Miami Beats Rutgers in 2 OT 92-81

[Wbbfan1]

ESPN - Link

Rutgers has a 16 point lead in the 2nd half

Prior to the season I did think Laney of Rutgers would be having more impact for them.

 

[Icebear]

Folded like a card table.

 

[boontonbomber]

miami scored 68 points in the last 27 minutes. they are the #9 team, and shenise johnson one of the top players in the country. it's been a long time since they lost at home. looks like rutgers went to sleep after getting ahead 40-24. though they blew this game,i think rutgers is a team that uconn should be very concerned about.

 

[VAUConnFan]

miami scored 68 points in the last 27 minutes. they are the #9 team, and shenise johnson one of the top players in the country. it's been a long time since they lost at home. looks like rutgers went to sleep after getting ahead 40-24. though they blew this game,i think rutgers is a team that uconn should be very concerned about.

Agreed. The lack of negative comments directed at Rutgers so far this season indicates there is concern here in the Boneyard.

What concerns me about Rutgers' game yesterday is how they allowed two players to totally dominate them offensively. A program so noted for its defense allowed two players to score 61 points. I wish there was a replay from which to evaluate last night's game.

 

[EricLA]

seems l ike a typical RU game against a big opponent. get a big lead, blow it for whatever reason, then start playing frantic for the rest of the game. usually they'd lose a game like that in regulation. at least they pushed this one to 2 OT's...

 

[UConnCat]

miami scored 68 points in the last 27 minutes. they are the #9 team, and shenise johnson one of the top players in the country. it's been a long time since they lost at home. looks like rutgers went to sleep after getting ahead 40-24. though they blew this game,i think rutgers is a team that uconn should be very concerned about.

I agree. From all reports, Miami missed a lot of shots (layups, FTs) in the first half that it typically makes. That changed in the 2nd half. The fact that Miami overcame the large deficit was not so much a collapse as Miami beginning to play to its capabilities and Rutgers committing a lot of fouls.

Having said that, Rutgers showed a lot of fight and twice forced the game to overtime by making big shots. Fouls were obviously a big problem for Rutgers. By the time Feb rolls around, the UConn team and coaches will be quite concerned about Rutgers. Tennessee should be concerned as well.

 

[D Wynn]

ESPN - Link

Rutgers has a 16 point lead in the 2nd half

Prior to the season I did think Laney of Rutgers would be having more impact for them.

Laney is having just as much of an impact on Rutgers as she would have if she chose playing for UCONN. I think she is playing solid for a freshman due the fact she is playing at the head of the 55 press (which is very tiring).

 

[bruinbball]

I agree. From all reports, Miami missed a lot of shots (layups, FTs) in the first half that it typically makes. That changed in the 2nd half. The fact that Miami overcame the large deficit was not so much a collapse as Miami beginning to play to its capabilities and Rutgers committing a lot of fouls.

Having said that, Rutgers showed a lot of fight and twice forced the game to overtime by making big shots. Fouls were obviously a big problem for Rutgers. By the time Feb rolls around, the UConn team and coaches will be quite concerned about Rutgers. Tennessee should be concerned as well.

Right on Cat! A 31 to 15 foul disparity with 2 RU starters fouling out and no Miami players in foul trouble really makes it hard for Rutgers. To think that Miami only fouled 15 times in 50 minutes of play is mind boggling - either it was lopsided officiating or Miami was very disciplined.

 

[bbsamjj]

IMO, the big issue for RU were the 27tos. It's a problem that needs to be corrected. RU was also without it's two senior point guards (Rushdan & Speed) for the OTs because of foul trouble. They need to be much smarter about their fouls.

 

[D Wynn]

I agree. From all reports, Miami missed a lot of shots (layups, FTs) in the first half that it typically makes. That changed in the 2nd half. The fact that Miami overcame the large deficit was not so much a collapse as Miami beginning to play to its capabilities and Rutgers committing a lot of fouls.

Having said that, Rutgers showed a lot of fight and twice forced the game to overtime by making big shots. Fouls were obviously a big problem for Rutgers. By the time Feb rolls around, the UConn team and coaches will be quite concerned about Rutgers. Tennessee should be concerned as well.

UCONN CAT...

I agree with you about teams needed to worry about Rutgers, they are better than most of CVS past teams early in the season than I can remember in years. The freshman guards played like freshmen yesterday and the ESPN article about the Miami game failed to mention both Khadijah Rushdan and Nikki Speed fouled out in the 2nd half, so both were missing for the end of regulation and overtime periods. Khadijah would have made the difference in Rutgers winning this game. They will learn & improve from losing but unfortunately they had to learn at the expense of such a crucial game.

On a side note, UCONN is looking great and teams should never underestimate GENO and UCONN. He has proven to be a great coach!

 

[bbsamjj]

On the Laney issue: she's averaging 8ppg, 4.6rpg, 21mpg, and shooting 47% from the floor. That's a pretty big impact for a frosh anywhere, and particularly on a team that starts 4 or 5 upperclassmen.

 

[bruinbball]

I went back to check it was 22 fouls for RU to 14 for Miami prior to the end of regulation. 8 of RU's fould occurred when trying to close the gap.

 

[UConnCat]

Right on Cat! A 31 to 15 foul disparity with 2 RU starters fouling out and no Miami players in foul trouble really makes it hard for Rutgers. To think that Miami only fouled 15 times in 50 minutes of play is mind boggling - either it was lopsided officiating or Miami was very disciplined.

