RAPID REACTION - Notre Dame

[Degaz-RU]

1. Dylan Harper is an absolute stud. Unguardable. Epic performance on a big stage with 36 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Wow.

2. Matt Allocco - damn I wish we got him in the portal. That kid is a gamer. Played all 45 minutes and is draining contested threes in OT to nearly will ND to victory. 24 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 gigantic stones.

3. The other player of the game for Rutgers was Jeremiah Williams. He played incredible defense, completely erasing Braden Shrewsbury in the second half, skyed for rebounds, and hit several clutch baskets, including 2 very surprising threes. 10 points and 6 big rebounds.

4. Shout out to Derkack too, who also played another good all around game, hit 2 big threes in the first half, but then used that success to get into the paint. 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist.

5. PJ Hayes was planted on the bench the entire second half. Not sure why, but I’m guessing Pike didn’t like what he saw from PJ on defense in the first half.

6. Tyson Acuff got his first extended run as a Scarlet Knight and contributes 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 assist on a fast break in OT.

7. Ace had a poor game overall, but that pull up jumper he hit late was big.

8. The rebounding margin was in favor of ND 42-36, but it was much better in the second half. ND takes a lot of threes, and plays a lot of “five out,” and that creates rebounding difficulties for the defense.

9. Rutgers got back to playing some good tough defense from mid first half through the end of the game. Yes, ND scored points, but a lot of that was Allocco just being unconscious.

10. Interesting lineups in the second half. No Ogbole or Hayes at all, barely any Sommerville either. We played small ball with Ace as the tallest guy on the court, subbed out for Martini. This smaller lineup was more effective at chasing around NDs’ players (they ran a lot of high screen action), and also opened up the lane for Dylan to cook on offfense.

11. On to Alabama. Think we will get crushed dealing with their athleticism. So this win was huge.

 

[FastMJ]

2 gigantic stones haha

 

[Degaz-RU]

Oh, one more thing. The refs were awful. They missed several travels by ND, and they missed an obvious charge by Davis in OT when he lowered his shoulder on a drive and destroyed Derkack.

 

[Scangg]

FTs and scangg willing them to victory

Dylan is my hero

 

[Scangg]

 

[RW90]

Interesting that Pike went with the small lineup down the stretch. Granted ND lacked size after their star player went out, but our bigs were glued to the bench since the late second half. Right now most our guards rebound better than our bigs.

 

[chase_NJ]

Loved what Acuff gave us tonight.

 

[bitnez]

Loved what Acuff gave us tonight.

He might be the key to this team. He’s looking healthier every game and Pike clearly believes in him as he got closer minutes tonight.

 

[RW90]

Loved what Acuff gave us tonight.

Still seems a little slow laterally on defense. Hopefully he's just getting into game shape, but he's definitely moved ahead of JMike off the bench when Pike doesn't sub defense for offense.

 

[RU MAN]

1. Dylan Harper is an absolute stud. Unguardable. Epic performance on a big stage with 36 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Wow.

2. Matt Allocco - damn I wish we got him in the portal. That kid is a gamer. Played all 45 minutes and is draining contested threes in OT to nearly will ND to victory. 24 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 gigantic stones.

3. The other player of the game for Rutgers was Jeremiah Williams. He played incredible defense, completely erasing Braden Shrewsbury in the second half, skyed for rebounds, and hit several clutch baskets, including 2 very surprising threes. 10 points and 6 big rebounds.

4. Shout out to Derkack too, who also played another good all around game, hit 2 big threes in the first half, but then used that success to get into the paint. 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist.

5. PJ Hayes was planted on the bench the entire second half. Not sure why, but I’m guessing Pike didn’t like what he saw from PJ on defense in the first half.

6. Tyson Acuff got his first extended run as a Scarlet Knight and contributes 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 assist on a fast break in OT.

7. Ace had a poor game overall, but that pull up jumper he hit late was big.

8. The rebounding margin was in favor of ND 42-36, but it was much better in the second half. ND takes a lot of threes, and plays a lot of “five out,” and that creates rebounding difficulties for the defense.

9. Rutgers got back to playing some good tough defense from mid first half through the end of the game. Yes, ND scored points, but a lot of that was Allocco just being unconscious.

10. Interesting lineups in the second half. No Ogbole or Hayes at all, barely any Sommerville either. We played small ball with Ace as the tallest guy on the court, subbed out for Martini. This smaller lineup was more effective at chasing around NDs’ players (they ran a lot of high screen action), and also opened up the lane for Dylan to cook on offfense.

