All is well. Well that is up for debate but at least for tonight the team got a needed strong response to a really subpar performance vs St Bonaventure. Not a work of art but this was probably the best team on paper that RU has faced at the RAC this year and overall it was a better performance than vs either Bryant or Drexel...baby steps. A big positive to see tonight was a sharp start to the game on defense. RU really bothered SFA and forced some turnovers and some tough shots in the first 10 minutes or so. I think RU gave up maybe 6 points in that time. On the offense end RU surprisingly drained a few from three point land early and built the lead to double digits. While from there the overplay got a little spotty and I thought the offense fell back into its all too familiar struggles. The difference from Bryant and Drexel was that RU upped their game midway through the 2nd half to push out to a big 16 point lead and realistically were not threatened for that.
That 5 minute stretch from about the 15 minute mark to the 10 minute mark may have been RU's best of the season and if RU is going to overachieve this season, you see how they can get to that place and it all revolves around defense and pressuring the ball. RU forced SFA into 6 turnovers during a 12-0 run where instead of jacking up 3s, RU made the Lumberjacks pay for their mistakes by taking it to the hoop and by unleashing Yeboah on them. Yeboah scored 8 points in the stretch including a dunk in his most impressive stretch as a Knight simply taking over the game. Leader Geo added 4 including a steal and Mulcahy got some major time contributing with a couple of boards and an assist. Jacob Young was solid in that stretch with 2 of his assists. I cannot recall the exact lineup so if someone can help me out with that. I believe Dourcoure saw time, Myles may have gone out because of the third foul. Alot of talk this year has been that RU is missing an edge, its been hard to put my finger on but what it is comes down to defense. Its been lacking in every game but Niagara. Its clear for a team that is going to have trouble generating half court offense that this team needs to generate alot of its offense from forcing turnovers and being aggressive in making the opponent pay. Tonight we saw RU break open the game by finally converting and executing in the way that we had all hope they could...and taking advantage of its strengths that guys like Young and Yeboah provide. The endless jacking up of 3s isnt going to work all the time. Sometimes its okay to explore other options on offfense. That is where Yeboah comes in. We saw more of him for offense and less of Harper who after 11 in the first half, I believe did not score in the 2nd half.
I think overall many players had some solid individual games. Caleb had a breakout game for this season with 16 points and 6 boards and 3-5 from 3. Caleb had been slow to get started this year so this was a real good sign to see. Harper while quiet offensively in the 2nd half was instrumental in the first half in keeping RU in control with 3 treys and 11 points. As said before Mulcahy got some real quality minutes in a key stretch while also hitting his first 3 in the first half. Myles, frustrating on offense because we cannot seem to get him the ball, got into foul trouble at times but in just 18 minutes collected 8 board and had 3 blocks, albeit his free throw shooting was foul. I think Young is a work in progress. Some good things but some bad..free throw shooting and 5 turnovers. Baker just seemed to do the right things when we needed him to do. Growing into that leadership role. 11 points but key foul shots, key buckets to right the ship. As I said before about Yeboah, just scratching the surface with that 18 minutes, 13 point performance on 4-5 shooting and 5-7 at the line. Key thing going forward for the success of this team is how quickly Pike can weave him in and out of the lineup and get the most production out of him. Its clear that his size and width can give RU an advantage and provide some of that production that RU lost with Gene's departure. As for Mathis, its a mystery to me right now, just has not developed the consistency yet and only 16 minutes tonight despite being a starter.
Like I said in another thread in response to another poster, this is a flawed team. Its got holes and its frustrating to watch the team sort of let up a little after they get things up to double digits. Seems to happen almost immediately and you can sense they let down a bit. That killer instinct has to be developed and there will be a few opportunities to develop this needed trait at the RAC before the big dogs come calling. In addition the free throw shooting continues to be woeful just 17-28 is not going to cut it. The plus is that RU is getting to the line alot...and actually I think they got to the line over 20 times in the 2nd half. RU needs to get better, that is an understatement. So a nice rebound to a bad loss, which happens sometimes, maybe if they beat St Bonnies, they lose this game so it was good to see RU not dwell on that loss and learn some lessons from 2 of their previous close wins at the RAC. I also thought Pike coached a much better game today and liked his substitution patterns and liked the way he threw on some pressure at times to get some instant offense and energize the team.
