Spot on response.Rutgers scored only 60 points some of which were scored in the last minute on uncontested layups.The team has such a small margin for error that a opponent scoring spurt is reason for concern because Rutgers lacks shooters to respond.Games are won and loss by the way teams respond to opponents spurts. Rutgers responded by a long scoring drought.
Please don't blame refs for MSU loss....
- Thread starter ImBadRU
- Start date
We complain about the refs when we win, too, fwiw. :joy:
Way too many layups and short bankers missed. Same with wide open threes. Too lax on the boards.
so Coach K, Izzo, Boeheim (I could go on and on and on and on) etc are losers? give me a break. every good coach knows how important officials are. will they get up in a presser and say that? well, actually, some will...but mostly they won't. but they understand the impact. it's a part of the game and you know it.
I get that it's part of the process of becoming a better team...and I know you're involved in coaching. there is no good coach on the planet that doesn't understand that officials and how they call the game are a HUGE part of the outcome. Especially when your team is the 'worse' team.
I am NOT saying it is THE reason we lost. but is a factor in us losing.
that doesnt mean you ignore the other things we MUST do better. in other words, it shouldn't be a scapegoat for our deficiencies. I get that and agree. but just ignoring it is more of a loser attitude (if we're going to play that game).
hopefully we can all chew gum and walk at the same time...the officials definitely helped MSU during their huge run yesterday. as did we. both things are true.
Do I think we get the short end of the stick with refs? Yes
Do I think there is some vast conspiracy to keep RU down? No
Any bad team deals with the same crap. It is up to RU to get over that hump and make the refs a non-factor.
Do I think there is some vast conspiracy to keep RU down? No
Any bad team deals with the same crap. It is up to RU to get over that hump and make the refs a non-factor.
Overall, this was another "let them play" game with a ton of contact being let go in both directions, to the point where there was almost an "anything goes" defense allowed in the paint. That did not play to our advantage, because for us to succeed in this matchup, we really needed Tillman/Goins to get into foul trouble so we could exploit the middle. That's not bias against us, it's just an officiating environment that was better suited for MSU than for RU.
In the first half we had two calls go against us, and we bounced back At 13:47 when Winston grabbed McConnell's arm on the drive to the basket, which the commentators called "engaging the arm" of McConnell. Then the next play at 13:09, when Kithier just pushed Baker off of Winston to give him space to hit a 3. 5 point swing which was part of a 9-0 run, but we weathered it and came back. Interestingly, the run ended when Kithier got called for a hook-and-hold.... which was about the fourth time in the game that he had grabbed Johnson's arm and held him, but the first one that was called.
In the second half, I thought the few tough breaks for us came closer together, but on rewatching it appears as though they were spread out over more minutes than I remember. While there were a few bad breaks (Omoruyi getting called for a travel underneath after a lot of contact, not getting the foul when Carter was held by Kithier and not getting the timeout after the ensuing scramble on the floor, Baker pushed out of bounds), they weren't really in succession, and we had a ton of missed layups and bad rebounding in between.
MSU made some big shots, we missed some easy shots, and the lead and chances of a win slipped away.
In the first half we had two calls go against us, and we bounced back At 13:47 when Winston grabbed McConnell's arm on the drive to the basket, which the commentators called "engaging the arm" of McConnell. Then the next play at 13:09, when Kithier just pushed Baker off of Winston to give him space to hit a 3. 5 point swing which was part of a 9-0 run, but we weathered it and came back. Interestingly, the run ended when Kithier got called for a hook-and-hold.... which was about the fourth time in the game that he had grabbed Johnson's arm and held him, but the first one that was called.
In the second half, I thought the few tough breaks for us came closer together, but on rewatching it appears as though they were spread out over more minutes than I remember. While there were a few bad breaks (Omoruyi getting called for a travel underneath after a lot of contact, not getting the foul when Carter was held by Kithier and not getting the timeout after the ensuing scramble on the floor, Baker pushed out of bounds), they weren't really in succession, and we had a ton of missed layups and bad rebounding in between.
MSU made some big shots, we missed some easy shots, and the lead and chances of a win slipped away.
Okay , the refs for a few minutes were bad, on the out of bounds off their player , the Clean Kiss block, and the Geo force out that happened to occur during their run and prevented us from staying closer but the main reason we lost was not the refs.
My observations:
1) The missed layups primarily by Eugene most of the game but definitely to start the second half which would have extended our 11 point lead. I also thought the ball stuck with Eugene too much and we stood around all night with no cutting to the basket. His passing has been really good the last 4 games but not last night .
2) The failure to defend the ball screen. Really a coaching failure as Winston did the same thing to us in the second half of the November game. Why for the life of me , Coach doesn’t hedge the screen and force Winston away from the basket is not in my opinion a good strategy with one of the best guards in the country. I would even hedge Shaquille and Myles and scramble to rotate. But last night Michigan State has no big guys as Tillman and Goins could have been handled by Eugene . for some reason Eugene backs up and never hedges this year and he did it a lot last night. Geo can not possibly get around a solid pick with a crafty guy like Winston, although he should have overplayed his right hand and made him go to his left every time . Why wasn’t Mathis tried on Winston’s? Shame on the coaching staff to allow it to happen twice this year after they saw it on film.
