GAME 29 PENN STATE: Flubbing the last line of the movie

[bac2therac]

It was a script right out of a Hollywood movie. Team comes back home to bask in the glory of a big road win in front of a packed house on Senior Night. The opponent the arch rival who has put a target on your back comes in with confidence and punches team in the face landing several knockout blows right before halftime. Its a desperate situation. Down 20 against a hot team who is not going to lay down. A dunk to start the half, an old fashioned 3 point play, some strong defensive stops, a steal, two back to back dunks, some more hounding defense. Lead cut to 10, fans start to believe..don't stop believing. The Ghosts of the A10 championship from 30 years ago to this date starting to whisper in the bowels of the RAC. Then even more defense, made free throws, 3s and 3s and and its perfectly timed after a final defensive steal, everything was perfectly timed. RU the ball, down 1, not one, not two but three chances for a miracle comeback to be written in the annals of the RAC history forever, talked about for ages.....but wait what happened, Penn State wins 66-65, RU delivered everything but someone forgot to say the last line, the last shot, the one shining moment. You did all that, you cannot screw it up now...no no no no. That is not the way the movie as supposed to end.

There is alot of good that came in the second half. RU's defense was tremendous, their will to win off the charts. The hunger, the desire, the defense, everything that we fell in love with about this team was there. Young freshmen with onions making big shot after big shot. RU outscoring Penn State 46-29. It was actually one of the best RU halves of the season. The resiliency shown after a horrid first half was quite admirable. Team quietly went about their business chipping the lead down in chunks and positioned themselves for the win. This game in loss is why the future is still so so bright. Its not a moral victory. You can lose in the short term but win in the long term. Tonight spoke to the long term, what is to come. Tonight speaks to our coaching staff that has these players believing in their ability no matter what the defecit.

But short term, it is a hard lesson. It is obvious RU is very good at embracing the roll of the hunter. It had a target to track down in the second half. It is obvious from a short sample that as the hunted and with expectations hoisted upon them, this program is not quite ready to take THAT next step. And this is probably the FINAL step the program needs to take in becoming a legit NCAA contender. Unfortunately this may be the hardest step to take. Just ask Pat Chambers at Penn State in trying to get his team to the NCAA tournament. Just ask Miller at Indiana, Ask Underwood at Illinois, Miles at Nebraska. All programs who have struggled looking to take that next step up, all as talented and some maybe more talented than RU. The landscape is littered with programs that never got over the hump.....look no further than Gary Waters RU's teams...great as the hunter against ranked programs, failed miserably as the hunted when they ventured to the road against inferior competition. That kept RU out of the NCAA twice during his tenure. Luckily Pike is only in his third year. There is still time to learn how to compete in a way that you need to night in and out, with expectations, as the home team defending your home court against an equal or lesser opponent. No one feels sorry for anyone in the Big 10. You must be ready to compete night in and out.

Ru was not ready to compete tonight. Penn State wanted revenge and they came in and punked RU n the first half. RU's response was disappointing because we know that what we saw in the first half is not the true RU. This is a team that gives full effort and plays defense. We did not see that in the first half. RU came out overhyped, overexcited and perhaps overconfident, once again not delivering under the bright lights...remember St John's. By the time they got their bearings they looked like deer in headlights, a passive team with no swagger reverting to all the old issues from December and January. Its funny because just last week RU enacted revenge on Iowa punking them on their home court. Did they get caught up reading their press clippings? You are only as good as your last win in this league. Fortunes change on a dime. Credit Penn State, they wanted it, they had a game plan and they took it to RU. For RU it was an incredible comeback but obviously you cannot go down 20 points and hope to win and in the end, RU did not, no one is talking about the comeback today on the sports channels. They are talking about Penn State holding on and getting a big road win and the Nittany Lions being the hottest team in the conference. It did not have to be this way. Yet even more lessons learned. If they only knew their lines at the beginning of the movie, they would not have the pressure of delivering the winning line at the end of it

 

[bethlehemfan]

Well written piece and spot on.

 

[Duff366]

I love Geo, he has played tremendous for several games and made some huge shots.. but he cannot have zero in such a big game. God knows Bac would have (and has) killed Corey if he had done the same

Love Harper and McConnell. McConnell seems to always make the right play or be in the right position, except for one bad pass in the second half and missing that last second shot, he was tremendous, and has been one of the steadiest performers on this team.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Penn State's 1st half defense was as good as I have seen all year. Our body language was terrible and they were playing with swagger. The switch was turned in the opposite direction at the end. They were visibly tired and had bad body language.

