire for a couple of minutes there. We can debate the merits of the T but Simpson needs to learn from that which is a lot easier after a close win rather than a close loss. While he did not make a lot of his shots, they were not forced for the most part and he is one of the few on the team that can elevate and get a clean look off the dribble. Thus I would encourage him to keep shooting.

Our defensive rotations were pretty good for most of the night and I guess Maryland is as bad at shooting the three as we are. We did a good job of knowing where Young was on most possessions and made things difficult for him. It was a team effort on that front. While Reese has talent I don't like how he carries himself. He seemed to be looking for a altercation. Maybe he should work on his FT's because they cost his team the game.

While it is great to win these last two, I came away from both thinking what a down year it is for the conference. While Wisconsin is a better team, I think we can give them a game at home over the weekend.
No one said we were perfect, but it’s a great win nonetheless.

Also, we can focus on the negatives of the first half (same at UM), but the game was won in the second half, as most games are (including at UM).

We played well on both sides of the court in the second half, in both road wins. Great indeed.
 
In simple terms, its a great win. Two road wins in a row. Who would have thought that after the Penn State debacle at the RAC. This was just a great win because it just built off that performance at Michigan. Just like at Michigan, RU recovered from a shaky first half to take control in the 2nd half. RU outtoughed, outfought, outcoached, outplayed Maryland. The unfortunate T on Derek turned this into a final possession game and made RU have to rewin it again by making plays. You always want to win by making plays. RU won this game 2x. It made all kinds of plays offensively in crunch time and then let its bread and butter get it done on the last possession. I absolutely love that Coach Pikiell did not foul Maryland there and let our D play it out. Once again another game where everyone contributed at some point with some individual superlative performances. To do so on the road with adversity of foul trouble and some questionable calls make this win all the more sweeter. So the first half so ugly from both teams. Yet I felt RU was so deserving of that win in the 2nd half. RU turned it over 12 times in the first half but only 3 in the 2nd and it showed. Do not have the exact stat but RU shot close to 50% in the 2nd half vs a very very good Maryland defense. Do not discount what a leap forward this is. RU made Maryland pay on a couple of key turnovers. Obviously the insertion of Jeremiah is changing alot on how Rutgers is defended.

Look its tough trying to make cheap win taste better. We all now the deficiencies with the roster this year and absolute struggles with shooting the ball. However Pikiell coming back from his darkest moments less than a week ago, has been given an infusion of flavor with the addition of Jeremiah Williams. I am always skeptical of a hype of a player who hasnt seen the court but J Will has answered that completely. He has blown away any expectations I had of him. J Will was active early perhaps a bit too active collecting 3 fouls in the first half and then quickly his 4th right away. Yet Pike rolled the dice and put Jeremiah back in after the 12 minute timeout and it proved to be a winning move. In a game like this where it was hard for either team to get a sniff of momentum, I noted the big shots by Jeremiah and Derek back to back which gave RU at 42-37 lead. At 9:48, Jeremiah with a smooth step back 3 with time running out in shot clock and the Maryland defender right on him was a game changer. J Will would haul the rebound and hand off to Derek who scurried down the court for a reverse layin that put RU up 5. Later J Will would get his hands on a missed Gavin 3 which Emmanuel Ogbole was able to put back in for a lay in. Suddenly RU up 44-37. J Will wasnt done yet. His steal and fearless drive to the hoop had RU up 46-39. In less than a 5 minute stretch, J Will had 5 points, 2 boards and a steal. Yet he would save his best for last. With Rutgers in panic mode as the shot clock would down, Williams getting the ball from I believe Derek with just about 2 seconds somehow was able to squirt in the lane and get off a shot with just .2 seconds left on the shot clock. A playmaker. All year long we have asked who should be the guy to take the last shot. Two games in and Jeremiah has already solved this issue. Fearless today throughtout, even when he had 4 fouls he was aggressive and risked his body. Not sure that Rutgers win this game if he wasnt in the lineup. Just 20 minutes but oh how impactful. 5-9 fg, 2-2 treys, 15 points, 5 boards. Bravo Jeremiah we are just scratching the surface now. The fact that there isnt much film on him at RU means that Pikiell has a bit of an upperhand versus the opponents.

Now let us move on to the defense. I know Maryland is not the best of offensive teams but Rutgers ability to limit anyone but Julian Reese was outstanding. Any time you allow your opponents to just 31% shooting and 2-18 from 3 you are doing something right. There were two Maryland droughts where the Terps were held to just one fg in like 6-7 minutes. Biggest of which was during that 13-4 run over 7 minutes where the score went from 37 all to RU up 50-41. In fact I believe in the last 10:22, the Terps had just 2 made fg. That is elite defense and quite frankly we have seen this showing up the last 3 halves. Maryland was missing at the rim. Maryland was missing from 3. To their credit Maryland stayed in late by hitting their free throws. On the last possession, as I said, love that Pike played it straight up without fouling. Mawot Mag was a big part of that last play there trapping and then defending that 3 and we had guys near the rim to thwart any shot off the rebound and was it Wolf? got a hand in their late and J Mike secured the final rebound. Was reminiscient of some great D down the stretch last year vs Wisky/PSU in similar spots.

Mag was excellent tonight. His 3 game stretch of woeful play definitely unnerved some people but we have Mag back and he was magnificent tonight. Mag just like he did vs Michigan kept RU in the game with offense in the first half. This time with 9 of RRU's 22 first half points Mag had a nice slash to the hoop during the decisive RU run. Another fine stat line, in 28 minutes, 6-9 fg, 15 points and defense that cannot be measure. Yet it was his play in crunch time that magnanoumous tonight. Mag with the one and one of the his life.....the first of which appeared was going to pop out but bounce back in. The second was swish and RU up 56-53. Then the aformentioned Mag D on that last play. Players making plays. That is how you win. When you have guys stepping up like J Will and Mag, you know you are starting to get better.

