Popular Post IUFLA Posted January 7 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 7 (edited) When: Tuesday, January 9th 7 PM EST Where: Jersey Mike's Arena, Piscataway, New Jersey TV: Peacock Our Hoosiers fresh off of a much needed home victory over Ohio State go back on the road to take on the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. Steve Pikiell in his 8th year (125-112 overall) has the Scarlet Knights sitting at 8-6 (0-3 in Big 10 play) and currently riding a 2 game losing streak after falling to the Hawkeyes in Iowa City yesterday. Led in scoring by 6'7 senior Aundre Hyatt (12 ppg 35% on 3s), but the 2 keys are 6'11 senior Cliff Omoruyi (11 ppg) and 6'3 sophomore guard Derek Simpson (10 ppg 30% on 3s 3 apg). Omoruyi drives the Scarlet Knights defense (currently 33rd in DRtg overall, and 1st so far in the Big 10) and is a good offensive rebounder and lob threat. Cliff is probably the best defensive 5 in the league. Simpson is the catalyst on the offensive end and is joined in the backcourt by 5'11 senior grad transfer (UMass and before that, Wichita State) Noah Fernandes (8 ppg 27% from 3). 6'7 senior Mawat Mag, who's coming off a 22-23 season when he missed the last 3rd of the year with a severe knee injury. Mag was one of the most improved players in the league before he went down, and has picked up where he left off, averaging 10 ppg. 6'8 Freshmen Gavin Griffiths, who was the highest rated high school prospect in Rutgers history (RSCI #34) until Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey signed this year, shows some promise off the bench, as does 6'1 freshman Jamichael Davis. 6'9 sophomore Antwone Woolfolk, and 6'8 senior Oskar Palmquist, who had a good game against us last year in Assembly Hall provide frontcourt depth, while 6'4 senior grad transfer (Marist, Hartford, Florida International) provides depth at the guard spot. Rutgers is going to get after you on the defensive end, but losing Caleb McConnell, Cam Spencer, and Paul Mulcahy has hurt their toughness some...And that was from a squad that didn't make the tourney last year. On offense, they play a lot of 1 on 1, particularly Simpson and Fernandes. They are 300th in the nation and 13th in the Big 10 in assists and they don't move the ball well. Not a high volume 3 point team, and not the most efficient either only hitting 30% overall while shooting slightly better (32%) in Big 10 play. They are a good offensive rebounding team who put a lot of effort into the offensive glass. They won't turn the ball over much, but they force their opponents into 15 turnovers per game. Not a good FT shooting team. Rutgers is what they always are. A team that'll give maximum effort on both ends. Not the prettiest basketball, but they can turn it into wins, especially in their little bandbox (capacity 8,000) gym, affectionately know as The RAC. This is a winnable game for us. If XJ can shake the road woes he showed at Nebraska, and we can limit the offensive boards, I think we have a good shot here...Our 2nd half defense in the Ohio State game is what has to show up here for 40 minutes. And while Cliff Omoruyi is an excellent defender, they're going to have to pick their poison on Ware/Reneau. Would love to see us 4-1 in conference after this one... GO HOOSIERS! Edited January 7 by IUFLA 1 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drroogh Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 In preparation for the game IU needs to put a literal lid on the basket and practice rebounding!! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FKIM01 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Has IU EVER won at the RAC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parakeet Jones Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Great opportunity to grab a win on the road which we are going to have to do multiple times. That’s been a tough place for us over the years and I expect it will be Tuesday as well. A win here would be big for us and that is certainly something we can do. I really hope Gunn builds on what he did last night. He had a good game at Michigan and then kind of disappeared until last night. We need some consistency out of him because I like what the CJ we got last night brings. Consistency starts with putting two games together in a row. Hopefully that starts Tuesday. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IUFLA Posted January 7 Author Report Share Posted January 7 6 minutes ago, FKIM01 said: Has IU EVER won at the RAC? Yes, we're 3-4 against Rutgers in their building...This was before we beat them at our place on Feb 7th of last year 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
