What a huge freakin' win and incredibly exciting with great comebacks in both halves with a team that just wouldn't quite, despite a not so great whistle (as Pike said in his post game - you know it's bad if he gets T'd up) and horrendous FT shooting. Love how our defense stayed so connected, especially once they went up 65-54 with 7:40 left and we dominated the rest of the game by 15-4.
Game balls to Cliff who was a monster with 14/15/4 and Derek, who played fantastic with 14/8/8 and only 1 TO and hit 6-7 FTs. And good games from Hyatt with 17/4, Mag with 16/5 and some great defense, and Williams with 11/6. Our starting 5 was excellent and we at least got enough from the bench with Noah with 7, including those 2 big FTs near the end and Gavin finally hitting a couple of treys. JMike, Wolf and Oskar put in some decent minutes too. I also thought Pike coached a good game, even with the T.
Crowd was awesome, too - don't think I sat down for the last several minutes of regulation or the OT. Like I said, I love RU hoops, especially after a great win. I harbor no illusions about us making the tourney, but will say that games like this and IU (and even MSU for the first 30 minutes) remind me that we're a good defensive team and can be a bit better on O and if we're going to make any kind of run, these are the kinds of games we have to win and we won one tonight.
Game balls to Cliff who was a monster with 14/15/4 and Derek, who played fantastic with 14/8/8 and only 1 TO and hit 6-7 FTs. And good games from Hyatt with 17/4, Mag with 16/5 and some great defense, and Williams with 11/6. Our starting 5 was excellent and we at least got enough from the bench with Noah with 7, including those 2 big FTs near the end and Gavin finally hitting a couple of treys. JMike, Wolf and Oskar put in some decent minutes too. I also thought Pike coached a good game, even with the T.
Crowd was awesome, too - don't think I sat down for the last several minutes of regulation or the OT. Like I said, I love RU hoops, especially after a great win. I harbor no illusions about us making the tourney, but will say that games like this and IU (and even MSU for the first 30 minutes) remind me that we're a good defensive team and can be a bit better on O and if we're going to make any kind of run, these are the kinds of games we have to win and we won one tonight.
