HUGE HUGE HUGE WIN
There was a thread posted recently about this being the biggest game in Pikiell's tenure here and I agreed that it was. Not because it was a must win but simply because this was a game changer...a program changer. RU needed to win this game to do something that showed concrete evidence that its not the same ole Rutgers. How many times in the past few years or quite frankly even back to Waters and Bannon would a RU program get a big win at home and then follow it up by losing to inferior competition on the road. How many times did the program fail to take that next step forward. Well today they did it. Its a leap forward that is significant for more than just one win. Its a statement. When a program is being rebuilt or built in this case, there need to be as many turning the corner game as you can get....already this season RU has 3 of them...OSU, Nebby and now PSU. They all are independently important because they represent something new for the Pikiell era and that we have two of these consecutively confirms that this program is on the right path now after stumbling for a few games.
Just some history here...RU reaches 3 wins in league the earliest since being in the Big 10, wins consecutive regular season games for the first time ever, only their 2nd Big 10 road win ever. RU now finds themselves tied for 9th place in the Big 10...are you kidding me? 9th place..yes its a 4 way tie but consider who they are tied with...Nebraska who has two NBA players, storied Indiana, and Northwestern. Those are step forward and setting up an opportunity for another leap forward vs Indiana at the RAC this week.
For those who participated in the game thread, the consensus was this game was in the bag....NOT. We were all really nervous in that thread. For starters, Penn State SUCKS...and yes I really mean that. ..this is probably the worst Chambers coached team that I have seen since RU entered the Big 10. It was clear from watching that Rutgers was the better team, had the better talent and the better coaching. Thats why so many of us were frustrated with the sloppy play today. RU dictated the pace but seemingly shot themselves in the foot everytime they had an opportunity to pull away. Consider that RU shot 35% and committed 14 turnovers, played middling ball overal but still won a road game.
This was not a pretty game at all. But who cares, when the game is over no one cares how sloppy it was and hard to watch, everyone cares about the scoreboard and who made the plays to win the game. RU only made 3 fg in the last 10 minutes yet still won the game....all 3s...Caleb, Geo, and Harper. However they made 10 free throws in 14 attempts. RU simply won the game by going to the line and making them...what a contrast to some other games like Northwestern which poor free throw shooting torpedoed this team. Eugene was 4-4 and Geo added 4....and all of theirs came in pressure situations where they simply had to make them given the tenuous 2-3 point lead. Its funny after some sloppy play, it was the two leaders who stepped forth in the end game settling the team down and taking control. Geo was a force on offense today. 2nd game in a row and thats going a long way to negate that criticism that he wasnt a legit Big 10 talent. Baker had 20 points on 7-15 shooting, 2-6 from 3. Tied at 51, Geo had 6 consecutive points for RU including a big time 3 that gave RU just enough seperation to go up 57-53. Eugene warrior as always, played some great defense throughout especially in that first half taking charges, He struggled offensively but his made free throws sealed the deal. Credit to him because this was a tough game overall for him, 2-9 shooting, 4 rebounds, he is not 100% and it seems like his frustration was coming out. He was trying to do too much at times, forcing some shots, some rough ball handling and maybe trying to flop too much. Yet when it counted he gathered himself and produced....7-8 at the line is a winning number.
Montez Mathis had 8 in the first half, hit the first basket of the 2nd but seemed to be quiet in the 2nd half. Not sure but I believe there must have been some adjustment Chambers made on him, if anyone can help me out. I know he limped after one play so dont know if he was a bit gimpy later in the half. That is simply going to happen though. You cant expect Montez to just sail through games without being keyed on. His first half scoring and presence on defense was just as much a part of this win as Geo/Eugene even with the 2nd half struggle. And he did make that final foul shot that made it academic. Mathis also had like 3 critical rebounds in the last 4-5 minutes of the game that prevented 2nd chance opportunities by the Nittany Lions. As for the rest of the team...not their best but the takeway is that they didnt have to..they needed to play their roles. Harper, Caleb, Kiss all hit big 3s in a game where every possession seemed to count as 3 or 4 possesions. Shaq Carter flat out struggled making bunnies yet he converted an old fashion 3 point play at a time where RU lost its lead and stopped a 11-2 PSU road. Note he also had 7 boards. These guys all stepped up in big spots. Today was not going to be Myles Johnson's day as an offensive threat. PSU had the size to create difficulty in getting the pass into Myles but he did seem to get his hand on some balls and played solid D. And Myles did contribute a nice bucket at the end of the first half. As for overall team defense, I thought the RU effort was very good. Let's note that RU held Penn State to just 2 fgs the last 10 minutes of the game and held sway in a couple of critical possessions at 58-57
I think Pikiell gets some props for that inbound play after the Caleb timeout with Harper getting the ball to Geo. At 62-60, RU couldnt afford a flub there and it was important to get Geo to the line even though he only made one of two.
So overall, when you consider how young RU is, consider how limited they are on offense, how they do not have a 100% Eugene, it becomes even more striking that they finished and closed out this game despite not playing their best. But we need to remember that. We see the win over Nebraska and we think that going into Penn State should be no issue. In hindsight its a big issue for a young team...its a huge hurdle that past incarnations of Rutgers have never seized. This team is different. They are reaching for rarified air in this program...did they call it the left side in the Rice era? RU is on the precipice of crashing the party in the Big 10 standings. Thats what happens when you start winning.
