GAME 1 Lehigh: Just win

[bac2therac]

Not going to get myself to worked up over an opening night life and death struggle against a school picked near the bottom of their conference just yet.
These games happen. We have seen it across the country. We saw it with RU a couple years back with Bryant. Usually the 2nd or 3rd game shows a team way different than how they played in the opener. We shall see. Still hard not to be disappointed overall with the lack of juice from the team given a pretty full RAC

Still hats off to Lehigh. They outhustled, outshot and outworked Rutgers all night and the scary thing is they were actually quicker getting down the court and RU seemingly played catchup on defense the entire first half. RU was fortunate to be down only 5 at the half. That Lehigh still kept hanging around and seemed poised for an upset late is credit to them but still has a lot to do with Rutgers. Rutgers should have pulled away in this game after they got up 5 but if they didnt play an absolute rotten first half they never would have been in that situation where they had to hold off Lehigh in overtime.

Open jitters or over confidence, you pick, I think the latter. I was disappointed in some of the play of the leaders of this team. Geo is in his 5th year. Come on man...4-15 fg and just 2 in the first half is just flat out bad. I know there were alot of subs in the first half and no flow but Geo was invisible in the first half. He finally showed up in the 2nd half offensively with some key baskets and the only 3 of the game. As team leader I expect the upperclassmen to set an example for the newcomers on mindset. I thought Geo and Paul were too lackadaiscal in everything they did much of the game. Paul just took too many shots (11) period. I guess by design. I do not like it. His fast break move was cringeworthy. Harper a double double and solid workmen like game but his hoisting of ugly 3s I could do without. I did not see the passion that I expected to see from RU right out of the game and they got lulled to sleep after the first couple of minutes and just let Lehigh dominate the first half.

Not sure if there was much scouting on what Lehigh would be running but RU seem to have no idea how to defend them which was compounded by their slowness in getting down the court. Lehigh was poised and executed. To RU's credit, as bad as the D was in the first half, I thought the defense was excellent in the 2nd. RU ended up with 14 steals and forced Lehigh into 22 turnovers. RU won because of their defense, they limited Lehigh shots. If not for the defense, I do not think RU would have generated enough offense to win this game. That sounds sad but the reality is that RU made only 1 fg in the last 5:42 of the game and just 3 points in that time period. What does that say? How is that possible? I saw alot of bad shot selection from a bunch of guys and a stunning lack of confidence around the rim from a team that had made the NCAA tourney.

Geo came up big with his tying shot and Lehigh stepped out of bounds that put the ball back in Geo's hands for the last shot. I do not take issue with the call. Thats Pike's and Geo's go to. Geo just really didnt position himself well and it was not a well executed and pretty shot. I felt RU was going to win in overtime. I thought Lehigh was tiring somewhat and finally in that overtime we saw RU start to play with the passion and urgency we should have seen in the last 6 minutes. The Cliff dunk was a beautiful decoy executed by both he and Paul. Paul and Caleb would finally contribute in these minutes and RU was able to dig out the win after Cliff's dunk to go up 71-65

Got to give a shout out to Cliff. He is going to be a star. Huge game with 16 points, 7-13 fg, 9 boards in just 24 minutes. I LOVE he took so many shots. Yes the opponent was weak but today we saw a very confident Cliff ready to step in and be a key cog of the offense unlike Myles. I thought Cliff perhaps was out too long for a stretch in the 2nd half and was a little off with his shot late. The big question is how will he far against the wider and tougher bigs he will face in the Big 10 and can he stay out of foul trouble. It looks like an enormous drop off to Agee and Reiber.


Of the newcomers no surprise Hyatt is the most ready and he could be that key man off the bench that provides a few baskets for spark. That dunk late in overtime was ill advised,given the situation and time remaining, he will learn from that. 8pts and 4 boards in 23 minutes is something we hope to get from him night in and out. Also thought Jones had a nice couple of buckets but did look not prepared on defense yet. Reiber, Palmquist, Agee just do not impress me at all.

A win is a win. No one will be caring about this score later in the season. Team has issues with offense clearly. That is no surprise and if this team fails to make the dance this will be the reason. They will win some games when they have the rare hot shooting night but most nights will be an all out struggle where they scrap to win an ugly game. Still alot of one on one ball and some of the most absymal 3pt shooting you will ever see. I see a few players still are not Big 10 level and it showed with how little minutes they got. As mentioned only one fg in the last 5 minutes plus of the 2nd half is a red flag. RU forced 22 turnovers and still only won by 3, RU shot the ball 15 more times than Lehigh and still only one by 3. Defense will come depending on the opponent.

Great to be bac at the RAC again and see some familiar faces. Masks to get in but basically people can do what they want afterwards so I predict less masking as each game goes by. Still masking was probably at least 75% of the place not including the students. RAC was fairly quiet due to the performance of the team but did have some loud moments toward the end of the 2nd half and overtime but I wouldnt rate it a great crowd by any stretch. Strong in numbers but understandably lacking in enthusiasm

On to Merrimack, on paper a tougher game but sometimes after these close games usually we see a rout. At least Pike has this teams attention now. Alot of things to watch for in the next few games. Tonight confirmed some suspicions to me about certain players both good and bad but that could change

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Appologize for nothing

A win is a win

Really didn’t like the one through four automatic switch off in the first half on all screens....created way too much space for them to shoot way too high a percentage of deuces...and gave the confidence to hang

We played it way too sloppy. Not sure lineups with Geo and Paul are suited for that ...

 

[BigEastPhil]

Bac - great to see you and Roc.

Some observations:

- Thought Harp played very aggressive inside and on boards defensively. Wanted to see more of Harp inside in 2nd half and taking last shot inside at end of game.

- Cliff was terrific. Big difference when he is in the lineup. He needs to stay out of foul trouble.

- Hyatt is a solid addition. He'll be able to provide points; defense and maturity off the bench.

-Jones is a very confident player. Made a dumb freshman mistake shooting ball wildly off a rebound in 2nd half but he will be a terrific player for us. He's the future.

- Was disappointed in Agee's performance. Was beat up defensively. He needs to step up.

-Outside shooting was atrocious. Harp was rushing his shots and Caleb and Geo were off.

- Theme of game was that we could never go up 6-7 points in 2nd half as either bad shots / turnover or bad break would occur keeping Lehigh in game.


Good to get this game out of the way as it reminded me so much of the Bryant game 2 years ago.

 

[RU-ROCS]

I agree. As bad as the D was in the first half, the stifling help D in the second half was outstanding. On offense, the second half was much better but it was just one of those nights when so many RU shots rimmed out, even from point-blank range. No need to freak out . . . . . .yet.

 

[Joey Bacala]

Agee is not a B1G player. Reiber isn't either but we already knew that. Palmquist will barely play if at all, don't forget we have Mag who seems poised to get decent mins off the bench.