That 5 minute stretch from about the 15 minute mark to the 10 minute mark may have been RU's best of the season and if RU is going to overachieve this season, you see how they can get to that place and it all revolves around defense and pressuring the ball. RU forced SFA into 6 turnovers during a 12-0 run where instead of jacking up 3s, RU made the Lumberjacks pay for their mistakes by taking it to the hoop and by unleashing Yeboah on them. Yeboah scored 8 points in the stretch including a dunk in his most impressive stretch as a Knight simply taking over the game. Leader Geo added 4 including a steal and Mulcahy got some major time contributing with a couple of boards and an assist. Jacob Young was solid in that stretch with 2 of his assists. I cannot recall the exact lineup so if someone can help me out with that. I believe Dourcoure saw time, Myles may have gone out because of the third foul. Alot of talk this year has been that RU is missing an edge, its been hard to put my finger on but what it is comes down to defense. Its been lacking in every game but Niagara. Its clear for a team that is going to have trouble generating half court offense that this team needs to generate alot of its offense from forcing turnovers and being aggressive in making the opponent pay. Tonight we saw RU break open the game by finally converting and executing in the way that we had all hope they could...and taking advantage of its strengths that guys like Young and Yeboah provide. The endless jacking up of 3s isnt going to work all the time. Sometimes its okay to explore other options on offfense. That is where Yeboah comes in. We saw more of him for offense and less of Harper who after 11 in the first half, I believe did not score in the 2nd half.
I think overall many players had some solid individual games. Caleb had a breakout game for this season with 16 points and 6 boards and 3-5 from 3. Caleb had been slow to get started this year so this was a real good sign to see. Harper while quiet offensively in the 2nd half was instrumental in the first half in keeping RU in control with 3 treys and 11 points. As said before Mulcahy got some real quality minutes in a key stretch while also hitting his first 3 in the first half. Myles, frustrating on offense because we cannot seem to get him the ball, got into foul trouble at times but in just 18 minutes collected 8 board and had 3 blocks, albeit his free throw shooting was foul. I think Young is a work in progress. Some good things but some bad..free throw shooting and 5 turnovers. Baker just seemed to do the right things when we needed him to do. Growing into that leadership role. 11 points but key foul shots, key buckets to right the ship. As I said before about Yeboah, just scratching the surface with that 18 minutes, 13 point performance on 4-5 shooting and 5-7 at the line. Key thing going forward for the success of this team is how quickly Pike can weave him in and out of the lineup and get the most production out of him. Its clear that his size and width can give RU an advantage and provide some of that production that RU lost with Gene's departure. As for Mathis, its a mystery to me right now, just has not developed the consistency yet and only 16 minutes tonight despite being a starter.
Like I said in another thread in response to another poster, this is a flawed team. Its got holes and its frustrating to watch the team sort of let up a little after they get things up to double digits. Seems to happen almost immediately and you can sense they let down a bit. That killer instinct has to be developed and there will be a few opportunities to develop this needed trait at the RAC before the big dogs come calling. In addition the free throw shooting continues to be woeful just 17-28 is not going to cut it. The plus is that RU is getting to the line alot...and actually I think they got to the line over 20 times in the 2nd half. RU needs to get better, that is an understatement. So a nice rebound to a bad loss, which happens sometimes, maybe if they beat St Bonnies, they lose this game so it was good to see RU not dwell on that loss and learn some lessons from 2 of their previous close wins at the RAC. I also thought Pike coached a much better game today and liked his substitution patterns and liked the way he threw on some pressure at times to get some instant offense and energize the team.
