Game 3: Cleveland State Thoughts

[bac2therac]

After the CCSU game I identified a bunch of things that I would be looking for going forward..

1. back to focus/intensity on defense..totally lacking today especially the first half
2. leadership roles on the team...lacking today save for Mike Williams
3. are Doucoure and Baker ready on this level...the former wasnt today, the latter struggled but I will say major kudos for hitting those 4 fts. Need to get them more comfortable playing and not forcing things.
4. meshing lineup and substitution patterns...need to get the right combo of guys out there if some are not performing. Sanders playing 34 minutes so early in the season against a supposed cupcake is a bit interesting to me.
5. more consistency out of Thiam who was so so today and Eugene O who was very good today
6. trying to deal with loss of Nigel/CJ....alot on the board thought it wasnt going to be an issue but back to point 3...its going to take time and it may take a lot of time
7. major concern with the 3 point shooting....6-32 against horrible competition..take Mike Williams out and its just 3-27....HUGE HUGE concern for later in the year with such an inexperienced 5 position


I felt this game was a major step in the right direction

1. even though the first half was sort of bland RU came out hard and played with intensity on defense right from the get go. Nice bounce back game for RU and pretty much everyone thought they would bring it tonight....Chalk that CCSU game up to the typical playing down to your opponent.

2. leadership...wasnt a game that really addressed this but that the team came out ready to play and improved their play as it went on might speak to it...although tonight was about youth

3. Doucoure and Baker were fantastic tonight. This was just the kind of game you want from them to break out of the rust....We as fans seem to want immediate. Thats not going to happen...and it may not happen in a straight upward trajectory either. Baker was working hard. It was great to see his shot fall down and you can see what he brings to the table when he is shot is falling..lots of energy and emotion too. Doucoure seemed to be lost against CCSU but played much more within himself today and was able to get some shots to fall down. Check out Baker 7 assist to 0 turnovers..3

4. loved the distribution of minutes tonight...and like that Pike kept the first team out there and they were still playing hard to the end. Everyone got good minutes except Mensah who I think really has a long way to go right now

5. Thiam...back to back to back 3....after a quiet game vs CCSU he was able to get shots tonight..4-8 from 3, 14 pts/7boards....I think Thiam is this teams X factor on how successful this year can become. He really could be a matchup problem for some teams. A game like this especially from 3,has to be a big confidence booster for him.

6. Patience...Baker and Doucoure showed tonight that they can make up for the losses...yet its Cleveland State and not Michigan State so in the next few games we can hope that they can replicate these type of performances.

7. 3 point shooting...7-24...its still bad. take away Thiam and RU was just 3-16. Corey is bricking them. Nice to see Baker finally knock some down. It is what it is.

Some other thoughts...Corey is not playing well right now...we know he can play more consistent. Hopefully its just a case of not getting up for the opponent.

Cleveland State certainly played hard and moved the ball around well but they were terrible at shooting..just 3-22 from 3...artic cold..overall not a good team and its a team that RU should win by 20 plus.

Loved that the team simply turned the jets on and elevated their game into a special kind of 2nd half....they could have just gone out there duplicated the first half and won 62-44 but they simply went out there and murdered CSU 39-16 and played hard right to the end

 

[Mr_Twister]

Surprised Coach didn’t clear the bench earlier. It was a no doubt about it game with lots of time left. There has to be some reward for bench players.

 

[bac2therac]

Surprised Coach didn’t clear the bench earlier. It was a no doubt about it game with lots of time left. There has to be some reward for bench players.

I think maybe because they let up at the end of the last game, he challenged them to play hard right to the end, in this case good move

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Surprised Coach didn’t clear the bench earlier. It was a no doubt about it game with lots of time left. There has to be some reward for bench players.

Needs to juice up kenpom ratings :smiley:

 

[winfield102]

The freshmen are legit and will be players. Showed some nice flashes.

We can't go iso with Sanders as the shot clock winds down. Critical for us to run the offense and work for a good shot. He can't shot and he cant hit his free throws.