3) I hate to harp on it but other teams hardly ever miss wide open threes. Kiss missed 2-3 and Geo missed at least 1 and Caleb missed 2. We only hit 5 but if we hit 7 or 8 it is a different game and the lead would have been 12 - 14 not 7 at the half.
4) Geo was off to a great start and the team played a great last 12 minutes of the first half, but Geo was given a simple screen , and he didn’t have to do a step back but hit multiple 3’s in rhythm when they went under the screen. Where was that the second half ? Geo could have had 25-30 last night . Coach tried to go inside early second half with Eugene, which worked in theory but Eugene failed to execute, but then when so many were missed, why didn’t he try to get Geo or Ron going off a simple ball screen. We just were passing around the perimeter during that second half struggle, with hardly any movement , trying to find the angle to pass down low but forgot that Geo was a best weapon last night . Plus he never made Winston work chasing Geo and he had plenty in the tank on the offensive end.
5) The fouls shots are costing us games as it does to a lot of teams . Michigan State shot terribly at Illinois and against Indiana and lost. We shot 9-17 with a couple of front ends for 52%. Michigan State shot 91% for the game 3-4 first half and 17-18 for 94% in the second half. Prevented us from making a late second half surge. We shoot bad but not 52% bad and Michigan State shot lights out but not like they normally do .
6)
We have allowed the other teams best player go off without trying something different . Caleb Wesson on Ohio State , Giorgio on Illinois and Winston on Michigan State who had 28 last night were all season highs or close to season highs for all 3 guys, and very little adjustments were made, whether failing to double, hedging the ballscreen were done. In my opinion the only reason we lost 2 of the 3 games as Ohio State was also lost because our defense especially our 3 point defense was atrocious.
7) On the bright side, thought Ron had another good game and could have done more if given more attempts, and Kiss although he missed multiple open threes, hit 1, but finally drove hard to the hoop and made 3-4 layups and made a nice block on the bullshit foul call.
My observations:
1) The missed layups primarily by Eugene most of the game but definitely to start the second half which would have extended our 11 point lead. I also thought the ball stuck with Eugene too much and we stood around all night with no cutting to the basket. His passing has been really good the last 4 games but not last night .
2) The failure to defend the ball screen. Really a coaching failure as Winston did the same thing to us in the second half of the November game. Why for the life of me , Coach doesn’t hedge the screen and force Winston away from the basket is not in my opinion a good strategy with one of the best guards in the country. I would even hedge Shaquille and Myles and scramble to rotate. But last night Michigan State has no big guys as Tillman and Goins could have been handled by Eugene . for some reason Eugene backs up and never hedges this year and he did it a lot last night. Geo can not possibly get around a solid pick with a crafty guy like Winston, although he should have overplayed his right hand and made him go to his left every time . Why wasn’t Mathis tried on Winston’s? Shame on the coaching staff to allow it to happen twice this year after they saw it on film.
3) I hate to harp on it but other teams hardly ever miss wide open threes. Kiss missed 2-3 and Geo missed at least 1 and Caleb missed 2. We only hit 5 but if we hit 7 or 8 it is a different game and the lead would have been 12 - 14 not 7 at the half.
4) Geo was off to a great start and the team played a great last 12 minutes of the first half, but Geo was given a simple screen , and he didn’t have to do a step back but hit multiple 3’s in rhythm when they went under the screen. Where was that the second half ? Geo could have had 25-30 last night . Coach tried to go inside early second half with Eugene, which worked in theory but Eugene failed to execute, but then when so many were missed, why didn’t he try to get Geo or Ron going off a simple ball screen. We just were passing around the perimeter during that second half struggle, with hardly any movement , trying to find the angle to pass down low but forgot that Geo was a best weapon last night . Plus he never made Winston work chasing Geo and he had plenty in the tank on the offensive end.
5) The fouls shots are costing us games as it does to a lot of teams . Michigan State shot terribly at Illinois and against Indiana and lost. We shot 9-17 with a couple of front ends for 52%. Michigan State shot 91% for the game 3-4 first half and 17-18 for 94% in the second half. Prevented us from making a late second half surge. We shoot bad but not 52% bad and Michigan State shot lights out but not like they normally do .
6)
We have allowed the other teams best player go off without trying something different . Caleb Wesson on Ohio State , Giorgio on Illinois and Winston on Michigan State who had 28 last night were all season highs or close to season highs for all 3 guys, and very little adjustments were made, whether failing to double, hedging the ballscreen were done. In my opinion the only reason we lost 2 of the 3 games as Ohio State was also lost because our defense especially our 3 point defense was atrocious.
7) On the bright side, thought Ron had another good game and could have done more if given more attempts, and Kiss although he missed multiple open threes, hit 1, but finally drove hard to the hoop and made 3-4 layups and made a nice block on the bullshit foul call.
Maybe true or only 2-3 more if we hit our foul shots and Eugene didn’t miss the easy layups.
I saw the game thread.. some bad calls.. but no one was blaming loss on it.
I won't name names, but one poster was. In the game thread and in multiple other threads postgame.
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