Flat performance requires more bench.....

[NewJerseyHawk]

In a very predictable situation across ALL college basketball seasons, there are 3 to 4 games in a season, where a team gives a max effort.....locked in on defense, hustle plays, deflections, attack the glass etc.

When RU emptied the tank by bringing the fastball vs Iowa for 40 minutes, your starters who burned the most energy, are not going to be able to replicate that effort.

Pike has to know, in a season this long, you absolutely have to pay the price and play more bench players.....Yes, you will have more breakdowns on defense when you play more players BUT, forget Iowa or Minnesota for a minute.....

You have Mulcahy completely locked in, trying his best vs Iowa....I know he's going to give up points, but today, he just left Loewe too many times....Baker left Loewe too many times...they were just flat....

It ultimately doesn't matter if RU stole this game or not, because the minutes are starting to pile up on the starters....fortunately for RU on the offensive end, this team is well coached, makes the extra passes and gets pretty good shots, so it's not burning a ton of energy on offense....sharing the ball and no complaints on that end of the floor.

But in the long run, Hyatt must play more minutes....he has fresher legs....he can help more than a dozen to 15 minutes at a time.

Mag, cross your fingers and your toes, he somehow does not get hurt again.....he can hustle, grind and give good energy on the defensive end.

I will get to Pike and not using Jalen Miller, which he could have tossed at Loewe or Willis for a couple of possessions, to change the energy level.......a DNP, when you know your team is going to have a letdown, is bad coaching or bad use of your bench.

The key plays today were made by the bench....Hyatt with a 3 and a 3 point play off a nice play by Mag....

Dean Reiber....calmly doesn't rush his shot attempts inside, makes his bunny layups.....BUT we have more.....He hustles and gets RU a steal late, down a point.......he hustles again and gets a late tie-up after the Baker miss........he had energy that Cliff, Mulcahy and the starters just didn't have today after the Iowa effort.....

I would have even tried a longer armed Jaden Jones, more Mag, more Hyatt on Willis or Loewe....

I saw the posts about pressing and you really can't press or play elite defense, unless you go to your bench. So I would not have pressed, because RU does not have the legs after Iowa and you have 12 games left.

Pike has to find more minutes in BOTH halves for Hyatt, Mag, Reiber and Jalen Miller.

I will leave Jaden Jones or Palmquist/Agee out of the conversation right now, but Pike either has to rebuild Jones confidence on defense or find a replacement in the 2022 class after this season, if he's not willing to defend, rebound and grind at this level.

Yes, RU lost a game but I think the bigger picture is RU and Pike have something fans may be able to count on with Reiber as a 14 to 16 minutes a game player. Baker and others made shots but if Reiber, Hyatt and Mag can get going consistently off the bench, there are some silver linings for the rest of this year and into next year.

 

[Danprusa_4]

Very well said in my eyes.

 

[FrankZ_RU93]

I agree on Miller needing to be out there to guard the unconscious ones at least for a few minutes. Big mistake IMO.

 

[RU-ROCS]

Good points. But for once I give credit to the home team Minny for winning this game more than RU losing a road game. Sure they had some open shots, but they won because they made a huge number of contested NBA shots that I was sure they could not sustain, but they did. And then of course a banked in 3-point shot to end the first half by a 7 footer who typically barely plays for them.

 

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

Point about Miller is an excellent one.

 

[bethlehemfan]

In a very predictable situation across ALL college basketball seasons, there are 3 to 4 games in a season, where a team gives a max effort.....locked in on defense, hustle plays, deflections, attack the glass etc.

When RU emptied the tank by bringing the fastball vs Iowa for 40 minutes, your starters who burned the most energy, are not going to be able to replicate that effort.

Pike has to know, in a season this long, you absolutely have to pay the price and play more bench players.....Yes, you will have more breakdowns on defense when you play more players BUT, forget Iowa or Minnesota for a minute.....

You have Mulcahy completely locked in, trying his best vs Iowa....I know he's going to give up points, but today, he just left Loewe too many times....Baker left Loewe too many times...they were just flat....

It ultimately doesn't matter if RU stole this game or not, because the minutes are starting to pile up on the starters....fortunately for RU on the offensive end, this team is well coached, makes the extra passes and gets pretty good shots, so it's not burning a ton of energy on offense....sharing the ball and no complaints on that end of the floor.

But in the long run, Hyatt must play more minutes....he has fresher legs....he can help more than a dozen to 15 minutes at a time.

Mag, cross your fingers and your toes, he somehow does not get hurt again.....he can hustle, grind and give good energy on the defensive end.

I will get to Pike and not using Jalen Miller, which he could have tossed at Loewe or Willis for a couple of possessions, to change the energy level.......a DNP, when you know your team is going to have a letdown, is bad coaching or bad use of your bench.

The key plays today were made by the bench....Hyatt with a 3 and a 3 point play off a nice play by Mag....

