Lost opportunity

[Degaz-RU]

We had this game in our grasp on the road against a quality opponent. But we just didn’t have enough offense.

It’s a lost opportunity, but like I said in the Iowa/Maryland thread, it doesn’t mean we suck, and it doesn’t mean our tourney hopes are shattered.

It just means it’s REALLY, REALLY hard to win on the road in this conference. Beat Indiana this week and all is good.

By the way, Illinois is a TERRIFIC defensive team. We couldn’t get any open looks most of the game.

 

[bac2therac]

refocus and maybe a reality check for our fans who were jumping ahead with expectations. Indiana will be tough to beat as will Minnesota. RU is no worse or better than Illinois, Iowa, Indiana or even Penn State

 

[RocktheRac]

We won 6 straight and lost by 3 on the road. I can't complain. Lets get back on track Tuesday.

 

[sct1111]

Eh, we win this game at home. Illinois is the only team as good or better defensively than us. We also won this game if Geo plays. We're fine. This is still an NCAA team.

 

[B0ski]

refocus and maybe a reality check for our fans who were jumping ahead with expectations. Indiana will be tough to beat as will Minnesota. RU is no worse or better than Illinois, Iowa, Indiana or even Penn State

This team could end up in 2nd or 3rd place or 9th or 10th. Long way to go but the execution down the stretch was bad and needs to get better in close games.. 4 main guys shooting 25% combined didn't help nor did Myles continuously picking up dumb fouls. On to the next one.

 

[216 Row E]

Can't disagree with any of the posts here, get back on track this week, 2 tough but winnable games. In reality every game we have left is winnable which is all you can ask for.

 

[beaced]

This team could end up in 2nd or 3rd place or 9th or 10th. Long way to go but the execution down the stretch was bad and needs to get better in close games.. 4 main guys shooting 25% combined didn't help nor did Myles continuously picking up dumb fouls. On to the next one.

Good team but Pike has a lot of work to do to make RU a very good team.It will take time. Personnel and disciple will determine when RU will reach its peak.BUT,we are on our way to that destination.Patience.It will happen.

 

[bac2therac]

This team could end up in 2nd or 3rd place or 9th or 10th. Long way to go but the execution down the stretch was bad and needs to get better in close games.. 4 main guys shooting 25% combined didn't help nor did Myles continuously picking up dumb fouls. On to the next one.

this. Anyone saying that we are a ncaa team I just disagree with. We can be a NCAA or we can finish 10th...those are questions still not answered. We have 15 games to go and all but two are tossup games.. This team will learn from this loss

 

[RU MAN]

We had this game in our grasp on the road against a quality opponent. But we just didn’t have enough offense.

It’s a lost opportunity, but like I said in the Iowa/Maryland thread, it doesn’t mean we suck, and it doesn’t mean our tourney hopes are shattered.

It just means it’s REALLY, REALLY hard to win on the road in this conference. Beat Indiana this week and all is good.

By the way, Illinois is a TERRIFIC defensive team. We couldn’t get any open looks most of the game.

Both teams play really good team defense. Yes you can point to not enough offense, but what killed us the entire game was the fact that Johnson got into early foul trouble and made a huge mistake near the game' s end when we could have scored and either gone up or kept it even closer. By not having Myles in nearly half the game, it gave Illinois too many second shots. Their FG for the game was worse than ours. But yes, that game was there for the taking and two costly mistakes at the end by Mulcahy and Johnson when it mattered killed us.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

This game was lost December 29th at 840PM....or maybe it was December 30th, not sure

 

[MadRU]

We won 6 straight and lost by 3 on the road. I can't complain. Lets get back on track Tuesday.

Wednesday

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Wednesday

practice makes perfect

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Hate to think a game like this might be the difference between NCAAs and NIT.

Earlier in year I mentioned a Mulcahy moment where I saw PM sneaking a peek down low before getting the ball and delivering a no-look pass for 2. I enjoyed seeing his thought process on the court.

I think I caught another such moment today.

PM was in the key as Illinois big man bright in an offensive board. PM seemed to assume ball was going right back up.. but the big man brought it down low, below his waist to gather himself.

I was trying to think of what PM then thought about not going after the ball there... Lost opportunity watching the play... And sure enough.. for the rest of the game PM was attacking the big man after he boarded down low. And unfortunately there were many opportunities to test my assumption.

 

[bac2therac]

RU lost by 31 at Illinois 2 years ago

 

[RU-ROCS]

It was a loss opportunity for sure. If we end up a bubble team losses like this one could be what keeps us out.

 

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

It was a loss opportunity for sure. If we end up a bubble team losses like this one could be what keeps us out.

Unless we win the next two games.

 

[bac2therac]

Plenty of opportunities to come...but yes because it was on the road and we were right there its one you say i wish we had..