11. On to Alabama. Think we will get crushed dealing with their athleticism. So this win was huge.

Degaz, great recap. Allocco was unconscious, making those uncontested 3-pointers with a hand in his face in OT. Thank God, his last one clanged off to the left with no time on the clock. What a game! I still can't believe ND lost to Elon at ND. Their team overall is young, and Shrewsbury has them playing at a very high level.

I did like the adjustments Pikiell made in the second half, although I still wanted to see Hayes and Martini in there. Finally, Harper was amazing, while Ace was meh tonight. As great a player as Ace is, I would like to see him drive to the basket more and not settle for so many mid-range jumpers. Still, a win, is a win, is a win, and I'm thrilled after the weeked debacle we experienced in basketball and football.

 

[Loyal_2RU]

He might be the key to this team. He’s looking healthier every game and Pike clearly believes in him as he got closer minutes tonight.

Been saying this since Wagner...

 

[Knight Shift]

Loved what Acuff gave us tonight.

 

[RUChoppin]

Another thing, too, going without Somerville or Ogbole was that we could switch 1-5. In the second half, we basically gave up fighting through screens and just switched, which worked out much better for us.

 

[Scangg]

Loved what Acuff gave us tonight.

Ive been calling for more Acuff. He's the calming presence on the court

 

[chase_NJ]

Another thing, too, going without Somerville or Ogbole was that we could switch 1-5. In the second half, we basically gave up fighting through screens and just switched, which worked out much better for us.

Very good point. Somerville is still figuring out what he's supposed to do on screens. It feels like it's too often that he switches when he doesn't need to, and it just throws the defense off. All he has to do is show, and then get back to his man.

Freshman, man.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Thank goodness Pike didn’t call a timeout right before Allocco missed that final 3 pointer. 😂

 

[winfield102]

Harper was extremely impressive. Effortless getting to the hole and consistently finishing. The shot at the end of regulation though was such a bad idea. I can't believe he settled for that.

While there were a number of lapses on defense, I thought we did a good job overall.

We take WAY too many ill-advised shots for no reason and too many 3's early in the shot clock by guys that aren't very good 3 point shooters.

At some point, Pike has to coach offense. Does he just roll the ball out and say "good luck"? As each game goes by, I get more and more frustrated.

Why is LS calling for the ball on the block when Ace has it on the wing or when Harper is trying to post up his man? Get to the weak side immediately. Zero awareness and zero coaching. If Davis has it on the wing, LS can post up. Watch Cliff in the next game. He will immediately vacate the ball side block every time, as he is coached to do.

 

[ScarletDave]

Thank goodness Pike didn’t call a timeout right before Allocco missed that final 3 pointer. 😂

Actually they reviewed it, he called it 1 second before the shot, so ND got the ball back but instead of a prayer 3 pointer they drove right to tye basket from half court and all 5 of our guys ran into each other giving ND the untouched layup for the win

 

[ImBadRU]

Acuff did better but he was blown by all night with guys taking it to the rim. We made #7 look like an all star when all he did was drive right. No one forced him to the left. Terrible D except for JW.

 

[FIJI'83]

So happy we won. Dylan was spectacular tonight. He was helped by yeoman efforts by JWill and Derkack. Acuff hit a couple of shots but got beat off the dribble too much for my liking.

Somerville is of no use in the paint and his offense is not very good. He also does not like to pass once he gets the ball. Martini is an invisible man, a bust. Hayes does not give much. It sucks we cannot play a true center at the end of a game.

I attended both our game and the earlier Houston v. Alabama game. Both of those teams are far superior to RU and ND. Could get real ugly real fast tomorrow night. Go RU!

 

[Scarlet Shack]

I have been talking about the relarionship between defrnse , proper defensive rotations and being in rebodining poation

notice how much of that got fixed when we went without a center , after pike called time out , down 62-56 with 6 togo

The reboudbing margin from that point was somwwheee bwtween +7 and +9

The defense was very good from thsr point out, not withstanding sone Ridic three point shots made in the last minute of OT

 

[TDIrish27]

Only saw 1st Half due to my advanced years but congrats to the Knights !

 

[Roy_Faulker]

Anyone know if there is a way to watch on demand or a replay? Max sports?

 

[toby83]

Somerville is that guy on your sons aau team you couldn't stand. Makes nobody better.
So young though hopefully coached up.

