ADVERTISEMENT

GAME 6: Liked it

bac2therac

bac2therac

Legend
Gold Member
Jul 30, 2001
221,116
145,089
113
54
Belle Mead NJ
Just a quick recap. It seemed like NJIT came out with their pants on fire and really took it to RU early, scoring 14 points in just 4 and half minutes. I was like oh boy here we go again. I think RU was taken by surprise that NJIT would punch them in teeth on the offense end while RU sort of sputtered to get any kind of consistency going on offense. RU up just 21-20, but that is when Myles Johnson took over with 3 straight buckets that gave RU a 7 point lead and the game was essentially over from there as RU just dominated on both ends. This was good to see RU with the strong response and unlike in previous games where RU let up before the half, instead they kept pouring it on and that would continue into the 2nd half led by Ron Harper simply became unstoppable. I also liked RU's response to a mini run by NJIT that cut the lead from 23-14, RU simply refocused and went on a sick 24-7 run over a 7 minute stretch to push the lead over 30.

But most importantly what every RU fan should like and be encouraged by was the breakout game by Myles who was 8-11 for 17 points and 11 boards. We all have been waiting for him to assert himself against some of these weaker opponents and kudos for him for stepping it up. Can only help his confidence vs better competition and we will need it as it adds an additional option that RU desperately needs when its struggling to get production from its guards. I like that RU was patient too and made it a concerted effort. Kudos to Pike for making a lot of progress tonight in getting the right players to take the right shots and working on getting some set looks. Also Harper was brilliant tonight, 12-16 shooting, 25 points/7 boards and I think he may have missed his first 2. Everyone has also been looking for a take charge game like this from Ron especially since there are times he goes quiet. Obviously this NJIT team isnt very good but remember this team was struggling vs the likes of Bryant. You can see the progession easily now and it does make me at least a bit more optimistic. Mulcahy also got some great minutes and a whopping 7 assists, 3 boards in 24 minutes tonight even without scoring. Maybe just maybe Pike is figuring out minutes and his lineup. I think UMass will be a good litmus test of how much progress we have made and will we be ready for the real tests coming up next week. 5-1 and yeah it stings about that St Bonaventure game but what is important that the past 2 games you see this team is getting better and the chemistry is starting to build.
 
  • Like
Reactions: linzalonic, BROTHERSKINNY, RU-ROCS and 11 others
Greene Rice FIG said:
Montez Mathis was huge, absolutely huge. Won’t see it in the boxscore.
Click to expand...

Well, his 3 steals showed up in the boxscore, but the other five or so times he disrupted NJIT's offense won't. He was, indeed, very very good on defense tonight. However, he continues to struggle on the offensive end, as he is terribly sloppy with the ball (3 TOs). If he can just reign it in a bit on offense, he can focus on being a defensive stopper and create fast break opportunities (which he excels at).
 
  • Like
Reactions: WhichReligionIsRight, mikefla, RUfan620 and 4 others
A few other notes:

1. I LOVED the rotation tonight. Pike allowed Mulcahy to run the offense for long stretches, even to the exclusion of Young (who is also sloppy at times), and man was Paul on fire tonight with 7 assists, some of which were gorgeous no-look dishes. The rotation in minutes was 28, 27, 25, 20, 20, 19 and 14, plus 8 and 8 for Carter/Doucoure.

2. Man this game is fun when the ball is dropping into the net. Myles and Harper were just MONEY in the paint tonight. And there was some outside shooting too, with Mathis, McConnell (2), Baker and Young hitting threes.

3. I thought the turning point of the game was the under 16 timeout in the first half. After getting torched for 14 points in the first four minutes, the team came out of that timeout and just cranked up the defense, stymying NJIT the rest of the half with only 8 points. The other major adjustment was Pike told the guys to feed the post, and man did they come through.

4. McConnell got benched for a pretty long stretch after he got T'd up. He only ended up with 14 minutes, but he scored 10 points nonetheless. This is the second game in a row McConnell got a technical foul. He needs to keep his emotions in check.