 

[goru7]

Not going to get myself to worked up over an opening night life and death struggle against a school picked near the bottom of their conference just yet.
These games happen. We have seen it across the country. We saw it with RU a couple years back with Bryant. Usually the 2nd or 3rd game shows a team way different than how they played in the opener. We shall see. Still hard not to be disappointed overall with the lack of juice from the team given a pretty full RAC

Still hats off to Lehigh. They outhustled, outshot and outworked Rutgers all night and the scary thing is they were actually quicker getting down the court and RU seemingly played catchup on defense the entire first half. RU was fortunate to be down only 5 at the half. That Lehigh still kept hanging around and seemed poised for an upset late is credit to them but still has a lot to do with Rutgers. Rutgers should have pulled away in this game after they got up 5 but if they didnt play an absolute rotten first half they never would have been in that situation where they had to hold off Lehigh in overtime.

Open jitters or over confidence, you pick, I think the latter. I was disappointed in some of the play of the leaders of this team. Geo is in his 5th year. Come on man...4-15 fg and just 2 in the first half is just flat out bad. I know there were alot of subs in the first half and no flow but Geo was invisible in the first half. He finally showed up in the 2nd half offensively with some key baskets and the only 3 of the game. As team leader I expect the upperclassmen to set an example for the newcomers on mindset. I thought Geo and Paul were too lackadaiscal in everything they did much of the game. Paul just took too many shots (11) period. I guess by design. I do not like it. His fast break move was cringeworthy. Harper a double double and solid workmen like game but his hoisting of ugly 3s I could do without. I did not see the passion that I expected to see from RU right out of the game and they got lulled to sleep after the first couple of minutes and just let Lehigh dominate the first half.

Not sure if there was much scouting on what Lehigh would be running but RU seem to have no idea how to defend them which was compounded by their slowness in getting down the court. Lehigh was poised and executed. To RU's credit, as bad as the D was in the first half, I thought the defense was excellent in the 2nd. RU ended up with 14 steals and forced Lehigh into 22 turnovers. RU won because of their defense, they limited Lehigh shots. If not for the defense, I do not think RU would have generated enough offense to win this game. That sounds sad but the reality is that RU made only 1 fg in the last 5:42 of the game and just 3 points in that time period. What does that say? How is that possible? I saw alot of bad shot selection from a bunch of guys and a stunning lack of confidence around the rim from a team that had made the NCAA tourney.

Geo came up big with his tying shot and Lehigh stepped out of bounds that put the ball back in Geo's hands for the last shot. I do not take issue with the call. Thats Pike's and Geo's go to. Geo just really didnt position himself well and it was not a well executed and pretty shot. I felt RU was going to win in overtime. I thought Lehigh was tiring somewhat and finally in that overtime we saw RU start to play with the passion and urgency we should have seen in the last 6 minutes. The Cliff dunk was a beautiful decoy executed by both he and Paul. Paul and Caleb would finally contribute in these minutes and RU was able to dig out the win after Cliff's dunk to go up 71-65

Got to give a shout out to Cliff. He is going to be a star. Huge game with 16 points, 7-13 fg, 9 boards in just 24 minutes. I LOVE he took so many shots. Yes the opponent was weak but today we saw a very confident Cliff ready to step in and be a key cog of the offense unlike Myles. I thought Cliff perhaps was out too long for a stretch in the 2nd half and was a little off with his shot late. The big question is how will he far against the wider and tougher bigs he will face in the Big 10 and can he stay out of foul trouble. It looks like an enormous drop off to Agee and Reiber.


Of the newcomers no surprise Hyatt is the most ready and he could be that key man off the bench that provides a few baskets for spark. That dunk late in overtime was ill advised,given the situation and time remaining, he will learn from that. 8pts and 4 boards in 23 minutes is something we hope to get from him night in and out. Also thought Jones had a nice couple of buckets but did look not prepared on defense yet. Reiber, Palmquist, Agee just do not impress me at all.

A win is a win. No one will be caring about this score later in the season. Team has issues with offense clearly. That is no surprise and if this team fails to make the dance this will be the reason. They will win some games when they have the rare hot shooting night but most nights will be an all out struggle where they scrap to win an ugly game. Still alot of one on one ball and some of the most absymal 3pt shooting you will ever see. I see a few players still are not Big 10 level and it showed with how little minutes they got. As mentioned only one fg in the last 5 minutes plus of the 2nd half is a red flag. RU forced 22 turnovers and still only won by 3, RU shot the ball 15 more times than Lehigh and still only one by 3. Defense will come depending on the opponent.

Great to be bac at the RAC again and see some familiar faces. Masks to get in but basically people can do what they want afterwards so I predict less masking as each game goes by. Still masking was probably at least 75% of the place not including the students. RAC was fairly quiet due to the performance of the team but did have some loud moments toward the end of the 2nd half and overtime but I wouldnt rate it a great crowd by any stretch. Strong in numbers but understandably lacking in enthusiasm

On to Merrimack, on paper a tougher game but sometimes after these close games usually we see a rout. At least Pike has this teams attention now. Alot of things to watch for in the next few games. Tonight confirmed some suspicions to me about certain players both good and bad but that could change

Agree with a lot of what you summarized and here are some overall observations of the players.
1) Ron really took over for a stretch there and we went away from him too much in the last 6-7 minutes. A few of his threes were in and out and the one he hit was called off because of the bogus screen call on Cliff. His rebounding was really good and his defense and hustle on the glass and for loose balls was excellent. Only question is whether he got winded late and did not demand the ball.
2) Geo cannot disappear for a half and score zero and have 1 assist and few or any rebounds . He sagged off on defense and got burned once fir a three and they missed other open ones. However, he did show up like he was supposed to in the second half and drove real strong to the hoop, hit some mid range and the only 3 of the night , threw some lobs to Cliff , and fed Ron on the block like he was supposed to. Plus his denial defense in the second half led to a few steals. He doesn’t have to do a lot more , since that does not appear to be his plan or Pike ‘s plan , but if he just plays a decent first half he ends up with 18 or 20 . He has to be assertive from the jump.
3) Andre Hyatt will be a player for us. Hit a bunch of big shots , had a great block at the rim and his rebounding on both ends was really solid. His defense was also real good.
I also believe Pike subbing him out in the second half was a mistake.
4) Cliff has really made that offensive leap and his athleticism is outstanding. His rebounding was better as well . I love that we made a conscience effort to post him up and let him go to work. The guards in years past did a lousy job of feeding the post but that was much better tonight . He stayed out of foul trouble in the second half that was key and I also think Pike kept him out of the game too long in the second half. 16 and 9 is a great start and easily could have been 22-24 points.
5) Paul and Caleb . Paul had on e of the worst games he has played On the Banks. He held the ball too long, did not dish out for threes when he got stuck in the lane over and over again , he missed a ton of bunnies and 5-8 footers . His defense was really bad for stretches tonight. I think he tried to do too much and we have other guys that can shoulder the burden. Caleb was not much better because he missed a lot of easy shots that weren’t close to going in . His defense was very solid as it usually is as was his rebounding.
It is clear that Paul and Caleb should not be playing together but one should sub fir the other and let Geo and Jaden share time at the other guard spot
6). Very disappointed in Agee’s debut. His defense, lack of rim protector and lack of rebounding was concerning . He led San Jose State in scoring or was their go to scorer on a bad team but did not see anything resembling offense tonight. Gonna chalk that up to opening night jitters but very concerned about the defensive side especially if Cliff gets in foul trouble.
7) Jaden Jones had some flashes but he was way too tentative and I expected him to be more assertive offensively. His defense was shaky as well. But I think he has to be set up to shoot coming off a screen or just isolate him on a smaller guard like they were doing with Paul a lot of the night should have been done with Jaden.
8) Dean and Oscar. Dean had a nice post move and can play better defense and rebound . He missed one shot badly but he has a decent stroke and might be a better backup for Cliff. Oscar didn’t do much to get free fir any looks and does not get into the flow offensively so not sure if he will contribute.

