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@Iowa (1/22): Most Important Game

Jeevan Kirkland

Jeevan Kirkland

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May 4, 2019
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Even with the win versus Minnesota, I feel that Rutgers will be left just short of being ranked. However, the team will have a chance to change that by winning two this week. Nebraska is an obvious must-win as it is a Q4 home game. However, a win against Iowa would be beyond huge as that would put Rutgers at 6-2 in the Big Ten with two straight home games to play. Iowa will be a tough matchup especially since B1G teams only have seven wins on the road (most to Nebraska and Northwestern). In addition, Iowa has looked very good this year and Garza has become a top 10, maybe 5, player in the country. He may be the second-best player in the B1G behind Winston. The team will need to lock-in for this difficult road test.
 
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last year had a revenge factor after that crushing loss...team heard Iowa celebrating in their lockerroom after the game.

this is an interesting game because RU will have to play at a higher tempo, attack Iowa and make them pay, their defense isnt the best. Again it comes down to not necessarily Garza but it comes down to whether RU can limit those outsider shooters from going off on 3 and winning the rebounding battle
 
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Does Garza play decent defense? Does he get in foul trouble? I have only seen Iowa play about 10 minutes this year but I do know he is a skilled player.
 
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I'll be captain obvious here. Johnson has to stay out of foul trouble. If he can hold Garza to 15 or less we will win. They have some shooters but we are much more athletic overall.
 
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Garza's two highest point totals of the year...44 and 34 came in Iowa losses to Michigan and Penn State. The other loss to Nebby he only had 16 yet a season high 18 boards. He took freakin 32 shots in the loss vs Michigan hitting on 17. He can shoot the 3 and that just too tough to defend..last two games hit 2 of 3 from 3.
 
The road win last year we shot 30/59 50.8% and 11/23 47.8% from 3 in the 86-72 win and held them to 8/29 27.6% from 3. We definitely need that kind of shooting effort to win at Iowa again this year.

Iowa definitely worries me, the 2 lowest scoring games this year, both wins, were against defensive minded teams, @Syracuse 68-54 and Maryland 67-49. Even the loss to a very good defensive team undefeated San Diego St., Iowa scored 73-83.

We have to continue to play lights out 3pt shooting defense on a team that shoots 36.1% as a team on the year(36.4% last year), Garza 18/48 37.5%, Wieskamp 39/99 39.4%, *Fredrick 29/57 50.9%*, and McCaffery 17/50 34%. Their 2 worst 3pt shooting efforts were losses, 3/15 @Michigan 91-103 loss and 4/33 @Nebraska 70-76. DePaul beat them at home 78-93 with 61.4% FG and 55% from 3.

They have had 4 leading scorers thru 18 games, Garza(10), Fredrick(4), Wieskamp (3), and Bohanon(1)-- Inj. We match up well defensively, Myles on Garza and *Mathis/Young on 6'3" Fredrick*, 6'6" Wieskamp will get tons of players rotating on him. Other thing is they pass the ball real well 8th in assists in the country.

I think the key to the game will be Mathis and Young matchup on Fredrick. Garza is definitely a better player this year than last year, but so is Myles. I can't wait.
 
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This is NOT the “most important game.” Period. A win in Iowa city, with the students back, on a weeknight, would be a huge plus NO QUESTION but a loss is no biggie SO LONG AS we best Nebraska..

As I’ve been saying for two weeks now:

“Hold service” at home.
 
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Will be a very difficult game but winnable. Don’t underestimate what this team can do. I can see Jacob having a kick ass game, Harper taking over and Montez shutting down Frederick etc.

Garza is going to get his points just like Otoru did today but if we can stop Frederick and Weiskamp just as we did with Carr today- then real good chance we win - regardless it’s a road game
 
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All games count as one win ...but with Nebraska coming to the RAC on Saturday behind it ...it’s a game that if we win, lines is up for

-being 7-2 and 16-4, and likely checking in around 15 in the polls
-likely looking at the standing at the end of the week seeing 10, possibly 11 of the 14 teams having 4 losses in the league

If you want a double bye for the big ten tournament...it’s a potential swing game in that equation

And I won’t tell you that most of the teams who can manage double bye in the big ten by being top four in the league are thinking 5 seed or better for the NCAA tourney ...
 
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It is a big game as is every game but it is a road game and we need to win a few more road games. Imagine if we do get a win? We would really be getting some major attention. Garza is very strong and physical. He is greatly improved and hits threes as well. Myles must stay out of foul trouble. We also cannot allow Wieskamp to have a great game on threes. If we can do these things I think our chances will be very good.
 