5. Our FT shooting still stinks on ice. 10-17 just ain't gonna get it done against better competition.

6. Kiss got a DNP tonight despite the blowout win. Pike didn't even put him in with the walkons in the last few minutes. Yikes. Wonder if Pike is trying to run him off the team by grad transfer, to open up another ship for the spring.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RU-ROCS, shields, RUChoppin and 1 other person
Greene Rice FIG said:
Montez Mathis was huge, absolutely huge. Won’t see it in the boxscore.
Click to expand...
He still has too many turnovers, can’t hit free throws, and isn’t finishing on his drives. He needs to be a plus defender bc other than transition he isn’t a reliable offensive option. The one three was encouraging.
 
Degaz-RU said:
4. McConnell got benched for a pretty long stretch after he got T'd up. He only ended up with 14 minutes, but he scored 10 points nonetheless. This is the second game in a row McConnell got a technical foul. He needs to keep his emotions in check.
Click to expand...

Loved his aggressiveness on the offense end in his limited minutes. Also love the Pike message
 
- Myles was a beast. Was so happy to see himself asserting himself and bringing it as we will need it from him.

- Loved Harpers game tonight with hitting the 10 foot jumpers. He was unstoppable.

- Mulcahy is so cool and good with the ball. And for those that doubted him.....

- Caleb needs to cool it down. Getting too many T's and snapping back at officials. Playing well though

- Thought Shaq and Dourcore were serviceable.

- Geo is Geo.

Our best game from start to finish. Hopefully team is starting to jell; understand its roles as the meat of the season starts now with UMass; at Pitt; at Michigan State; Wisconsin and Seton Hall.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RUChoppin
Greene Rice FIG said:
What are redshirt rules for basketball?

OR

transfer portal play 2nd semester next year and have 1.5 years
Click to expand...

Kiss used his redshirt year when he sat out coming from Quinnipiac. Assuming he's on track academically, he'll be able to graduate in the spring (since this his fourth year in school) and grad transfer with immediate eligibility.
 
Caleb does need to be careful. However, the foul was a joke and the T seemed too quick. I sit in 112 so the whole thing happened in front of me. If he said something it was not in the direction of the ref but under his breath. I would love to know what it was. The officials seem too ready to call T’s at times instead of just talking to the players.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ruhoops21 and RUHouston
Hope Young is just rusty. Things tend to fall apart offensively when he gets in the game. If he doesn't settle down soon, I can see his minutes dwindling as the season goes on.
 
Use of different offensive sets. Liked the double flashes to high post with the intent of going high low on opposite side.

Pike called for a set play with the white board to get Harper on the low block and it was executed.
 
Fat-Tony said:
Caleb does need to be careful. However, the foul was a joke and the T seemed too quick. I sit in 112 so the whole thing happened in front of me. If he said something it was not in the direction of the ref but under his breath. I would love to know what it was. The officials seem too ready to call T’s at times instead of just talking to the players.
Click to expand...
he complained to the ref again minutes after being reinserted late in the 2nd half.
 
kcg88 said:
Kiss used his redshirt year when he sat out coming from Quinnipiac. Assuming he's on track academically, he'll be able to graduate in the spring (since this his fourth year in school) and grad transfer with immediate eligibility.
Click to expand...

so this year counts no mater what?

he can stop playing now though and have 1.5 years starting January 2021 correct?
 
Greene Rice FIG said:
so this year counts no mater what?

he can stop playing now though and have 1.5 years starting January 2021 correct?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about how it works if he transferred after this semester without graduating. But yeah with the exception of injury the rule is you have five years to play four.
 
We won the game and rather easily because for the first time in 6 games we went down low and fed the post. The main reason we fed the post was Paul. Paul is a true point guard who feeds the post or runs The break always looking for the open man . He does it better than anyone else. He had 7 assists and personally got Myles going. Coach finally got his guards to feed Myles and he dominated like he should have against a smaller player( which he will not be seeing in the Big10), but nevertheless was very aggressive on both ends of the floor with blocked shots as well. Those claiming Myles was not aggressive have not been watching , as it looked that way in the other games because he never got the ball.

