Up until now, I have been Coach Pike's biggest fan, but after the last 2 games he deserves some criticism.
1) Up 5 against Stony Brook with the ball under your own basket with 14 seconds and you cannot design 2 plays to get the ball in your guards hands when Stony Brook was trying to foul you but you didn't give them a chance.
2) Tonight , three things really were troubling. We finally got the lead with Mike hitting the big three with 2:39 left and Pike not the Hartford coach called timeout when we had all the momentum and the RAC was loud. Inexplicable! . Pike let Hartford run their offense all night(also did the same in Stony Brook game) , without any press or changing of his defense. We played zone one possession the whole night and Hartford saw the same look all night long. Lastly, they played this funky zone up high and we looked like we were lost. The ball hardly ever got to the middle , then to the wings or to baseline for dunks. The exception was very late when Eugene gave Deshawn a perfect pass and he missed the bunny and then again he missed the dunk or was blocked at the rim without getting fouled. What took him all night was just perplexing.
3) Other observations, Choppin mentioned it last game and the substitution patterns were baffling. Duke played a few minutes the whole night , hit a nice foul line jumper and was never seen again especially with Deshawn struggling and having one of worst games ever . Issa hit 3 threes and was no where to be found especially when Geo was struggling with his worst game yet. Having Issa on one side and Mike on the other if you got .the ball to the middle of that zone , would have made more sense.
4) Deshawn was really bad around the rim tonight and defensively did a real bad job not fronting Carroll , who out played him badly.
5) Geo- I really do not know what has happened to him. The first half against Stony Brook he was scoreless but also a non factor , then turned it on with 15 points and rebounds and assists in the second half . Tonight he was totally lost, 2 points, hardly shot, did not dribble penetrate well and then was late on a rotation to let the Hartford guy get the rebound and then the put back and the foul to tie the game at 55. He either lets him go or hammers him to make him tie it at the line. He has had a real high basketball IQ but not lately.
6) We got outrebounded again and it was minus 10 with 4 minutes left. Our guards are not Rebounding and Our bigs have done a bad job of boxing out. Hard to believe 2 games in a row , these 2 teams have outrebounded us, the number 1rebounding team in the country. So disappointing.
7) we lost tonight with only 6 turnovers to their 17 but they got 7 points off our turnovers and we only got 10points off their 17. That is an incredible stat. Normally if you win the turnover battle by plus 10, you win easily but not us. And normally if you have only 6turnovers, you will win most games but not Rutgers .
8) We are such a bad shooting team , and after shooting fouls decently in the earlier schedule, the last 3 games we are reverting to last year's team and their struggles at the line . With our margin for error slim to begin with, if it continues in conference we have no shot winning 5-7 games . Geo not getting to the line at all, and Mike and Corey not enough. We also miss a ton of layups and short 6-8 footers. So damn frustrating.
9) We are not using our bigs at all. Nothing for Duke, Or Sa, or Shaquille on the block. Granted Sa and Doorson got stuffed or stripped at the rim but we do not run stuff for them and we need to and then can crash the boards.
10) I cannot put my finger on it but the last 2 games the team is flat. They are playing without passion and are really out of synch. Just a random thought but we have played 14 games out of 15 at home and we have gotten stale and we need to get away from the RAC. We play up and then down to our level of competition. The same players went toe to toe with Michigan State, Florida State and Seton Hall and have trouble playing against NJIT,Stony Brook and Hartford. My confidence has been shaken and can only hope we can get up for our conference mates home and away.
1) Up 5 against Stony Brook with the ball under your own basket with 14 seconds and you cannot design 2 plays to get the ball in your guards hands when Stony Brook was trying to foul you but you didn't give them a chance.
2) Tonight , three things really were troubling. We finally got the lead with Mike hitting the big three with 2:39 left and Pike not the Hartford coach called timeout when we had all the momentum and the RAC was loud. Inexplicable! . Pike let Hartford run their offense all night(also did the same in Stony Brook game) , without any press or changing of his defense. We played zone one possession the whole night and Hartford saw the same look all night long. Lastly, they played this funky zone up high and we looked like we were lost. The ball hardly ever got to the middle , then to the wings or to baseline for dunks. The exception was very late when Eugene gave Deshawn a perfect pass and he missed the bunny and then again he missed the dunk or was blocked at the rim without getting fouled. What took him all night was just perplexing.
3) Other observations, Choppin mentioned it last game and the substitution patterns were baffling. Duke played a few minutes the whole night , hit a nice foul line jumper and was never seen again especially with Deshawn struggling and having one of worst games ever . Issa hit 3 threes and was no where to be found especially when Geo was struggling with his worst game yet. Having Issa on one side and Mike on the other if you got .the ball to the middle of that zone , would have made more sense.
4) Deshawn was really bad around the rim tonight and defensively did a real bad job not fronting Carroll , who out played him badly.
5) Geo- I really do not know what has happened to him. The first half against Stony Brook he was scoreless but also a non factor , then turned it on with 15 points and rebounds and assists in the second half . Tonight he was totally lost, 2 points, hardly shot, did not dribble penetrate well and then was late on a rotation to let the Hartford guy get the rebound and then the put back and the foul to tie the game at 55. He either lets him go or hammers him to make him tie it at the line. He has had a real high basketball IQ but not lately.
6) We got outrebounded again and it was minus 10 with 4 minutes left. Our guards are not Rebounding and Our bigs have done a bad job of boxing out. Hard to believe 2 games in a row , these 2 teams have outrebounded us, the number 1rebounding team in the country. So disappointing.
7) we lost tonight with only 6 turnovers to their 17 but they got 7 points off our turnovers and we only got 10points off their 17. That is an incredible stat. Normally if you win the turnover battle by plus 10, you win easily but not us. And normally if you have only 6turnovers, you will win most games but not Rutgers .
8) We are such a bad shooting team , and after shooting fouls decently in the earlier schedule, the last 3 games we are reverting to last year's team and their struggles at the line . With our margin for error slim to begin with, if it continues in conference we have no shot winning 5-7 games . Geo not getting to the line at all, and Mike and Corey not enough. We also miss a ton of layups and short 6-8 footers. So damn frustrating.
9) We are not using our bigs at all. Nothing for Duke, Or Sa, or Shaquille on the block. Granted Sa and Doorson got stuffed or stripped at the rim but we do not run stuff for them and we need to and then can crash the boards.
10) I cannot put my finger on it but the last 2 games the team is flat. They are playing without passion and are really out of synch. Just a random thought but we have played 14 games out of 15 at home and we have gotten stale and we need to get away from the RAC. We play up and then down to our level of competition. The same players went toe to toe with Michigan State, Florida State and Seton Hall and have trouble playing against NJIT,Stony Brook and Hartford. My confidence has been shaken and can only hope we can get up for our conference mates home and away.
