Just a few days ago I had this team's performance as dreadful and it was and today I would rate wonderful and it is. The Maryland peformance was arguably the worst game all around from coaches and players in the Pike era. The Ohio State game is arguably the best win...actually I think it is even though SHU was ranked one spot higher. It is certainly the most important win. The timing of this win after a horrid month of basketball and the way victory was acheived is ENORMOUS. I have been saying the last several weeks in my posts that the coaching staff was having trouble with getting the right lineup and trying to adjust to the lack of production from certain players. Where was the season going to head after a month of bad basketball? Would this team be able to shake off Maryland and be resilient? Would they even have enough talent to even win a game like this? I think they were facing a crossroads of sorts and damn did they calm alot of fears tonight and reinvigorate the hope in this program. Tonight we needed this.
RISKING FAILURE TO REAP REWARD, OFF GO THE DIAPERS
Taken from C Vivian Stringer talking to her team after knocking off #1 Notre Dame in the "This is a Game Ladies" doc. Pike and staff finally made their move. Harper put into the lineup along with Mathis for his 2nd straight start. Kiss out of the starting lineup. The shakeup had to happen. Coaches generally like to play it safe. The coaching staff this year played it safe for much of this season deferring to the players expected to be third and fourth options and thus bringing along the talented freshmen slowly. Tonight Pike took the bold move and let the chips fall where they may......and when Eugene went down these freshmen would be counted on even more. They were not just complimentary players to Eugene and Geo anymore, Montez and Ron and Shaq Carter became key cogs in the offense and had the green light to do what they needed to. During that second half blitz where RU went from 40-38 down to 55-45 up, it was the freshmen and Carter who did it all....BABIES PLAYING IN DIAPERS DOMINATING THE #16 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY outscoring them 17-5. Kudos to Pikiell for having the faith in them to call on them and kudos to these players for taking that call and answering it. And Montez well he answered it.
RU looked dead in the water on offense being outscored 16-3 and found themselves trailing 61-58...and then what happened. Montez with such confidence on back to back possession just drove into the paint for the two hugest buckets on his and quite possibly this program under Pikiell. He is just a baby, a freshmen, he was never in this position in big time college ball before. The baby shed his diapers and grew up into a man tonight. Montez the man....7-11 shooting, 4 boards, only one turnover and some really good defense. Montez answered the call and then some. I am not putting any expectations on him going forward but these are the kind of breakout performances that should quadruple his confidence level going forward and make other teams respect his ability.
Ron Harper Jr....shooting line not pretty at 3-13/2-7 from 3, but 4-5 ft and 0 turnovers key for 12 points. He kept plugging away. Harper counted upon for way more minutes and production with Kiss not playing. Harper answered his call as well with 29 minutes. You can see the talent there, one of these nights Harper is going to have a Mathis type game. Shaq Carter...whoa....31 freaking minutes...are you kidding me. With Eugene out, it was the other Shaq who picked up the slack in a big way. Carter played some great D and super stat line of 11 pts, 7 boards and 5-6 at the FT line...Cannot say enough about his perseverance and his hard work to seemingly get of a doghouse early in the season where he didnt even play more than a minute to become a key cog logging 31 minutes. Kudos to him and the coaching staff for pushing the right buttons and trusting him to perform.
Mc Connell, Doorson, Thiam , Johnson all contributed even if the stats lines do not say it. Providing minutes and doing their roles, while playing tough defense and not hurting the team. Doorson had a few sweet blocks. This was truly a team win...wait I missing one guy well a few.
Eugene...havent heard any reports of his injury so cannot comment on that. Although he had only taken one shot in the 7 minutes he played.
Kiss total DNP, again have not heard any reports as if this writing as to why
oh and lets not forget....Geo Baker. Baker was much maligned after the last game and yes his play has taken a turn for the worst the last 4 or 5. This kid is a baller, just going through a tough stretch and as I said, he is just a sophomore, I think fans expect him to be Corey Sanders at his best every night. Tonight Baker just went in and shut up all his critics. He literally willed the team to that big 11 point lead in the first half with 13 points and while in the 2nd half, Geo seemed to be keyed on and only took 3 shots before his game icing shot with the shot clock running down. Geo with the ball at the end of the game, being confident and risking failure to reap reward, his patent step back shot we fell in love with vs Purude. Geo was money. RU was up 64-61 and only needed to stave off the 3 point shot to hold sway. Not at all worried about this kid going forward...and the better the freshmen play, the more you will see Geo continue to make big time plays.
