GAME 1 Lehigh: Just win

[Greene Rice FIG]

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.

cue Jim Mora

 

[bac2therac]

Was the arena really warm?

No..actually a bit chilly

 

[RU_DIO]

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

I had an usher ask me to put my mask back on while seated. That was really annoying.

 

[RUJMM78]

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

The only thing great about this game was Rutgers winning.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

No..actually a bit chilly

Thought that coulda been a reason why the players were gassed

 

[Shell21]

Interesting stats and way to look at it. Problem is, do we make ever make open shots consistently or are our guys just bad shooters?

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Interesting stats and way to look at it. Problem is, do we make ever make open shots consistently or are our guys just bad shooters?

RU probably should have won by 9 to 12 points even with normal or below average shooting. Mulcahy probably deserved a better stat line and we already see the impact of better FT shooting when you don't make 3s.....

It is also a 4 turnover game from Mulcahy, which won't happen.....if you don't have the out of control offensive foul by Paul and then the backcourt dribble into a steal and layup, RU finishes with under 10 turnovers for 45 minutes of play.....there were games last year at 14 to 15 turnovers and worse FT shooting that RU also won.....just shows that when you equate not turning it over, you can sustain an awful shooting night.....when you shoot 70% and probably should have been closer to 75 to 80 if Caleb, Geo and Paul don't miss 5 FTs between the 3, RU has more options to win.

I am really surprised at the anxiety of the fan base, Lehigh played well and RU didn't and RU still won....

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Interesting stats and way to look at it. Problem is, do we make ever make open shots consistently or are our guys just bad shooters?

Normally when we go 1-13 I say if we go 4-13 it is an extra 9 points and i chalk it up to randomness and don't lose sleep.

The problem I had was many of the 13 shots were not good looks.

 

[bac2therac]

RU probably should have won by 9 to 12 points even with normal or below average shooting. Mulcahy probably deserved a better stat line and we already see the impact of better FT shooting when you don't make 3s.....

It is also a 4 turnover game from Mulcahy, which won't happen.....if you don't have the out of control offensive foul by Paul and then the backcourt dribble into a steal and layup, RU finishes with under 10 turnovers for 45 minutes of play.....there were games last year at 14 to 15 turnovers and worse FT shooting that RU also won.....just shows that when you equate not turning it over, you can sustain an awful shooting night.....when you shoot 70% and probably should have been closer to 75 to 80 if Caleb, Geo and Paul don't miss 5 FTs between the 3, RU has more options to win.

I am really surprised at the anxiety of the fan base, Lehigh played well and RU didn't and RU still won....

Stop it..its Lehigh. It may mean nothing but it also indicated some issues

Extremely experienced uppeeclassmen need to bring and set an example. Last night was a continuation of a mindset we saw in several losses last season. Personally I didn't want to see it on opening night. Still im not getting upset over last night but there is nothing to be excited about either. It was a win and the alternative would have been a nightmare

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Stop it..its Lehigh. It may mean nothing but it also indicated some issues

Extremely experienced uppeeclassmen need to bring and set an example. Last night was a continuation of a mindset we saw in several losses last season. Personally I didn't want to see it on opening night. Still im not getting upset over last night but there is nothing to be excited about either. It was a win and the alternative would have been a nightmare

It was an eye opener for sure. I don't think a loss would have been a nightmare. You would know this more than anyone.....a loss would mean another B1G win would be required. Isn't 8-3 11-19 pretty much equivalent with 9-2 10-10 all things equal?

I'd think anything 7-4 or better to end calendar year 2021 has us in a position to dance. Not that we want to be 7-4.
There are 6 games with teeth left on the 2021 calendar
at Depaul
at UMASS
Clemson
at Illinois
Purdue
at Seton Hall

A loss would have put a little more pressure on Pike meaning potentially less time for the bench.

 

[RUChoppin]

Best thing about this game is that Pike can use it as an object lesson on taking every game seriously and not reading your own press clippings for the rest of the season, and we still managed to get the W.

 

[kcg88]

It was an eye opener for sure. I don't think a loss would have been a nightmare. You would know this more than anyone.....a loss would mean another B1G win would be required. Isn't 8-3 11-19 pretty much equivalent with 9-2 10-10 all things equal?

I'd think anything 7-4 or better to end calendar year 2021 has us in a position to dance. Not that we want to be 7-4.
There are 6 games with teeth left on the 2021 calendar
at Depaul
at UMASS
Clemson
at Illinois
Purdue
at Seton Hall

A loss would have put a little more pressure on Pike meaning potentially less time for the bench.

A quad 4 loss is always bad and beating Wisconsin or whoever doesn't cancel it out. It was very very important to get the W and not do what Nebraska did even though both teams played about equally poorly.

 

[kcg88]

Interesting stats and way to look at it. Problem is, do we make ever make open shots consistently or are our guys just bad shooters?

I think this is largely correct but the backup center concerns are legitimate and we don't convert good looks often enough. Last night needs to be an extreme outlier in shooting percentage.

 

[bac2therac]

It was an eye opener for sure. I don't think a loss would have been a nightmare. You would know this more than anyone.....a loss would mean another B1G win would be required. Isn't 8-3 11-19 pretty much equivalent with 9-2 10-10 all things equal?

I'd think anything 7-4 or better to end calendar year 2021 has us in a position to dance. Not that we want to be 7-4.
There are 6 games with teeth left on the 2021 calendar
at Depaul
at UMASS
Clemson
at Illinois
Purdue
at Seton Hall

A loss would have put a little more pressure on Pike meaning potentially less time for the bench.

a quad 4 loss never goes away, should RU be on the bubble a loss to Lehigh could always be pointed to as a reason to not dance, just like the away record, one factor but now you just gave them a big reason. RU would have to make it up with quality wins.. Yes schools overcome bad losses, but others do not.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

a quad 4 loss never goes away, should RU be on the bubble a loss to Lehigh could always be pointed to as a reason to not dance, just like the away record, one factor but now you just gave them a big reason. RU would have to make it up with quality wins.. Yes schools overcome bad losses, but others do not.

what is better 6-1 vs Q4 and 4-7 Q1
OR
7-0 vs Q4 and 3-8 Q1

 

[zebnatto]

My take on the game is that while there were
plus" moments, there weren't any "well, alright!"

My two plusses: An improved Cliff and a good-looking Hyatt.
Geo and Caleb looked like the players of old.
Ron had a good game at the basket but a couple of ill-advised 3's. Looked like same guy.
I thought Paul had a better game than most here. His D is what it is, 4 TOs can't become a habit. Liked his going to hoop several times from the right side where he doesn't have to awkwardly twist his body to shoot or pass back. Has to keep taking shots.
JJ will be much better by conference time but so will the competition,
Honestly don't see Oskar or Dean as rotation guys.
Surprised Jalen didn't see the floor. Maybe he and coach had convo before game.
Think Mag is a hardnosed player whom we'll need.

Clearly this has to be a team-first, gritty, clutch team to be successful.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

On the Evan Miya site they have the +/- not on the Rutgers schedule site,

Cliff +15(24 min), Caleb +12(35 min), Paul +4(38 min), Oskar +3(3), Reiber -1(6)
RHJ -2(38 min), Jaden -3(9), Geo -5(39 min), Hyatt -6(22 min), Agee -10(11)

 

[80RU]

Everything is relative to how good Lehigh will actually be this year. One thing I found interesting was that their second leading scorer and rebounder from last year only played for seven minutes, even though he was not injured. Perhaps they are considerably better than they were last year. I will be curious yo see how they do against Syracuse and Virginia. I thought that they looked quite good on offense, scoring a number of times against pretty good defense.