Already checked out of the game with 10 minutes left. I have seen enough. We as fans are truly underserving of what an abomination we had to endure on the court. A hot stinky rancid egg of epic size. The was truly THE worst basketball I have witnessed since sometime in Pike's second year when I think we got brutalized by Illinois by 30. I get it, teams can have bad days and you move on. Obviously the close loss to Iowa was an issue for this team. That is why you need to win those that you are in because basketball can be cruel in different ways the next game. I truly believe that this team has been caught up in the hype of being top 15 or top 20 and we as fans have and tend to overlook the weaknesses of this team. Unfortunately this game virtually all our weaknesses were exposed so its becoming apparent if the shots are not following from our stars Ron, Geo, and JY, the whole thing collapses. Its sort of a dangerous tightrope to walk.
You could see from the first minute that Rutgers was totally out of sync. Go back to the beginning of the game thread, we were in awe and not in a good way of what we were witnessing. It was as if the team was playing with ants in the underwear. Playing at 150 mph, standing and watching instead of hustling on defense, ill advised passes and even more unfortunate fruitless drives you could see would be blocked from a mile away. Only some futility on Sparty's end and some occasional sparks from Jacob Young on defense causing a bevy of turnovers kept the lead only 6 instead of 20 at halftime. I had no confidence or indication that the 2nd half would be any better and it wasnt, in fact as many said they couldnt play any worse, they actually did.
Credit Izzo and Sparty for taking charge and blowing it out in the 2nd half, their D was solid but overall they did nothing out of the ordinary and this isnt a very good Michigan State team at all. What you saw in prior losses you saw tonight. The unfortunate part tonight isnt that RU played poorly, it was that they really never competed. It appeared that they thought they were better than the Spartans without having to prove yet they also showed they were scared of the script on the jersey. Let's face it, Pikiell had one of his worst coaching performances as well. He could not push any buttons or lineups to get RU in any rhythm and perhaps some ill advised lineups. I just think Pike now opening the rotation to others isnt helping RU's chemistry. Truly I am shocked at the amount of minutes and role that Pike is asking Caleb McConnell of playing right now. True no one was playing well but I think his role is not being defined by Pike. I also saw some just ridiculous plays for Mulcahy that should not be happening. I saw how Myles has become a zero on the offensive end. When that happens it makes everything just crumble and RU becomes quite easy to defend. Geo Baker, the excuses need to stop, he is over his injury, tonight as a leader and a player he was AWOL. Jacob Young couldnt hit an ocean in the 2nd half and his points in the first half were fools gold. Another one trying to do too much. Lets also stop the Harper to NBA this year talk. Yes he is very very good and he will bounce back probably in the next game but he disappeared tonight when we needed shots. Did I leave anyone out of my critique tonight? Oh yeah Mathis, out of control, early and sat some and got one in rhythm 3 but was generally terrible on both ends otherwise. Reiber too, well no his performance was poor as well
As I type this the lead ballooned from 11 to 20 and RU isnt even going to hit 50. I hope this is a serious reality check to the players that they better looked inside themselves on what their goals are and what kind of team they want to be. I wrote in other recaps that I liked a whole bunch of things their swagger and confidence and pluck but tonight I liked exactly ZERO of what they showed me tonight. This was not Rutgers basketball. This was very similar to the Ohio State game where the team completely imploded and shattered when adversity hit. With this happening now both times on the road, I am officially concerned about the mental makeup going forward and they better start nipping this in the bud. Ohio State now becomes a must win...no doubt about it. Iowa was winnable easily and they could not do it, okay no harm there, it happens but tonight was just unacceptable and now puts pressure on certain games becoming must wins before some serious unravelling of the seasong goes on.
