GAME 29 Penn State: It is what it is

[bac2therac]

Numb after the loss so not going to be able to muster a recap and why would anyone want one anyhow. Been posting in the other threads anyhow. Just some random thoughts though. OK..guess what I lied so I actually did do a recap

Almost all the road recaps talk about "learning their lesson", "never give up", "learning to win on the road", "slow starts", "not playing a full 40 minutes", "poor end game situations". These games have all followed sickening patterns and script with this one being the most outrageous because it was our worst played or worst defecit, yet our greatest comeback, stage was set for a new ending but they delivered the same ending so I mean it was sort of appropriate to lose in such crushing fashion and you know what, its all about winning and losing. You can give them credit for heart but where was the heart the first 20 minutes. As I said this team looked like it was on an all night bender the night before, no emotion, no sense of urgency, no fight. Got down 21 and man was it ugly in the game thread. In the end its another road loss in a game that RU had to have to punch its ticket. No one will ever question the fight of this team. We have seen it over and over and over but that is what makes this team so frustrating that they do not show up until the game was already won.

And still the game came down to one stop or one made shot....people can agree or disagree about a possible foul call there on the screen which led to the open winning 3 by Dred, thats not for this thread. RU did not get the stop and then RU panicked in the final possession. Just a really uncomfortable possession which was unlike most of their possession in the 2nd half. Once again RU got passive and credit Chambers because we going to make sure Geo was denied but why didnt Pike know that. Seemed like when Geo was shut off, our spacing was off the other guys didnt know what to do. Wasnt a bad look by Yeboah, a tad too hard but we should be getting a better shot than a 3 in that situation, down 1 with 25 seconds, you have to do better.

Most crushing loss since Va Tech back during Waters when we didnt rebound, but that game wasnt on tv...Echoes of Gtown and ball rolling off Hodgson leg...Yeboah had clear layup after Young steal and muffed it out of bounds, what may have happened. Also echoes of Yinka Dare length of the court catch and layup around Weiler..just devastating moments.

And Pike for some reason is just doing a bad job with getting his team to have some success at the start of games. That is what he is paid for, not just him but all the other assistants. Teams mindset just poor early on both ends but its clear the defensive intensity was not there and then the offense couldnt hit a shot. 22-5 run by PSU, a stretch of no fg for 7 minutes and all of a sudden lead in 21. Team and coaches have to show up, plain and simple. Your strategy should not be a thread the needle win

Second half RU immediately was playing better D and by 10 minutes had cut the game to 1 and really at that point and had a great chance to win this. 26-9 run and its 51-50 down and then all of a sudden Pike pulls Young and pulls Myles for Doucoure and in 4 minutes PSU built the lead up to 10. It was just a criminal sub there. Sometimes you just have to ride, players have to suck it up and play more minutes. I certainly think Jacob didnt need to come out..why why why. For that little stretch RU shot jumpers...poor decisions by Geo who got trapped and then wasted a timeout and then wound up throwing an awful 3 from the same stop. The offense stalled with a bad lineup and it cost us the game IMO because there is no way we should have easily gone down by 10. Stephens took over and made a couple of shots.

Young comes back in immediately scores and RU back in business, kept chipping and playing great D until they actually got the lead on Geos shot which was onions by Geo and at 64-62 I think all RU fans really thought we had this one, at worst we give up a 2 and we have last shot to win. Instead they hit 3 and we fumble and flounder with no timeout..huge there.

anyhow what really sucks is that this win would have put RU in the tourney, I have no doubts about it. ONE quad 1 road win vs a team as highly thought of as Penn State would have done it. Some would say we would need another but that would be bunk, this would have been everything yet once again they failed to get it done.

So now two games left, the Maryland game at home, we got a shot and Maryland will be playing 3 games in 7 days and might be playing for their conference title shot. A win there is not a road game so that is still a concern for RU and its not going away. RU has 6 more days of speculation and hand wringing over their resume. I cannot say the Maryland win is all they need but honestly I would take this over Purdue at this point because of the value and they need some sort of huge victory just to stop the perception that they are not a tourney team

How about the eye test....first half RU didnt pass it, 2nd half they did, so if the committee didnt tune out of this game, they saw what RU is capable

Again why does this team refuse to play a full 40 minutes...and its not even a full 40 minutes, its that the game are all lost in the first 10 minutes on the road as RU lets the opponent gain confidence and get any shot they want while RU struggles to even get a shot..something has to change. Obviously Pike is doing something right, seriously. Unfortunately as great as Pike does getting this team to fight, he did a poor job in subs and it probably cost RU the game there in that 4 minute stretch. Everyone in this program needs to do better, the coaches and the players. We all know they work hard and are good people but you never know if you will ever be back in this position again. I said last game...seize the moment...and alas it falls on deaf ears again. It is what it is. Does this team want to learn the hard lesson with 8 months of offseason to dwell on what they missed out on?