I

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I love Geo, he has played tremendous for several games and made some huge shots.. but he cannot have zero in such a big game. God knows Bac would have (and has) killed Corey if he had done the same

Love Harper and McConnell. McConnell seems to always make the right play or be in the right position, except for one bad pass in the second half and missing that last second shot, he was tremendous, and has been one of the steadiest performers on this team.

McConnell's inability to give Geo rest again was huge in this game. I like what he can do as a 2 guard knocking down open looks.

 

[RU MAN]

BAC good post. The future is bright. But I don't know for the life of me how this team could come out so flat. Maybe for the kids the expectations and the full house was too much for them to handle. Maybe, the kids DID read their press clippings.

It always boggles my mind how a team can intellectualize what needs to be done, but yet, not show up. I'm sure during halftime, Pike and the coaches ripped into this team for not hustling on defense, making poor decisions (shot selection, lack of rebounding on both ends) everywhere and basically shooting like garbage--only 25% in the first half. I'm mad at both the players and the coaches. This NEVER should have happened. But yet again, I understand as a former player and coach. No matter how many times you play the game or warn the players of a letdown, crap like this happens.

The fact that we were able to have the winning shot in our grasp is a testament to the talent and desire this team DOES possess. Hopefully for the kids and for Pike and the coaches this is a learning lesson that cannot happen next year. It just can't. When you have a chance to win an important game at home, you have to win it. No excuses, no exceptions. I'm sure they're all angry and upset. I'm sure Geo is beating himself up for not even hitting one shot tonight. This team will learn. They will learn how to win, even when they don't have their best.

That's the sign of a winning team; to learn how to win, when shots aren't going down. Winning teams find a way to win these games. I have no doubt in my mind that Rutgers will learn how to win these games going forward. It may not happen for the rest of this season, but it will happen soon, which I believe will be next season.

 

[Duff366]

McConnell's inability to give Geo rest again was huge in this game. I like what he can do as a 2 guard knocking down open looks.

That's the take away you get from McConnell's game today? Wow..

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

McConnell's inability to give Geo rest again was huge in this game. I like what he can do as a 2 guard knocking down open looks.

Yeah mcconnell is a 2 guard imo and a damn good one

 

[bethlehemfan]

Penn State's 1st half defense was as good as I have seen all year. Our body language was terrible and they were playing with swagger. The switch was turned in the opposite direction at the end. They were visibly tired and had bad body language.

I

They did play good d. We helped them with lackadaisical passing and out of position defense.

 

[bac2therac]

I love Geo, he has played tremendous for several games and made some huge shots.. but he cannot have zero in such a big game. God knows Bac would have (and has) killed Corey if he had done the same

Love Harper and McConnell. McConnell seems to always make the right play or be in the right position, except for one bad pass in the second half and missing that last second shot, he was tremendous, and has been one of the steadiest performers on this team.

I could have gone through individual players for the recap but decided to go a different route today. Yes Geo laid a stinky egg but the whole team except for Gene did that in the first half. Not sure what Corey Sanders has to do with this recap. Geo is not Corey. Tonight was a team loss because of what happened in the first half where the game was lost. Geo is fair game for criticism tonight, bash away. I think as a team I hope tonight taught them yet another painful lesson

 

[bethlehemfan]

Youth was a big issue tonight. Rutgers has not handled the moment well in big games at home early. I think that wi come with maturity.

 

[Duff366]

Yes I am sure Geo is taking it pretty hard, especially since it was Senior Night for his buddy Shaq. Geo will come back strong.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Having reviewed the final sequence on replay a few times now, Myles Johnson really flubbed his lines on that last possession multiple times. McConnell occupied three defenders and fed Myles with a nice pass for an easy layup or dunk and he fumbled the pass. Then, he regained the handle literally under the basket with no Penn State players in great position to defend and seemed to want no part of having the ball in his hands and passed it back out to three point range. Then, he went up soft from point blank range after getting a rebound and got blocked. All this with us in the double bonus too so if Penn State was overly aggressive and fouled we would be shooting for a chance to tie or win. Watching the replay and all the chances we had was even more frustrating than watching it live.

 

[S_Janowski]

That's the take away you get from McConnell's game today? Wow..

FIG came out last week and said McConnell has been awful this year except for like 1-2 games.

Such a bad take for someone who’s been on this board for years. Sounds like he’s replaced McConnel with Sanders (the other kid he constantly bashed).

 

[bac2therac]

Penn State's 1st half defense was as good as I have seen all year. Our body language was terrible and they were playing with swagger. The switch was turned in the opposite direction at the end. They were visibly tired and had bad body language.