Overall, shot incredibly bad from in close with plenty of good looks . Foul shooting was much better as we were 15-19 at one point . The passing was not crisp and the guards especially Paul and Caleb dribbled too much or held the ball too long and never set up any 3 point attempts with inside out or around the horn swing passes. But getting the win allows you to correct things but I think Pike has the players attention after a close call like this instead of a blowout.

 

[ru_kidding_me2]

I can’t get on the first half defense too much because I think that strategy against foul trouble plays a big role in first half defensive approaches and how aggressive and active teams are willing to be on D in early stages of games. To me it’s all about the abysmal shooting which seems to be such a common theme with this team. Incredibly frustrating as they just can’t seem to shake it with any consistency. Glad they escaped with the win!

 

[RUDiddy777]

Not going to get myself to worked up over an opening night life and death struggle against a school picked near the bottom of their conference just yet.
These games happen. We have seen it across the country. We saw it with RU a couple years back with Bryant. Usually the 2nd or 3rd game shows a team way different than how they played in the opener. We shall see. Still hard not to be disappointed overall with the lack of juice from the team given a pretty full RAC

Still hats off to Lehigh. They outhustled, outshot and outworked Rutgers all night and the scary thing is they were actually quicker getting down the court and RU seemingly played catchup on defense the entire first half. RU was fortunate to be down only 5 at the half. That Lehigh still kept hanging around and seemed poised for an upset late is credit to them but still has a lot to do with Rutgers. Rutgers should have pulled away in this game after they got up 5 but if they didnt play an absolute rotten first half they never would have been in that situation where they had to hold off Lehigh in overtime.

Open jitters or over confidence, you pick, I think the latter. I was disappointed in some of the play of the leaders of this team. Geo is in his 5th year. Come on man...4-15 fg and just 2 in the first half is just flat out bad. I know there were alot of subs in the first half and no flow but Geo was invisible in the first half. He finally showed up in the 2nd half offensively with some key baskets and the only 3 of the game. As team leader I expect the upperclassmen to set an example for the newcomers on mindset. I thought Geo and Paul were too lackadaiscal in everything they did much of the game. Paul just took too many shots (11) period. I guess by design. I do not like it. His fast break move was cringeworthy. Harper a double double and solid workmen like game but his hoisting of ugly 3s I could do without. I did not see the passion that I expected to see from RU right out of the game and they got lulled to sleep after the first couple of minutes and just let Lehigh dominate the first half.

Not sure if there was much scouting on what Lehigh would be running but RU seem to have no idea how to defend them which was compounded by their slowness in getting down the court. Lehigh was poised and executed. To RU's credit, as bad as the D was in the first half, I thought the defense was excellent in the 2nd. RU ended up with 14 steals and forced Lehigh into 22 turnovers. RU won because of their defense, they limited Lehigh shots. If not for the defense, I do not think RU would have generated enough offense to win this game. That sounds sad but the reality is that RU made only 1 fg in the last 5:42 of the game and just 3 points in that time period. What does that say? How is that possible? I saw alot of bad shot selection from a bunch of guys and a stunning lack of confidence around the rim from a team that had made the NCAA tourney.

Geo came up big with his tying shot and Lehigh stepped out of bounds that put the ball back in Geo's hands for the last shot. I do not take issue with the call. Thats Pike's and Geo's go to. Geo just really didnt position himself well and it was not a well executed and pretty shot. I felt RU was going to win in overtime. I thought Lehigh was tiring somewhat and finally in that overtime we saw RU start to play with the passion and urgency we should have seen in the last 6 minutes. The Cliff dunk was a beautiful decoy executed by both he and Paul. Paul and Caleb would finally contribute in these minutes and RU was able to dig out the win after Cliff's dunk to go up 71-65

Got to give a shout out to Cliff. He is going to be a star. Huge game with 16 points, 7-13 fg, 9 boards in just 24 minutes. I LOVE he took so many shots. Yes the opponent was weak but today we saw a very confident Cliff ready to step in and be a key cog of the offense unlike Myles. I thought Cliff perhaps was out too long for a stretch in the 2nd half and was a little off with his shot late. The big question is how will he far against the wider and tougher bigs he will face in the Big 10 and can he stay out of foul trouble. It looks like an enormous drop off to Agee and Reiber.


Of the newcomers no surprise Hyatt is the most ready and he could be that key man off the bench that provides a few baskets for spark. That dunk late in overtime was ill advised,given the situation and time remaining, he will learn from that. 8pts and 4 boards in 23 minutes is something we hope to get from him night in and out. Also thought Jones had a nice couple of buckets but did look not prepared on defense yet. Reiber, Palmquist, Agee just do not impress me at all.

A win is a win. No one will be caring about this score later in the season. Team has issues with offense clearly. That is no surprise and if this team fails to make the dance this will be the reason. They will win some games when they have the rare hot shooting night but most nights will be an all out struggle where they scrap to win an ugly game. Still alot of one on one ball and some of the most absymal 3pt shooting you will ever see. I see a few players still are not Big 10 level and it showed with how little minutes they got. As mentioned only one fg in the last 5 minutes plus of the 2nd half is a red flag. RU forced 22 turnovers and still only won by 3, RU shot the ball 15 more times than Lehigh and still only one by 3. Defense will come depending on the opponent.

Great to be bac at the RAC again and see some familiar faces. Masks to get in but basically people can do what they want afterwards so I predict less masking as each game goes by. Still masking was probably at least 75% of the place not including the students. RAC was fairly quiet due to the performance of the team but did have some loud moments toward the end of the 2nd half and overtime but I wouldnt rate it a great crowd by any stretch. Strong in numbers but understandably lacking in enthusiasm

On to Merrimack, on paper a tougher game but sometimes after these close games usually we see a rout. At least Pike has this teams attention now. Alot of things to watch for in the next few games. Tonight confirmed some suspicions to me about certain players both good and bad but that could change

Excellent write up as always Bac.

 

[cm_13]

Agree with you on the crowd, the energy in the building was really weird tonight. The place was pretty packed for a November game against Lehigh, but it was pretty quiet in there until the last few minutes of the game. I get that it’s Lehigh, but it ended up being a competitive game in front of a big crowd and it felt like the place was asleep. Definitely woke up for overtime and the noise was pretty deafening on Lehigh’s last possession of regulation, but prior to that I kept finding myself thinking “Why is it so dead in here?”

