A Look Back to 1990-91

[RU_PAYBACK]

Player Class Pos Height Summary
Keith Hughes SR F 6-8 21.0 Pts, 10.0 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Earl Duncan G 6-4 15.7 Pts, 2.5 Reb, 3.8 Ast
Brent Dabbs C 6-10 13.5 Pts, 7.5 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Daryl Smith JR F 6-4 7.8 Pts, 4.7 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Mike Jones G 6-5 6.2 Pts, 3.6 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Craig Carter SR G 6-3 6.1 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 2.8 Ast
Donnell Lumpkin F 6-8 5.2 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Tom Savage SR F 6-5 8.3 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Charles Weiler C 6-9 1.7 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 0.1 Ast
Mark Redden G 6-2 1.6 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Andre Lamoureux C 6-9 1.2 Pts, 0.9 Reb, 0.1 Ast
Glenn Stokes F 6-8 1.0 Pts, 0.6 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Creighton Drury G 6-4 0.5 Pts, 0.4 Reb, 0.5 Ast
69.0% of minutes played and 77.0% of scoring return from 1989-90 roster
Team and Opponent Stats

Team 29 765 1692 .452 625 1313 .476 140 379 .369 545 802 .680 1080 373 205 104 439 584 2215 76.4
Opponent 29 777 1707 .455 616 1262 .488 161 445 .362 467 688 .679 1032 457 206 93 446 639 2182 75.2

G Date Type Opponent Conf Tm Opp OT W L Streak Arena
1 Tue, Nov 27, 1990 REG Missouri (23) Big 8 W 68 60 1 0 W 1 Louis Brown Athletic Center
2 Sat, Dec 1, 1990 REG St. Bonaventure A-10 W 71 46 2 0 W 2 Louis Brown Athletic Center
3 Thu, Dec 6, 1990 REG @ Saint Joseph's A-10 W 75 69 OT 3 0 W 3 Hagan Arena
4 Tue, Dec 11, 1990 REG @ Massachusetts A-10 W 67 65 4 0 W 4 Curry Hicks Cage
5 Sat, Dec 15, 1990 REG Princeton Ivy L 45 58 4 1 L 1 Louis Brown Athletic Center
6 Sat, Dec 22, 1990 REG @ Seton Hall Big East L 76 90 4 2 L 2 Izod Center
7 Thu, Dec 27, 1990 REG N Maryland ACC L 81 86 4 3 L 3
8 Fri, Dec 28, 1990 REG N Brigham Young WAC W 85 70 5 3 W 1
9 Thu, Jan 3, 1991 REG Duquesne A-10 L 62 78 5 4 L 1 Louis Brown Athletic Center
10 Sat, Jan 5, 1991 REG Delaware ECC W 66 63 6 4 W 1 Louis Brown Athletic Center
11 Tue, Jan 8, 1991 REG @ Temple A-10 L 62 83 6 5 L 1 McGonigle Hall
12 Sat, Jan 12, 1991 REG @ West Virginia A-10 L 69 87 6 6 L 2 WVU Coliseum
13 Thu, Jan 17, 1991 REG @ George Washington A-10 W 80 75 7 6 W 1 Charles E. Smith Center
14 Sat, Jan 19, 1991 REG West Virginia A-10 W 75 71 8 6 W 2 Louis Brown Athletic Center
15 Tue, Jan 22, 1991 REG @ Notre Dame Ind W 62 52 9 6 W 3 Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center
16 Sat, Jan 26, 1991 REG Rhode Island A-10 W 60 59 10 6 W 4 Louis Brown Athletic Center
17 Mon, Jan 28, 1991 REG @ Penn State A-10 W 79 78 11 6 W 5 Rec Hall
18 Sat, Feb 2, 1991 REG Temple A-10 W 82 73 12 6 W 6 Louis Brown Athletic Center
19 Sun, Feb 3, 1991 REG @ Nevada-Las Vegas (1) Big West L 73 115 12 7 L 1 Thomas & Mack Center
20 Tue, Feb 5, 1991 REG @ Rhode Island A-10 W 83 70 13 7 W 1 Keaney Gymnasium
21 Sat, Feb 9, 1991 REG @ St. Bonaventure A-10 W 97 84 14 7 W 2 Reilly Center
22 Wed, Feb 13, 1991 REG Saint Joseph's A-10 W 95 87 15 7 W 3 Louis Brown Athletic Center
23 Sat, Feb 16, 1991 REG George Washington A-10 W 74 66 16 7 W 4 Louis Brown Athletic Center
24 Thu, Feb 21, 1991 REG @ Duquesne A-10 L 80 88 16 8 L 1 A.J. Palumbo Center
25 Sun, Feb 24, 1991 REG Massachusetts A-10 W 103 96 17 8 W 1 Louis Brown Athletic Center
26 Wed, Feb 27, 1991 REG Penn State A-10 W 92 70 18 8 W 2 Louis Brown Athletic Center
G Date Type Opponent Conf Tm Opp OT W L Streak Arena
27 Sun, Mar 3, 1991 CTOURN @ Saint Joseph's A-10 L 87 90 OT 18 9 L 1 The Palestra
G Date Type Opponent Conf Tm Opp OT W L Streak Arena
28 Fri, Mar 15, 1991 NCAA N Arizona State Pac-10 L 76 79 18 10 L 2 The Omni