 

[RU848789]

Agree with 90% of your post, but completely disagree on Sanders. Thought he was our best player on the floor tonight with 13/10/6 and a steal (would've been 2 if the ref didn't get in the way on one), plus he played excellent defense. He took fewer bad/forced shots and while he didn't shoot great (5-13 isn't horrible and 2-2 FTs is good), most of the shots he took were good shots in the flow of the offense.

 

[jrh51]

Remember last year in the OOC schedule Corey came out of the gates a little slow - finding himself and his role in the offense. Once the competition stiffened up, Pikiell handed the reigns back over to Corey to control the team, the tempo and the game. These cupcake games are for the role/new guys to get acclimated and find themselves in the system. Corey will only improve as the year goes on and he becomes more of the focal point.

 

[BigEastPhil]

The good:

- Geo is a player; composed; shows leadership skills and he will be a pleasure to watch over the next few years. Glad to see his shot go down as well.
- Dourcore with a little more experience will be a force inside. His offensive skills are excellent as he doesn't dribble when he gets the ball...he goes right to the basket.
- Mike Williams. Love the hustle and spark off the bench.
- Issa Thiam : got some rebounds and finally was getting his stroke from 3 point territory


The "I'll take it - but it could have been/ should have been better::

- Corey was definitely a leader on the court but at times I thought he played out of control at times and his shot selections were questionable at times as well. He did have a double double however
- Eugene had some good minutes but I felt at times he forced his shots and some of his shot selections were questionable as well.

The bad:

- Shot selection especially in the first half was awful
- We need to stop being reliant on the outside shot as we are not a good shooting team and play more inside ball with Dourcore; Freeman etc.
- Freeman was not a factor tonight and he should have been as he also took some awful shots
- Souf. Foul at end of half was not smart .

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Actually Corey started last season slow only in scoring. I liked the way he played in the OOC games last year.

It is ALL about seeing zone. He takes on more of the distributing point guard role against the zone

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Worth noting.....as a foul to givetard. I am now at peace that we used it. Just a little too early with 8 seconds on the clock.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Like to see Freeman pass out of the double teams more...love his game a lot otherwise

 

[RutgHoops]

There are five and maybe six guys on this team who if they took 8+ shots in a given game you’d be fine with that. It has been a loooong time since we’ve had a team you could say that about. That’s my biggest takeaway from today’s game.

 

[BillyC80]

Doucore might be the best pure shooter on the team.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Doorson out of the rotation?

 

[FastMJ]

Like to see Freeman pass out of the double teams more...love his game a lot otherwise

He needs to stop shooting 3’s. He’s awful at long range

 

[jellyman]

Doorson out of the rotation?

Bad match-up this game ... Cleveland State's "post" players almost all shot 3's, so Doorson would have had to chase players on the perimeter. Not his strength. Instead, RU went with the 2 more mobile centers (Doucore and Sa), and at times used Omoruyi and Freeman together at PF and C.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Doorson out of the rotation?

He was the 1st guy off the bench last night, went to scorers table, but never ended up playing. At the media timeout Pikiell changed his mind and went to Sa'.

Perhaps Vanic was out of the game when Diorson was sent to scorers table

 

[bethlehemfan]

Corey still forces things and makes mistakes but that's getting better and he is really doing some nice things on d and rebounding. He is also unselfish at times which i don't recall happening too much in the past. He can be a nice college player.

 

[mikefla]

From the highlights I saw our Corey/Baker tandem will give some teams fits
we didnt have that last year,,,Nigel showed up when he wanted to

IMO Baker is the real deal
and Doucoure could be this years surprise FR

Thiam is already this year return player surprise

We have the OOC games to learn/learn/learn and gain confidence

 

[RU-ROCS]

Bac- I agree with everything except your comments about Corey. It's true that his shot was not falling, but in all other respects I think Corey had an excellent game. Good D, great rebounding, pushed the pace up the floor and had some very nice assists.

 

[higgins3]

Good stuff, folks.

First off, give credit to CS. This team was full of athletic, long armed hustlers. They struggled on shooting, but ball movement, defense, effort was definitely there. They were not a horrible team. Rutgers defended them well.

