Rutgers men’s basketball lost to Iowa for a second time this season by an 11 point margin in suffering a 93-82 defeat on the road on Sunday. The Hawkeyes were 12 of 24 from three-point range (50%) and 29 of 34 from the foul line (85%). While RU shot 51% from the floor and dominated points in the paint, it wasn’t enoughto keep up.
Overall, I think Iowa (13-8; 5-5) is one of the few teams that can match Rutgers with their size and versatility. Along with having half a dozen shooters and good ball movement, they’re able to dictate the pace of play against RU in a way most teams cannot. They sped up play and made Rutgers try to win playing Iowa’s tempo.
“I just want to congratulate Iowa. They played great today,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said after the loss. “Also, I am happy to see Patrick McCaffery being able to get back playing. You always want your players to be healthy and happy. They played well. We obviously can’t turn the ball over 18 times against a team like this that can score like that. They really had it going. Coach Fran McCaffrey does a great job and they have a lot of weapons. We didn’t stop Kris Murray. They got to the free throw line. We turned the ball over way too many times. We made it a game with eight minutes left, bringing it to a one-point game. We were fighting the entire game.”
Here are game highlights, postgame press conferences for both teams, my rapid reaction video and the Rutgers box score.
Game Highlights
Rutgers Postgame Presser
Iowa Postgame Presser
AB’s Reaction Video
Rutgers Full Box Score
#
Player
PTS
FG
3FG
FT
OR
DR
REB
A
PF
TO
BL
ST
MIN
+/-
3*
MAG, MAWOT
12
5-7
0-0
2-3
1
6
7
0
2
1
0
1
31
-8
4*
MULCAHY, PAUL
11
5-12
1-2
0-0
3
1
4
13
3
4
1
2
38
-10
10*
SPENCER, CAM
10
4-10
0-3
2-3
0
5
5
3
2
2
0
3
28
-11
11*
OMORUYI, CLIFFO
15
6-9
0-0
3-4
2
6
8
1
3
4
3
0
26
-1
22*
MCCONNELL, CALE
6
2-7
0-1
2-2
1
3
4
3
4
3
0
0
25
-11
0
SIMPSON, DEREK
2
1-3
0-0
0-0
1
2
3
2
1
0
0
0
12
-2
5
HYATT, AUNDRE
16
6-12
4-7
0-0
0
2
2
0
4
1
1
0
24
-5
13
WOOLFOLK, ANTWO
2
1-1
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
4
-2
21
REIBER, DEAN
8
3-4
1-2
1-2
2
1
3
1
4
2
0
0
12
-5
TM
TEAM
–
–
–
2
0
2
0
0
TOTALS
82
33-65
6-15
10-14
12
26
38
23
25
18
5
6
GAME PCT
50.8
40.0
71.4
Thanks for reading the The Scarlet Faithful. For more Rutgers Athletics content from The Scarlet Faithful, follow us on Twitterand Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can subscribe to The Scarlet Faithful podcast on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. For advertising inquiries or to reach out directly, email at breitmanaaron@gmail.com
“With Iowa, if you look at the ball for a second, someone is cutting, back dooring, moving. It’s just constant motion which, again, is a tough match up for Rutgers overall. It’s been like that the past couple of years. I always matched up bad with them, too.” Geo Baker
So, I guess that’s as good an explanation as any as to why Rutgers can’t stop Iowa’s offense. Aaron pointed out something else that I have noticed – Omoruyi’s seeming difficulty finding the open man when he’s double teamed and his lack of being strong with the ball in those situations. To that I’d add the difference between Iowa’s CONSTANT “…cutting, back dooring, moving…” mentioned by Baker. Rutgers could learn a lesson about doing that more CONSISTENTLY in combination with Omoruyi being stronger with the ball when double teamed and finding the open man. I think it would do wonders for its half court offense and maybe, just maybe, Spencer could get more opportunities for step in 3 ball attempts which may do wonders for his shooting slump. I better stop there.
A few takeaways from this one:
1) It is clear that the book on Spencer is to have someone glued to him at all times. It’s almost like how teams tried to cover Reggie Miller back in the day. They never double off of him and routinely rotate their guards on Cam. I only saw one time when RU ran an effective screen, it was Cliff in the second half, to get Cam a wide open look. Unfortunately, he missed it.
2) RU is a shooter short. Doubling Cliff is definitely effective and you can do it without too much fear because: A. He’s not a skilled passer out of the double; B. Unlike Iowa, RU doesn’t have the shooters that you can’t leave. It’s really just Spencer.
3) Mag had another really good game.
4) I rarely every question Pikiell’s use of the bench, but there were a few times that I couldn’t explain: A. I think that Hyatt didn’t get into the game until after the 12:00 mark of the first half. Why? RU had so many ugly possessions early and could have used Aundre. I wonder what % of his minutes are coming in the second half which is when he does all of his scoring. B. I get that Reiber did some good things on offense but Cliff was on the bench for too long in the latter stages of the game. That said, I did like when Dean and Cliff had some minutes together in the first half.
5) RU had some really odd sequences. There was one where Spencer drove it to the basket and I am convinced had an easy lay in but instead passed it out to Caleb who took a fade away from the corner that hit the side of the backboard. It was just one of those nights.
pj43
January 30, 2023 at 6:38 pm
“With Iowa, if you look at the ball for a second, someone is cutting, back dooring, moving. It’s just constant motion which, again, is a tough match up for Rutgers overall. It’s been like that the past couple of years. I always matched up bad with them, too.” Geo Baker
So, I guess that’s as good an explanation as any as to why Rutgers can’t stop Iowa’s offense. Aaron pointed out something else that I have noticed – Omoruyi’s seeming difficulty finding the open man when he’s double teamed and his lack of being strong with the ball in those situations. To that I’d add the difference between Iowa’s CONSTANT “…cutting, back dooring, moving…” mentioned by Baker. Rutgers could learn a lesson about doing that more CONSISTENTLY in combination with Omoruyi being stronger with the ball when double teamed and finding the open man. I think it would do wonders for its half court offense and maybe, just maybe, Spencer could get more opportunities for step in 3 ball attempts which may do wonders for his shooting slump. I better stop there.
BataliBoli98
January 31, 2023 at 4:20 am
A few takeaways from this one:
1) It is clear that the book on Spencer is to have someone glued to him at all times. It’s almost like how teams tried to cover Reggie Miller back in the day. They never double off of him and routinely rotate their guards on Cam. I only saw one time when RU ran an effective screen, it was Cliff in the second half, to get Cam a wide open look. Unfortunately, he missed it.
2) RU is a shooter short. Doubling Cliff is definitely effective and you can do it without too much fear because: A. He’s not a skilled passer out of the double; B. Unlike Iowa, RU doesn’t have the shooters that you can’t leave. It’s really just Spencer.
3) Mag had another really good game.
4) I rarely every question Pikiell’s use of the bench, but there were a few times that I couldn’t explain: A. I think that Hyatt didn’t get into the game until after the 12:00 mark of the first half. Why? RU had so many ugly possessions early and could have used Aundre. I wonder what % of his minutes are coming in the second half which is when he does all of his scoring. B. I get that Reiber did some good things on offense but Cliff was on the bench for too long in the latter stages of the game. That said, I did like when Dean and Cliff had some minutes together in the first half.
5) RU had some really odd sequences. There was one where Spencer drove it to the basket and I am convinced had an easy lay in but instead passed it out to Caleb who took a fade away from the corner that hit the side of the backboard. It was just one of those nights.