What a grind out win today. Ugly again at the start and had everyone pulling their hair out in the game threads as we saw the same game unfolding. No offense, a long scoring drought and pourous defense. Much like last time RU was able to regroup following back to back 3s by Geo and Ron. They shook off the slow start down 21-11 this time and outscore Indiana 50-29 the rest of the way. Last time the run peaked at 47-12. This time RU had to repel an Indiana comeback though which saw the Hoosiers go up 48-47. Unbelievably RU held Indiana without a fg over the last 9:48 of the game and Indiana would only score two free throws in that stretch while RU ended the game on a 14-2 run. It was a full out Rutgers strong lunch pail defensive performance crushing the Hoosiers on the boards 41-33 and relentlessly making it uncomfortable for Indiana to find an easy shot.
You know we have seen games won by Geo or Ron or Jacob or Myles plenty of times and of course its usually a team effort too. Obviously everyone contributed at some today whether it was Ron getting us back in before halftime or Geo's 7 assists or Jacob's dipsy dos but never before have we read this particularly story in the ever evolving book of the Rutgers Journey to the NCAA. The Chapter of Paul was written tonight and will be remembered in the history books of hitting two of the most clutch back to back shots that broke open a tight game at 49-48 and pushed the RU lead to 55-48 where they had the cushion to close this one out. Paul has taken a lot of heat on the boards. Not exactly sure why. Listen he is never going to be the prolific scorer or play maker and he certainly is not our best defender. However he is our toughest player and our scrappiest player. I do not know what intangibles are but he brings them. Yes he can make mistakes and that is okay because he does not compounds his mistakes which is the difference. Indiana dared him to shoot tonight and Paul who had a nice first half with 2 points, 3 boards, and 2 assists was struggling shooting just 2-9 as the 2nd half wore on. Then fouling a timeout and two minute stretch at a critical juncture where both teams could not get anything going. Paul sank two daggers into the Hoosier's hearts effectively gutting them.
Caleb to Paul for wide open 3 from the wing, feet planted and set....and Paul delivered....52-48 with 7:11 left
next play Paul huge rebound off a Indiana miss
later Jacob to Paul in same spot...onions....55-48 with 5:34 left
Paul finished with 10 points, 5 rebounds 2 assists in 31 minutes.
But this just shows that Paul is earning the respect of his coaches and his teammates and be trusted to take the big shots to win the game, even later on a Paul miss from the corner, it was interesting Jacob went to Paul again rather than a wide open Geo. Paul in two years will most likely be paying it forward setting up jaden Jones in the corner for those shots
I cannot deny that this team is a tough watch because of its inconsistency throughout the game. The slow starts well documented at this point but once again the team digs down deep and even when they were not exactly closing it out offensively late, I think they knew they had Indiana beaten. Indiana missed a ton of free throws and were short on everything. Looked like a tired and uninspired performance which reflects their coach. Time to move on from the Archie Miller era but also time for their fans to be dealt reality of their place in college basketball. The booing of their players in the only game they were able to watch due to a friggin pandemic was one of the most embarrassing displays of sportsmanship I have heard on tv
So RU now completely owns the Hoosiers, I have lost track of the stats at this point. This win was important to keep momentum going for the NCAA tourney and RU now looks pretty good to be no worse than a 9 at this point. House money vs an Illinois team that RU already beat. There will be no fear. In fact RU has won 2 straight against the Illini. I have said this before and will say it again. This is a great rivalry game if you go back the last 3-4 years. I think RU is confidenct enough to compete and challenge them. Whether we pull off the upset I do not know but I do know we are coming into the game with a game under our belt and have the experience of shooting in a different kind of environment so if we use this to our advantage and get out to a quicker start the longer we hang with Illinois the better chance we will have to pull off the upset
Oh and again lets bask in all this winning and enjoy this. We have no worries as fans. We are going to the tournament. This next week will be a whirlwind of attention and media. This is what we have been dreaming of for 30 years. Do not take this time for granted. All of us loyals fans deserve this. Tears of joy and tears of happiness. We can always feel good that we stuck through it for 30 years and what a painful journey we had to endure to get to this momentous occasion. This is for all the long suffering fans who were part of the 2500 showing up to non conference games in Decembers over the past 30 years, all those past and present. All the new fans who came on board yes you are included too. We can thank Coach Pikiell and all these players for making their dreams a reality and delivering the golden biscuit.