 

[ColonelRutgers]

 

[bac2therac]

I was a junior at RU..that team had enormous expectations and after defeating Missouri on ESPN in front of a raucous RAC, the stage seemed to be set. I think the OP is missing a win to Bridegport...a close 90-84 win

An awful sleepy loss at noon on espn with low energy seemed to be the first signs of trouble especially followed up by a loss to SHU and then to Maryland.

But bac in January at the RAC the loss to a bad Duquense at home really made me worried and RU then even struggled to be Delaware at the RAC. Blowout losses to Temple and WVU on the road left RU at 7-6 and just 2-3 in the A10 and it looked like RU was headed to a collossal underacheiving season but someone a switch turned on and this team never looked back. Starting with a win at GW they reeled off 6 in a row all in dramatic fashion culminating with their best performance of the season an absolute beatdown of Temple at the RAC where RU got to an enormous lead early and never looked back. I still vividly remember that game

And also that game was scheduled for a Sunday I think and somehow got moved like 7-10 days before so we could fit in a game at #1 UNLV. The game vs UNLV was not scheduled. I do not know how all of sudden during the season a game was scheduled. Perhaps someone should hit up Joe Boylan and ask him the circumstance of the scheduling of that game. Maybe Scarlet Podcast? RU played Temple at the RAC on a Friday and then flew out to play UNLV in Vegas on Sunday where of course they were promptly blown out but no shame there.

The train picked up where it left off, 4 more wins before another wtf loss to Duquense but RU came home and walloped Penn State at the RAC to clinch the regular A10 title. What a rollcoaster which continued when RU the top seed was stunned by 8 seed St Joes in the A10 tourney and with the A10 not a highly thought of conference, there was some worry at 19-9, RU might get left out of the tourney. Turns out it wasnt even an issue, RU was a 9 seed seed and played the 8 seed ASU with the winner to face #1 Arkansas. Alas RU with some stupidity from its senior leadership mainly Earl Duncan blew a lead and suffered a crushing loss in the final minutes and we have never been back since...29 frigging years..how is that possible

RIP Keith Hughes, A10 player of the year. He was something special.

 

[RU_PAYBACK]

Keith Hughes, my all-time fave. The Pride of Carteret.

And I was at that Missouri game. Good stuff!

 

[80RU]

Does anyone remember that critical lost possession in the last minute where the ball was clearly off the fingertip of an Arizona State player? Having replay might have changed that result.

 

[shields]

That Temple team, Macon the next Oscar according to Vitale.

 

[Local Shill]

The late-season collapse in '90-'91 was the really the beginning of the end of this myth that Wenzel was some kind of great coach, in my opinion. RU was up by about 10 with less than 10 minutes left against ASU after, as bac mentioned, gagging as the No. 1 seed in the A-10 quarters.

The next year (91-92) he snuck in the NIT at 15-14 and advanced to the second round, but if you take a deeper dive, RU placed 8th in a pretty weak 9-team Atlantic 10. Beat St. Bonaventure in the play-in game of the A-10 tourney but then got run out of the Palestra by UMass the next night.

