Offense was great today

[RUsojo]

What the hell is going on with Pikes defense?

It seemed like down the stretch he wanted to go with the guys he thinks give the most D a la McConnell, I guess he trusts Paul too but not sure why he’d rely on him for D, and Mag who stepped up both ends.

I think we saw though when Pike does that this team is not well rounded enough and we gave up a too much on offense the last 5.5 mins with poor possession after poor possession which helped Umass climb back into it. Can’t do that we’ve seen it bite this team in the *** too many times.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Offense was slightly better.....UMass has no size and Cliff had 4 or 5 dunks and didn't get a lot of touches. . Agee was even able to score inside against UMass because of no size.

The offense reverted back to poor coaching by not having Jaden Jones in the game up top against a zone defense.....Mulcahy was effective on the wings shooting, he is not a straight on top of the arc shooter......

We stop doing what was clearly working and sat on Hyatt and Jones, when a team plays zone.

Normally if you are behind like UMass was, you don't get away with playing zone, you have to play man to man defense......but when defenders are 5 feet away from the 3 point line when Mulcahy is up top, they are daring you to shoot.....Jaden Jones, Harper Jr are capable of shooting from the top of the zone.

Hyatt not playing the 2nd half was also not going to sustain itself.....the lost minutes by Palmquist was hidden because UMass is a bad defensive team.

There is no formula for success for RU basketball, without 28 to 30 minutes for Hyatt, Jones, Harper, Baker and Cliff......that is your lineup and best options on both ends....with no Baker today, one of 2 players needed to play more....

Stealing minutes and getting productive play out of Mag is literally the only positive I can take away. RU should have gotten to 95 to 100 points with reasonable offense and the right rotations.

On defense, fundamentals are lost.....you cannot close out on shooters, lunging, diving in the air recklessly.....basic fundamentals are closing out with your feet in place and hand up....if the shooter makes those shots, fine.....you cannot foul 4 to 5 separate times, shooters from 3.....

Sometimes, as a coaching staff, you get what you deserve....good coaches are rewarded with consistency and sound decisions, irregardless of how the game flow is going. It is impossible to not understand zone offense and have Mulcahy at the top of the arc....

 

[RUsojo]

Offense was slightly better.....UMass has no size and Cliff had 4 or 5 dunks and didn't get a lot of touches. . Agee was even able to score inside against UMass because of no size.

The offense reverted back to poor coaching by not having Jaden Jones in the game up top against a zone defense.....Mulcahy was effective on the wings shooting, he is not a straight on top of the arc shooter......

We stop doing what was clearly working and sat on Hyatt and Jones, when a team plays zone.

Normally if you are behind like UMass was, you don't get away with playing zone, you have to play man to man defense......but when defenders are 5 feet away from the 3 point line when Mulcahy is up top, they are daring you to shoot.....Jaden Jones, Harper Jr are capable of shooting from the top of the zone.

Hyatt not playing the 2nd half was also not going to sustain itself.....the lost minutes by Palmquist was hidden because UMass is a bad defensive team.

There is no formula for success for RU basketball, without 28 to 30 minutes for Hyatt, Jones, Harper, Baker and Cliff......that is your lineup and best options on both ends....with no Baker today, one of 2 players needed to play more....

Stealing minutes and getting productive play out of Mag is literally the only positive I can take away. RU should have gotten to 95 to 100 points with reasonable offense and the right rotations.

On defense, fundamentals are lost.....you cannot close out on shooters, lunging, diving in the air recklessly.....basic fundamentals are closing out with your feet in place and hand up....if the shooter makes those shots, fine.....you cannot foul 4 to 5 separate times, shooters from 3.....

Sometimes, as a coaching staff, you get what you deserve....good coaches are rewarded with consistency and sound decisions, irregardless of how the game flow is going. It is impossible to not understand zone offense and have Mulcahy at the top of the arc....

Yup 100%.

The question is does Pike truly not see it, or, is it loyalty/stubbornness again?

I think it’s the latter gotta be because it’s too easy to see so much so we saw it before the season started.

 

[bac2therac]

the offense was atrocious the last 8 minutes...Umass bad defense, all we needed to do was attack and keep doing what we were doing but we stopped and the lineups were bad.

I dont care how good it was early...it was ineffective late

 

[RUsojo]

the offense was atrocious the last 8 minutes...Umass bad defense, all we needed to do was attack and keep doing what we were doing but we stopped and the lineups were bad.

I dont care how good it was early...it was ineffective late

Unfortunately that was a conscious decision by a our head coach at the end of the game.

Hopefully someone does their job and calls him on it.

