If only we could shoot...

[RU848789]

UM: 24-52 and 6-15 from deep and 17-23 from the line
RU: 25-62 and 3-12 from deep (including 2 meaningless ones at the end) and 11-18 from the line

Really hard for us to win with RHJ/Geo 6-22/1-6 from deep and Caleb shooting 5-14. One more trey and not missing at least 5-6 bunnies and this is an even game near the end, so we wouldn't have fouled them nearly as much as we did (many of those FTs were at the end). This one reminded me of the WI game, where we shot even worse. We played pretty hard with good intensity most of the game, but they just passed a little better and shot better. How many teams lose by 7 and are down by 12-15 much of the 2nd half with only 3 TOs?

We also got beat up on the boards, 31-20, which is unusual, but they really have great size. Losing 71-64 on the road and closing to 7-8 at the end instead of folding like we could have, show what this team is made of. Can't wait to finally get back to the NCAAs and would love to see us start shooting like we did earlier in the year - we know it's possible. We should finish at least 2-2 and all 4 are winnable. I'm 99.9% sure we're in at 9-11, but would rather focus on 11-9 to get to being a 7 seed.

 

[RUsojo]

2 of our bottom efg% players, Geo and McConnell, combined for 26 shots. So naturally we aren’t going to have a good night there.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Our 2nd half D, led by Jacob, was outstanding. I think Hacob showed the entire B1G how to beat Michigan.

our offense on the other hand......

 

[Duff366]

2 of our bottom efg% players, Geo and McConnell, combined for 26 shots. So naturally we aren’t going to have a good night there.

You say the same thing after every game. Do you honestly want Geo to take less shots? Who is going to make all these shots that Geo and Caleb are taking?

Do you want Jacob to take 20 shots? Surely, you don't want Mathis to take all these shots at this point

 

[RUsojo]

You say the same thing after every game. Do you honestly want Geo to take less shots? Who is going to make all these shots that Geo and Caleb are taking?

Do you want Jacob to take 20 shots? Surely, you don't want Mathis to take all these shots at this point

And every game this board says “we just can’t shoot” or “shots just didn’t fall”...

Young should take more shots

 

[Duff366]

Ok great so long as it works, I seem to recall Young being blasted for being selfish and out of control half the time.

I'd like to see Myles take more shots. I'd like to see what Mag or Jones can do.

Feel bad for Mathis as he is obviously pressing

 

[RUsojo]

Ok great so long as it works, I seem to recall Young being blasted for being selfish and out of control half the time.

I'd like to see Myles take more shots. I'd like to see what Mag or Jones can do.

Feel bad for Mathis as he is obviously pressing

You have to take who the board blasts with a grain of salt young has the best asst% on the team and Paul has the worst TOV% but because young plays fast and is asked by pike to dominate the ball he gets yelled at here

 

[Pancho1939_rivals]

Our 2nd half D, led by Jacob, was outstanding. I think Hacob showed the entire B1G how to beat Michigan.

our offense on the other hand......

I wish he was just consistent. You never know which Jacob you are going to get. He in my opinion is better than Paul but Paul is consistent. You know what you are getting.

 

[RUtrumpet92_rivals498139]

Feels like we often wait too long to run the offense and look for a good shot, even on possessions that are just guys going one on one. We had a chance tonight to get Geo wide open behind the arc on the right side. Instead, the guy with the ball (forget if it was Paul or Caleb) holds it, we run the clock down, and end up with Geo hoisting a contested 3 as the clock is ticking out. That is a recipe for a low shooting percentage. I would love to see an attack mode mindset that doesn't just burn 15 seconds per possession before looking for a shot.

 

[bac2therac]

And every game this board says “we just can’t shoot” or “shots just didn’t fall”...