Then five straight losing seasons and mercifully Bobby was put out to pasture. He had a magic carpet run late in his first season, and a really good regular season his third year.
Mediocre in years 2 and 4 with NIT berths because all you needed was to be .500 back then if your campus was in easy reach of MSG. Years 5 through 9 were a disaster but not a surprise since it was a poorly kept secret that the head coach was a lazy recruiter.

 

[hinson32]

ABC tv wanted to get UNLV more TV games and they were having trouble getting anyone to play them due to how good they were. Bald then, very few RU games were on tv and Wenzel jumped at the chance. He also got Tark to come to the RAC the following year.

The A10 loss to St. Joes was in double OT I believe. I vividly remember RU might have had more fans there than the Hawks. Rap Curry beat us.

 

[bac2therac]

The late-season collapse in 90-91 was the beginning of the end for Wenzel in my opinion. RU was up by about 10 with less 10 minutes left against ASU after, as bac mentioned, gagging as the No. 1 seed in the A-10 quarters.

Next season he suck in the NIT at 15-14 and advanced to the second round but if you take a deeper dive, RU placed 8th in a pretty weak 9-team Atlantic 10. Beat St. Bonaventure in the play-in game but then got run out of the Palestra by UMass the next night,

Then five straight losing seasons and mercifully Bobby was put out to pasture.

the 91-92 team was good on paper..remember that was the one who beat UNLV and played SHU down to the wire, obviously it wasnt as good as the 91 team, those were some big losses but the 92 team should have been better than 500, maybe not necessarily NCAA but Wenzel did a poor job there. Worthy was a great player and the RU press was awesome at the RAC. However on the road it was abysmal. Wenzel stopped recruiting, I dont know what his problem was. He had made 2 ncaas and 2 nits and its recruiting dropped off the map, shameful actually.

That 92 team may have been the last ones to beat Maryland actually beating them before losing to Arizona in a tourney out there. The team started 7-2 but a hideous stretch of games where they lost 6 in a row did them in. And managed to make the NIT but that was a devestating court to court loss at the buzzer to Manhatten in the NIT 2nd round

The changing of the guard was happening in the A10. Calipari and UMass had emerged as the rival to Temple and RU would be relegated to doormat status in the snap of a finger

I wanted Wenzel gone that last A10 season before the entrance into the BE, he should have resigned if his heart wasnt into it

 

[bac2therac]

ABC tv wanted to get UNLV more TV games and they were having trouble getting anyone to play them due to how good they were. Bald then, very few RU games were on tv and Wenzel jumped at the chance. He also got Tark to come to the RAC the following year.

The A10 loss to St. Joes was in double OT I believe. I vividly remember RU might have had more fans there than the Hawks. Rap Curry beat us.

thanks..i wonder just how late that game was scheduled during the season. I would think that there are rules against that now but who knows

and unfortunately because UNLV was put on probabation no tv for the UNLV game at the RAC...there has to be game film somewhere, RU should release that to someone

 

[Scarlet Shack]

The Vegas game was schedule literally in early September ...

The team had to shorten his bench to figure it out. Tom savage failed out in the first semester and we cut down the rotation by giving minutes really to the seniors (Duncan, Hughes, Dabbs, Carter) plus Smith, lumpkin and Mike Jones.

 

[bac2therac]

The Vegas game was schedule literally in early September ...

The team had to shorten his bench to figure it out. Tom savage failed out in the first semester and we cut down the rotation by giving minutes really to the seniors (Duncan, Hughes, Dabbs, Carter) plus Smith, lumpkin and Mike Jones.

are you sure, I thought for sure that Temple game had to moved to a Friday night

 

[knight82]

I remember the original schedule had a home game vs UNC Greensboro. Then when ABC came calling with the Vegas game, we paid off UNCG to cancel the game

 

[goru7]

I was a junior at RU..that team had enormous expectations and after defeating Missouri on ESPN in front of a raucous RAC, the stage seemed to be set. I think the OP is missing a win to Bridegport...a close 90-84 win

An awful sleepy loss at noon on espn with low energy seemed to be the first signs of trouble especially followed up by a loss to SHU and then to Maryland.