You have to make plays to win. This team made plays. Usually its the other team making the plays. Ohio State is a very very good team. They move the ball well, they can kill you from 3 and they play tough defense. Rutgers beat a very good team tonight and it wasnt because OSU played bad. It was because RU made the plays to win. It helps when you make baskets. A shoutout to the defensive performance of RU tonight..best of the season and maybe one of the best Ive seen from Pike...that zone d worked tonight but this team worked hard for its stops especially in the first half where the tone was set.
Who would have thought that RU would survive two seperate 7 minute droughts without a fg...one after being up 30-19 that lasted about 7 minutes spanning two halves where they were outscored 13-1 and then late in the game where that 55-45 was erased on a 16-3 OSU run. RU fans had seen this movie before...that a team without one of their key cogs in Eugene, composed of mostly freshmen and sophomores would find a way to keep fighting and close this one out is so remarkable. RU deserved this one. They looked like the better team. This wasnt some fluke win at the end. While OSU is still more talented and probably IS the better team over the course of a season, tonight that didnt matter.
FILLING UP THE LOVE TANK FOR THE FANS
I was frustrated by the last month. I think many on the board were as well. It was just a lot of bad basketball and while I thought individually some players were showing improvement it was as if the team was not improving. Some of us had increasing negativity creeping in despite the fact that everyone supports Pikiell. Its understandable if you have been a Rutgers fan for the last 3 decades you need to get some love every now and them. This win over the the #16 ranked team in the nation is going to go along way to keeping that love tank filled for the rest of the year. We desperately needed this. We needed the reminder that is a process and an up and down rollcoaster but we were thirsty for this win. RAC did a great job tonight especially late and it was so great to see the students storm the court for this teams effort. Yes we need more student support and we need more support in general at the RAC as attendance of 5379 isnt all that great for a program the stature of OSU. It seems as if when the fans have shown this year, the team hasnt been able to pull the win. Tonight that small faithful group got rewarded.
Where do we go from here....well that is for other threads. Easy on the expectations for this team especially with Eugene injury but tonight shows we can win against anyone at the RAC (maybe not Michigan) and the dire predictions of 2 league wins may be premature.
RISKING FAILURE TO REAP REWARD, OFF GO THE DIAPERS
Taken from C Vivian Stringer talking to her team after knocking off #1 Notre Dame in the "This is a Game Ladies" doc. Pike and staff finally made their move. Harper put into the lineup along with Mathis for his 2nd straight start. Kiss out of the starting lineup. The shakeup had to happen. Coaches generally like to play it safe. The coaching staff this year played it safe for much of this season deferring to the players expected to be third and fourth options and thus bringing along the talented freshmen slowly. Tonight Pike took the bold move and let the chips fall where they may......and when Eugene went down these freshmen would be counted on even more. They were not just complimentary players to Eugene and Geo anymore, Montez and Ron and Shaq Carter became key cogs in the offense and had the green light to do what they needed to. During that second half blitz where RU went from 40-38 down to 55-45 up, it was the freshmen and Carter who did it all....BABIES PLAYING IN DIAPERS DOMINATING THE #16 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY outscoring them 17-5. Kudos to Pikiell for having the faith in them to call on them and kudos to these players for taking that call and answering it. And Montez well he answered it.
RU looked dead in the water on offense being outscored 16-3 and found themselves trailing 61-58...and then what happened. Montez with such confidence on back to back possession just drove into the paint for the two hugest buckets on his and quite possibly this program under Pikiell. He is just a baby, a freshmen, he was never in this position in big time college ball before. The baby shed his diapers and grew up into a man tonight. Montez the man....7-11 shooting, 4 boards, only one turnover and some really good defense. Montez answered the call and then some. I am not putting any expectations on him going forward but these are the kind of breakout performances that should quadruple his confidence level going forward and make other teams respect his ability.