Young should take more shots

this...I cant believe we are still having this discussion, we had it after Wisconsin, we had it after Iowa...omg yes we will win if they make shots, but saying well if we just made shots we would win is like saying well if I just had a million dollars I would be rich

 

[bac2therac]

Feels like we often wait too long to run the offense and look for a good shot, even on possessions that are just guys going one on one. We had a chance tonight to get Geo wide open behind the arc on the right side. Instead, the guy with the ball (forget if it was Paul or Caleb) holds it, we run the clock down, and end up with Geo hoisting a contested 3 as the clock is ticking out. That is a recipe for a low shooting percentage. I would love to see an attack mode mindset that doesn't just burn 15 seconds per possession before looking for a shot.

this...this is an example of why we werent going to win this game tonight, you cannot beat a top 5 team in the country with this many kind of possessions. All too many of these. Sometimes too much of one guy holding on to a ball or Young dribbling under the basket only for the shot clock to run out

 

[bac2therac]

You have to take who the board blasts with a grain of salt young has the best asst% on the team and Paul has the worst TOV% but because young plays fast and is asked by pike to dominate the ball he gets yelled at here

Young was much more in control tonight, Pike apparently felt that RU was playing well enough with the starters in the first half to limit JY's minutes and arguably we were for the most part its just that Michigan was hitting everything, I think Pike didnt want that track meet early because we would get killed.

 

[Njbound1]

No way you should have PM playing more minutes than your top two scorers for the game(JY, MJ).

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

If you are playing a top of the league team or Top 5/10/15 type of program, you cannot play 4 on 5.

Mulcahy is a good player, he had played because Mathis has essentially decided he's not capable of passing the ball on a fast break, otherwise this roster would have the pieces to get to 70PPG again.

We had that ability when RHJ and Mathis were both playing lots of minutes and taking lots of shot attempts, getting plays in transition. I can't see how we can continue to sit on Mathis, he's clearly pressing and I don't see the bench role working for him or this roster once you get up a level or 2 like Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan etc.

There are games where you can hide Mulcahy and perhaps the opponent has another player who isn't a capable scorer. But when you play a better/balanced scoring team like a Michigan, you absolutely have to get some production out of all of your starters. Talking about RHJ, Baker, Caleb isn't going to cut it against this type of game.....they can't be asked to carry half of the entire offense and then Jacob filling in the rest.

I wish Mulcahy was just more aggressive and willing to score. It's not like he can be a dominant defender, where if he wasn't a scoring threat, you can justify carrying that type of workload.

We got a game in a range that was there but you have to get everyone on the scoreboard with 6 to 10+ points to pull it off. When Mulcahy can generate some points, it just changes everything, right now asking RHJ, Baker, Caleb to all shoot close to 50% from the field, is asking a lot in this type of league.

Either start Mathis and see if you can squeeze 8 to 10PPG if he plays 26 to 28 minutes or ask Paul to be aggressive to score and take 7 to 8 shots per game.

 

[fluoxetine]

If we just used the strategy we use when down 10 with 6 minutes left all the time we would be ranked like #10-15.

 

[RU MAN]

If you are playing a top of the league team or Top 5/10/15 type of program, you cannot play 4 on 5.

Mulcahy is a good player, he had played because Mathis has essentially decided he's not capable of passing the ball on a fast break, otherwise this roster would have the pieces to get to 70PPG again.

We had that ability when RHJ and Mathis were both playing lots of minutes and taking lots of shot attempts, getting plays in transition. I can't see how we can continue to sit on Mathis, he's clearly pressing and I don't see the bench role working for him or this roster once you get up a level or 2 like Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan etc.

There are games where you can hide Mulcahy and perhaps the opponent has another player who isn't a capable scorer. But when you play a better/balanced scoring team like a Michigan, you absolutely have to get some production out of all of your starters. Talking about RHJ, Baker, Caleb isn't going to cut it against this type of game.....they can't be asked to carry half of the entire offense and then Jacob filling in the rest.

I wish Mulcahy was just more aggressive and willing to score. It's not like he can be a dominant defender, where if he wasn't a scoring threat, you can justify carrying that type of workload.

We got a game in a range that was there but you have to get everyone on the scoreboard with 6 to 10+ points to pull it off. When Mulcahy can generate some points, it just changes everything, right now asking RHJ, Baker, Caleb to all shoot close to 50% from the field, is asking a lot in this type of league.