I

Chambers coached a great first half and had a great gameplan. PSU walked in with confidence and after the first few minutes when it was apparent RU was going sleepwalk thru, they turned on the jets and stomped their foot on our faces and it was ugly...like worse than Fordham ugly. This was our worst offensive half of hoops...an embarrassment....Pikiell didnt have a good first half either and there was one lineup that just infuriated me in the first half as it was key juncture when we were falling apart.

Now credit Pike in the lockerroom, it was a totally different team, the team that plays D, works hard, gets stuff in transition. I knew if we got it to 6 we would have a shot. Honestly I thought we were going to win, everything was working out exactly how it would need to. You dont want to get the lead until the final seconds, It was there for us and no one wanted to make the play. Honestly perhaps Harper should have been that guy.

Penn State melted down, the RAC noised rattled them. Ripe for the taking. They got lucky on some bounces on rebounds that led to that one big 3 that put them up 66-60 but I think they only had 6 points, and two fgs over the last 8 and half minutes.

 

[RU MAN]

Having reviewed the final sequence on replay a few times now, Myles Johnson really flubbed his lines on that last possession multiple times. McConnell occupied three defenders and fed Myles with a nice pass for an easy layup or dunk and he fumbled the pass. Then, regained the handle literally under the basket with no Penn State players in great position to defend and seemed to want no part of having the ball in his hands and passed it back out to three point range. Then, he went up soft from point blank range after getting a rebound and got blocked. All this with us in the double bonus too so if Penn State fouled we would be shooting for a chance to tie or win.

Agreed. Even when Myles fumbled the ball at first, he still had enough time to regroup and dunk the damn ball. He needs to have that killer instinct instead of panicking and kicking out the ball to the perimeter.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

FIG came out last week and said McConnell has been awful this year except for like 1-2 games.

Such a bad take for someone who’s been on this board for years. Sounds like he’s replaced McConnel with Sanders (the other kid he constantly bashed).

Totally misquoting me.....he has been bad as the point guard.....good as a 2 guard. This is obvious, not even debateable.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

all of a sudden we got the good Watkins...WTF

 

[bac2therac]

Youth was a big issue tonight. Rutgers has not handled the moment well in big games at home early. I think that wi come with maturity.

this team has to learn that the games do not have to come down to the end to win them. If they play Rutgers ball which is predicated on rebounding and tough defense and causing turnovers they will win games.

what we saw in the first half was just gross basketball, a piss poor effort, no excuse for that...but yeah it comes to youth and experience in the role of expectations

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Pen St was loose and dancing to the music in warm-ups while RU looked tight

Still, the win was right there to be grabbed fir Rutgers

 

[Loyal_2RU]

this team has to learn that the games do not have to come down to the end to win them. If they play Rutgers ball which is predicated on rebounding and tough defense and causing turnovers they will win games.

what we saw in the first half was just gross basketball, a piss poor effort, no excuse for that...but yeah it comes to youth and experience in the role of expectations

I think PSU defensive effort was in their face in nasty and effective way that got in the team's head in the first half.
L

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

How much was our putrid offense in the 1st half a function of us not running our sets VS. Penn State playing real hard.

I think it was more Penn State. Their D effort wasnt sustainable for 40 minutes. Thats why playing guys 30 minutes is optimal if you have talent. Stevens was shot with 5 minutes to go as was Watkins.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Penn State's defense was as good as any I've seen against us this year and I really think most of the credit/blame for our 1st half goes to them more than us being flat or overconfident. They were really in our faces and I think we came out angry in the 2nd half and fed off the crowd to get us back into it. I think our depth helped us too.

 

[bac2therac]

The RU mindset was nowhere near it needed to be to face this Penn State defense so while PSU gets credit, RU simply did not put forth the effort they needed to. Very sloppy play...the one on the 2nd alley oop after a great defensive steal was simply terrible. The mindset was wrong and I think RU was overconfident and then PSU brutalized them and the ran into the lockerroom embarrassed.

 

[S_Janowski]

Totally misquoting me.....he has been bad as the point guard.....good as a 2 guard. This is obvious, not even debateable.

Okay went back and looked....what you said after the Minnesota game was “outside of this game and Illinois Caleb has been awful without Baker in the game” which is a terrible take for a true freshman in this conference he hasn’t been awful.

 

[bethlehemfan]

Penn State's defense was as good as any I've seen against us this year and I really think most of the credit/blame for our 1st half goes to them more than us being flat or overconfident. They were really in our faces and I think we came out angry in the 2nd half and fed off the crowd to get us back into it. I think our depth helped us too.

