Moments that shaped the program

[Goku]

I am still so happy and thrilled at this past season and it culminated with an epic, program-defining win at Purdue. In my opinion, the NCAA streak is over. Some type of banner should go up. The team will go down as legends the same way the 2005 Rutgers football team are legends for breaking over the hump. In years and decades to come, if any of these guys on this team come back to watch a game, they will get a standing ovation from me. I must admit I am disappointed in myself for joining in the talk of doubt after the rough patch we hit early in the year including the loss to St. Bon and Pitt.

So I was thinking that we could share favorite moments where we knew this program was going to be something special.

Here is one that stands out to me. It's the 2018-2019 season. We are playing Pitt at home and fall way behind. Geo is having a HORRIBLE GAME...0 points in 35 minutes. We claw our way back, proving our resiliency to get back in games and not throwing in the towel. The game calls on its leader, Geo, to make a shot at the end of the game, and he misses again. He's distraught. Jacob Young comes over to him at the end of the game to give him words of support. That showed me the type of character and unity this team was developing, that would continue to develop this year. Add on top of that moment a game this year when Jacob young missed a crucial layup at the end of the game...and Geo the leader comes over to support his teammate this time around.

I love this team. I love this coach. I love these young men and what they have accomplished.

 

[RUChoppin]

End of the game at Iowa, and Jacob Young is down on himself after he couldn't get a layup to drop with about 17 seconds left... and Geo comes over, puts his hand on his back, and lifts his chin up. Just a great moment of leadership - nothing to hang your head over, get back at it and get the next one.

 

[rubaseball78]

Comeback win over NW. Just seemed like everything was going right for NW and wrong for RU. We would cut it to 10-12, then it would go back to 18. Kept saying to myself if we could get it under 10 we would win. Finally got it under 10 with about 4 minutes to go and then it turned in RU's favor. Basically team showed a refuse to lose mentality that day.

 

[Groz]

The win at Nebraska this year.

We had been so awful for so many years on the road, almost every single game. In the Nebraska game, we had the early lead and then started to fall apart and fell behind by 6 or 8. I am sure 99% of us started to think that this was the same "Old Rutgers".

We came storming back to take the lead and then dominate the rest of the game. To me, that was the start of knowing this year would be different.

Best of Luck,
Groz

 

[jordkap]

Two moments this past year stood out to me.

#1 was completely destroying Seton Hall
#2 was completely destroying Maryland

Those 2 games showed me they could beat any team in the country when they played well.

 

[RUChoppin]

The Caldwell game was also a big moment.

It was the game where it "clicked" for Young and things slowed down. It was the game Mulcahy showed a bit of what he's capable of, once his comfort level grows. It also may have been what knocked Baker out for a spell, which forced other players to step up more into the spotlight and shine.

 

[MadRU]

Don’t underestimate the win over Wisconsin. Coming off two losses, if we lose this game, three game losing streak and no confidence going into the SHU game.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

I honestly don't think anything was done this past season that shaped the results for this season. Quite honestly until you show signs of life, however small or insignificant it may be, it's very difficult to pinpoint when etc.

My own timeline was finding CJ Gettys as a grad transfer and getting off to what was a relatively harmless 6-0 start against some very spotty or weak competitors in Pike's 1st year.

It had small milestones, winning the 3rd game on the road at DePaul and also finding the way to win vs Hartford on the day after Thanksgiving at the buzzer, while trailing most of the game but a furious rally late with a 2 point win.

Although that was a 3-15 B1G regular season win/loss record, it was Pike, Brandin Knight and staff getting down to Baltimore and continuing to sell/recruit Montez Mathis.

Pike made a few trips down to see his HS games and I believe that also included watching a game ahead of RUs game at Maryland in February of 2017, during Mathis' junior season.

Once you had Sanders get RU off the losing streak in B1G with the buzzer beater putback at home vs Nebraska and Corey carrying RU for all 40 minutes in a win at PSU, it showed progress....but it was still 2-15...until, Freeman won the Illinois finale at the end of Pike's 1st season.

What those 3 B1G wins did, was allow the roster to somehow believe that they're hard work was paying off, despite a limited roster. Then I believe the story was that Mathis attended the Ohio State B1G tourney game in Washington DC, when OSU stumbled into the 11th seed and 14th seeded RU upset Thad Matta.

I think if Freeman doesn't win the Illinois game and we don't upset Ohio State, it would have been much more difficult to sell Mathis to jump on board a few months later. Finishing 2-16 & a loss to make it 2-17, is much harder vs 4-16 with wins in 2 of the last 3 games.

If you don't get Mathis (Harper verballed as well that same summer), it becomes much more difficult to build this roster. It also saw before Mathis and Harper arrived, earlier that spring, finding Myles Johnson, who was at a camp in Indianapolis...great find by Jay Young specifically.

You sign Myles the spring of 2017, get the commitments of Harper and Mathis the summer of 2017, pair them with unheralded Geo Baker who would be a soon to be freshman, and the core of your roster is either signed or found and discovered, before anyone ever played a game in Pike's 2nd season.

Those additions helped place us here today, but the next scenarios of momentum involved beating ranked SHU at the RAC (fueled by Sanders and a grinding 6 or 7 offensive rebounds by Mike Williams) and then finishing up strong at MSG, with not 1, but 2 upsets in the B1G tournament.

By the time Friday night's ice/snowstorm for the 3rd game in 3 days arrived, you knew this was drastically different than any past rebuild. We just didn't play well, we went blow for blow with a legitimate and hot shooting Vince Edwards, Matthias, Carsen Edwards, with Geo and Corey lighting up the Garden.