Ron Harper Jr....shooting line not pretty at 3-13/2-7 from 3, but 4-5 ft and 0 turnovers key for 12 points. He kept plugging away. Harper counted upon for way more minutes and production with Kiss not playing. Harper answered his call as well with 29 minutes. You can see the talent there, one of these nights Harper is going to have a Mathis type game. Shaq Carter...whoa....31 freaking minutes...are you kidding me. With Eugene out, it was the other Shaq who picked up the slack in a big way. Carter played some great D and super stat line of 11 pts, 7 boards and 5-6 at the FT line...Cannot say enough about his perseverance and his hard work to seemingly get of a doghouse early in the season where he didnt even play more than a minute to become a key cog logging 31 minutes. Kudos to him and the coaching staff for pushing the right buttons and trusting him to perform.
Mc Connell, Doorson, Thiam , Johnson all contributed even if the stats lines do not say it. Providing minutes and doing their roles, while playing tough defense and not hurting the team. Doorson had a few sweet blocks. This was truly a team win...wait I missing one guy well a few.
Eugene...havent heard any reports of his injury so cannot comment on that. Although he had only taken one shot in the 7 minutes he played.
Kiss total DNP, again have not heard any reports as if this writing as to why
oh and lets not forget....Geo Baker. Baker was much maligned after the last game and yes his play has taken a turn for the worst the last 4 or 5. This kid is a baller, just going through a tough stretch and as I said, he is just a sophomore, I think fans expect him to be Corey Sanders at his best every night. Tonight Baker just went in and shut up all his critics. He literally willed the team to that big 11 point lead in the first half with 13 points and while in the 2nd half, Geo seemed to be keyed on and only took 3 shots before his game icing shot with the shot clock running down. Geo with the ball at the end of the game, being confident and risking failure to reap reward, his patent step back shot we fell in love with vs Purude. Geo was money. RU was up 64-61 and only needed to stave off the 3 point shot to hold sway. Not at all worried about this kid going forward...and the better the freshmen play, the more you will see Geo continue to make big time plays.
You have to make plays to win. This team made plays. Usually its the other team making the plays. Ohio State is a very very good team. They move the ball well, they can kill you from 3 and they play tough defense. Rutgers beat a very good team tonight and it wasnt because OSU played bad. It was because RU made the plays to win. It helps when you make baskets. A shoutout to the defensive performance of RU tonight..best of the season and maybe one of the best Ive seen from Pike...that zone d worked tonight but this team worked hard for its stops especially in the first half where the tone was set.
Who would have thought that RU would survive two seperate 7 minute droughts without a fg...one after being up 30-19 that lasted about 7 minutes spanning two halves where they were outscored 13-1 and then late in the game where that 55-45 was erased on a 16-3 OSU run. RU fans had seen this movie before...that a team without one of their key cogs in Eugene, composed of mostly freshmen and sophomores would find a way to keep fighting and close this one out is so remarkable. RU deserved this one. They looked like the better team. This wasnt some fluke win at the end. While OSU is still more talented and probably IS the better team over the course of a season, tonight that didnt matter.
FILLING UP THE LOVE TANK FOR THE FANS
I was frustrated by the last month. I think many on the board were as well. It was just a lot of bad basketball and while I thought individually some players were showing improvement it was as if the team was not improving. Some of us had increasing negativity creeping in despite the fact that everyone supports Pikiell. Its understandable if you have been a Rutgers fan for the last 3 decades you need to get some love every now and them. This win over the the #16 ranked team in the nation is going to go along way to keeping that love tank filled for the rest of the year. We desperately needed this. We needed the reminder that is a process and an up and down rollcoaster but we were thirsty for this win. RAC did a great job tonight especially late and it was so great to see the students storm the court for this teams effort. Yes we need more student support and we need more support in general at the RAC as attendance of 5379 isnt all that great for a program the stature of OSU. It seems as if when the fans have shown this year, the team hasnt been able to pull the win. Tonight that small faithful group got rewarded.
Where do we go from here....well that is for other threads. Easy on the expectations for this team especially with Eugene injury but tonight shows we can win against anyone at the RAC (maybe not Michigan) and the dire predictions of 2 league wins may be premature.
