Nice win by the Cats. Rutgers isn’t hugely talented but they play tough, and we didn’t shy away from that style of game tonight. We held off their runs, made clutch shots, and made clutch FTs. Nice team win. Various other thoughts follow.
1. Rutgers fans I spoke with were all quite nice. Pleasant and honest conversation. The RAC is sort of meh in quality, but it can get pretty loud. I’m sure it would attract more fans if they were better. Prob about 150-200 or so in purple in attendance today, a decent portion of those behind the team bench.
2. Rutgers came out playing their style of ball - scrappy, tough, physical, feisty - and it took us a few minutes to adjust. But adjust we did, and fairly quickly. Bounced back and took back the lead and then held onto it for most of the game.
3. I was intrigued by CC’s lineup strategy, but he deserves a lot of credit it worked pretty well. Rather than try to run their bigs off the court, he gave BB lots of minutes and went two bigs. Seemed like a big part of the defensive game plan was to not let 13 (Shaq Carter) beat us. We put Benson on him to keep Dererk out of foul trouble, and doubled him every time he touched it in the post. Daring them to beat us with 3s really. They hit a couple early, but he stuck with it, and it paid off. They threw up a whole bunch of rocks as the game progressed. And sure enough, Dererk was free from foul issues and set for the end of the game.
4. Speaking of which, MUCH better substitution patterns overall! I think part of it was driven by the 2 bigs strategy, and also that Vic and Taylor had 3-4 fouls for portions of the game. But I remember thinking with 4-5 mins left after they’d made a run to tie - “our key guys have gotten some good rest over the course of the game, bring the core 5 back on now and they will win the game.” That’s what CC did, and the players stepped up.
5. Nice game from Benson. I know he had bad turnovers in 2H that led to him getting pulled for the finish, but he gave a lot of good minutes, especially on D, that enabled us to win this game down the stretch. Without him I think this would have been an L. Smooth looking 3 pointer too! When he made that I involuntarily let out “you’re sh****ng me” and then immediately apologized to the Rutgers fans in front of me. The mother turns around and says “don’t worry they hear it from their father all the time.”
6. Good minutes from the rest of the bench too. Nance some decent play, and especially from Kopp, who got more limited minutes tonight due to the Benson usage but I thought had maybe his best game to date.
7. GREAT resiliency. Run #1 came to start the game. We weathered it and then controlled the rest of the first half. Then run #2 came early 2H. We weathered it again, bounced back and stretched the lead. Run #3 came mid to late 2H when the Benson turnovers happened. Think they tied at 49. Once again, we weathered it, our D stepped up, and then eventually we scored and re-established a lead. Impressive resiliency, with key defensive stops and also big shots when we needed them most. Whenever the crowd tried to get into it, we shut it down.
8. Gaines stepped up. He might not show up much in the box score, and he made some mistakes, but it looked to me like he was the leader on the court tonight. Was EVERYWHERE on defense, and seemed to be a calming influence when on the floor. In the past he’s been a spark plug that’s prone to getting too aggressive on offense. Today he just seemed to make a lot of good decisions. Huge putback dunk. Man can he jump. And clutch FT shooting too (him and the whole team, that deserves a separate point).
9. Taylor also stepped up. They got open 3s they missed them. He got good looks and he drained them. Difference in the game (though to be fair that’s been a chronic problem for Rutgers). Taylor was ice though. And I’ve complained about his defense in the past, I thought he was solid tonight. Not perfect all the time but he brought the effort, largely stayed in front of his man, and whenever he got beat he fought hard to recover. Lots of good players out there tonight, but I’d say the game ball goes to Ryno.
10. We (and me) have been known to complain about CC’s Xs and Os at times. Well, tonight he took Rutgers to the cleaners down the stretch. Designed an offensive set that they just could not stop, and then used a couple variations on it to get good looks. Law or Gaines sets the offense up top or on the wing, runs Taylor off a single or double (Pardon) screen on the baseline. First possession - open 3, boom. Next one he feeds it into Pardon and he draws a foul (I think? Or made the bucket). Next one we set at the top, Taylor curls up to the wing and nails a 3 from there. Collins (and or his assistants) took advantage of every dead ball in the last few minutes and got our team great looks. Even the one possession in between there where we missed he ran a quasi misdirection thing then Vic got a wide open 3 that he just didn’t make. Excellent offensive play calling and execution by the players down the stretch.
11. This is getting too long, but how about those FTs! Especially Dererk and Gaines, but the whole team. Wow. Just didn’t give them a chance to come back. It was refreshing to watch.