There was a thread posted recently about this being the biggest game in Pikiell's tenure here and I agreed that it was. Not because it was a must win but simply because this was a game changer...a program changer. RU needed to win this game to do something that showed concrete evidence that its not the same ole Rutgers. How many times in the past few years or quite frankly even back to Waters and Bannon would a RU program get a big win at home and then follow it up by losing to inferior competition on the road. How many times did the program fail to take that next step forward. Well today they did it. Its a leap forward that is significant for more than just one win. Its a statement. When a program is being rebuilt or built in this case, there need to be as many turning the corner game as you can get....already this season RU has 3 of them...OSU, Nebby and now PSU. They all are independently important because they represent something new for the Pikiell era and that we have two of these consecutively confirms that this program is on the right path now after stumbling for a few games.
Just some history here...RU reaches 3 wins in league the earliest since being in the Big 10, wins consecutive regular season games for the first time ever, only their 2nd Big 10 road win ever. RU now finds themselves tied for 9th place in the Big 10...are you kidding me? 9th place..yes its a 4 way tie but consider who they are tied with...Nebraska who has two NBA players, storied Indiana, and Northwestern. Those are step forward and setting up an opportunity for another leap forward vs Indiana at the RAC this week.
For those who participated in the game thread, the consensus was this game was in the bag....NOT. We were all really nervous in that thread. For starters, Penn State SUCKS...and yes I really mean that. ..this is probably the worst Chambers coached team that I have seen since RU entered the Big 10. It was clear from watching that Rutgers was the better team, had the better talent and the better coaching. Thats why so many of us were frustrated with the sloppy play today. RU dictated the pace but seemingly shot themselves in the foot everytime they had an opportunity to pull away. Consider that RU shot 35% and committed 14 turnovers, played middling ball overal but still won a road game.
This was not a pretty game at all. But who cares, when the game is over no one cares how sloppy it was and hard to watch, everyone cares about the scoreboard and who made the plays to win the game. RU only made 3 fg in the last 10 minutes yet still won the game....all 3s...Caleb, Geo, and Harper. However they made 10 free throws in 14 attempts. RU simply won the game by going to the line and making them...what a contrast to some other games like Northwestern which poor free throw shooting torpedoed this team. Eugene was 4-4 and Geo added 4....and all of theirs came in pressure situations where they simply had to make them given the tenuous 2-3 point lead. Its funny after some sloppy play, it was the two leaders who stepped forth in the end game settling the team down and taking control. Geo was a force on offense today. 2nd game in a row and thats going a long way to negate that criticism that he wasnt a legit Big 10 talent. Baker had 20 points on 7-15 shooting, 2-6 from 3. Tied at 51, Geo had 6 consecutive points for RU including a big time 3 that gave RU just enough seperation to go up 57-53. Eugene warrior as always, played some great defense throughout especially in that first half taking charges, He struggled offensively but his made free throws sealed the deal. Credit to him because this was a tough game overall for him, 2-9 shooting, 4 rebounds, he is not 100% and it seems like his frustration was coming out. He was trying to do too much at times, forcing some shots, some rough ball handling and maybe trying to flop too much. Yet when it counted he gathered himself and produced....7-8 at the line is a winning number.
Montez Mathis had 8 in the first half, hit the first basket of the 2nd but seemed to be quiet in the 2nd half. Not sure but I believe there must have been some adjustment Chambers made on him, if anyone can help me out. I know he limped after one play so dont know if he was a bit gimpy later in the half. That is simply going to happen though. You cant expect Montez to just sail through games without being keyed on. His first half scoring and presence on defense was just as much a part of this win as Geo/Eugene even with the 2nd half struggle. And he did make that final foul shot that made it academic. Mathis also had like 3 critical rebounds in the last 4-5 minutes of the game that prevented 2nd chance opportunities by the Nittany Lions. As for the rest of the team...not their best but the takeway is that they didnt have to..they needed to play their roles. Harper, Caleb, Kiss all hit big 3s in a game where every possession seemed to count as 3 or 4 possesions. Shaq Carter flat out struggled making bunnies yet he converted an old fashion 3 point play at a time where RU lost its lead and stopped a 11-2 PSU road. Note he also had 7 boards. These guys all stepped up in big spots. Today was not going to be Myles Johnson's day as an offensive threat. PSU had the size to create difficulty in getting the pass into Myles but he did seem to get his hand on some balls and played solid D. And Myles did contribute a nice bucket at the end of the first half. As for overall team defense, I thought the RU effort was very good. Let's note that RU held Penn State to just 2 fgs the last 10 minutes of the game and held sway in a couple of critical possessions at 58-57
I think Pikiell gets some props for that inbound play after the Caleb timeout with Harper getting the ball to Geo. At 62-60, RU couldnt afford a flub there and it was important to get Geo to the line even though he only made one of two.
So overall, when you consider how young RU is, consider how limited they are on offense, how they do not have a 100% Eugene, it becomes even more striking that they finished and closed out this game despite not playing their best. But we need to remember that. We see the win over Nebraska and we think that going into Penn State should be no issue. In hindsight its a big issue for a young team...its a huge hurdle that past incarnations of Rutgers have never seized. This team is different. They are reaching for rarified air in this program...did they call it the left side in the Rice era? RU is on the precipice of crashing the party in the Big 10 standings. Thats what happens when you start winning.