Dean Reiber....calmly doesn't rush his shot attempts inside, makes his bunny layups.....BUT we have more.....He hustles and gets RU a steal late, down a point.......he hustles again and gets a late tie-up after the Baker miss........he had energy that Cliff, Mulcahy and the starters just didn't have today after the Iowa effort.....

I would have even tried a longer armed Jaden Jones, more Mag, more Hyatt on Willis or Loewe....

I saw the posts about pressing and you really can't press or play elite defense, unless you go to your bench. So I would not have pressed, because RU does not have the legs after Iowa and you have 12 games left.

Pike has to find more minutes in BOTH halves for Hyatt, Mag, Reiber and Jalen Miller.

I will leave Jaden Jones or Palmquist/Agee out of the conversation right now, but Pike either has to rebuild Jones confidence on defense or find a replacement in the 2022 class after this season, if he's not willing to defend, rebound and grind at this level.

Yes, RU lost a game but I think the bigger picture is RU and Pike have something fans may be able to count on with Reiber as a 14 to 16 minutes a game player. Baker and others made shots but if Reiber, Hyatt and Mag can get going consistently off the bench, there are some silver linings for the rest of this year and into next year.

I would have pressed and played more people. Just to add Willis played a lot but we let him sneak 15 second breaks in virtually every possession

 

[CERU00]

The bottom line is that made tons of contested very low percentage shots. Pulling from the bench would not have had a positive net impact. If we had made a couple of easy layups we'd likely have won. Although giving Reiber those minutes was huge. He deserved even more playing time today.

 

[bac2therac]

good post Hawk,...I think the handling of the bench by Pike has been pretty bad in that the need development is there...thats why he is riding the starters, there is no excuse for another double digit start to this game, that compunds the problem because it puts pressure on the bench to have to play without making mistakes.

Not attacking Minny today is a huge issue in my mind with Pike, we played them passively hoping to grind out a win by hitting shots late, not a good plan for a team that is all in like Minny was

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I agree with NJh

I was extremely worried about our energy level. We emptied the tank vs Iowa.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

Cliff 23:25 -9 / Dean 13:35 +6 = 40

Ron Harper 37:47 +6 / 2:13 off -9
Paul Mulcahy 33:10 +4 / 6:50 off -7
Geo Baker 32:57 -8 / 7:03 off +5
Caleb McConnell 30:32 -6 / 9:28 off +3

Mawot Mag 15:02 -4
Aundre Hyatt 10'32 -4

Trenton Thompson 40:00 +3
Payton Willis 40:00 +3
Luke Loewe 39:40 +4 / 0:20 off -1
Sean Sutherlin 37:16 +6 / 2:44 off -3
Charlie Daniels 36:50 +11 / 3'10 off -8

Danny Ogele 3:10 -8, Thiam 3:04 -4

That's the fallout from the +/- box score

 

[BigEastPhil]

I agree with NJh

I was extremely worried about our energy level. We emptied the tank vs Iowa.

I said the same. Good point also from Hawk on why no Miller for a stretch vs Willis

 

[greenknight]

good post Hawk,...I think the handling of the bench by Pike has been pretty bad in that the need development is there...thats why he is riding the starters, there is no excuse for another double digit start to this game, that compunds the problem because it puts pressure on the bench to have to play without making mistakes.

Not attacking Minny today is a huge issue in my mind with Pike, we played them passively hoping to grind out a win by hitting shots late, not a good plan for a team that is all in like Minny was

Correct me if I'm wrong but didnt they say Brandon Knight makes the call on PT. 2nd it's more than that. Its heart you have to bring it every game. If you dont bring it before tipoff its not magically showing up in the game. All mental. Sometimes I dont think Pike knows how to step on the throat of a team. He should have stepped on their throat and pounded them inside for fouls. He should have pushed tempo up and down the court, instead we play into a depleted half dead roster sitting in a zone that is not working at all on defense
He is way too honorable. You need to get a W and do whatever you have to do to get it. EXPLOIT the weakness

 

[RUJMM78]

Each game is different and the coaching staff must quickly react to the changes.The head coach of Minnesota stated pregame that he wanted Willis to keep taking shots even if he kept missing them.He knew with a depleted sqaud that the three pointer was the only way to win the game.in Rutgers case they were not prepared at the opening tip off allowing Minnesota to get a early double digit lead.Additional energy was required to catch up in the first half.The second half was ebbs and flows largely caused by Rutgers scoring droughts .Baker was the shot maker who kept the game within two possessions.Harper took too few shots in the first half and unfortunately missed two staright wide open 3 pointers. at the end of the game.The pressure on Baker and Harper to score in high double digits is enormous because of the lack of scoring from the rest of the team.

The bench players play a tricky role for Rutgers.The starters need rest during games but the impact on scoring when Baker and Harper are on the bench is scary to watch.Indiana had a bench player be the leading scorer in the upset win over Purdue.In previous years Rutgers had Young or a Yeboah coming off the bench as a scoring threat.I was hoping Hyatt and Jones were going to be the productive bench players.Reiber has been a pleasant surprise and deserves more minutes.Defense keeps teams in games but offense wins games.Rutgers should never have loss to Minnesota.