Either start Mathis and see if you can squeeze 8 to 10PPG if he plays 26 to 28 minutes or ask Paul to be aggressive to score and take 7 to 8 shots per game.

I've been shouting from the rooftops since day one of watching PM play. Pike and the assistant coaches need to get in his face and hammer home to him that he not only needs to take the open shot but he needs when given the chance to create his own shot. Every game now it appears as if PM gets into at least 4 or 5 of these open shot situations and he passes it away, when he should shoot, or he dribbles down into the paint with time winding down and instead of putting up a decent 6-8 foot shot he's so quick to pass it out to the perimeter. I don't know. It just seems like he lacks confidence and the coaching staff need to instill in him how important his offense is to the team. If not, then I agree with you. They should put Tez in more, but again, Tez is pressing and he seems out of whack to me.

 

[MadRU]

We have a roster of long players for the most part. Michigan is bigger, longer, and stronger than we are. Look at our assist and rebound numbers, or lack there of.

Kind of like football, we did not get any separation on offense. Many possessions were one on one moves and very tough shots. JY is the only player we have that can get separation and make things happen in games against opponents like this. If he shared the game a little more we could get better looks.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I am not sure we want to see Paul take more shots. We may want to see his position on the floor take more shots.

this all comes down to getting our point guard getting us in our sets. Seeing the ball reversed a few times and getting the ball inside. Every time Myles touches the ball we have more options. There needs to be a number that we hit of touches for Myles each game. It can’t be single digits. Geo step backs can happen with 5 seconds on the shot clock. Need better use of the 1st 25 seconds.

 

[ancienthooper]

Not intended as an excuse, but PM looks very uncomfortable with the face mask. Constantly yanking and pulling at the thing. Unless it’s absolutely necessary my guess is it’s gone by Sunday.

 

[shields]

How is the kid's finger? Looked bad last week.

 

[Rufaninga]

Love watching these guys with playing competitive games BUT for 2 years I've been waiting for us to have a HOT scoring night.

Shouldn't the law of averages give us some 3pt buckets at some point? Maybe waiting for NCAA to recoup

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

And every game this board says “we just can’t shoot” or “shots just didn’t fall”...

Young should take more shots

This. Its really that simple. Young needs more minutes and needs to be more of a focal point of the offense. 6-12 last night and 2-3 from deep.

curious your thoughts on this @RUsojo, as the season has progressed I keep thinking to myself this kid may get a shot at the NBA. Shoots it well from deep, elite level quickness, top on ball guard defender in america. Like i could see him making kyrie irvings life a living hell, hes that good on D

 

[RUsingsing_rivals]

Assuming we’re a lock if we go no worse than 3-2 in our last 5 including first game of the B1G tourney, are we still in with these records?
0-5?
1-4?
2-3?
I’d say no, no, and yes.

 

[rufeelinit]

Lots of good points but very little of it is new. Same issues game after game that become more prominent against very good competition. The unique stat from last night was our very low turnover number and yet I never felt we were going to win the game.

I do think Pike needs to consider starting MM again, not because he has earned it, but more as a salvage operation. His inability to finish around the rim is confounding and might becoming contagious. We just don't go up strong enough.

Not sure what was going on with the minutes distribution at center. Myles is certainly impacted by our 3pt shooting woes which allows teams to sag but we seemed to abandon the effort rather early. Cliff puts forth effort but is obviously still learning on both ends. It is becoming more obvious why we don't play them together.

Whether he is good or bad on a particular night, JY is most equipped to be effective against high level competition.

We couldn't stay with Michigan playing man to man. Wagner was too big and their length was greater than ours. Again, not adequately replacing the Akwasi/EO role also shows up more glaringly against better and bigger teams.

Why do other teams seems to be able to quickly recognize and effectively exploit mismatches on offense while we seem be incapable of doing the same?

 

[richthedentist]

No way you should have PM playing more minutes than your top two scorers for the game(JY, MJ).

