The all too common dreaded reality check for the fanbase tonight....so cliche but so predictable. Look great in two games against weak competition and everyone is brimming with optimism. We are all guilty of it, some more than others. A game most of us had as an L coming into the year now all of sudden was looking like a W to many of us, but the harsh reality is RU failed its first test and is not ready for the prime time and big lights....and its okay....really it is okay.
Let's start off by saying, St John's was simply sick tonight. They were never going to lose this game. RU could have made more foul shots, cleaned up the turnovers, hit more 3s or had Corey Sanders and they were still going lose. 16 made threes on 32 attempts...are you kidding me..this is St John's??? Whether we played good defense on their shots or bad defense, these shots kept going in. They played as well as they did against Duke last season. Men against boys. SJU is a legit Big East title contender. For some reason this board likes to rip on Mullen..me included but he has the players now and it was crystal clear the talent advantage went to St John's tonight. RU's talent is too young and inexperienced to match up tonight
There was a lot of hype around this game from the fans and the media but I also saw alot on social media. I think the players came into this game overhyped from the get go. This was a home game and they didnt come into the game settled and were too juiced they were pressing and got out of their game quickly. One thing was obvious to me tonight, once SJU got rolling, RU seemed scared and played scared. They did not handle adversity well and were not able to regroup and even mount any semblence of a run in the 2nd half. Again that is okay. This game a clear learning experience., I am confident that Coach Pikiell will get alot out of this loss and be able to keep this team focused on the next two dangerous games ahead. Could he have played more zone..perhaps, I just do not think really there is anything he could have done today that would have changed the outcome. I think perhaps the only thing he could have done was toned down the hype about the game but even that that wouldnt have mattered. When Eugene got his 2nd foul and had to sit the rest of the first half, he had to have known RU would be in big trouble and they were because the lead ballooned to 11.
The game was a struggle for Geo today no doubt about it. That is going to happen sometimes. He still is only a soph and this is only his third game as the leader of the team. Ditto for Eugene. He was frustrated and double teamed and could never make his presence felt. Just a terrible matchup for Kiss tonight who struggled and seemed to rush things. The good news is this matchup tonight isnt going to be like the matchup from almost all other Big 10 school. They will learn from this. The younger guys Myles, Montez, and Ron all had varying degrees of struggle and success but this was 10x more of a challenge for them than their first game. To me the big positive I saw tonight was Harper Jr is legit. I really thought he belonged out there and played probably the most fearless of all RU players tonight. Johnson 6 points and 7 boards in 17 minutes, I like how he is being brought along. I wouldnt get on any of these players for getting schooled tonight, they were beat, they were pummelled by a better team period.
There are two negatives that are clear on the team right now. One is foul shooting. It is insanely bad and seems contagious as even Geo missed two in a stretch where RU was 1-8..that does not cut it at this level. RU finished 14-25 for the night...terrible 56%. Harper and Matthis simply have to get better and better with their form. Wasnt the reason they lost tonight but in closer games its vital to keep pace by hitting them. The other glaring negative obviously is defense. Its not there yet. Its something that we were used to for most of Pike's first two years. Now SJU was hitting everything even when we played decent D but the rotations were slow, too many wide open shots, lazy closeouts. Need to get that shored up. I would like to see that in the next two games..less reliance on up and down and more focus on everybodys roles on defense. Shots will fall with this team but defense has to be drilled into their head. Losing Sanders and Freeman hurt no question on the defensive end but it will come, just do not expect it right away.,
So in a season where coming I thought we would fall in the 12-14 win range, people should not be pessimistic over tonights beatdown. Its one game..one game against a program that will be in the NCAA this season. It does not mean RU will not beat anyone other than Penn State or get blown out every night in the Big 10. It does mean that the program has a lot of work to do to get to the level where this team can win under the big stage. We should all be okay with year 3 under Pikiell. We can see what he is trying to build and with who. No one wants to hear about more time blah blah blah but yeah it does. Moving up in the league is not that easy. I have been warning people that. Keep expectations in check this year. With such a young team, improvement is not always linear and they will not always be ready to meet expectations. Patience is what no RU fan wants to hear but is the tough medicine they will have to swallow.
short note on the crowd...excellent crowd and student turnout...7102 I think...hopefully students didnt get too turned off but they can be fickle once they see a beatdown. Crowd was juiced and loud early but the air came out once SJU pulled away before half and the crowd was totally neutered. I will have to credit 4 or 5 totally annoying SJU fans..all girls who cheered for the Johnnies all night, chanting for them and anti RU stuff. As annoying as they were they were consistently loud and I cannot blame them for it and I think often times they were louder than our band. It sucks to hear it but it was their night.