We can all hope this was just a one off bad game, every school has one but deep down we know our deficiencies getting exposed look brutal. The free throw shooting is shameful. Let us not sugar coat. Team probably wasnt winning tonight but gee I dont know maybe a tie game at half where a team is scrapping to hang in there could have sparked something. The lead is up to 26 now...this team quit and ended the game with zero pride, it was worse than I thought when I started this recap. Absolutely abysmal losing 68-45. I could go on and on with the negatives but its time to wrap things up. I hope the team falls out of the rankings because its not helping, RU likely might hang on around 23-24 if they can beat Ohio State which is no given right now. 7-3 and now 3-3 its back to the drawing board and this team and coaching staff better to start working again because the cracks are showing.
You could see from the first minute that Rutgers was totally out of sync. Go back to the beginning of the game thread, we were in awe and not in a good way of what we were witnessing. It was as if the team was playing with ants in the underwear. Playing at 150 mph, standing and watching instead of hustling on defense, ill advised passes and even more unfortunate fruitless drives you could see would be blocked from a mile away. Only some futility on Sparty's end and some occasional sparks from Jacob Young on defense causing a bevy of turnovers kept the lead only 6 instead of 20 at halftime. I had no confidence or indication that the 2nd half would be any better and it wasnt, in fact as many said they couldnt play any worse, they actually did.
Credit Izzo and Sparty for taking charge and blowing it out in the 2nd half, their D was solid but overall they did nothing out of the ordinary and this isnt a very good Michigan State team at all. What you saw in prior losses you saw tonight. The unfortunate part tonight isnt that RU played poorly, it was that they really never competed. It appeared that they thought they were better than the Spartans without having to prove yet they also showed they were scared of the script on the jersey. Let's face it, Pikiell had one of his worst coaching performances as well. He could not push any buttons or lineups to get RU in any rhythm and perhaps some ill advised lineups. I just think Pike now opening the rotation to others isnt helping RU's chemistry. Truly I am shocked at the amount of minutes and role that Pike is asking Caleb McConnell of playing right now. True no one was playing well but I think his role is not being defined by Pike. I also saw some just ridiculous plays for Mulcahy that should not be happening. I saw how Myles has become a zero on the offensive end. When that happens it makes everything just crumble and RU becomes quite easy to defend. Geo Baker, the excuses need to stop, he is over his injury, tonight as a leader and a player he was AWOL. Jacob Young couldnt hit an ocean in the 2nd half and his points in the first half were fools gold. Another one trying to do too much. Lets also stop the Harper to NBA this year talk. Yes he is very very good and he will bounce back probably in the next game but he disappeared tonight when we needed shots. Did I leave anyone out of my critique tonight? Oh yeah Mathis, out of control, early and sat some and got one in rhythm 3 but was generally terrible on both ends otherwise. Reiber too, well no his performance was poor as well
As I type this the lead ballooned from 11 to 20 and RU isnt even going to hit 50. I hope this is a serious reality check to the players that they better looked inside themselves on what their goals are and what kind of team they want to be. I wrote in other recaps that I liked a whole bunch of things their swagger and confidence and pluck but tonight I liked exactly ZERO of what they showed me tonight. This was not Rutgers basketball. This was very similar to the Ohio State game where the team completely imploded and shattered when adversity hit. With this happening now both times on the road, I am officially concerned about the mental makeup going forward and they better start nipping this in the bud. Ohio State now becomes a must win...no doubt about it. Iowa was winnable easily and they could not do it, okay no harm there, it happens but tonight was just unacceptable and now puts pressure on certain games becoming must wins before some serious unravelling of the seasong goes on.
We can all hope this was just a one off bad game, every school has one but deep down we know our deficiencies getting exposed look brutal. The free throw shooting is shameful. Let us not sugar coat. Team probably wasnt winning tonight but gee I dont know maybe a tie game at half where a team is scrapping to hang in there could have sparked something. The lead is up to 26 now...this team quit and ended the game with zero pride, it was worse than I thought when I started this recap. Absolutely abysmal losing 68-45. I could go on and on with the negatives but its time to wrap things up. I hope the team falls out of the rankings because its not helping, RU likely might hang on around 23-24 if they can beat Ohio State which is no given right now. 7-3 and now 3-3 its back to the drawing board and this team and coaching staff better to start working again because the cracks are showing.
