Positives from last night...

[Greene Rice FIG]

Defensive rebounding we got 75% of WF misses 30-40 (WF 10 oREB, RU 30 dREB)

Lewis 8 Laurent 6 Williams 4

We won TO battle 18-10.

Shot 3-15 from 3....negative stat, but I like the result despite it

69 points allowed in 77 possessions (.896 point per possession) great number. Definitely aided by 18 TOs and cleaning the defensive glass.

 

[MadRU]

Interior defense was lacking. The lefty big was killing us.

 

[RutgHoops]

My take:

Adding to GRFIG's points above which are HUGELY positive stats (outside of the 3 point shooting).

• Wake Forest was the best team Rutgers has played this season
• Last night was the best 40 minute game Rutgers has played this year
• Impressive to "hang in" when our 2nd and 3rd best players (Williams and Freeman) go a combined 3-19 from the floor
• One of the best coached games of the Eddie Jordan era: Dunks out of timeouts, switching defenses, limiting minutes of players struggling, getting Corey appropriate breathers, use of the entire roster, putting players in positions to succeed....cant ask much more of your coach
• Our bigs need to look to kick it out once in a while. It will keep defenses a bit more honest.
• Corey is getting better and better each game. Getting himself that look with 5 seconds left was a big time play. Wish it went in for him. I think it will when it matters more than last night did.
• Laurent "flashed" last night and earned his minutes. Goode and Grier also. They may not be good players yet (specifically the frosh), but they looked improved last night
• Very solid rebounding effort
• Would have liked to have seen what would have happened if Corey got the "and 1". Or even a no call. Gosh was that a tough call in a big spot.

We will lose games like these because we are not a very good FT shooting team, we are just not good enough (yet) to avoid these 6-9 minute scoring droughts, and while the defense looked better this game we just don't (yet) have the ability to lock a solid team down for an entire game. And Wake is a solid team.

I came on before the year and hoped this team would play hard, and gel as the year went along. I had no comments after Creighton and Clemson because I am not certain I saw both of those things in those two games. I saw it last night.

 

[RUBubba]

Was Freeman hurt? Or sick? Odd to see him sitting out at the end of the game. Wasn't one of his better games as well.

Sanders is without a doubt the spark plug of the team, moreso than Myles Mack was. Unlike Mack, I honestly feel like Sanders elevates other peoples games (this is not a knock on MM). As someone else mentioned though, he needs to be more aware of the clock. A few times he waited too long, and a few times he went too quick (not just in last nights game).

Goode is a very nice player, very heady guy, but I was really looking for a play or two to be run for him to get him an open look. Think he had 4 assists, the ally oop and the fast break outlet to Laurent.

Laurent is very good too, but like many others, he needs to learn when to kick it out or pull up on a drive or fast break.

You could almost see it in Mike WIlliams eyes last night that with about 10 minutes to go, he kind of got this look like "I have to get my shots now". The final shot was an open look, but wasn't necessarily a shot he needed to take right then. He really should have taken a step or two, or even drive to the hole.

I think I am in the minority, but I like Grier. He has some leadership and experience in him. I think he had two baskets just by being in the right place. Its been awhile since RU had a guy that did that.

Why didn't Foreman start? Didn't see anything before the game about it.

Seriously... why can't these guys make foul shots?

And the bald ref last night is atrocious. Not only did he make the horrendous call on Sanders, but he is also the one that called Laurent for blocking when he was camped out shoulder to shoulder with another RU player. Awful.

 

[TheRacRU]

Sanders highlights

 

[RUJMM78]

The key to the game was Wake Forest size inside totally neutralized Freeman which caused Jordan having him on the bench down the stretch of the game.

 

[jellyman]

Was Freeman hurt? Or sick? Odd to see him sitting out at the end of the game. Wasn't one of his better games as well.

Sanders is without a doubt the spark plug of the team, moreso than Myles Mack was. Unlike Mack, I honestly feel like Sanders elevates other peoples games (this is not a knock on MM). As someone else mentioned though, he needs to be more aware of the clock. A few times he waited too long, and a few times he went too quick (not just in last nights game).

Goode is a very nice player, very heady guy, but I was really looking for a play or two to be run for him to get him an open look. Think he had 4 assists, the ally oop and the fast break outlet to Laurent.

Laurent is very good too, but like many others, he needs to learn when to kick it out or pull up on a drive or fast break.

You could almost see it in Mike WIlliams eyes last night that with about 10 minutes to go, he kind of got this look like "I have to get my shots now". The final shot was an open look, but wasn't necessarily a shot he needed to take right then. He really should have taken a step or two, or even drive to the hole.

I think I am in the minority, but I like Grier. He has some leadership and experience in him. I think he had two baskets just by being in the right place. Its been awhile since RU had a guy that did that.

Why didn't Foreman start? Didn't see anything before the game about it.

Seriously... why can't these guys make foul shots?

And the bald ref last night is atrocious. Not only did he make the horrendous call on Sanders, but he is also the one that called Laurent for blocking when he was camped out shoulder to shoulder with another RU player. Awful.

I speculate that Foreman had showed he could not defend on the wing, in the prior games, so RU put in GFrier at wing for defense.

Notice Foreman ONLY played power forward - either he or Freeman at PF (there might have been a few plays with Foreman and Freeman both in the game, but not at the wing forward).

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Freeman was limping the last 25 minutes of the game.

 

[eedouble]

Something was definitely wrong with Freeman last night. Every time he came out he went straight to the trainer and also spent some time on the bike in the 2nd half.

 

[RU-ROCS]

I still thought Eddie's substitution patterns were bad, but certainly if we knocked down a few more FTs or wide open shots we would have won going away, which Jordan deserves credit for. The game plan was obviously solid and the defense was far better than anything I saw in Vegas. We really are a rudderless ship as soon as Corey goes to the bench. Daniels is really bad running the offense. Time to let somebody else try.

 

[RU at the shore]

I speculate that Foreman had showed he could not defend on the wing, in the prior games, so RU put in GFrier at wing for defense.

Notice Foreman ONLY played power forward - either he or Freeman at PF (there might have been a few plays with Foreman and Freeman both in the game, but not at the wing forward).

Going forward, I would be in full agreement with Foreman playing PF only, behind Freeman. That just seems to be his best spot.

 

[goru7]

The key to the game was Wake Forest size inside totally neutralized Freeman which caused Jordan having him on the bench down the stretch of the game.

He was hurt. Are u blind?

 

[shields]

Boylan mentioned the size of Wake on postgame.