Agreed Pikell just has no sense of in game substitutions; PM couldn't even get off a shot last night his only shot was the fast break layup and he got torched by Wagner in the first half on defense; they put Caleb on Wagner and he basically had nothing in the second half until the late 3 pointer and a couple of free throws

 

[richthedentist]

Lots of good points but very little of it is new. Same issues game after game that become more prominent against very good competition. The unique stat from last night was our very low turnover number and yet I never felt we were going to win the game.

I do think Pike needs to consider starting MM again, not because he has earned it, but more as a salvage operation. His inability to finish around the rim is confounding and might becoming contagious. We just don't go up strong enough.

Not sure what was going on with the minutes distribution at center. Myles is certainly impacted by our 3pt shooting woes which allows teams to sag but we seemed to abandon the effort rather early. Cliff puts forth effort but is obviously still learning on both ends. It is becoming more obvious why we don't play them together.

Whether he is good or bad on a particular night, JY is most equipped to be effective against high level competition.

We couldn't stay with Michigan playing man to man. Wagner was too big and their length was greater than ours. Again, not adequately replacing the Akwasi/EO role also shows up more glaringly against better and bigger teams.

Why do other teams seems to be able to quickly recognize and effectively exploit mismatches on offense while we seem be incapable of doing the same?

There is absolutely no way MM should be starting unfortunately for the kid he should not be out there more than 6 minutes a game at this point

 

[Duff366]

I'd be for putting Mathis back in the starting line up, not that his recent play warrants it. It's just we can't have zero points from a contributing bench player and he has not taken to that role well at all at the moment. Maybe he gets his confidence back playing 20-25 mins.

Play Paul off the bench. Team player, he's got 2 more years as a starter.

 

[rudad02]

Feels like we often wait too long to run the offense and look for a good shot, even on possessions that are just guys going one on one. We had a chance tonight to get Geo wide open behind the arc on the right side. Instead, the guy with the ball (forget if it was Paul or Caleb) holds it, we run the clock down, and end up with Geo hoisting a contested 3 as the clock is ticking out. That is a recipe for a low shooting percentage. I would love to see an attack mode mindset that doesn't just burn 15 seconds per possession before looking for a shot.

Agree!!! So true. We screw around too long. And too much one on one.

 

[rutobs]

Feels like we often wait too long to run the offense and look for a good shot, even on possessions that are just guys going one on one. We had a chance tonight to get Geo wide open behind the arc on the right side. Instead, the guy with the ball (forget if it was Paul or Caleb) holds it, we run the clock down, and end up with Geo hoisting a contested 3 as the clock is ticking out. That is a recipe for a low shooting percentage. I would love to see an attack mode mindset that doesn't just burn 15 seconds per possession before looking for a shot.

Agree; even the announcers last night said that we are waiting too long to get into our sets. It really hurts when you are passing on better shots earlier in the shot clock.

 

[patk89]

PM feeds Myles better than anyone on our team. But he needs to take the shot if the other team starts playing for the pass. RU is just not a good shooting team. Our 3 point numbers are abysmal. Harper's consecutive miss from 3 streak, although ended last night, is hard to believe. Teams look great when the 3 ball falls and look awful when it doesn't.

 

[ricdrul]

I know I will get ran off the board for this but have said it before look at how many times RU players drive to the basket and try to shoot over three players and Myles or Cliff are standing and their man leaves to contest the shot. The simple drop pass done by all but RU. Simple basketball not hero ball. Selfish play..........

 

[RUJMM78]

You say the same thing after every game. Do you honestly want Geo to take less shots? Who is going to make all these shots that Geo and Caleb are taking?

Do you want Jacob to take 20 shots? Surely, you don't want Mathis to take all these shots at this point

The issue really is collective poor shooting rather than naming certain players.Its a recruiting problem more so than player development .IN 2022 -2023 Rutgers will no longer have Baker,Young,Harper,McConnell and Johnson who are the leading scorers on the team.Where are the points going to come from?In the B1G teams can quickly drop to the bottom of league standings when players leave and aren't replaced with comparable or better talent.Michigan State is a classic example.