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

It is as clear as day that just about every player but Young is out of gas. We are a step or 2 slow defensively and just dont have bounce in our step. When our opponent takes the foot off the gas we are getting back in to games.

Good news....we have 6 days until the next game and it is at home. I am confident we will beat Maryland.

 

[bac2therac]

It is as clear as day that just about every player but Young is out of gas. We are a step or 2 slow defensively and just dont have bounce in our step. When our opponent takes the foot off the gas we are getting back in to games.

Good news....we have 6 days until the next game and it is at home. I am confident we will beat Maryland.

disagree...we worked hard to get back in and better D..sure PSU helped us by rushing shots in the opening minutes of the 2nd half but this team wasnt gassed when they came back from down 10....they took the lead...it was a 13-2 run by RU.to go up 64-62..we outplayed them totally in the last 6 minutes.

 

[RW90]

It is as clear as day that just about every player but Young is out of gas. We are a step or 2 slow defensively and just dont have bounce in our step. When our opponent takes the foot off the gas we are getting back in to games.

Good news....we have 6 days until the next game and it is at home. I am confident we will beat Maryland.

Aren't our opponents ending long seasons too, or are you referring to the energy we exhaust on D?

 

[bac2therac]

how can we be gassed at the opening tip, if that is the makeup than they never would have a rally in them like they do

i dont want Young to start at Maryland but I do want him starting at Purdue

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Aren't our opponents ending long seasons too, or are you referring to the energy we exhaust on D?

i think both may be true.

 

[winfield102]

It's groundhog day. Unreal how consistent our away games have been. This one was a gut punch.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

how can we be gassed at the opening tip, if that is the makeup than they never would have a rally in them like they do

i dont want Young to start at Maryland but I do want him starting at Purdue

mathis is not playing tight on his man like he was
Myles isnt starting
caleb and geo get blown by easily by all penetrators
shaq played 9 minutes and didnt seem to try on 2 possessions
harper and yeboah just real slow to close out

we didnt see much of any of this thru mid January.

 

[richthedentist]

Yes we came back from 10 but like BAC why in the hell did we take out Young and Johnson when we got back to one down and Penn State immediately pushed the lead to 10

 

[RUChoppin]

I was pissed at halftime. Team was playing with no spark, no energy... completely lackadaisical, like it was a scrimmage run at 60% intensity.

It was also a "no blood no foul" style in the early going, with tons of contact and our guys just playing soft in the face of literal body blows they were taking. The defensive strategy seemed like it was "hope they aren't hot from range".

Second half was a completely different story. We were doing well until a couple of plays where we just went away from the offense that was working and pulled early jumpers without trying to go inside, and then Harrar flopping in front of Johnson to get two shots. I really didn't think we had another run in us, but we did! We had the lead! Let's F-ing GO!

I almost wanted them to foul someone before the shot - just send them to the line for 2 shots and get the ball back no worse than tied. I wasn't expecting Harrar to release into the second level looking to light up a linebacker, but there he was with no whistle and we're down one. Brutal way to lose the lead, and deflating/frustrating/demoralizing... with no time outs left to get the team focused again.

Needed to get the ball inside the arc there - and force them to foul. But we were scattered and Pike had no way of stopping the clock to settle them down and draw up a play.

Hard one to swallow.

 

[bac2therac]

mathis is not playing tight on his man like he was
Myles isnt starting
caleb and geo get blown by easily by all penetrators
shaq played 9 minutes and didnt seem to try on 2 possessions
harper and yeboah just real slow to close out


we didnt see much of any of this thru mid January.

and yet in the 2nd half we played RU basketball..why is that...and the last 6 minutes specifically..we shut PSU down

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Yes we came back from 10 but like BAC why in the hell did we take out Young and Johnson when we got back to one down and Penn State immediately pushed the lead to 10

because asking them to go the distance was putting us in a situation where they would peter out by the end of the game...i doubt pike thought the 2 minutes would go like that.