 

[bac2therac]

and if Pike thought that his 5 was his best defensive unit, he is on drugs....its criminal that Jones was not in

 

[BIGRUBIGDBIGredmachine]

Unfortunately that was a conscious decision by a our head coach at the end of the game.

Hopefully someone does their job and calls him on it.

Hope the reporters read him the riot act on his post-game presser. We absolutely went into a shell on offense for the last 7-8 minutes. Unacceptable.

 

[zappaa]

Except for the last inexcusable 8 minutes

 

[bac2therac]

Jones...one shot attempt in the last 15 minutes..made by the way to give RU a 74-62 lead....your best shooting guard not even out there

 

[zappaa]

Jones...one shot attempt in the last 15 minutes..made by the way to give RU a 74-62 lead....your best shooting guard not even out there

At 6-8
This coach is enamored with Caleb, it's friggen scary,

 

[goru7]

Our offense was not great today . UMASS was the worst defensive team I have ever seen. We got whatever we wanted as Cliff and Ralph we’re almost uncontested on any shot they wanted. We did some good things in the first half against the zone and got Mag a dunk and nice quick passes from Caleb to Cliff. We got steals for a run outs and actually converted almost playing against invisible defense. The last 10 minute attack of the zone was pathetic. Harper settling and not wanting to take over is mind numbing . The failure to screen the baseline for Cliff dunks and essentially taking him totally out of the offense was beyond comprehension. One more thing about the offense and that includes Jaden Jones. He must have played a lot of AAU with no coaching because not even going to discuss his lack of defense, but just his general rotations and not having a clue where to go to get a shot . Now he has been here since January so neither Pike nor his 3 guard assistants have gotten thru to him either. When he has come in and started today , he still missed his open threes. He doesn’t look like a smooth player and his feet are never set on offense or defense. Hard to explain but he needs work. That is where sets having him come off screens Reggie Miller style is necessary but Pike and the staff have done a bad job not getting him untracked and looking comfortable and not lost on offense or on defense.

 

[RUJMM78]

the offense was atrocious the last 8 minutes...Umass bad defense, all we needed to do was attack and keep doing what we were doing but we stopped and the lineups were bad.

I dont care how good it was early...it was ineffective late

Where was Harper at crunch time?With the defense missing in action Rutgers needed to keep scoring but the lineup changes at the end of the game had no go to scorers .Every game this season has exposed the flaws which haven't been corrected against mediocre competition.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Caleb played 35 of 40 minutes. He didn’t “go with him down the stretch” for defense he “went with him” the whole game and the offense had a good day on the road taking that approach. Caleb was a huge part of that with 9 assists to only only 1 turnover.
combine that with servicable 3-7 shooting for 6 points - Caleb wasn’t the problem on offense and he had a strong defensive game (7 steals and next highest rebounder after Cliff).

The issue is the new guys and Oscar are out of position. How does Agee have only one rebound playing the 5? These are the questions to ask.

 

[bac2therac]

1-7 fg for a 6 and half minute stretch in crunch time would say there wasnt a good offensive game

 

[S_Janowski]

We got outscored by UMASS so the offense couldn’t have played great today.

 

[Knights 1212]

I don't know why Oskar played in the second half and Hyatt did not. Also I thought in the last 3-4 minutes we should have dropped the zone and gone into a man to man. This one really stings big time. Oskar hit 2-2 on foul shots but twice in a row he fouled a guy shooting a three. That should not happen.

 

[G- RUnit]

All American candidate 4 for 10 and 11 points. Elephant in room for four years now.

 

[NickRU714]

Google "Exception that proves the rule"

We had to shoot 63% from 2 (31/49) to compensate for shooting 23% from 3 (3/13).

Sure. As long as we keep shooting over 60% from 2 then the offense will be fine against elite Big Ten defenses.

 

[NickRU714]

"UMass had to shoot 50% from 3 just to be competitive" is the exact same as "Rutgers had to shoot 63% from 2 just to be competitive".

 

[Danprusa_4]

Coaching the last 8 minutes was definitely to win the game out on defense instead of getting ahead 20+ points which we could’ve done. But I just see no end of the game leaders, and I don’t see leadership in either Geo or RHJ because they are done with this team, they’re minds are in the future not the present. Against Big10 teams we will get destroyed mentally and physically and tbh I don’t think you can coach that. That has to come within the players. And I’m not saying the coaching wasn’t atrocious the last 5 min because it was, play calling was horrendous. But like schiano until Pike actually recruits talent players who can shoot 3’s no way we’ll be relevant. No team in the country is relevant without offense.