It all just gets pieced together, with more milestones after another and after another, even before the calvary of Myles off a redshirt, Harper, Mathis, then finding Caleb and off we go.

You are now 2 years from the launch point, but it's a bunch of small steps that pieced together what appears to be not just a team, but a program and culture of work ethic and buy-in. It's not the most overwhelmingly talented roster, but plays well together. Pike, Jay Young, Karl Hobbs, Brandin Knight, etc down to the strength and conditioning coach all made this rebuild possible.

 

[RUJMM78]

The home games against Northwestern and Nebraska where Rutgers was behind by double digits and made a dramatic charge at crunch time to win both games.A loss in either game would probably have been the end of NCAA talk because they were the worse B1G teams all season long.

 

[phlop87]

The start of the game against Seton Hall To punch them in the mouth and jump out to 12-0 (was it 14-0) lead just set the tone. The 2nd biggest was the missed foul shot by Purdue which allowed the game to go into OT. This win put us in the NCAA with no doubt and also gave one of the biggest personal highlights of the year, Young's monster Dunk. Tie game in OT against a 7 footer. I'll always remember that one and use it as comparison against all other dunks

 

[cm_13]

The Ron Harper save turned alley oop during the first half of the first Purdue game. That play to me is basically everything good about this team summed up in one possession. RHJ dives into the bench to make the save. Caleb dives onto the floor to recover the loose ball and tips it back to Johnson, Myles hands it off to Yeboah, Yeboah pushes it up to Mathis, and Tez tosses a perfect lob to a streaking RHJ who throws down an emphatic alley oop slam on the other end. The entire play was all intensity, heart and hustle, every player on the floor touched the ball and did their part, and the building exploded when Harper threw it down. That play was special.

 

[Unionst]

The Ron Harper save turned alley oop during the first half of the first Purdue game. That play to me is basically everything good about this team summed up in one possession. RHJ dives into the bench to make the save. Caleb dives onto the floor to recover the loose ball and tips it back to Johnson, Myles hands it off to Yeboah, Yeboah pushes it up to Mathis, and Tez tosses a perfect lob to a streaking RHJ who throws down an emphatic alley oop slam on the other end. The entire play was all intensity, heart and hustle, every player on the floor touched the ball and did their part, and the building exploded when Harper threw it down. That play was special.

Play of the year.

 

[cm_13]

The Ron Harper save turned alley oop during the first half of the first Purdue game. That play to me is basically everything good about this team summed up in one possession. RHJ dives into the bench to make the save. Caleb dives onto the floor to recover the loose ball and tips it back to Johnson, Myles hands it off to Yeboah, Yeboah pushes it up to Mathis, and Tez tosses a perfect lob to a streaking RHJ who throws down an emphatic alley oop slam on the other end. The entire play was all intensity, heart and hustle, every player on the floor touched the ball and did their part, and the building exploded when Harper threw it down. That play was special.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD GEO!

 

[Jeevan Kirkland]

GET OUT OF MY HEAD GEO!

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What I love is that Geo isn’t even in this play. Such a great guy and team player.

 

[cm_13]

What I love is that Geo isn’t even in this play. Such a great guy and team player.

Yea, really shows what type of player and teammate he is. There’s a reason he has that C on his chest.

 

[LC-88]

March 29th, 2020

 

[knights1212]

This team was just so close knit and was so much fun to watch & root for. I think the way we jumped all over Seton Hall to start the game was so exciting. They were made to look like they never played the game before. The comeback wins over Northwestern and Nebraska showed the team never gave up and the final game win at Purdue showed how much Rutgers wanted to win a road game and got the monkey off their game. Purdue needed the win as much as we did and we won a game at a site where a team rarely ever loses at home. What a wonderful season and here is hoping that the virus epidemic ends as soon as possible and we can start next season when it is scheduled to start and next season is even more exciting.

 

[RW90]

Aside from the video of Geo consoling JY, the one image that sticks out to me is the one Geo posted at season's end. The picture was from the postgame alma mater lineup immediately after they lost to Michigan. Judging from the picture, you would have thought it was a funeral the entire team was so distraught. As fans, you forget just how much the team themselves have invested, and taking their one and only home loss so to heart just showed how much they cared for each other and the program.

 

[Goku]

Aside from the video of Geo consoling JY, the one image that sticks out to me is the one Geo posted at season's end. The picture was from the postgame alma mater lineup immediately after they lost to Michigan. Judging from the picture, you would have thought it was a funeral the entire team was so distraught. As fans, you forget just how much the team themselves have invested, and taking their one and only home loss so to heart just showed how much they cared for each other and the program.

This is why I was excited to see them play Michigan a 3rd time. They must have been itching to play them again and beat them. Oh well.

 

[RutgersNYCB1G]

The home games against Northwestern and Nebraska where Rutgers was behind by double digits and made a dramatic charge at crunch time to win both games.A loss in either game would probably have been the end of NCAA talk because they were the worse B1G teams all season long.

The team was tired and falling apart from a basketball standpoint at that time. I look at those games more of "escaping with a win" more than highlight reel moments.

 

[RutgHoops]

Great post @NewJerseyHawk.

From December 11th to January 28th was the launching point for three prior years of brilliant coaching and very good recruiting. That 10-2 stretch, we played like one of the ten best teams in the country. And a portion of that included Geo missing games and coming back.

2019-20 was a heck of a year. With wins over Maryland and @Purdue to finish it I truly felt we were getting back to playing our best basketball.

 

[Randal7]

Great memories guys. All of them are special in their own right.

To me, the inflection point of the season was beating PSU. We got PSUs top end game and we were just better. That was such high quality basketball and a pleasure to watch, as we won the game by 11, JY really emerged for good, and the guys played as a team