 

[toby83]

Loved finally seeing the Williams from last year, Ding up, found space couple key times, the midrange (not hesitating) off the dribble, etc

 

[wheezer]

He might be the key to this team. He’s looking healthier every game and Pike clearly believes in him as he got closer minutes tonight.

And as one who did not know or consider his injury, his back story etc, I originally thought he was a stiff that would be not much of a contributor

 

[seansherm]

Another thing, too, going without Somerville or Ogbole was that we could switch 1-5. In the second half, we basically gave up fighting through screens and just switched, which worked out much better for us.

You think so? Our constant switching was driving me crazy and seemed to be giving ND the match up they would want for Allocco or Davis to just do their thing. The only guy we contained was Shrewsbury, who isn't as good as credited for.

 

[King of S]

Kudos to all you that stayed up to 2:30am to watched the finished.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Another thing, too, going without Somerville or Ogbole was that we could switch 1-5. In the second half, we basically gave up fighting through screens and just switched, which worked out much better for us.

Martini didnt get the switching 1-5 memo. He almost single handedly lost us the game in 2 straight possessions where he didn't swtich with Ace (I think he was supposed to) and the next a super late close out.

 

[High Quality H2O]

Oh, one more thing. The refs were awful. They missed several travels by ND, and they missed an obvious charge by Davis in OT when he lowered his shoulder on a drive and destroyed Derkack.

Yea....but did I see that last three from Allocco correctly? Did he not land on Derkacks foot (who lost his shoe because of it). No call there, could have easily lost with 3 FTs given with no time on clock. I'll take it.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Outside of the W the best thing that came out of last night was Dercack and Jwill both taking and making 3s. This is a must i believe

 

[Duff366]

Was very happy to see Acuff playing extended minutes. Just what this team needs is a steady veteran presence

 

[RUich]

ND losing their , arguably, best player 3 minutes into the game was huge.

 

[Degaz-RU]

Yea....but did I see that last three from Allocco correctly? Did he not land on Derkacks foot (who lost his shoe because of it). No call there, could have easily lost with 3 FTs given with no time on clock. I'll take it.

Well, there’s also the illegal screen set on that last play that freed up Allocco that wasn’t called. Watch the replay.

 

[Roy_Faulker]

Will he curious to see how Ace does tonight. Watching replay of last night’s game (Max on demand) and wonder if he needs a reset. He looks like he is trying to make a sports center top 10 every time he decides to shoot/drive and is pressing.

 

[pmvon]

Ace doesn’t seem to like to dribble to the hoop and loses the handle quite a bit. He should just take jumpers all day. His shot is sweet and elevates over everyone. Dribble jumpers. Occasionally a turn around.

 

[NickRU714]

Outside of the W the best thing that came out of last night was Dercack and Jwill both taking and making 3s. This is a must i believe

This is and has always been the key for if Williams is a positive or negative player.
Before last night he was 0-4 from 3.

Last night 2-5 from 3.

1st half he was 0-1 from 3 and 2 turnovers. A large reason for us losing.
And rightly receiving criticism.

2nd half: 1-3 from 3

OT he made a key 3pt (he seemed to wide open because he's been terrible shooting all year).

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

This is and has always been the key for if Williams is a positive or negative player.
Before last night he was 0-4 from 3.

Last night 2-5 from 3.

1st half he was 0-1 from 3 and 2 turnovers. A large reason for us losing.
And rightly receiving criticism.

2nd half: 1-3 from 3

OT he made a key 3pt (he seemed to wide open because he's been terrible shooting all year).

has to be able to take and make enough Issa Thaim 3's. If not he can't play...simple as that. Totally negates going 5 out and having Ace as "5" if JWill's defender can be the designated Harper help.

Now both Dercack and JWill are going to have to demonstarte that can hit the 3 a tad more than 30%

 

[RUChoppin]

Martini didnt get the switching 1-5 memo. He almost single handedly lost us the game in 2 straight possessions where he didn't swtich with Ace (I think he was supposed to) and the next a super late close out.

Ace at the 5 worked best with the switching. After getting abused with screens against Kennesaw, I'm guessing Pike fell back to switching until we can work more on screens in practice.

 

[Shields2]

We won’t be able to do it in every game, but the defensive switching in the second half won us the game. We had a lineup that could guard every position, reminding me of how we played with guys like McConnell. Will be tough to do tonight and against teams with strong post players, but I like that we can ramp up the defense against teams without a true 5.