Also ,Ron was dominant tonight and he also got in the paint where I really think he can be that next level player for us. He was 12-16 from the field , 75% is not too shabby, but almost all great efficient shots . Hopefully he continues to stay there, as he can always hit the three if needed.

Nice to see some plays run and even better to see the team carve up the zone as soon as NJIT went to it . Ball got to the middle and then swung to the wings beautifully and we also executed great alley oops to Myles.
Finally, we are being very efficient running the break,especially when Paul or Geo are running it, the pass gets to the right spot and we are finishing. We are capable of 1 guy every night going for 20-25 and tonight it was Ron, but it could be Geo, or Myles, or Caleb or Akwasi,or even Montes, which makes us dangerous and hard to defend . Those knocking Montes must stop, as he does a lot of really good things , with very few plays called for him , when there should be, and he has to tighten his handle going into traffic and avoid those turnovers. His defense and both his three point shooting and foul shooting and rotation on the ball have gotten a whole lot better. We need Montes to be successful and Coach should run him around curls and set up his drives .
 
  • Like
Reactions: bac2therac
bac2therac said:
Yeah noticed that Yeboah was quiet tonight after such a breakout game but maybe that was by design with the plan to get the ball more to Myles and Harper taking over
Click to expand...

Harper and Johnson were winning their match ups and we kept feeding them. This is how we are going to win. Next game it might be Yeboah.

Defense played great two games in a row and the offense played much better this game. Still not pretty but got the job done. Been a slow start to the season but trending the right way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mikefla, BillyC80 and bac2therac
bac2therac said:
Yeah noticed that Yeboah was quiet tonight after such a breakout game but maybe that was by design with the plan to get the ball more to Myles and Harper taking over
Click to expand...

Yeboah did have a key block when the score was somethin like 18-17 (not sure exactly), they went backdoor again on us, he rotated over. That block seemed to trigger momentum in our favor. Took off from there. One of the key plays early in the game, IMHO.
 
  • Like
Reactions: linzalonic, BillyC80 and Greene Rice FIG
We are now 6 games in. I was expecting/hoping Yeboah would offer more. Yeboah and Young, so far, have been major disappointments. I had low expectations for both, but so far they have played well under what i thought.

New team and only 6 games in so it is too early to come to any conclusions. The other thing to consider is we have played ZERO games against P5/P6 teams. What we need from players in OOC games is totally different than what is needed in B1G games. Players that looked good yesterday won't look as good with a good defense on them AND opposition that will expose them defensively.

Guys like Mathis and Young look like they shouldn't even be in the rotation in the 1st 6 games could all of a sudden look irreplaceable when we play B1G competition
 
Greene Rice FIG said:
We are now 6 games in. I was expecting/hoping Yeboah would offer more. Yeboah and Young, so far, have been major disappointments. I had low expectations for both, but so far they have played well under what i thought.

New team and only 6 games in so it is too early to come to any conclusions. The other thing to consider is we have played ZERO games against P5/P6 teams. What we need from players in OOC games is totally different than what is needed in B1G games. Players that looked good yesterday won't look as good with a good defense on them AND opposition that will expose them defensively.

Guys like Mathis and Young look like they shouldn't even be in the rotation in the 1st 6 games could all of a sudden look irreplaceable when we play B1G competition
Click to expand...

Lumping Young and Yeboah together is wild to me.

Yeboah is 50% on twos, 33% on threes, and has drawn the most fouls on the team despite playing 20 minutes a game. He's been as good as can be reasonably expected (of course not as good as some people hyped him up but that's true of every transfer).

Young has been a big disappointment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: winfield102, RUChoppin, RUby RED and 3 others
Fat-Tony said:
Caleb does need to be careful. However, the foul was a joke and the T seemed too quick. I sit in 112 so the whole thing happened in front of me. If he said something it was not in the direction of the ref but under his breath. I would love to know what it was. The officials seem too ready to call T’s at times instead of just talking to the players.
Click to expand...