But bac in January at the RAC the loss to a bad Duquense at home really made me worried and RU then even struggled to be Delaware at the RAC. Blowout losses to Temple and WVU on the road left RU at 7-6 and just 2-3 in the A10 and it looked like RU was headed to a collossal underacheiving season but someone a switch turned on and this team never looked back. Starting with a win at GW they reeled off 6 in a row all in dramatic fashion culminating with their best performance of the season an absolute beatdown of Temple at the RAC where RU got to an enormous lead early and never looked back. I still vividly remember that game

And also that game was scheduled for a Sunday I think and somehow got moved like 7-10 days before so we could fit in a game at #1 UNLV. The game vs UNLV was not scheduled. I do not know how all of sudden during the season a game was scheduled. Perhaps someone should hit up Joe Boylan and ask him the circumstance of the scheduling of that game. Maybe Scarlet Podcast? RU played Temple at the RAC on a Friday and then flew out to play UNLV in Vegas on Sunday where of course they were promptly blown out but no shame there.

The train picked up where it left off, 4 more wins before another wtf loss to Duquense but RU came home and walloped Penn State at the RAC to clinch the regular A10 title. What a rollcoaster which continued when RU the top seed was stunned by 8 seed St Joes in the A10 tourney and with the A10 not a highly thought of conference, there was some worry at 19-9, RU might get left out of the tourney. Turns out it wasnt even an issue, RU was a 9 seed seed and played the 8 seed ASU with the winner to face #1 Arkansas. Alas RU with some stupidity from its senior leadership mainly Earl Duncan blew a lead and suffered a crushing loss in the final minutes and we have never been back since...29 frigging years..how is that possible

RIP Keith Hughes, A10 player of the year. He was something special.

What a memory. I have been going to Vegas for 30 years during Sweet Sixteen / Regional Final weekend with my original Rutgers roommates and then some law school roommates and the first year we went to Vegas was to go see Ru play Number 1 Vegas with Anderson Hunt , Greg Anthony , Larry Johnson, Stacy Augmon and a center I think named Smith. The game I think was in Early February and we were so psyched especially knowing they killed Temple Friday night. Well it didn’t take long and the Vegas machine could not miss all day and we were blown out.

After the game we saw Bill Cosby , with his Temple sweatshirt and ran over and grabbed some pictures . He started giving us crap about getting smoked and we were not good, and I came right back at him we must be better than your team Temple who we just smoked by 20 , 2 nights early. He laughed and stopped the smack talk. Who would ever have guessed how things turned out for Bill, who was very gracious that day.

We had a great time in Vegas but it was only February, so we decided to do the trip the following year when the Mirage first opened during the Sweet Sixteen or second weekend . The Mirage has a tremendous Sportsbook and a California Pizza Kitchen in the center of it. To this day we take over the Pizza Kitchen on Thursday and Friday nights catching and betting all the games. It was about 15 to 20 guys, then grew to 30 and now that our kids are grown and turn 21, we are up to 50 of us and the kids are starting to take over the trip . In 29 years , we have never had the opportunity to bet Rutgers as they have never made it back to the tourney and this year might be our first dilemma. I will likely go to the first round with some of my roommates but if we get to the Sweet Sixteen , might have to charter a plane to go back and forth.

 

[bac2therac]

I remember the original schedule had a home game vs UNC Greensboro. Then when ABC came calling with the Vegas game, we paid off UNCG to cancel the game

yes this sounds very familiar. wow great memory .thank you..but when was it changed was September or during the season

 

[Westcoast]

Keith Hughes, my all-time fave. The Pride of Carteret.

And I was at that Missouri game. Good stuff!

Ill never forget Hughes 40 at Rec Hall to escape with a 1 pt win.

 

[BOCA93]

Wow, I didn’t realize how many ppg (50!) the three transfers were responsible for. Where was Dabs from? UVA?

 

[Scarlet Shack]

are you sure, I thought for sure that Temple game had to moved to a Friday night

Yes...which is what moved it to a Friday night.

I actually was in one of those dorm meetings ...when bob told us in early September. Very late addition, but still done before the year

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Wow, I didn’t realize how many ppg (50!) the three transfers were responsible for. Where was Dabs from? UVA?

Yes, Brent Dabbs came from Virginia. I think he was a Juco transfer to Virginia but only played one year there.