Let's start off by saying, St John's was simply sick tonight. They were never going to lose this game. RU could have made more foul shots, cleaned up the turnovers, hit more 3s or had Corey Sanders and they were still going lose. 16 made threes on 32 attempts...are you kidding me..this is St John's??? Whether we played good defense on their shots or bad defense, these shots kept going in. They played as well as they did against Duke last season. Men against boys. SJU is a legit Big East title contender. For some reason this board likes to rip on Mullen..me included but he has the players now and it was crystal clear the talent advantage went to St John's tonight. RU's talent is too young and inexperienced to match up tonight
There was a lot of hype around this game from the fans and the media but I also saw alot on social media. I think the players came into this game overhyped from the get go. This was a home game and they didnt come into the game settled and were too juiced they were pressing and got out of their game quickly. One thing was obvious to me tonight, once SJU got rolling, RU seemed scared and played scared. They did not handle adversity well and were not able to regroup and even mount any semblence of a run in the 2nd half. Again that is okay. This game a clear learning experience., I am confident that Coach Pikiell will get alot out of this loss and be able to keep this team focused on the next two dangerous games ahead. Could he have played more zone..perhaps, I just do not think really there is anything he could have done today that would have changed the outcome. I think perhaps the only thing he could have done was toned down the hype about the game but even that that wouldnt have mattered. When Eugene got his 2nd foul and had to sit the rest of the first half, he had to have known RU would be in big trouble and they were because the lead ballooned to 11.
The game was a struggle for Geo today no doubt about it. That is going to happen sometimes. He still is only a soph and this is only his third game as the leader of the team. Ditto for Eugene. He was frustrated and double teamed and could never make his presence felt. Just a terrible matchup for Kiss tonight who struggled and seemed to rush things. The good news is this matchup tonight isnt going to be like the matchup from almost all other Big 10 school. They will learn from this. The younger guys Myles, Montez, and Ron all had varying degrees of struggle and success but this was 10x more of a challenge for them than their first game. To me the big positive I saw tonight was Harper Jr is legit. I really thought he belonged out there and played probably the most fearless of all RU players tonight. Johnson 6 points and 7 boards in 17 minutes, I like how he is being brought along. I wouldnt get on any of these players for getting schooled tonight, they were beat, they were pummelled by a better team period.
There are two negatives that are clear on the team right now. One is foul shooting. It is insanely bad and seems contagious as even Geo missed two in a stretch where RU was 1-8..that does not cut it at this level. RU finished 14-25 for the night...terrible 56%. Harper and Matthis simply have to get better and better with their form. Wasnt the reason they lost tonight but in closer games its vital to keep pace by hitting them. The other glaring negative obviously is defense. Its not there yet. Its something that we were used to for most of Pike's first two years. Now SJU was hitting everything even when we played decent D but the rotations were slow, too many wide open shots, lazy closeouts. Need to get that shored up. I would like to see that in the next two games..less reliance on up and down and more focus on everybodys roles on defense. Shots will fall with this team but defense has to be drilled into their head. Losing Sanders and Freeman hurt no question on the defensive end but it will come, just do not expect it right away.,
So in a season where coming I thought we would fall in the 12-14 win range, people should not be pessimistic over tonights beatdown. Its one game..one game against a program that will be in the NCAA this season. It does not mean RU will not beat anyone other than Penn State or get blown out every night in the Big 10. It does mean that the program has a lot of work to do to get to the level where this team can win under the big stage. We should all be okay with year 3 under Pikiell. We can see what he is trying to build and with who. No one wants to hear about more time blah blah blah but yeah it does. Moving up in the league is not that easy. I have been warning people that. Keep expectations in check this year. With such a young team, improvement is not always linear and they will not always be ready to meet expectations. Patience is what no RU fan wants to hear but is the tough medicine they will have to swallow.
short note on the crowd...excellent crowd and student turnout...7102 I think...hopefully students didnt get too turned off but they can be fickle once they see a beatdown. Crowd was juiced and loud early but the air came out once SJU pulled away before half and the crowd was totally neutered. I will have to credit 4 or 5 totally annoying SJU fans..all girls who cheered for the Johnnies all night, chanting for them and anti RU stuff. As annoying as they were they were consistently loud and I cannot blame them for it and I think often times they were louder than our band. It sucks to hear it but it was their night.