He had his head down too didn't even address the ref. It was a BS tech...

Love how Paul and Ron play together. You can see how close they are and Paul was super happy that Ron was going off. Also his pass in the post to Myles for the jam when he was double teamed was a thing of absolute beauty.
 
  • Like
Reactions: winfield102
kcg88 said:
Lumping Young and Yeboah together is wild to me.

Yeboah is 50% on twos, 33% on threes, and has drawn the most fouls on the team despite playing 20 minutes a game. He's been as good as can be reasonably expected (of course not as good as some people hyped him up but that's true of every transfer).

Young has been a big disappointment.
Click to expand...

They are both new players. That's a good reason to lump them together.

The thesis behind this team being a post season team did not have Yeboah only playing 20 MPG and averaging 9 PPG and 3 REB.
 
Greene Rice FIG said:
We are now 6 games in. I was expecting/hoping Yeboah would offer more. Yeboah and Young, so far, have been major disappointments. I had low expectations for both, but so far they have played well under what i thought.

New team and only 6 games in so it is too early to come to any conclusions. The other thing to consider is we have played ZERO games against P5/P6 teams. What we need from players in OOC games is totally different than what is needed in B1G games. Players that looked good yesterday won't look as good with a good defense on them AND opposition that will expose them defensively.

Guys like Mathis and Young look like they shouldn't even be in the rotation in the 1st 6 games could all of a sudden look irreplaceable when we play B1G competition
Click to expand...
In the first half when the game was close, Pike put in a lineup that had Yeboah, Paul, and Geo and we pulled away. There's a reason for that. He trusts Yeboah and Geo and they came through. Mathis and Young are playing themselves deeper down the bench, mainly due to poor decision making. Mathis needs to show that he's coachable. It's his second year. Frankly, I have more hope for Young to get it together than Mathis.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: BillyC80
kcg88 said:
Lumping Young and Yeboah together is wild to me.

Yeboah is 50% on twos, 33% on threes, and has drawn the most fouls on the team despite playing 20 minutes a game. He's been as good as can be reasonably expected (of course not as good as some people hyped him up but that's true of every transfer.
Click to expand...
Last night Kwasi played 20 minutes and only took 2 shots (and had 2 assists). He needs more shot opportunities to be effective and productive. Not sure how many minutes he played with Paul on the floor, which would likely help to set him up for some good looks. His FG percentage is good so he needs more plays designed for him to shoot, imo.
 
Greene Rice FIG said:
They are both new players. That's a good reason to lump them together.

The thesis behind this team being a post season team did not have Yeboah only playing 20 MPG and averaging 9 PPG and 3 REB.
Click to expand...

I sort of disagree. I think Yeboah providing an efficient 9 and 3 would be plenty IF Geo and Young weren't shooting 25% from 3 and Young wasn't turning it over like crazy.
 
bac2therac said:
Just a quick recap. It seemed like NJIT came out with their pants on fire and really took it to RU early, scoring 14 points in just 4 and half minutes. I was like oh boy here we go again. I think RU was taken by surprise that NJIT would punch them in teeth on the offense end while RU sort of sputtered to get any kind of consistency going on offense. RU up just 21-20, but that is when Myles Johnson took over with 3 straight buckets that gave RU a 7 point lead and the game was essentially over from there as RU just dominated on both ends. This was good to see RU with the strong response and unlike in previous games where RU let up before the half, instead they kept pouring it on and that would continue into the 2nd half led by Ron Harper simply became unstoppable. I also liked RU's response to a mini run by NJIT that cut the lead from 23-14, RU simply refocused and went on a sick 24-7 run over a 7 minute stretch to push the lead over 30.