The next home game is the next most important game on the schedule the rest of the year. Road wins are gravy, but we’re going to have to win 1-2 of them to take some pressure off absolutely having to win at home.
 
According to Kenpom, yes we have the #9 defense in the country, but Iowa has the #5 offense. They will be very tough to stop and their crowd gets into it. Like someone else said above, if we somehow find a way to win this one, all bets are off
 
We matchup well against Iowa. Mathis young in your face defense on Frederick . The length of Caleb on Weiskamp. Myles on Garza. The depth is huge and can be the winning factor for us
 
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Scangg said:
We matchup well against Iowa. Mathis young in your face defense on Frederick . The length of Caleb on Weiskamp. Myles on Garza. The depth is huge and can be the winning factor for us
Click to expand...

Comes down to the Myles foul count. Two early fouls like Illinois and we won’t win.
 
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If our starters stay out of foul trouble in H1 and we continue to rebound, we win.
 
For me, I’m just super excited and looking forward to this huge test for RU. A win on the road here would be a resume cherry. We definitely need another road win or two somewhere to look legitimate. But this test against a top 20 team in nation at their place is finally the level of importance each game has been missing this far into the season for us for decades.
 
AreYouNUTS said:
This is NOT the “most important game.” Period. A win in Iowa city, with the students back, on a weeknight, would be a huge plus NO QUESTION but a loss is no biggie SO LONG AS we best Nebraska..

As I’ve been saying for two weeks now:

“Hold service” at home.
Click to expand...

NUTS - This team is really good. My B1G goal before the season was a 11-9 record. I now am resetting my B1G goal. Winning at home is important, but I think we can shoot higher and beat some good B1G teams on their court. I think this team is ready for that.
 
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Jeevan Kirkland said:
Even with the win versus Minnesota, I feel that Rutgers will be left just short of being ranked. However, the team will have a chance to change that by winning two this week. Nebraska is an obvious must-win as it is a Q4 home game. However, a win against Iowa would be beyond huge as that would put Rutgers at 6-2 in the Big Ten with two straight home games to play. Iowa will be a tough matchup especially since B1G teams only have seven wins on the road (most to Nebraska and Northwestern). In addition, Iowa has looked very good this year and Garza has become a top 10, maybe 5, player in the country. He may be the second-best player in the B1G behind Winston. The team will need to lock-in for this difficult road test.
Click to expand...

As the sign in the student section at the end of yesterday’s win said:

Rank us,
Cowards!
 
With the glaring disparity of home and away numbers in the BIG, losing to a team like Iowa in their house should not be too damaging.
A win by us would, however, be considered huge.
 
KnightTerrors said:
According to this board, every game is the most important/must win game
Click to expand...
Every game is the most important one, that is what winning does. The only way to keep it going is to win the next one. Then, winning that means the the one after it becomes important.
 
Jeevan Kirkland said:
Even with the win versus Minnesota, I feel that Rutgers will be left just short of being ranked. However, the team will have a chance to change that by winning two this week. Nebraska is an obvious must-win as it is a Q4 home game. However, a win against Iowa would be beyond huge as that would put Rutgers at 6-2 in the Big Ten with two straight home games to play. Iowa will be a tough matchup especially since B1G teams only have seven wins on the road (most to Nebraska and Northwestern). In addition, Iowa has looked very good this year and Garza has become a top 10, maybe 5, player in the country. He may be the second-best player in the B1G behind Winston. The team will need to lock-in for this difficult road test.
Click to expand...
A team tied for second in the B1G with a 5-2 league record and a overall record of 14-4 should be in the top 25 rankings.The only thing that will keep Rutgers out is past perception of the basketball program which still exists in parts of the country.
 
Iowa should be looking to put a clamp on Harper since he really shot the lights out there last year. Garza is going to get his but I'm thinking Pike has a plan here. Like he did with Minny, he's going to shut everyone else down and try and limit defensive rebounding by Iowa. The announcers yesterday nailed it when they said that our team treats EVERY ball as a miss (even if it isn't) and crashes the boards.

Defense wins games. Defenses travels. And, most importantly, this team has HEART and THAT can't be overstated. Win or lose Iowa will know they were in a rock fight.
 
Iowa was 26 in the AP poll last week and went 2-0. They shold be ranked this week.

A win on the road against a ranked team will be huge for getting into the top 25 or if we in this week, remaining in.
 
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