They came to play. Executed a gameplan that wasn't pretty but worked. We also played pretty terribly and are lucky to escape with a win.
Gotta hand it to Rutgers...
- Thread starter RhabdoWildcat
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We did not "play terribly" NU shot 46% from the field and won all statistical categories except for offensive rebounding, and that's why we won. The 3's by B-Mac and Skelly at the end were clutch. How that can be construed as playing terribly is beyond me.
I think it's easy to get the impression that we played terribly because we were ABUSED by Rutgers on the offensive board. It's fair to say we rebounded terribly for 38 minutes.
that's a big phase of the game. Sounds pretty terrible to me. Also played flat as well.
Well, we marginally lost the turnover battle 9-8. (9 turnovers is not bad at all.) Some of those turnovers were very bad and contributed to the big Rutgers run, but thankfully I don't think we had any turnovers over the last five minutes and forced a very key one from Rutgers at the end. Clutch play down the stretch.
Hell of an effort! With 2 Ws in the conference, many thought Rutgers wouldn't put up much of a fight, but it took everything NU had to squeak out this victory.
I'll be interested to see if Rutgers shoots this well their next game. I'm doubting it.
Great basketball always comes down to the final seconds. Today NU showed great poise and determination in the final seconds and learned again how to win the close ones.
GO CATS!
I'll be interested to see if Rutgers shoots this well their next game. I'm doubting it.
Great basketball always comes down to the final seconds. Today NU showed great poise and determination in the final seconds and learned again how to win the close ones.
GO CATS!
No, we rebounded very well for the first quarter of the game! It was like watching two totally different teams.
Was at the game and NU was not playing well and we absolutely got abused on the boards. We had a tough time keeping in front of their guards due to their quickness. We were lucky to win but Skelly broke out of his slump and his 3 turned the momentum and McIntosh is just clutch down the stretch
It felt like one of those games where whatever they do went right and whatever we did was wong.
Clearly we are the better team because despite all that we went into the break up 3 and obviously won the game with some clutch shots and huge steal by Vic.
I wonder if fatigue played a factor. Both Vic and McIntosh at times looked winded and jumpers were falling short.
I thought getting to the free throw line and making 16-21 versus RU's 6-12 was a big factor in this game. Brown is Mr. Chill at the line in tight games.
That's one thing I don't worry about with Brown.
He'll be a good one and it's great to see him contribute from day one.
And I agree. Free throw really made the difference and that's a welcome relief from past years.
Well we might have gotten abused by RU when it came to offensive boards, but we won the defensive board battle.
Nice win for Northwestern.
I am rooting for you in the NCAA's.
As for my Rutgers Scarlet Knights...we have a coach and a basketball team.
We finish up at home with Michigan, Maryland and Illinois.
I am rooting for you in the NCAA's.
As for my Rutgers Scarlet Knights...we have a coach and a basketball team.
We finish up at home with Michigan, Maryland and Illinois.
Pardon making both ends of the 1-1 with 3 mins left was massive. I noticed his feet were directly behind the FT line on those, as opposed to 6 inches behind.
Rutgers is going to win its first game in the BTT. They don't look like a team that has given up on the season. Hoping that 11th place team they beat is Illinois.
Smelly cat...could be Indiana or Ohio State.
We play Illinois on March 4th at home.
I like our chances in that game.
I know the NU faithful will be rooting for the Knights.
We play Illinois on March 4th at home.
I like our chances in that game.
I know the NU faithful will be rooting for the Knights.
Yeah I also don't think we played terribly tonight. Honestly I thought Rutgers played decently, as weird as that sounds. Their offensive execution was quite sharp in the first half before devolving into a chuck and crash type strategy in the second half. And their bigs (as they often do) did a great job of getting rebounding position, taking advantage of every time Sanders or Johnson got into the lane and our bigs had to help to plant themselves by the rim. And they defended pretty well too.
We certainly didn't play great, and our offense was pretty choppy at times, but I thought we played decently with the glaring exception of the poor rebounding effort. Frustrating that they outhustled. Overall would call it a C+ game or so, if we are calling a B performance average. Not good, but a far cry from terrible. Illinois was terrible. And Chicago St haha.
Yes, agreed. It's a noticeable difference from last year. You guys are still a step back in talent, but there is a coherent strategy, and they are fighting really hard. It's impressive given some of the tough losses they've had this year (Wiscy the worst) that they still brought this much effort to a road game. I think they are pointed in an upward direction, albeit from a low base.
The Knights came to play and I didn't see any quit in either team down to the last possession. Good luck to them going forward - when they aren't facing NU 
Ah, I think Rutgers is one of the best rebounding teams in the conference It is what keeps them in games.
Win a couple of those. You have a better team than the record.
Nigel Johnson, a transfer from K-State makes a big difference for them. Announcers said he's been hurt much of the season. Hit five of six threes at Purdue and they gave the Boilers a tussle for much of the game. Before he came back, defense could just pack it in the lane with no serious outside threats.
He may not have pushed off with any force, but refs will call it often. It used to drive me crazy in high school because you're not aware of it (not deliberate) when you do it.
Actually, one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. So not unsurprising that they beat us on the offensive glass especially with two 7-footers. Rutgers played extremely well particularly in the first half, where we shot over 50 percent and should have pulled away but every time we hit a big shot, they had an answer.
Watch the tape for the multiple other times he pushed off, grabbed the arm of a player, etc. and he didn't get called.
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I watched the play again...Gettys knocked Pardon three feet forward a second before the rebound! The replay didn't show the bump, so the commentators didn't see it. It was a clear foul and a good call. Gettys is a big boy and knocks people out of the way going for rebounds.
Watch the play again and you'll see he bumps Pardon forward three feet. Again, good call.
I only saw the reply too and didn't see a foul, so good to know it looked different on a longer replay. We don't lose any karma...we may need it later!
Gettys was doing that a ton- just charging in from the outside and pushing, grabbing, doing whatever he could to get the rebound. He almost never got inside position, but credit him for continuing to do it until the refs finally called it.
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