 

[bac2therac]

I was pissed at halftime. Team was playing with no spark, no energy... completely lackadaisical, like it was a scrimmage run at 60% intensity.

It was also a "no blood no foul" style in the early going, with tons of contact and our guys just playing soft in the face of literal body blows they were taking. The defensive strategy seemed like it was "hope they aren't hot from range".

Second half was a completely different story. We were doing well until a couple of plays where we just went away from the offense that was working and pulled early jumpers without trying to go inside, and then Harrar flopping in front of Johnson to get two shots. I really didn't think we had another run in us, but we did! We had the lead! Let's F-ing GO!

I almost wanted them to foul someone before the shot - just send them to the line for 2 shots and get the ball back no worse than tied. I wasn't expecting Harrar to release into the second level looking to light up a linebacker, but there he was with no whistle and we're down one. Brutal way to lose the lead, and deflating/frustrating/demoralizing... with no time outs left to get the team focused again.

Needed to get the ball inside the arc there - and force them to foul. But we were scattered and Pike had no way of stopping the clock to settle them down and draw up a play.

Hard one to swallow.

I know that Pike's strategy is to let Geo just shoot in that situation but damn I have watch tons of college hoops the last month and see players get shots off and most of the time either a pull up 3 with the guy dribbling which is usually what we want Geo doing OR a guy driving into the arc...there was plenty of time to shoot there, we could have shot and got a rebound for a 2nd chance..remember PSU game last year. Just do not like running it down like that and too much dribbling from Harper aimlessly..how could Young not get a touch there..he was brilliant in the 2nd half

 

[bac2therac]

because asking them to go the distance was putting us in a situation where they would peter out by the end of the game...i doubt pike thought the 2 minutes would go like that.

except everytime he subs like that, its does..well not everytime but most of the time, all of us can see that happen...you cannot take Young out he does not get tired. PSU guys played 37. 36. and 34...this isnt jv girls hoops

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

When things were going good we all were in agreement that Myles Johnson was the one guy the team couldnt be without.

Right now Myles is just a shell of a player he was in the beginning of the season. When you are playing pick up basketball and it is your 9th game it seems like there is a 2 second delay from when your brain tells your feet to move and when they actually move. That is what Myles looks like.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

except everytime he subs like that, its does..well not everytime but most of the time, all of us can see that happen...you cannot take Young out he does not get tired. PSU guys played 37. 36. and 34...this isnt jv girls hoops

he is the one player on the team that looks fresh and doesnt get tired

 

[RUChoppin]

I know that Pike's strategy is to let Geo just shoot in that situation but damn I have watch tons of college hoops the last month and see players get shots off and most of the time either a pull up 3 with the guy dribbling which is usually what we want Geo doing OR a guy driving into the arc...there was plenty of time to shoot there, we could have shot and got a rebound for a 2nd chance..remember PSU game last year. Just do not like running it down like that and too much dribbling from Harper aimlessly..how could Young not get a touch there..he was brilliant in the 2nd half

I think there was a lack of recognition that PSU had so many fouls to give, and that we couldn't just run the clock down. Baker was trying to play for a last shot, and PSU was just hounding him knowing that if they somehow got whistled it'd just be a side out. Needed to get the ball inside earlier to draw those fouls and still have clock to play with. We really haven't been in that situation often, and the team didn't recognize it.

 

[brookdale-soda]

Our defense can be elite but its got an on and off switch. It doesnt seem to be fatigue IMO. Weve been painfully consistent. Just as we showed in december and january, this team plays on adrenaline. What we optimistically considered hard lessons earlier in the season weren't as useful as we hoped. They only created a pattern. This lesson will hopefully be learned in the off season.

 

[RW90]

Will say this, Geo has more ice in his veins than any RU player I can remember.

Bigger problem is not having anyone else stepping up with the game on the line.

 

[bac2therac]

When things were going good we all were in agreement that Myles Johnson was the one guy the team couldnt be without.

