Welcome Mike Williams

[MadRU]

Now that's the confident Mike Williams I saw in high school.

Great shooting game from a Mike. Like the way he and Corey are meshing now.

 

[shields]

Agree If he can give us a number of 16 or 17point games we will be more a factor in games

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

They only beat Central Arkansas Tech by 3?

 

[shields]

They won, North Carolina lost to Northern Iowa today.

 

[80RU]

They only beat Central Arkansas Tech by 3?

I thought Central Arkansas was a much better team than St. John's.

 

[drewbagel423]

They won, North Carolina lost to Northern Iowa today.

At this point do we have the right to complain about ANY wins?

 

[Knights 1212]

Central Arkansas played like a team desperate for a win. They played hard today and ran a nice offense. They were very quick down the floor on both offense & defense. A win is a win.

 

[RUAEPI]

I thought this was a thread about Mike Williams! Great to see him play with confidence. He isn't thinking about hitting the pine if he misses.

 

[shields]

Williams has been good.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

I thought Central Arkansas was a much better team than St. John's.

they had very good shooters.

 

[BillyC80]

Mike Williams also has a knack for rebounding. Gotta love what he can do on both ends of the floor to help his team win.

 

[RU-ROCS]

Love the way Williams is playing. He's finally got confidence with his shot and is playing tenacious defense. If he can keep it up, he can really be a big difference maker this year. There's also some good chemistry developing between Corey and Mike. Nice to see.

 

[biazza38]

A win is a win. There have been a ton of bad losses by teams that should not have lost this year.

 

[Knights 1212]

Mike is now 10-25 on threes this season and is at 40%. I would say that is really good so far. Now if we can only get Justin Goode open for a few attempts. He only had 1 shot vs. St. John's and got no attempts today.

 

[JonathanAlan]

I thought Central Arkansas was a much better team than St. John's.

So did I. The team could shoot lights out. They played a smart disciplined offense and could really shoot the ball. Rutgers defense wasn't as bad as one would think. Few shots were uncontested.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Mike Williams has made a giant jump from last year to this year........was noticeable from game 1 vs RU Newark......has tons of confidence and is assertive......hope he keeps it up and it's great he's hitting the 3 as well....

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Mike has taken a step forward because he has first of all, put in the work, added strength and gained confidence.....but more importantly, he now has a guard (Sanders) that can find him in space and can get into the paint and make the pass where Mike isn't asked to create his own shot or take shots off the dribble....Mike is a catch and shoot 3 point maker...last year, as talented as Mack is, Myles was asked to play point guard with Daniels and neither is a finder with the ball, that can get the pass to a Williams in space.....Mack would have also benefitted from actually having a player like Sanders setting the table.

Three of the Williams 3's were assisted by Sanders in the 2nd half .....and Williams will be better next year because we will have another combo/quick guard in Nigel Johnson that can score and generate offense for Williams. That's 2 additional weapons that takes the pressure off your lead guard (Sanders), where he is not asked to do too much right away.

On the other hand, we are in need of another SF shooter that keeps a player like Mike Williams effective. The pieces are starting to fit and it makes Williams most effective and creates space for other players. And to his credit, he has taken his game and confidence to the next level, so he can knock down these shots and players now look and expect Mike to get open......and usually, most 3's are big in the flow of a game in stopping a run by another team, or extending the run RU is looking to have.

I know people are looking at the final score and only see a 3 point win, but you can win ugly and look bad or win a game by playing a full 40 minutes....RU did that and took a big step forward by winning a close game. Ideally, you want some adversity to see how a team responds to a similar situation and RU in many, many years, folded or didn't make the plays under 5 minutes or under 3 minutes to do what they did yesterday.

Giving Williams credit, he has to be feeling good heading to Vegas and into the Creighton matchup.

 

[shields]

Good post hawk and like how Mike is coming around.

 

[RU-ROCS]

So did I. The team could shoot lights out. They played a smart disciplined offense and could really shoot the ball. Rutgers defense wasn't as bad as one would think. Few shots were uncontested.

I disagree. Our D was awful for stretches yesterday, particularly when Daniels was in. We gave up way to many easy looks on dribble penetration and inside post play.

 

[RBNY87]

I like that EJ is trying to recruit shooters as it is the great equalizer in the college game

 

[Rutgers36]

I love Mike Williams play on both sides of the court. Plays extremely hard and has an absolutely great attitude!

 

[Scarlet Knut]

Williams has been a pleasant surprise for me. I didn't get to see him in HS and last year certainly didn't instill confidence in me that he was a great shooter. So far this year I like everything about his game.

 

[Knights 1212]

I see we are recruiting Letitch and Thiam who are both supposedly good shooters as well. It would be great if we can extend the floor a bit.

 

[JonathanAlan]

I disagree. Our D was awful for stretches yesterday, particularly when Daniels was in. We gave up way to many easy looks on dribble penetration and inside post play.

I agree on inside post defense--it's awful. Our bigs just don't contest guys that get loose in the lane and they don't box out very well.