Steve Pikiell and staff is the best Rutgers basketball has ever had. When you talk about a staff from the top down, who has been better? Thanks to the generosity of a friend, I was able to sit and be give props from behind the bench. Our coaches are active all game. From the strength and conditoning coach, to the head coach. The whole game.

If you are a recruit, there is a no better staff to put your trust in. Period. I am not a homer, but it was very cool to hear Pikiell the whole game, teaching kids on the floor, and on the bench.

Sanders did very well on defense, and slides like he is on water. If he gets pulled into the paint, he can ball watch. Still, he played a decent game. I will say, Sanders still lacks any offensive reliability. I am a huge fan of his. I just hope his game really takes a step up on his four years here. Right now, he is still the most athletic kid we have had at RU in some time, and we have all benefited as fans watching him. The potential is there, but he really needs to find some kind of game that he can rely on.

 

[Degaz-RU]

bac, glad to see you're back to numbering the games in your recaps ("Game 3"). The numbering helps your recap thread stand out more on the board.

I'm very down on Sanders. He still struggles shooting the ball, and is out of control much too often for my liking. Yes, he gets stats (points, rebounds, assists), but I feel like he is just relying on his incredible athleticism against lower rung teams to fill the stat sheet, but NOT playing smart basketball. Will he be able to achieve similar stats against much stronger competition? Highly doubtful.

Doucoure was a revelation on offense tonight, with three nice moves/shots, and one or two more that almost went in. He also has a nice stroke shooting FTs. I doubt he will be able to replace Gettys' 8-9 ppg average (which included multiple double digit point totals), but I think he can give us 5-6 ppg, and with the improvements from Omoruyi and Thiam, I think that will more than offset the loss of Gettys.

It was nice to see Baker finally hit some outside shots tonight. I suspect he was "pressing" in the early games, and now that he hit several jumpers (including two 3-pointers), maybe his nerves will settle down and the floodgates will open. If we can get 35%+ from Baker, Williams and Thiam combined, that would be yuuuuge.

To start Thiam, or to start Williams? That is the question. But a good problem to have. I hope Thiam continues his improved play, because I think our team would be better with Thiam on the wing, as he can create matchup problems for the defense. Mike will still get 30 mpg because Pike will still play three guards, plus it doesn't look like Mensah is bound for more than 4-8 mpg on average.

 

[TobyTyler1]

Like to see Freeman pass out of the double teams more...love his game a lot otherwise

He scored on one of those spinning post up moves which = two turnovers from same move next game.

 

[RU-ROCS]

[QUOTE="
I'm very down on Sanders. He still struggles shooting the ball, and is out of control much too often for my liking. Yes, he gets stats (points, rebounds, assists), but I feel like he is just relying on his incredible athleticism against lower rung teams to fill the stat sheet, but NOT playing smart basketball. Will he be able to achieve similar stats against much stronger competition? Highly doubtful.

[/QUOTE]
I think you're way to pessimistic on Corey. Last year he had some flashes against some top-tier Big10 teams - e.g., 22 points on 56% shooting with 5 boards against Mich. St., 18 points on 41% shooting with 5 assists v. Northwestern. I think he will be better this year based on what I’m seeing so far. But, of course, that remains to be seen. I also think his defense continues to improve.

 

[Degaz-RU]

[QUOTE="
I'm very down on Sanders. He still struggles shooting the ball, and is out of control much too often for my liking. Yes, he gets stats (points, rebounds, assists), but I feel like he is just relying on his incredible athleticism against lower rung teams to fill the stat sheet, but NOT playing smart basketball. Will he be able to achieve similar stats against much stronger competition? Highly doubtful.

I think you're way to pessimistic on Corey. Last year he had some flashes against some top-tier Big10 teams - e.g., 22 points on 56% shooting with 5 boards against Mich. St., 18 points on 41% shooting with 5 assists v. Northwestern. I think he will be better this year based on what I’m seeing so far. But, of course, that remains to be seen. I also think his defense continues to improve.[/QUOTE]

Maybe, but from what I've seen, he really doesn't look that much different from last year. Admittedly, though, I'm not schooled enough in the Xs and Os to really decipher whether he's playing better defense or not, or whether he's making the correct decisions. I'm just commenting as a fan who watches alot of college basketball. I hope you're right.