Game 8, 2021-22: Rutgers (11/27)

[MikeUMA]

I am NOT looking past Lowell tonight, just getting this started regardless.

Rutgers comes to town on Saturday, their first visit to Amherst since they were in the Atlantic 10 back in the day. (They went to the old Big East for a while, did the AAC for one season after the Big East imploded, then the Big Ten took them to get a foothold in metro NYC.)

Rutgers struggled in the Big Ten for a while, but started to turn it around in the last couple years. Last season, they went 10-10 in the league, and at 15-11 overall, they picked up an at-large bid to the Dance, their first trip since 1991. They won their first game before dropping the second.

This year, they were receiving votes in the pre-season poll, and started off 3-0 against some low tier D1s, but have dropped their last two:
73-70 at DePaul on the 18th
53-51 at home to a previously winless Lafayette on Monday. Lafayette was +13 on the glass and held RU to <29% shooting, 15% from 3.

The Rutgers chapter on SBNation is understandably concerned
https://www.onthebanks.com/2021/11/23/2 ... ve-pikiell

Rutgers is off between then and our game, so they get two more days to prepare. That's a concern.

The Scarlet Knights play slow, scoring just 63.4 per game. They suck from 3, at just .242. On the glass they were +8.5 on the season before Lafayette, now that number is down to +4.2. Still, that's a problem for us when we're -6.7 on the season. (Let's see what we can do tonight in that category.)

Individual leaders
Ron Harper Jr (6'6 245 G/F Sr), 15.8 ppg, 9.8 rpg
Cliff Omoruyi (6'11 240 C So), 11.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg
Geo Baker (6'4 185 G Sr), 11.2 ppg, 4.0 apg, 2.2 A:TO
Anudre Hyatt (6'6 227 So), 7.8 / 4.8
Paul Mulcahy (6'6 213 G Jr) 7.0 / 5.0

Harper and Omoruyi are the obvious concerns for our soft defense.

2 PM start on Saturday at Mullins
NBC Universal has the rights, and they've relegated it to streaming only on Peacock, so you may as well go in person. Consider the Mullins Center your Small Business Saturday.

[rayers]

We have to stop dribble penetration and we haven’t so far this year. Teams are getting deep in the lane for easy looks, dump offs or kick outs. We suck at defending 3’s because we don’t stop the dribble penetration and the result is guys are dropping too late or not cutting off passing lanes. That opens every friggin option for the other teams. Just once I’d like to see our guys actually move their feet and force a dribbler wide to the baseline. Even more shocking would be to see the closest helper on the driver move HIS feet, get in lane to help and recover instead of just waving a hand to stop the driver. Tape a game and watch. It’s damn ridiculous that high school JV teams are taught and expected to execute better on D than McCall’s guys.

[inthescoop]

Growing up in New Jersey where everyone I know went to Rutgers… shietttt, I really really want to win this game

[Steve81]

Glad we beat UMass Lowell and hope we can have a second win in a row.
Please, a win streak would be nice.

[69MG]

We need to put our big boy pants on for this one. Rutgers doesn't play anyone shorter than 6'4. Most of their reserves are 6'7 or 6'8. They do almost all of their scoring from inside and from the free throw line.

As a team, they have shot 24 of 99 from 3. Only Harper at 32% and Baker at 35% are over 29%. They drive and either score or go to the line. If they end up shooting over 40% from 3 against us we are cursed.

[Berkman]

The game is on Peacock for TV. How the heck do we get it?

[Juice Stand]

I hope TJ Weeks is ready to. He has been a very good rebounder, and we'll need an all hands on deck approach to rebounding against a big physical Rutgers team. Does anybody know what his injury was? Looked like cramping but I haven't heard anything about it.

I think Noah will be good to go. He looked fine in warmups prior to Lowell, and probably didn't play as a precaution.

[Floyd]

For me, this game is going to give us a glimpse as to how we step up against a bigger team and if we can play 40 minutes with intensity. Lets see what we got

Go Minutemen!

[jrdupe]

The game is on Peacock for TV. How the heck do we get it?

It's a streaming service...like Amazon Prime, ESPN Plus, Hulu etc...if you have a Firestick or Roku or a smart tv you will see the Peacock logo - you may be able to get a free 30 day membership then just cancel it after the game.

[Berkman]

Thanks.

[Quann]

The game is on Peacock for TV. How the heck do we get it?

It's a streaming service...like Amazon Prime, ESPN Plus, Hulu etc...if you have a Firestick or Roku or a smart tv you will see the Peacock logo - you may be able to get a free 30 day membership then just cancel it after the game.

May be part of your cable package as well Bergman. I can stream a lot on the peacock app through Xfinity without paying extra.

[69MG]

I hope TJ Weeks is ready to. He has been a very good rebounder, and we'll need an all hands on deck approach to rebounding against a big physical Rutgers team. Does anybody know what his injury was? Looked like cramping but I haven't heard anything about it.

I think Noah will be good to go. He looked fine in warmups prior to Lowell, and probably didn't play as a precaution.

McCall said it was just cramping and he was pretty confident that TJ would be OK. Noah is more of a question since it was a leg injury. I agree that we need everyone to have a shot at beating Rutgers. Noah is our best guy at breaking the press.

[Old Cage]

The game is on Peacock for TV. How the heck do we get it?

It's a streaming service...like Amazon Prime, ESPN Plus, Hulu etc...if you have a Firestick or Roku or a smart tv you will see the Peacock logo - you may be able to get a free 30 day membership then just cancel it after the game.

May be part of your cable package as well Bergman. I can stream a lot on the peacock app through Xfinity without paying extra.

I just signed up for free here - don't know how long that will last: https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/home

[bmc24]

Not for nothing. But this has got to be a W. I see all these A10 teams competing with high majors all over the country. We need to expect to win… close is not good enough. Expect to win boys.

[LS71]

It’s NBC’s steaming service and it’s free for Comcast customers.