Great team win. Fun game to watch, GO CATS!
1. Rutgers fans I spoke with were all quite nice. Pleasant and honest conversation. The RAC is sort of meh in quality, but it can get pretty loud. I’m sure it would attract more fans if they were better. Prob about 150-200 or so in purple in attendance today, a decent portion of those behind the team bench.
2. Rutgers came out playing their style of ball - scrappy, tough, physical, feisty - and it took us a few minutes to adjust. But adjust we did, and fairly quickly. Bounced back and took back the lead and then held onto it for most of the game.
3. I was intrigued by CC’s lineup strategy, but he deserves a lot of credit it worked pretty well. Rather than try to run their bigs off the court, he gave BB lots of minutes and went two bigs. Seemed like a big part of the defensive game plan was to not let 13 (Shaq Carter) beat us. We put Benson on him to keep Dererk out of foul trouble, and doubled him every time he touched it in the post. Daring them to beat us with 3s really. They hit a couple early, but he stuck with it, and it paid off. They threw up a whole bunch of rocks as the game progressed. And sure enough, Dererk was free from foul issues and set for the end of the game.
4. Speaking of which, MUCH better substitution patterns overall! I think part of it was driven by the 2 bigs strategy, and also that Vic and Taylor had 3-4 fouls for portions of the game. But I remember thinking with 4-5 mins left after they’d made a run to tie - “our key guys have gotten some good rest over the course of the game, bring the core 5 back on now and they will win the game.” That’s what CC did, and the players stepped up.
5. Nice game from Benson. I know he had bad turnovers in 2H that led to him getting pulled for the finish, but he gave a lot of good minutes, especially on D, that enabled us to win this game down the stretch. Without him I think this would have been an L. Smooth looking 3 pointer too! When he made that I involuntarily let out “you’re sh****ng me” and then immediately apologized to the Rutgers fans in front of me. The mother turns around and says “don’t worry they hear it from their father all the time.”
6. Good minutes from the rest of the bench too. Nance some decent play, and especially from Kopp, who got more limited minutes tonight due to the Benson usage but I thought had maybe his best game to date.
7. GREAT resiliency. Run #1 came to start the game. We weathered it and then controlled the rest of the first half. Then run #2 came early 2H. We weathered it again, bounced back and stretched the lead. Run #3 came mid to late 2H when the Benson turnovers happened. Think they tied at 49. Once again, we weathered it, our D stepped up, and then eventually we scored and re-established a lead. Impressive resiliency, with key defensive stops and also big shots when we needed them most. Whenever the crowd tried to get into it, we shut it down.
8. Gaines stepped up. He might not show up much in the box score, and he made some mistakes, but it looked to me like he was the leader on the court tonight. Was EVERYWHERE on defense, and seemed to be a calming influence when on the floor. In the past he’s been a spark plug that’s prone to getting too aggressive on offense. Today he just seemed to make a lot of good decisions. Huge putback dunk. Man can he jump. And clutch FT shooting too (him and the whole team, that deserves a separate point).
9. Taylor also stepped up. They got open 3s they missed them. He got good looks and he drained them. Difference in the game (though to be fair that’s been a chronic problem for Rutgers). Taylor was ice though. And I’ve complained about his defense in the past, I thought he was solid tonight. Not perfect all the time but he brought the effort, largely stayed in front of his man, and whenever he got beat he fought hard to recover. Lots of good players out there tonight, but I’d say the game ball goes to Ryno.
10. We (and me) have been known to complain about CC’s Xs and Os at times. Well, tonight he took Rutgers to the cleaners down the stretch. Designed an offensive set that they just could not stop, and then used a couple variations on it to get good looks. Law or Gaines sets the offense up top or on the wing, runs Taylor off a single or double (Pardon) screen on the baseline. First possession - open 3, boom. Next one he feeds it into Pardon and he draws a foul (I think? Or made the bucket). Next one we set at the top, Taylor curls up to the wing and nails a 3 from there. Collins (and or his assistants) took advantage of every dead ball in the last few minutes and got our team great looks. Even the one possession in between there where we missed he ran a quasi misdirection thing then Vic got a wide open 3 that he just didn’t make. Excellent offensive play calling and execution by the players down the stretch.
11. This is getting too long, but how about those FTs! Especially Dererk and Gaines, but the whole team. Wow. Just didn’t give them a chance to come back. It was refreshing to watch.
Great team win. Fun game to watch, GO CATS!
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