 

[Freddy Stubbs]

Agree with you on the crowd, the energy in the building was really weird tonight. The place was pretty packed for a November game against Lehigh, but it was pretty quiet in there until the last few minutes of the game. I get that it’s Lehigh, but it ended up being a competitive game in front of a big crowd and it felt like the place was asleep. Definitely woke up for overtime and the noise was pretty deafening on Lehigh’s last possession of regulation, but prior to that I kept finding myself thinking “Why is it so dead in here?”

I think it was so dead because of how poorly the team played. The fans seem to feed off of the players energy and then give it back.

 

[Shell21]

Excellent analysis. One more thing to add, there is no excuse to be outrebounded by Lehigh, none. I don’t care if Cliff is out or not, go attack the ball. Inexcusable and just goes to show how out hustled we we were last night. If we can’t rebound with them , we are in for a long season

 

[zappaa]

Only listen to the game….Austin Johnson was outstanding!!
Agee? we have a very quick evaluation of him being a non contributor, what’s the deal.
I’m hopeful he’s going to be good in his roll.
Nice Job Bac

 

[RAC’emUp]

Good write ups overall. Not mentioned so far - the lack of fast break scoring. Did we have any fast break points at all? Also, I did not like the fact we were not very aggressive on loose balls. I didn’t see the diving to the floor that we’ve seen in the past.

Lehigh is very well coached.

 

[Yeah Baby]

Bac, I agree with you here in this board but you have a way different tolerance level for bad games by the Hoops te vs bad games by the Football team lol.

 

[bac2therac]

Agree with a lot of what you summarized and here are some overall observations of the players.
1) Ron really took over for a stretch there and we went away from him too much in the last 6-7 minutes. A few of his threes were in and out and the one he hit was called off because of the bogus screen call on Cliff. His rebounding was really good and his defense and hustle on the glass and for loose balls was excellent. Only question is whether he got winded late and did not demand the ball.
2) Geo cannot disappear for a half and score zero and have 1 assist and few or any rebounds . He sagged off on defense and got burned once fir a three and they missed other open ones. However, he did show up like he was supposed to in the second half and drove real strong to the hoop, hit some mid range and the only 3 of the night , threw some lobs to Cliff , and fed Ron on the block like he was supposed to. Plus his denial defense in the second half led to a few steals. He doesn’t have to do a lot more , since that does not appear to be his plan or Pike ‘s plan , but if he just plays a decent first half he ends up with 18 or 20 . He has to be assertive from the jump.
3) Andre Hyatt will be a player for us. Hit a bunch of big shots , had a great block at the rim and his rebounding on both ends was really solid. His defense was also real good.
I also believe Pike subbing him out in the second half was a mistake.
4) Cliff has really made that offensive leap and his athleticism is outstanding. His rebounding was better as well . I love that we made a conscience effort to post him up and let him go to work. The guards in years past did a lousy job of feeding the post but that was much better tonight . He stayed out of foul trouble in the second half that was key and I also think Pike kept him out of the game too long in the second half. 16 and 9 is a great start and easily could have been 22-24 points.
5) Paul and Caleb . Paul had on e of the worst games he has played On the Banks. He held the ball too long, did not dish out for threes when he got stuck in the lane over and over again , he missed a ton of bunnies and 5-8 footers . His defense was really bad for stretches tonight. I think he tried to do too much and we have other guys that can shoulder the burden. Caleb was not much better because he missed a lot of easy shots that weren’t close to going in . His defense was very solid as it usually is as was his rebounding.
It is clear that Paul and Caleb should not be playing together but one should sub fir the other and let Geo and Jaden share time at the other guard spot
6). Very disappointed in Agee’s debut. His defense, lack of rim protector and lack of rebounding was concerning . He led San Jose State in scoring or was their go to scorer on a bad team but did not see anything resembling offense tonight. Gonna chalk that up to opening night jitters but very concerned about the defensive side especially if Cliff gets in foul trouble.
7) Jaden Jones had some flashes but he was way too tentative and I expected him to be more assertive offensively. His defense was shaky as well. But I think he has to be set up to shoot coming off a screen or just isolate him on a smaller guard like they were doing with Paul a lot of the night should have been done with Jaden.
8) Dean and Oscar. Dean had a nice post move and can play better defense and rebound . He missed one shot badly but he has a decent stroke and might be a better backup for Cliff. Oscar didn’t do much to get free fir any looks and does not get into the flow offensively so not sure if he will contribute.

Overall, shot incredibly bad from in close with plenty of good looks . Foul shooting was much better as we were 15-19 at one point . The passing was not crisp and the guards especially Paul and Caleb dribbled too much or held the ball too long and never set up any 3 point attempts with inside out or around the horn swing passes. But getting the win allows you to correct things but I think Pike has the players attention after a close call like this instead of a blowout.

Excellent player summary!

 

[bac2therac]

Good write ups overall. Not mentioned so far - the lack of fast break scoring. Did we have any fast break points at all? Also, I did not like the fact we were not very aggressive on loose balls. I didn’t see the diving to the floor that we’ve seen in the past.

Lehigh is very well coached.

Agree..Lehigh was much quicker than antipicated and we were slower. We simply never attacked the hoop. Didnt see the needed hustle for a game like this

 

[knightfan7]

Not going to get myself to worked up over an opening night life and death struggle against a school picked near the bottom of their conference just yet.
These games happen. We have seen it across the country. We saw it with RU a couple years back with Bryant. Usually the 2nd or 3rd game shows a team way different than how they played in the opener. We shall see. Still hard not to be disappointed overall with the lack of juice from the team given a pretty full RAC

Still hats off to Lehigh. They outhustled, outshot and outworked Rutgers all night and the scary thing is they were actually quicker getting down the court and RU seemingly played catchup on defense the entire first half. RU was fortunate to be down only 5 at the half. That Lehigh still kept hanging around and seemed poised for an upset late is credit to them but still has a lot to do with Rutgers. Rutgers should have pulled away in this game after they got up 5 but if they didnt play an absolute rotten first half they never would have been in that situation where they had to hold off Lehigh in overtime.

Open jitters or over confidence, you pick, I think the latter. I was disappointed in some of the play of the leaders of this team. Geo is in his 5th year. Come on man...4-15 fg and just 2 in the first half is just flat out bad. I know there were alot of subs in the first half and no flow but Geo was invisible in the first half. He finally showed up in the 2nd half offensively with some key baskets and the only 3 of the game. As team leader I expect the upperclassmen to set an example for the newcomers on mindset. I thought Geo and Paul were too lackadaiscal in everything they did much of the game. Paul just took too many shots (11) period. I guess by design. I do not like it. His fast break move was cringeworthy. Harper a double double and solid workmen like game but his hoisting of ugly 3s I could do without. I did not see the passion that I expected to see from RU right out of the game and they got lulled to sleep after the first couple of minutes and just let Lehigh dominate the first half.

Not sure if there was much scouting on what Lehigh would be running but RU seem to have no idea how to defend them which was compounded by their slowness in getting down the court. Lehigh was poised and executed. To RU's credit, as bad as the D was in the first half, I thought the defense was excellent in the 2nd. RU ended up with 14 steals and forced Lehigh into 22 turnovers. RU won because of their defense, they limited Lehigh shots. If not for the defense, I do not think RU would have generated enough offense to win this game. That sounds sad but the reality is that RU made only 1 fg in the last 5:42 of the game and just 3 points in that time period. What does that say? How is that possible? I saw alot of bad shot selection from a bunch of guys and a stunning lack of confidence around the rim from a team that had made the NCAA tourney.