But most importantly what every RU fan should like and be encouraged by was the breakout game by Myles who was 8-11 for 17 points and 11 boards. We all have been waiting for him to assert himself against some of these weaker opponents and kudos for him for stepping it up. Can only help his confidence vs better competition and we will need it as it adds an additional option that RU desperately needs when its struggling to get production from its guards. I like that RU was patient too and made it a concerted effort. Kudos to Pike for making a lot of progress tonight in getting the right players to take the right shots and working on getting some set looks. Also Harper was brilliant tonight, 12-16 shooting, 25 points/7 boards and I think he may have missed his first 2. Everyone has also been looking for a take charge game like this from Ron especially since there are times he goes quiet. Obviously this NJIT team isnt very good but remember this team was struggling vs the likes of Bryant. You can see the progession easily now and it does make me at least a bit more optimistic. Mulcahy also got some great minutes and a whopping 7 assists, 3 boards in 24 minutes tonight even without scoring. Maybe just maybe Pike is figuring out minutes and his lineup. I think UMass will be a good litmus test of how much progress we have made and will we be ready for the real tests coming up next week. 5-1 and yeah it stings about that St Bonaventure game but what is important that the past 2 games you see this team is getting better and the chemistry is starting to build.
Click to expand...


Completely agree, bac. Great summary. Johnson and Harper were the difference makers...NJIT simply had no answer for those guys. Admittedly, this was a game we should never lose, but we've seen it all too often. Nice win, good D and a relentless offensive attack.
 
I am fine with Yeboah last night, we saw the breakout the game before. I think last night wasnt about him. Young is an issue and we may be a better team without him on the court going forward.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RUby RED
Greene Rice FIG said:
They are both new players. That's a good reason to lump them together.

The thesis behind this team being a post season team did not have Yeboah only playing 20 MPG and averaging 9 PPG and 3 REB.
Click to expand...

Yeboah has been very unselfish so far. I think as time goes on, he will start looking for many more shots.

What is impressive is that Yeboah and Mulcahy seem to both have a very high basketball IQ and that should pay off as the year unfolds and we play much tougher teams.

Looking at our schedule so far versus who Minnesota has played is a joke.

Best of Luck,
Groz
 
  • Like
Reactions: YoucancallmeRay, mikebal9 and Greene Rice FIG
YoucancallmeRay said:
In the first half when the game was close, Pike put in a lineup that had Yeboah, Paul, and Geo and we pulled away. There's is reason for that. He trusts Yeboah and Geo and they came through. Mathis and Young are playing themselves deeper down the bench, mainly due to poor decision making. Mathis needs to show that he's coachable. It's his second year. Frankly, I have more hope for Young to get it together than Mathis.
Click to expand...

NJIT had the 5th leading scorer in the country. he was averaging 25.5 PPG. Mathis took him completely out of the game. He essentially gave up when Mathis was guarding him.

There are only 1-2 players on the roster capable of doing what Mathis did. When B1G play starts lineups without Mathis/Young are going to have a very difficult time stopping people.

I get 100% the issues offensively. VERY DISAPPOINTING.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Joey Bacala
kcg88 said:
I sort of disagree. I think Yeboah providing an efficient 9 and 3 would be plenty IF Geo and Young weren't shooting 25% from 3 and Young wasn't turning it over like crazy.
Click to expand...

That's going to be the theme once the real season starts next week. Usage and efficiency...who is taking the shots. Against SFA and NJIT Yeboah isn't going to need to get shots up. Given that no one is going to dominate possessions when the real season starts (from a usage standpoint) we are going to need balanced shots 1 thru 5.

Will players be efficient when usage goes higher?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L

Omoruyi Last Season - How Much Has to be Replaced by Ogbole/Sommerville/Martini?

Replies
22
Views
1K
Men's Basketball
PSAL_Hoops
P
K

Pre season exhibition game

Replies
24
Views
2K
Men's Basketball
Scarlet83
S
B

Best Rutgers road win you ever attended; Football and Basketball. And Best time at a Bowl game.

Replies
69
Views
2K
The Round Table
Scarlet5
Scarlet5
R

Gambling

Replies
18
Views
1K
The Round Table
luisru
L
RUich

BIG10 Classic game yesterday

Replies
9
Views
519
Rutgers Football
megadrone
megadrone
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back