Emmanuel Ogbole has been a pleasant surprise to me. Huge body and was able to get a nice putback and grabbed a couple of boards in spot minutes for Cliff. 8 minutes, Pike did roll with a smaller lineup most of the time without Cliff but I think at least O Bole is showing he can hold his own out there.

Derek Derek Derek its always the good with the bad. Just 2-9 fg, 3 boards for 6 points. As mentioned earlier, he was part of that decisive 5 point turning point following the J Will 3 with his bucket. Before that Derek was a black hole on offense going 0-7 with many way off the mark. He played 31 minutes but I think there was an obvious concerted move for others to get shots rather than him in the 2nd half. With just under 3 minutes it looked like Derek sealed the game with a jumper that put RU up 52-43 but was called for technical for excessive celebration...We see these tauntings happen alot and most of the time its not called. This time it was. The announcers thought it was the right call. I do not know the rules to be honest, if there is a certain threshold that has to be crossed. I would hope that Derek would be smart enough to just let his play do the talking rather than his mouth or taunts. That play was just one play. While it gave Maryland 2 points, RU was still up 7. RU made a few mistakes on defense and then sputttered on offense as Maryland turned up the heat. You have to react in the right way. In the end, Rutgers did. They overcame the T. They overcame a few bad plays and in the end responded with plays of their own. Derek was certainly a part of that great D in the end. Learning lesson is just never let the refs decide for you. Still the response by RU in digging deep is more the story than almost blowing it because of the T.

Cliff also had some foul trouble this game picking up 3 in the first. Do not discount some big time plays he made before fouling out. We needed every bit he gave in the paint on both ends. Just 4-10 fg in 22 minutes, 8 points, 3 blocks. Somehow Pike was able to cobble together some tough D without Cliff even in the lineup by going smaller with Mag/Hyatt and sprinkling in some Egbole. Hyatt is taking on a new role now. It cannot be easy. Out of the starting lineup but forced into more minutes tonight with Cliff/JWill foul trouble. It wasnt a bad game. Seems odd Hyatt now just taking 4 shots, one of them a really bad look, made 2 but had 4 boards and 2 blocks. If the new role is Hyatt is to contribute in other ways besides scoring, mission accomplished tonight IMO. JMike was solid not spectacular but solid. Tough D on some good Maryland guards with a couple of steals. Just 1-3 fg but hit a big 3 in the 2nd half and grabbed that last board of the game. To me another progession is Big 10 playing wars against solid competition. Noah was not good early where he had most of his 4 turnovers but did contribute with 5 boards and did have a steal which he converted into a transition bucket. Again learning to accept a reduced role but contributing when asked. Gavin had an 0-4 night with just one rebound but I think he played better than his stat line in 20 minutes. I loved his assist to Cliff a beauty of a delivery for a bucket. Gavin's first shot attempt was a 3 that was 95% down before somehow spinning out. I think he was active. I do not think his defense hurt the team in the 2nd half. Wolf just 7 minutes with 3 boards but Pike trusted him late on the last defensive play.

Coaching staff again have done wonders after Penn State. Pike had to scramble a bit in this game with the foul trouble but somehow cobble together a plan that had RU down only 2 despite their futility on offense. I loved Pike won halftime again. Better feel for subs now and Pike has certainly had a talk with a few players. Doesnt mean they will not be called on more in certain situations but Pike had to do something and of course havin Williams now helps everything.

So where we is RU at 6 days after the Penn State loss....two Big 10 road wins stacked together and this team probably headed bac2therac arguably the most confident that they have been all year long. Two big time games coming up vs 2 likely NCAA opponents. The first coming up Saturday vs #11 Wisconsin and then followed up by a very good Northwestern next Thursday. Certainly not an easy task as its an upgrade from Michigan and Maryland. Yet here is RU who probably needed to win 2 of its last 3 to keep NIT hopes now 4-7 in league and here comes the RAC known for its magic especially where RU is coming in as the underdog. I do not know what happened with Penn State but RU played Purdue down to the final minutes. Do not discount what confidence and the RAC can do. What I like is that this team appears to be as loose as they have been in a couple of years. Perhaps the burden of eyeing the NCAA tourney (yes its not in our sights) removed combined with the addition of J Will makes Rutgers the fresh threat in the Big 10 going forward.
We've lost 6 of 8 B1G games at home, IIRC, so it's time to GET THE RAC BACK!!!
 
I would have to overlook quite a bit to consider this a great win. I like the effort and intensity but the quality of play on offense for the most part was bad. Yes maybe some of it could be attributed to the defense but the many of the turnovers in the first half were of the unforced variety.

One the positive side they held on after the Simpson T when it was looking rather dire for a couple of minutes there. We can debate the merits of the T but Simpson needs to learn from that which is a lot easier after a close win rather than a close loss. While he did not make a lot of his shots, they were not forced for the most part and he is one of the few on the team that can elevate and get a clean look off the dribble. Thus I would encourage him to keep shooting.

Our defensive rotations were pretty good for most of the night and I guess Maryland is as bad at shooting the three as we are. We did a good job of knowing where Young was on most possessions and made things difficult for him. It was a team effort on that front. While Reese has talent I don't like how he carries himself. He seemed to be looking for a altercation. Maybe he should work on his FT's because they cost his team the game.

While it is great to win these last two, I came away from both thinking what a down year it is for the conference. While Wisconsin is a better team, I think we can give them a game at home over the weekend.
Reese does have an attitude problem and probably belongs on our despicable list.
He also does a lot of moving picks and doesn’t get called. He deserved to have fouled out as much or more than Cliff
 
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