Rutgers Men and Women Come Home
by Ray Floriani
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – On consecutive evenings this past week the Rutgers women and men, respectively, hosted Big East opposition. Both contests coming in this early portion of conference play gave us some interesting insight to store away as the weeks progress.
On Tuesday, the Rutgers women hosted South Florida. The visitors entered the Rutgers Athletic Center with a 2-0 Big East record. At the half Rutgers owned a 27-16 lead. That’s about as close as it got as the Scarlet Knights convincingly defeated the Bulls 62-36. “Pardon my expression,” South Florida coach Jose Hernandez said, “but that was just an old fashioned ass-kicking.”
The Scarlet Knights did it on defense. The Bulls had more turnovers (15) than field goals (13). They shot 21 percent from the field and their leading scorer Jessica Dickson who came in with a gaudy 21 points per game norm left with 13 points, but suffered through a 3-of-15 shooting night. “It was a lot of me rushing things and not letting the game come to me,” Dickson said. And it was a great deal of good old-fashioned defense, especially on the part of Rutgers’ Essence Carson.
Points of emphasis
- Don’t read too deep into Rutgers’ pre-New Year record. The Scarlet Knights closed out 2006 with a 5-5 record, a very ordinary start that had coach C. Vivian Stringer extremely concerned. “They played a very tough non-conference schedule,” Hernandez said. Included in that slate were contests with nationally ranked Duke, Georgia and conference foe DePaul, all of which saw Rutgers come out on the losing side. The new year started with a road win at St. John’s, then a big home court victory over an improved Pitt team just before the South Florida contest.
- Kia Vaughn is becoming a presence. The 6’4″ sophomore went through the customary freshman orientation last winter. Currently Vaughn is the Rutgers leading scorer (14.0 ppg) and rebounder (9.8 rpg). She’s a wide bodied, tough and skilled low post presence. Vaughn had a game high 18 points 10 boards against the Bulls who just didn’t have an answer for her.
- The RAC is still intimidating. The crowd was listed at 2,641, but the Scarlet Knights’ home arena can be tough on opponents. South Florida never got on track, and Pitt, the previous opponent, also lost focus. While it is true the players, like Duke’s who pinned a 40-point whipping on the Scarlet Knights here in December, win games and not buildings. Still, Rutgers seems to operate at a better comfort level here as opponents often struggle to find theirs.
Men Fall to Syracuse
On Wednesday, Syracuse visited the RAC fresh off a nice road win at Marquette. The Orange made it two straight with a 68-58 win over Rutgers behind Eric Devendorf’s game-high 19 points.
Syracuse had a slim three-point halftime lead. They never lost the edge in the second half but were challenged continuously by a Scarlet Knight club coming off a nice win at Cincinnati. Senior center Darryl Watkins, who played a key defensive role in the win at Marquette, added a nine-point, 10-rebound effort for the Orange.
Points of emphasis
- The effort is there. Rutgers works hard on both ends of the floor, but the simple truth is this team struggles from the field. The perimeter shooting is extremely poor, exhibited by the Scarlet Knights shooting 30 percent from the floor and an arctic 5 of 24 from three. “To beat a zone like Syracuse’s, you have to make outside shots,” Rutgers coach Fred Hill said. “We got good looks but didn’t knock them down.”
- Senior guard Marquis Webb is a defensive specialist. J.R. Inman can occasionally step out and hit a perimeter shot. Two guard Courtney Nelson (a team-leading 14 points) is a good shooter. Nelson struggled early in the season but is slowly finding his touch. Rutgers though, needs consistent shooters on a nightly basis.
- A road win in the Big East is nice. Two straight in this conference is special. Syracuse’s win here tonight wasn’t the most artistic as Syracuse mentor Jim Boeheim admittedly sees room for improvement, especially regarding decisions in the latter part of the game. Syracuse saw a seventeen-point lead with just under five minutes to play, whittled to 6 with 1:10 remaining.
“We just have to make better decisions in the stretch,” Boeheim said. The area of shot selection is especially notable, as Syracuse hoisted a few questionable perimeter shots when they could have milked the clock a little longer. Still, a Big East road win is never easy. - Andy Rautins adds a dimension. A starter the last few games, the sophomore guard represents another perimeter threat for the Orange. “He’s a good shooter,” Boeheim said of Rautins. “He opens things up because now defenses have to come out and play him and (Demetrius) Nichols which opens things up inside for Terrence (Roberts) and (Darryl) Watkins.”
Final Notes
- The Syracuse-Rutgers game started 9 P.M., which meant interviews were going on about a half hour prior to midnight. Maybe it was the late hour, but Boeheim was posed with a curious question: “Are you concerned Rutgers took 24 three point shots?” To which the Syracuse coach deadpanned, “not at all when they shoot that percentage (21 percent).”
- Syracuse had their entire frontcourt in foul trouble, but no one fouled out. “They got in trouble, but as veteran players were smart enough to avoid the fifth,” Boeheim said of Terrence Roberts, Darryl Watkins and Demetrius Nichols.
- Fred Hill was concerned about one thing in particular: transition defense. Rutgers was outscored 14-0 in transition. “That something we have done well,” Hill said. “We went to North Carolina and they didn’t get a transition basket the first half. We just didn’t do a good enough job tonight.”
- The late hour didn’t hamper Boeheim’s humor. Around midnight he was chatting with yours truly and Darryl Watkins’ dad about the Big East in general when a young woman asked him to autograph two small wooden squares from a basketball court. They Syracuse coach politely and graciously did and when she walked away he jokingly said, “that will be on eBay in the morning.”
- A number of basketball personalities were at the Syracuse contest. Staff members from Linden, St. Benedict’s, Bloomfield Tech and St. Anthony’s high school were in attendance. Former Seton Hall coach and Syracuse player Louis Orr was there, as were noted AAU coaches Jimmy Salmon and Sandy Pyonin.