You know we have seen games won by Geo or Ron or Jacob or Myles plenty of times and of course its usually a team effort too. Obviously everyone contributed at some today whether it was Ron getting us back in before halftime or Geo's 7 assists or Jacob's dipsy dos but never before have we read this particularly story in the ever evolving book of the Rutgers Journey to the NCAA. The Chapter of Paul was written tonight and will be remembered in the history books of hitting two of the most clutch back to back shots that broke open a tight game at 49-48 and pushed the RU lead to 55-48 where they had the cushion to close this one out. Paul has taken a lot of heat on the boards. Not exactly sure why. Listen he is never going to be the prolific scorer or play maker and he certainly is not our best defender. However he is our toughest player and our scrappiest player. I do not know what intangibles are but he brings them. Yes he can make mistakes and that is okay because he does not compounds his mistakes which is the difference. Indiana dared him to shoot tonight and Paul who had a nice first half with 2 points, 3 boards, and 2 assists was struggling shooting just 2-9 as the 2nd half wore on. Then fouling a timeout and two minute stretch at a critical juncture where both teams could not get anything going. Paul sank two daggers into the Hoosier's hearts effectively gutting them.
Caleb to Paul for wide open 3 from the wing, feet planted and set....and Paul delivered....52-48 with 7:11 left
next play Paul huge rebound off a Indiana miss
later Jacob to Paul in same spot...onions....55-48 with 5:34 left
Paul finished with 10 points, 5 rebounds 2 assists in 31 minutes.
But this just shows that Paul is earning the respect of his coaches and his teammates and be trusted to take the big shots to win the game, even later on a Paul miss from the corner, it was interesting Jacob went to Paul again rather than a wide open Geo. Paul in two years will most likely be paying it forward setting up jaden Jones in the corner for those shots
I cannot deny that this team is a tough watch because of its inconsistency throughout the game. The slow starts well documented at this point but once again the team digs down deep and even when they were not exactly closing it out offensively late, I think they knew they had Indiana beaten. Indiana missed a ton of free throws and were short on everything. Looked like a tired and uninspired performance which reflects their coach. Time to move on from the Archie Miller era but also time for their fans to be dealt reality of their place in college basketball. The booing of their players in the only game they were able to watch due to a friggin pandemic was one of the most embarrassing displays of sportsmanship I have heard on tv
So RU now completely owns the Hoosiers, I have lost track of the stats at this point. This win was important to keep momentum going for the NCAA tourney and RU now looks pretty good to be no worse than a 9 at this point. House money vs an Illinois team that RU already beat. There will be no fear. In fact RU has won 2 straight against the Illini. I have said this before and will say it again. This is a great rivalry game if you go back the last 3-4 years. I think RU is confidenct enough to compete and challenge them. Whether we pull off the upset I do not know but I do know we are coming into the game with a game under our belt and have the experience of shooting in a different kind of environment so if we use this to our advantage and get out to a quicker start the longer we hang with Illinois the better chance we will have to pull off the upset
Oh and again lets bask in all this winning and enjoy this. We have no worries as fans. We are going to the tournament. This next week will be a whirlwind of attention and media. This is what we have been dreaming of for 30 years. Do not take this time for granted. All of us loyals fans deserve this. Tears of joy and tears of happiness. We can always feel good that we stuck through it for 30 years and what a painful journey we had to endure to get to this momentous occasion. This is for all the long suffering fans who were part of the 2500 showing up to non conference games in Decembers over the past 30 years, all those past and present. All the new fans who came on board yes you are included too. We can thank Coach Pikiell and all these players for making their dreams a reality and delivering the golden biscuit.