Right now Myles is just a shell of a player he was in the beginning of the season. When you are playing pick up basketball and it is your 9th game it seems like there is a 2 second delay from when your brain tells your feet to move and when they actually move. That is what Myles looks like.

he was solid in the 2nd half, thats all we need from him

Yeboah pulled a disappearing act this game

 

[Scangg]

As soon as Geo was doubled there was still enough time to get Young the ball. The problem was floor spacing and he ran to the other side of the court along the baseline to try to even it out. Maybe he should have just ran to the ball but the whole possession was out of sorts. Harper should have continued to drive. He could then spin back or look to dish but he was timid. Just a bad possession. Clearly no one had any idea what to do if they doubled Geo.

The Doucoure substitution was crazy. The fact that he stuck with it was inexcusable. Give Young a one whistle blow if anything to catch his breathe. That's all he needed if anything

 

[bac2therac]

and why Doucoure over Carter...very odd

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Will say this, Geo has more ice in his veins than any RU player I can remember.

Bigger problem is not having anyone else stepping up with the game on the line.

we were sort of 2 for 3.....Yeboah hits big shot, Baker hits big shot, hARPER panicked with 5 seconds left and passed to a guarded guy on the perimeter.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Harper should have continued to drive.

\ Give Young a one whistle blow if anything to catch his breathe. That's all he needed if anything

Agree and Jacob didnt sit for all that long.....guys coming in have to doa better job, I cant put that all on Pikiell

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

and why Doucoure over Carter...very odd

Carter had to not play the rest of the game....2 of the worst defensive possessions imaginable.

People cant say Pike didnt have his team be ready toplay and then get on him for sitting guys not playing hard.

For Duke to play Carter had to be real bad.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Lamar Stevens choked down those 2 FTs but in all, Jacob Young plays through as many mistakes and just is so hit or miss...but his quickness and ability is light years ahead of anyone else on our roster.

As far as the recap, I think the 1st half was PSU getting comfortable and RU digging in, proud of the effort and I believe in the roster....following them on social media and others, I believe their confidence is still there despite the loss.

And Maryland down 8 with 2 minutes practically assured themselves in the 11 to 12 spot. RU is going to finish anywhere from 7th to 8h with 2 wins.

I can see 11-9 B1G and a win in Indianapolis if we draw Iowa, which is what I think we're going to get.

 

[RUDieHard]

Just a real hard ending to swallow... Feel very deflated right now.

It's obvious we lack shooters and it's killing us in the draughts.

Nevertheless, I think if we beat Maryland and Purdue, we get in.

Would be nice to finally play a full game.

 

[blockm2]

not having a TO to set up a play on the last possession was a killer as there looked to be a lot of confusion

 

[read option]

Win this game and we are Dancing. Now there’s even more pressure, and it’s to beat a Top 10 team at the top of the league and/or win the season finale on the road vs. a desperate conference opponent. Neither will be easy. Lose both and it will take two B1G tourney wins to have a shot at Dancing. Huge opportunity lost

 

[RUsince52]

We have guys capable of getting into the lane, but we rarely pull up for a short jumper. When we do try it, we miss badly. Most of our guys can elevate enough to get the shot off, it's just usually a bad result. Carter had some of the worse shots from in close that I've seen in a long time. Just no consistency at the end to steal a game by making THE shot.

 

[RUsince52]

Although we're a poor 3 point shooting team, 3 or 4 made threes doesn't help when the other team has twice as many. We give up double digits to them and we have no offset. Throw in the usual FT difference and we don't have any answers. Not a recipe for success.

 

[RUJMM78]

When things were going good we all were in agreement that Myles Johnson was the one guy the team couldnt be without.

Right now Myles is just a shell of a player he was in the beginning of the season. When you are playing pick up basketball and it is your 9th game it seems like there is a 2 second delay from when your brain tells your feet to move and when they actually move. That is what Myles looks like.

How many players have shown marked improvement since the beginning of the season?Rutgers leading scorer only averages 12 points a game and far too many players are scoring less than 5 points.The team is now having a hard time even scoring 60 points .Its a collective malaise happening at the wrong time.

 

[NiTeKnight]

I think there was a lack of recognition that PSU had so many fouls to give, and that we couldn't just run the clock down. Baker was trying to play for a last shot, and PSU was just hounding him knowing that if they somehow got whistled it'd just be a side out. Needed to get the ball inside earlier to draw those fouls and still have clock to play with. We really haven't been in that situation often, and the team didn't recognize it.

That's what I thought. With 2 fouls to give PSU could play really good defense against the dribble and pass.