They played good d but you need to match that with some mental toughness and intensity not by pissing away possessions and chasing the ball on d which is what we did too often.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Okay went back and looked....what you said after the Minnesota game was “outside of this game and Illinois Caleb has been awful without Baker in the game” which is a terrible take for a true freshman in this conference he hasn’t been awful.

You aren't being honest with yourself if you think Caleb as the guy without Geo in the game has been a huge issue all season.

 

[bac2therac]

the Caleb and Kiss combination is disaster and should never be out there.

 

[S_Janowski]

You aren't being honest with yourself if you think Caleb as the guy without Geo in the game has been a huge issue all season.

Considering he’s a true freshman and not a true point guard I think he’s given us enough not to be awful.

We have wayyyyy more pressing issues than Caleb that has cost us games and don’t need to look further than missed free throws and bunnies 2-3 feet away from the hoop.

 

[toby83]

all of a sudden we got the good Watkins...WTF

Guy played possessed

Dont get it always see their fans ripping him

 

[ColonelRutgers]

The RU mindset was nowhere near it needed to be to face this Penn State defense so while PSU gets credit, RU simply did not put forth the effort they needed to. Very sloppy play...the one on the 2nd alley oop after a great defensive steal was simply terrible. The mindset was wrong and I think RU was overconfident and then PSU brutalized them and the ran into the lockerroom embarrassed.

Turnovers and sloppy passes have been a problem all year. That's not overconfidence. The problem is that Geo was completely neutralized in the 1st half and as a result we had the wrong guys taking the wrong type of shots. Eugene and Montez hoisting threes comes to mind. McConnell taking the majority of Montez's minutes in the 2nd half and taking some of the load off Geo, I think, had a lot to do with us getting back into it.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Considering he’s a true freshman and not a true point guard I think he’s given us enough not to be awful.

We have wayyyyy more pressing issues than Caleb that has cost us games and don’t need to look further than missed free throws and bunnies 2-3 away from the hoop.

I am not debating that he is playing out of position, but if we are going to give free passes to all freshman because they are freshman we are in big trouble. Look around the B1G freshman are winning games for teams and making big impact.

 

[Duff366]

When Geo is not in the game and Caleb is in for him. I am not thinking that Caleb is a problem.

I am thinking "where are we going to get a needed bucket or two without Geo", not "Caleb is really hurting this team", in fact, I would like to see Caleb be more aggressive in those spots as he is one of our more talented offensive players.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Guy played possessed

Dont get it always see their fans ripping him

he has been bad, but not tonight

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

When Geo is not in the game and Caleb is in for him. I am not thinking that Caleb is a problem.

I am thinking "where are we going to get a needed bucket or two without Geo", not "Caleb is really hurting this team", in fact, I would like to see Caleb be more aggressive in those spots as he is one of our more talented offensive players.

Too many turnovers, don't get in to offensive sets, our half court offense just goes dormant without Geo.

Caleb right know isnt a point guard.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Montez Mathis actually killed us on the defensive end. He was getting torched off the ball. Once he came out of the game we actually tightened upon D. Very strange with how unbelivable he was against Iowa that we was almost as bad today.

 

[bac2therac]

and what is interesting is that normally losses like this are pretty crushing to the fans mindset but in year 3 which is a year with no expecations, its a little easier to absorb this loss....if they lost by 20 and never came back, yeah I would be worried a little but I think level of play rather than wins and losses is what to key on in this game, shitty first half aside. That was a really really excellent 2nd half performance with Geo scoring zero...and Mathis scoring 2. Basically RU came within a basket of winning a game with only 4 players basically contributing offensively.

There is still alot for this team to play for. I think they will play hard at Indiana but the Hoosiers may be playing for something big that game so its going to be quite the challenge.

I know the NIT was on peoples minds but again perhaps that is putting expectations on this team too early. Not getting the bye isnt the worst thing in the world, if we get matched up with Northwestern or Nebby. An opportunity for another win and then maybe matchup with Iowa.

 

[satnom]

PSU just wanted it more than RU in the 1st half.

GO RU

 

[bac2therac]

Montez Mathis actually killed us on the defensive end. He was getting torched off the ball. Once he came out of the game we actually tightened upon D. Very strange with how unbelivable he was against Iowa that we was almost as bad today.

better against the less athletic guys. A real struggle out there for him today on both ends. A real no show that we couldnt afford to have and he definitely got his minutes sliced because of the poor play

 

[Duff366]

Too many turnovers, don't get in to offensive sets, our half court offense just goes dormant without Geo.

Caleb right know isnt a point guard.

If you adjusted the minutes, Caleb would have equal to or slightly less turnover margin than Geo. Our half court offense is dormant because one of our two top scorers and main go to options is not in the game. Can't put the blame on Caleb for that.