Geo came up big with his tying shot and Lehigh stepped out of bounds that put the ball back in Geo's hands for the last shot. I do not take issue with the call. Thats Pike's and Geo's go to. Geo just really didnt position himself well and it was not a well executed and pretty shot. I felt RU was going to win in overtime. I thought Lehigh was tiring somewhat and finally in that overtime we saw RU start to play with the passion and urgency we should have seen in the last 6 minutes. The Cliff dunk was a beautiful decoy executed by both he and Paul. Paul and Caleb would finally contribute in these minutes and RU was able to dig out the win after Cliff's dunk to go up 71-65

Got to give a shout out to Cliff. He is going to be a star. Huge game with 16 points, 7-13 fg, 9 boards in just 24 minutes. I LOVE he took so many shots. Yes the opponent was weak but today we saw a very confident Cliff ready to step in and be a key cog of the offense unlike Myles. I thought Cliff perhaps was out too long for a stretch in the 2nd half and was a little off with his shot late. The big question is how will he far against the wider and tougher bigs he will face in the Big 10 and can he stay out of foul trouble. It looks like an enormous drop off to Agee and Reiber.


Of the newcomers no surprise Hyatt is the most ready and he could be that key man off the bench that provides a few baskets for spark. That dunk late in overtime was ill advised,given the situation and time remaining, he will learn from that. 8pts and 4 boards in 23 minutes is something we hope to get from him night in and out. Also thought Jones had a nice couple of buckets but did look not prepared on defense yet. Reiber, Palmquist, Agee just do not impress me at all.

A win is a win. No one will be caring about this score later in the season. Team has issues with offense clearly. That is no surprise and if this team fails to make the dance this will be the reason. They will win some games when they have the rare hot shooting night but most nights will be an all out struggle where they scrap to win an ugly game. Still alot of one on one ball and some of the most absymal 3pt shooting you will ever see. I see a few players still are not Big 10 level and it showed with how little minutes they got. As mentioned only one fg in the last 5 minutes plus of the 2nd half is a red flag. RU forced 22 turnovers and still only won by 3, RU shot the ball 15 more times than Lehigh and still only one by 3. Defense will come depending on the opponent.

Great to be bac at the RAC again and see some familiar faces. Masks to get in but basically people can do what they want afterwards so I predict less masking as each game goes by. Still masking was probably at least 75% of the place not including the students. RAC was fairly quiet due to the performance of the team but did have some loud moments toward the end of the 2nd half and overtime but I wouldnt rate it a great crowd by any stretch. Strong in numbers but understandably lacking in enthusiasm

On to Merrimack, on paper a tougher game but sometimes after these close games usually we see a rout. At least Pike has this teams attention now. Alot of things to watch for in the next few games. Tonight confirmed some suspicions to me about certain players both good and bad but that could change

Good job Bac. I don't have BTN+ so didn't see the game.

I thought of Bryant and the meltdown afterwards. All that team did was go 20-11 and would have been dancing if not for Covid.

 

[wheezer]

I think it was so dead because of how poorly the team played. The fans seem to feed off of the players energy and then give it back.

Sometimes it takes a run of five or six points to get the crowd going in such q game
Our play on the court was too spotty

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

RU shot 1 of 8 from 3 in the opener last year.

Paul Mulcahy shot 7 for 7 in last year's opener.

Geo played 9 minutes before getting injured

Cliff had a fast start and good game.

Myles Johnson had a 5 for 5.....

There are some things that transfer over through an extended season and some things that don't.

A) It is very rare that teams get cheap fast break points against real competition, most teams get back on defense.

B) Playing teams that you don't scout makes your team look ragged on defense.

C) Jaden Jones looked very good in what was essentially his 1st college game.

D) Caleb played his role of defense 1st and was rewarded when he cut to the basket (Hint) that didn't happen enough last couple of years).....when you get 7 FTs, you're playing smart and effective basketball without having to dominate the ball to be effective. Only making 4 of 7 probably hid what was a double figures game without taking a ton of shots. If he hits 6 of 7, he charts out to a very reliable game you can count on, while only taking 5 shots.

E) 2 Caleb FTs, a missed floater or 2 from Mulcahy and Hyatt blowing the dunk at the end, prevented RU from probably having 6 in double figures.

F) Experiments are designed to find out how players function in new situations.....Caleb playing 35+ minutes isn't something I would expect even in a OT game.....same with Hyatt and 23, but that balances itself out later.

My primary take aways are to not panic about what didn't work.....when you shoot 1/12 from 3 and your opponent plays and shoots well, consider this a good sign.

Would like to see what the rotation looks like with Mag healthy and assuming Jalen Miller is part of the bench rotation for defense and back up PG....

 

[toby83]

Last shot moving forward needs to be Harper with his back to basket or even face up

Caleb had such a good mid range game 2 years ago , we need that from him, just three short jumpers per game

 

[G- RUnit]

Nice Review per usual BAC.

Pros:
1. Cliff looks like the real deal and we see the improvement everyone has been raving about. Almost a double double. If he keeps getting better… Pike has to protect him. Myles got jobbed by refs last year(OSU). Can’t let that happen to Cliff.
2. Great Rebounding by Harper. Very Nice solid double double game.
3. Pretty solid defensive effort that won us the game although several back doors hurt us. Two of the Lehigh Dunks will be on their highlight reel for years.
4. We forced turnovers.
5. Hyatt looked solid.
6. Jones had some nice plays in limited playing time.
7. Reiber had a solid move and maybe there is hope.
8. 18 for 25 from the free throw line is encouraging. 75% will take most games and hopefully inch toward 80%.
9. Sound strategy holding for the last shot. We were not losing that game at the end of regulation which would have been a disaster.
10. Mulcahy had a solid rebounding game.
11. We won. Good teams win when they play poorly.
12. Great November crowd for Lehigh.
13. Still drives me nuts what they did with #118. It’s stupid. But they did a really nice job with upstairs above #118. It looks good visually. That should have been done years ago. Hopefully that’s our expansion.
14. Thankfully mask police were non existent. Students were not wearing at all. Hopefully less and less every game.
15. Classy move by RU showing Myles and Jacob in highlight reel. Kudos!
14. We got a win with a great defensive effort when shots weren’t falling.
15. Honoring Field Hockey was nice.
16. Lehigh looked decent. Hard to believe they are not picked higher in their conference.