Sounds like a lot of Rutgers' fouls were in the two overtime periods. Still, as you point out, Rutgers did lose two starters which had to hurt, particularly by the 2nd overtime.

This year's Rutgers team does not look to slow the game down and turn it into a half-court scrum. The downsides of the different style for Rutgers are the risk of turnovers (which happened last night) and that talented guards on the other team who can play a fast game are going to be able to score. Miami has two guards who can score and both put up a lot of points last night.

 

[pasteurize]

This game last night was a tough one to swallow for Rutgers fans (I'm still recovering)... but showing that we can hang with the #9 team in the country on their own court is a pretty good sign. We absolutely need to work on fouling less and not turning the ball over so much. If we can correct these two things (especially unforced TOs), we're going to be in pretty great shape. Hopefully we can defend our home court against Tennessee.

Good luck to UConn in tonight's game - should be a good match-up, but I'm definitely expecting a UConn win.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Laney should be having more impact at Rutgers then she would at UConn. The reason is UConn is a more talented team and Rutgers didn't have the recruiting class that UConn had. Laney would be competing with KML for playing time if she were at UConn. She doesn't have any that level of competition at Rutgers.

 

[D Wynn]

Laney should be having more impact at Rutgers then she would at UConn. The reason is UConn is a more talented team and Rutgers didn't have the recruiting class that UConn had. Laney would be competing with KML for playing time if she were at UConn. She doesn't have any that level of competition at Rutgers.

She is averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds a game in 2o minutes of action, thats solid for a freshman playing at a major big east school. She is competing with April Sykes for playing time as Betnijah Laney does not start and Vivian focus more on defense, not offense. Betnijah plays the most difficult position in Vivian Stringers 55 press (at the head) as i stated before Betnijah and Rutgers will both be fine.

 

[UConnCat]

She is averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds a game in 2o minutes of action, thats solid for a freshman playing at a major big east school. She is competing with April Sykes for playing time as Betnijah Laney does not start and Vivian focus more on defense, not offense.

Actually, if Vivian were focusing more on defense, she'd probably start Betnijah. Laney is much quicker and I think already a better defender than Sykes. Sykes starts because she's a scoring threat that Rutgers needs on the perimeter. April is also a senior and provides some size on defense.

Laney's numbers are solid for a freshman. If she can develop a consistent perimeter shot, she'll be very hard to defend.

 

[D Wynn]

Actually, if Vivian were focusing more on defense, she'd probably start Betnijah. Laney is much quicker and I think already a better defender than Sykes. Sykes starts because she's a scoring threat that Rutgers needs on the perimeter. April is also a senior and provides some size on defense.

Laney's numbers are solid for a freshman. If she can develop a consistent perimeter shot, she'll be very hard to defend.

UCONN CAT... you couldn't have said that any better... I agree %100

 

[Coler]

The fact that we were able to push it to two overtimes with two of our senior leaders was huge I thought. This team is special, all us RU fans know this. It's scary to think how good we would have been with Chelsey Lee in the line up this year.

Giving up the 16 point lead was bad, but I saw it coming. Miami is good, and they hadn't lost at home in nearly two years. I'm proud that we were in it for the entire game, let alone lead by 16 and then made some amazing last second shots to force overtime and second overtime. Like all CVS teams, this team will only get better as the season goes.

As of the Laney thing, Laney is having a impact. You guys are just to spoil.

 

[Wbbfan1]

I'm not saying Laney isn't having a good year, but she has the ability to do what KML does for UConn for Rutgers. She should be averaging double digit in points and playing more minutes. I'm not saying she's better or as good as KML, but she could be the best player on this Rutgers team and scoring like KML does.

 

[Wonkster]

Miami scored 68 points in the last 27 minutes...

Holy Mack'el, Andy!

That's impressive.
.

 

[bbsamjj]

I'm not saying Laney isn't having a good year, but she has the ability to do what KML does for UConn for Rutgers. She should be averaging double digit in points and playing more minutes. I'm not saying she's better or as good as KML, but she could be the best player on this Rutgers team and scoring like KML does.

I'm curious why you believe this. Having never seen Laney before she came to RU, I can't speak to the talent displayed in high school, other than that she was pretty much a consensus top 10 player (mostly ranked in the 6-11 range). Despite their previous struggles, RU has a lot of talent on its roster, and former HS All Americans like Sykes, Rushdan, Oliver and Wheeler are all now Jrs and Srs. Laney is just nine games into a totally new system, and she's still a bit of a tweener at the 4/3 spot. I think she will be very good (perhaps All Big East by next year), but I don't think anyone had her at KML or E. Williams level coming out of HS.

 

[Wbbfan1]

I thought Laney would start right away at the 3 for Rutgers and average double digit in points and play almost 30 minutes per game for Rutgers. She has started 4 out of the 9 games Oliver plays the 4/5, Sykes can play 2 guard and Wheeler PG. Sykes and Laney are really interchangeable parts at both the 2 and 3. Rutgers is actually smaller in size then UConn and their best players are 6'2" or smaller. I would think an offense similar to how UConn runs their offense would work best for Rutgers. Go with a small lineup and take advantage of your quickness and add it to their 55 defense.