Cons:
1. Jersey Mikes missed a brilliant marketing opportunity and to build good will. I know time of covid but should have been giving out subs left and right or after the game.
2. I’m all for the banner for the well deserved tourney bid but who designed it? You can barely read it. RU has to fix that. Hard to read any of those banners to be honest.
3. This team beat UConn and Nova? Way too overconfident or cocky? Hopefully this is a wake up call. Coach said “distracted.” How can you be distracted first game of the season?
4. Awful shooting. 1 for 13 from three is not to win us any B1G games. Other shooting was not great either. Harper’s three’s were not even close and he missed way two many bunny’s. Geo seems to be doing the step back too far out. Should penetrate deeper than step back. His three got us back in the game but we are not going win if Harper and Geo continue to shoot so poorly. Geo can not go scoreless in first half and Harper can not disappear or get tired at the end of 2nd.
5. Mulcahy had a really rough game. Ill advised three and some of the turnovers were head scratching and freshmen mistake bad. He had some nice post moves. But if they are not falling…
6. We may miss Young and Montez mostly for team speed. We had very few easy fast break points and speed was absent all game.
7. Bit lackadaisical bring ball up particularly McConnell and Mulcahy. Almost a ten second violation.
8. How lucky were we that Lehigh player stepped on the baseline?
9. Hyatt and Caleb shots seemed close so maybe first game jitters. Caleb seems to have good form on line. Can’t expect 100% from line but 4 for 7 hurt a little and makes two more maybe no OT.
10. Hyatt’s badly missed dunk brought back memories of Myle’s badly missed dunk in Houston. Just make a basket and stop trying to make highlight reel dunks.
11. Should have honored women’s soccer too.

A win is a win and move on. This could have been a disaster and if we had lost this would have haunted us all year with the proverbial bad loss during bracket talk. Have to bring effort every night. This wasn’t exams or Christmas break doldrums. Hopefully a wake up call. Nice having hoops back.

 

[goru7]

Good write ups overall. Not mentioned so far - the lack of fast break scoring. Did we have any fast break points at all? Also, I did not like the fact we were not very aggressive on loose balls. I didn’t see the diving to the floor that we’ve seen in the past.

Lehigh is very well coached.

Would have had 2-3 more if Mulcahy doesn’t get stripped or doesn’t throw the ball away . Also the failure to fill the lanes caused more 1 on 2 and Mulcahy’s charge and some selfish play there.

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Hyatt looked like our best player imo. He needs to be near top minutes getter

 

[RUChoppin]

Great game for people who don't like three pointers, though

 

[hoquat63]

Just as aside, on Tuesday OSU only beat Akron by 1 and Nebraska lost their opener.

 

[Eagleton95.99]

Would have had 2-3 more if Mulcahy doesn’t get stripped or doesn’t throw the ball away . Also the failure to fill the lanes caused more 1 on 2 and Mulcahy’s charge and some selfish play there.

Need to play defense to get fast breaks.

 

[AshCatchEm]

Well shu won by 50 and we went to OT with lehigh. When's the last time we truly buried a team we were supposed to destroy?

 

[Anon1751594821]

Nice job as usual Bac.

The team really looked tired near the end of the game. Glad we were able to get the win.

Maybe it was just all the anticipation of having fans back for the first time in 2 years and they were overly jacked up to start the season and were spent as the game went on. We missed many shots that normally have a decent chance to go in.

Best of Luck,
Groz

 

[JonathanAlan]

Not going to get myself to worked up over an opening night life and death struggle against a school picked near the bottom of their conference just yet.
These games happen. We have seen it across the country. We saw it with RU a couple years back with Bryant. Usually the 2nd or 3rd game shows a team way different than how they played in the opener. We shall see. Still hard not to be disappointed overall with the lack of juice from the team given a pretty full RAC

Still hats off to Lehigh. They outhustled, outshot and outworked Rutgers all night and the scary thing is they were actually quicker getting down the court and RU seemingly played catchup on defense the entire first half. RU was fortunate to be down only 5 at the half. That Lehigh still kept hanging around and seemed poised for an upset late is credit to them but still has a lot to do with Rutgers. Rutgers should have pulled away in this game after they got up 5 but if they didnt play an absolute rotten first half they never would have been in that situation where they had to hold off Lehigh in overtime.

Open jitters or over confidence, you pick, I think the latter. I was disappointed in some of the play of the leaders of this team. Geo is in his 5th year. Come on man...4-15 fg and just 2 in the first half is just flat out bad. I know there were alot of subs in the first half and no flow but Geo was invisible in the first half. He finally showed up in the 2nd half offensively with some key baskets and the only 3 of the game. As team leader I expect the upperclassmen to set an example for the newcomers on mindset. I thought Geo and Paul were too lackadaiscal in everything they did much of the game. Paul just took too many shots (11) period. I guess by design. I do not like it. His fast break move was cringeworthy. Harper a double double and solid workmen like game but his hoisting of ugly 3s I could do without. I did not see the passion that I expected to see from RU right out of the game and they got lulled to sleep after the first couple of minutes and just let Lehigh dominate the first half.

Not sure if there was much scouting on what Lehigh would be running but RU seem to have no idea how to defend them which was compounded by their slowness in getting down the court. Lehigh was poised and executed. To RU's credit, as bad as the D was in the first half, I thought the defense was excellent in the 2nd. RU ended up with 14 steals and forced Lehigh into 22 turnovers. RU won because of their defense, they limited Lehigh shots. If not for the defense, I do not think RU would have generated enough offense to win this game. That sounds sad but the reality is that RU made only 1 fg in the last 5:42 of the game and just 3 points in that time period. What does that say? How is that possible? I saw alot of bad shot selection from a bunch of guys and a stunning lack of confidence around the rim from a team that had made the NCAA tourney.

Geo came up big with his tying shot and Lehigh stepped out of bounds that put the ball back in Geo's hands for the last shot. I do not take issue with the call. Thats Pike's and Geo's go to. Geo just really didnt position himself well and it was not a well executed and pretty shot. I felt RU was going to win in overtime. I thought Lehigh was tiring somewhat and finally in that overtime we saw RU start to play with the passion and urgency we should have seen in the last 6 minutes. The Cliff dunk was a beautiful decoy executed by both he and Paul. Paul and Caleb would finally contribute in these minutes and RU was able to dig out the win after Cliff's dunk to go up 71-65

Got to give a shout out to Cliff. He is going to be a star. Huge game with 16 points, 7-13 fg, 9 boards in just 24 minutes. I LOVE he took so many shots. Yes the opponent was weak but today we saw a very confident Cliff ready to step in and be a key cog of the offense unlike Myles. I thought Cliff perhaps was out too long for a stretch in the 2nd half and was a little off with his shot late. The big question is how will he far against the wider and tougher bigs he will face in the Big 10 and can he stay out of foul trouble. It looks like an enormous drop off to Agee and Reiber.


Of the newcomers no surprise Hyatt is the most ready and he could be that key man off the bench that provides a few baskets for spark. That dunk late in overtime was ill advised,given the situation and time remaining, he will learn from that. 8pts and 4 boards in 23 minutes is something we hope to get from him night in and out. Also thought Jones had a nice couple of buckets but did look not prepared on defense yet. Reiber, Palmquist, Agee just do not impress me at all.

A win is a win. No one will be caring about this score later in the season. Team has issues with offense clearly. That is no surprise and if this team fails to make the dance this will be the reason. They will win some games when they have the rare hot shooting night but most nights will be an all out struggle where they scrap to win an ugly game. Still alot of one on one ball and some of the most absymal 3pt shooting you will ever see. I see a few players still are not Big 10 level and it showed with how little minutes they got. As mentioned only one fg in the last 5 minutes plus of the 2nd half is a red flag. RU forced 22 turnovers and still only won by 3, RU shot the ball 15 more times than Lehigh and still only one by 3. Defense will come depending on the opponent.

Great to be bac at the RAC again and see some familiar faces. Masks to get in but basically people can do what they want afterwards so I predict less masking as each game goes by. Still masking was probably at least 75% of the place not including the students. RAC was fairly quiet due to the performance of the team but did have some loud moments toward the end of the 2nd half and overtime but I wouldnt rate it a great crowd by any stretch. Strong in numbers but understandably lacking in enthusiasm

On to Merrimack, on paper a tougher game but sometimes after these close games usually we see a rout. At least Pike has this teams attention now. Alot of things to watch for in the next few games. Tonight confirmed some suspicions to me about certain players both good and bad but that could change

Excellent analysis and enjoyable reading as always. I was disappointed by the team's effort , especially in the first half when Lehigh seemed unstoppable. Credit Lehigh , however, they seemed a well-coached disciplined team that came to play. That said , Rutgers seemed lethargic and going through the motions in the first half. If I recall correctly , it wasn't until the 3rd or 4th game last year that Rutgers defense shaped up. Rebounding was a problem last year and appears to be one this year. No excuse that Lehigh did so well on the boards. Hyatt needs to play more . They need another physical presence under the boards to help Cliff and Ron since the guards were not helping out enough. Big miss is JY--they lack a spark plug who can move the ball quickly and push the ball down the court. Paul is just not that guy--he slows down the offense too much. I would have liked to Jones more but his defense looked very bad at times.

 

[MV9000]

Hyatt looked like our best player imo. He needs to be near top minutes getter

Agreed. The dunk miss and the walk on the jab step(didn’t think it was a walk) are still jitters but he looked explosive, athletic and has a nice stroke. Additionally, that straight up two handed block was awesome. He is going to overtake a starter in no time just showed he has too much game.

 

[PiscatawayMike]

Lehigh is very well coached.

Agree. He couldn't have used his timeouts in the second half more wisely. He never allowed RU to go on a major run. Each time it appeared as if RU would start rolling, he called a timeout to stop the bleeding. By doing so, Lehigh had no timeouts with 10 minutes left in the game, but it's better to keep the score close than having timeouts remaining with five minutes to go down by 20.

 

[ImBadRU]

I think we looked very slow the whole game. Everybody looks physically bigger but def slower.

 

[cm_13]

Hyatt looked like our best player imo. He needs to be near top minutes getter

Loved what I saw from Hyatt on both ends of the floor. Really excited about having him for up to three years.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Bac - great to see you and Roc.

Some observations:

- Thought Harp played very aggressive inside and on boards defensively. Wanted to see more of Harp inside in 2nd half and taking last shot inside at end of game.

- Cliff was terrific. Big difference when he is in the lineup. He needs to stay out of foul trouble.

- Hyatt is a solid addition. He'll be able to provide points; defense and maturity off the bench.

-Jones is a very confident player. Made a dumb freshman mistake shooting ball wildly off a rebound in 2nd half but he will be a terrific player for us. He's the future.

- Was disappointed in Agee's performance. Was beat up defensively. He needs to step up.

-Outside shooting was atrocious. Harp was rushing his shots and Caleb and Geo were off.

- Theme of game was that we could never go up 6-7 points in 2nd half as either bad shots / turnover or bad break would occur keeping Lehigh in game.


Good to get this game out of the way as it reminded me so much of the Bryant game 2 years ago.

Someone needs to go through the play-by-play and check to see how many times we turned the ball BACK over within 10-seconds of forcing a turnover. It was, at the least, multiple times in the final few minutes of regulation alone IIRC. Again, IMHO, a sign of "tight" play.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Need to play defense to get fast breaks.

Need to run the floor to get fast breaks. We had a few opportunities, but we failed to sprint and fill a lane.

Our players need to work harder offensively off the ball.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

I said it late last night in the 7% from 3 thread that Pike needs to alter this Geo and Caleb starting lineup dynamic, 2 career 38.3% FG shooters, and one of them needs to come off the bench. So I decide to look at the shooting performances when they started together, and then Geo, Caleb, Paul. Both 9 games (6-3)

Nov 7, 2019 Bryant 73-71, 4-15, 0-7
Geo 3-11, 0-6 (1-2) Caleb 1-4, 0-1 (0-0)
Nov 10, 2019 Niagara 86-39, 12-18, 4-8
Geo 8-11, 3-5 (3-3) Caleb 4-7, 1-3 (0-0)
Nov 13, 2019 Drexel 62-57, 5-18, 0-2
Geo 5-12, 0-1 (2-2) Caleb 0-3, 0-1 (2-3)
Nov 16, 2019 N St. Bonaventure 74-80, 6-17, 4-13
Geo 4-11, 3-10 (0-0) Caleb 2-6, 1-3 (8-8)
Nov 20, 2019 SF Austin 69-57, 8-17, 4-10
Geo 3-8, 1-5 (4-4) Caleb 5-9, 3-5 (3-4)
Nov 26, 2019 NJIT 85-58,:9-14, 3-7
Geo 5-8, 1-4 (3-5) Caleb 4-6, 2-3 (0-0)
Nov 29, 2019 UMass 82-57, 10-18, 3-6
Geo 6-11, 2-5 (3-3) Caleb 4-7, 1-1 (1-2)
Dec 3, 2019 @ Pitt 60-71, 3-17, 2-11
Geo 3-11, 2-8 (1-1) Caleb 0-4, 0-3 (0-1)
Dec 8, 2019 @ MSU 65-77, 3-10, 0-3
Geo 1-7, 0-3 (2-2) Caleb 2-3, 0-0 (0-0)
Total
Geo 38-90, 12-47 Caleb 22-49, 8-20

*Jan 24, 2021 @ Indiana 74-70, 13-28, 7-16*
Geo 7-15, 4-9 (1-2) Caleb 3-6, 1-2 (0-0) Paul 3-7, 2-5 (1-2)
Jan 28, 2021 MSU 67-37, 10-23, 1-8
Geo 5-9, 1-4 (0-0) Caleb 3-10, 0-3 (2-2) Paul 2-4, 0-1 (0-0)
Jan 31, 2021 @ NW 64-56, 6-17, 3-11
Geo 4-8, 2-5 (2-2) Caleb 1-5, 0-3 (0-0) Paul 1-4, 1-3 (0-0)
*Feb 4, 2021 Minn 76-72, 11-22, 4-9*
Geo 5-8, 2-5 (4-4) Caleb 5-11, 1-2 (3-4) Paul 1-3, 1-2 (1-2)
Feb 10, 2021 @ Iowa 66-79, 11-28, 3-15
Geo 5-12, 1-6 (0-0) Caleb 3-11, 1-7 (0-0) Paul 3-5, 1-2 (0-1)
Feb 13, 2021 NW 64-50, 6-17, 3-8
Geo 2-4, 1-2 (0-0) Caleb 3-10, 2-5 (2-2) Paul 1-3, 0-1 (4-4)
Feb 18, 2021 @ UM 64-71, 9-27, 0-5
Geo 3-12, 0-2 (0-0) Caleb 5-14, 0-3 (0-0) Paul 1-1, 0-0 (0-0)
Feb 21, 2021 Maryland 59-68, 8-20, 3-9
Geo 5-10, 2-4 (0-0) Caleb 0-5, 0-2 (0-0) Paul 3-5, 1-3 (0-1)
Nov 10, 2021 Lehigh 73-70, 9-31, 1-7
Geo 4-15, 1-4 (3-4) Caleb 2-5, 0-1 (4-7) Paul 3-11, 0-2 (3-4)
Total
Geo 40-93, 14-41 Caleb 25-77, 5-28 Paul 18-43, 6-19

To shoot 27-72 37.5%, 1-13 7.7% from 3, out rebounded 43-41 by a Patriot league team are warning signs, substitutions and player positions are off. Only 3 players had a good individual Orat over 100, Cliff 116, RHJ 113, Caleb 108. Worst ORat Agee 40, Paul 71, Geo 77. Worst individual DRat Jaden 96, Cliff 95, Hyatt 90. We dropped in Ken Pom because of our bad Offense efficiency, ORat 89, DRat 85.4. Defensive efficiency overall was solid. RHJ 77 and Reiber 81 only 2 under the average, a bunch at 86.

Post in thread 'Agee Position' https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/agee-position.220237/post-5168762

I said it months ago how I'd like the rotation to be handled, I'm not changing off it. We would be a better shooting and rebounding team. Avoid these horrible shooting droughts, just glad the right people were taking FTs, just missed a few at the end because of the minutes played by the starters. If Agee can't handle the 4, sit him and try Mag or Oskar to backup Hyatt at the 4.

 

[kapyoche]

This was not a good start. We are---at best---a .500 team. I don't see this team making the playoffs.
It has no shooters, shot blockers, rebounders and depth.

 

[fluoxetine]

Well shu won by 50 and we went to OT with lehigh. When's the last time we truly buried a team we were supposed to destroy?

Last year?

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Was the arena really warm?

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I said it late last night in the 7% from 3 thread that Pike needs to alter this Geo and Caleb starting lineup dynamic, 2 career 38.3% FG shooters, and one of them needs to come off the bench. So I decide to look at the shooting performances when they started together, and then Geo, Caleb, Paul. Both 9 games (6-3)

Nov 7, 2019 Bryant 73-71, 4-15, 0-7
Geo 3-11, 0-6 (1-2) Caleb 1-4, 0-1 (0-0)
Nov 10, 2019 Niagara 86-39, 12-18, 4-8
Geo 8-11, 3-5 (3-3) Caleb 4-7, 1-3 (0-0)
Nov 13, 2019 Drexel 62-57, 5-18, 0-2
Geo 5-12, 0-1 (2-2) Caleb 0-3, 0-1 (2-3)
Nov 16, 2019 N St. Bonaventure 74-80, 6-17, 4-13
Geo 4-11, 3-10 (0-0) Caleb 2-6, 1-3 (8-8)
Nov 20, 2019 SF Austin 69-57, 8-17, 4-10
Geo 3-8, 1-5 (4-4) Caleb 5-9, 3-5 (3-4)
Nov 26, 2019 NJIT 85-58,:9-14, 3-7
Geo 5-8, 1-4 (3-5) Caleb 4-6, 2-3 (0-0)
Nov 29, 2019 UMass 82-57, 10-18, 3-6
Geo 6-11, 2-5 (3-3) Caleb 4-7, 1-1 (1-2)
Dec 3, 2019 @ Pitt 60-71, 3-17, 2-11
Geo 3-11, 2-8 (1-1) Caleb 0-4, 0-3 (0-1)
Dec 8, 2019 @ MSU 65-77, 3-10, 0-3
Geo 1-7, 0-3 (2-2) Caleb 2-3, 0-0 (0-0)
Total
Geo 38-90, 12-47 Caleb 22-49, 8-20

*Jan 24, 2021 @ Indiana 74-70, 13-28, 7-16*
Geo 7-15, 4-9 (1-2) Caleb 3-6, 1-2 (0-0) Paul 3-7, 2-5 (1-2)
Jan 28, 2021 MSU 67-37, 10-23, 1-8
Geo 5-9, 1-4 (0-0) Caleb 3-10, 0-3 (2-2) Paul 2-4, 0-1 (0-0)
Jan 31, 2021 @ NW 64-56, 6-17, 3-11
Geo 4-8, 2-5 (2-2) Caleb 1-5, 0-3 (0-0) Paul 1-4, 1-3 (0-0)
*Feb 4, 2021 Minn 76-72, 11-22, 4-9*
Geo 5-8, 2-5 (4-4) Caleb 5-11, 1-2 (3-4) Paul 1-3, 1-2 (1-2)
Feb 10, 2021 @ Iowa 66-79, 11-28, 3-15
Geo 5-12, 1-6 (0-0) Caleb 3-11, 1-7 (0-0) Paul 3-5, 1-2 (0-1)
Feb 13, 2021 NW 64-50, 6-17, 3-8
Geo 2-4, 1-2 (0-0) Caleb 3-10, 2-5 (2-2) Paul 1-3, 0-1 (4-4)
Feb 18, 2021 @ UM 64-71, 9-27, 0-5
Geo 3-12, 0-2 (0-0) Caleb 5-14, 0-3 (0-0) Paul 1-1, 0-0 (0-0)
Feb 21, 2021 Maryland 59-68, 8-20, 3-9
Geo 5-10, 2-4 (0-0) Caleb 0-5, 0-2 (0-0) Paul 3-5, 1-3 (0-1)
Nov 10, 2021 Lehigh 73-70, 9-31, 1-7
Geo 4-15, 1-4 (3-4) Caleb 2-5, 0-1 (4-7) Paul 3-11, 0-2 (3-4)
Total
Geo 40-93, 14-41 Caleb 25-77, 5-28 Paul 18-43, 6-19

To shoot 27-72 37.5%, 1-13 7.7% from 3, out rebounded 43-41 by a Patriot league team are warning signs, substitutions and player positions are off. Only 3 players had a good individual Orat over 100, Cliff 116, RHJ 113, Caleb 108. Worst ORat Agee 40, Paul 71, Geo 77. Worst individual DRat Jaden 96, Cliff 95, Hyatt 90. We dropped in Ken Pom because of our bad Offense efficiency, ORat 89, DRat 85.4. Defensive efficiency overall was solid. RHJ 77 and Reiber 81 only 2 under the average, a bunch at 86.

Post in thread 'Agee Position' https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/agee-position.220237/post-5168762

I said it months ago how I'd like the rotation to be handled, I'm not changing off it. We would be a better shooting and rebounding team. Avoid these horrible shooting droughts, just glad the right people were taking FTs, just missed a few at the end because of the minutes played by the starters. If Agee can't handle the 4, sit him and try Mag or Oskar to backup Hyatt at the 4.

Thanks for the analysis.....only thing I ask is look at rebounding in context of DREB% and OREB%. They turned it over a ton and shot a much better % than us. We had 15 more missed FGs so of course they had more rebounds. When looking at DREB and OREB% our rebounding wasn't terrible.