13th&Jackson Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 I’m going to play a drinking game during the game for every time I see Danny Devito in a Jersey Mike’s commercial 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artesian_86 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 This game could be a huge one for IU move forward. Last year, around this point of our BIGTEN schedule, we lost 3 games in a row….. 1/5/23 - @ Iowa 89-91 1/8/23 - Northwestern 83-84 1/11/23 - @ Penn St. 66-85 Not only were the fans questioning IU’s toughness, but TJD was getting called out too. Trayce had enough. I know we don’t have the same players, but we went on to finish the regular BIGTEN, 11-4. We are in a very similar situation right now. We’ve been lacking team toughness as well as a “rudder”. For starter, XJ’s play was the much needed missing “rudder” that we desperately needed last night. In addition we’ve got to have a much stronger and tougher Ware at the post down the stretch. If we can get consistent production from Gunn’s defense and shooting it will be a welcome addition to our lacking guard play. I know he’s only a freshman, but MM is a big key to our success down the stretch. Go IU! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IUCrazy2 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Beating Ohio State improved our NET from 111 to 98. I believe that Rutgers would be another Q2 win. So we would probably get ourselves into the 80's with another win. Our goal has to be winning the winnable road games (and this should be one) while also stealing wins against better teams at home. If we win the next two, I think how we perform in that following 4 game stretch is going to make or break the season. Purdue, @Wisconsin, @Illinois, and Iowa. That is 3 top 20 NET teams and another in the 60's. We need to play well in the two away games and win the two at home and we will have given ourselves a chance. That all starts Tuesday. It is a must win for post season chances IMO. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drroogh Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 32 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said: I’m going to play a drinking game during the game for every time I see Danny Devito in a Jersey Mike’s commercial The Real Jersey Mikes or his happy place? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IUFLA Posted January 7 Author Report Share Posted January 7 This game is a double header on Peacock, with Purdue visiting Nebraska in the 9 o'clock game... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeking6 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Given what's on the schedule after this upcoming week we really just need to get the W and get out of there. Don't care what it looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCHoosier32 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 1 hour ago, 13th&Jackson said: I’m going to play a drinking game during the game for every time I see Danny Devito in a Jersey Mike’s commercial man i hate those commercials. they are really weird. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rico Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 1 hour ago, Seeking6 said: Given what's on the schedule after this upcoming week we really just need to get the W and get out of there. Don't care what it looks like. Amen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyhoosier29 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 1 hour ago, IUCrazy2 said: Beating Ohio State improved our NET from 111 to 98. I believe that Rutgers would be another Q2 win. So we would probably get ourselves into the 80's with another win. Our goal has to be winning the winnable road games (and this should be one) while also stealing wins against better teams at home. If we win the next two, I think how we perform in that following 4 game stretch is going to make or break the season. Purdue, @Wisconsin, @Illinois, and Iowa. That is 3 top 20 NET teams and another in the 60's. We need to play well in the two away games and win the two at home and we will have given ourselves a chance. That all starts Tuesday. It is a must win for post season chances IMO. I don’t think the team thinks that it’s a must win unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluegrassIU Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 44 minutes ago, kyhoosier29 said: I don’t think the team thinks that it’s a must win unfortunately. To be fair, it's not a must win. That term is a bit overused. A one and done playoff game is a must win. If one more loss mathematically eliminates you, that's a must win. If we lose to Rutgers but then beat Purdue, Illinois and Wisconsin (granted very unlikely) then we are in great shape. Yes, I am being pedantic here. I know. It just seems every game from game 1, somebody is calling a must win. 4 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCHoosier32 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 25 minutes ago, bluegrassIU said: To be fair, it's not a must win. That term is a bit overused. A one and done playoff game is a must win. If one more loss mathematically eliminates you, that's a must win. If we lose to Rutgers but then beat Purdue, Illinois and Wisconsin (granted very unlikely) then we are in great shape. Yes, I am being pedantic here. I know. It just seems every game from game 1, somebody is calling a must win. love the use of pedantic 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyhoosier29 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 54 minutes ago, bluegrassIU said: To be fair, it's not a must win. That term is a bit overused. A one and done playoff game is a must win. If one more loss mathematically eliminates you, that's a must win. If we lose to Rutgers but then beat Purdue, Illinois and Wisconsin (granted very unlikely) then we are in great shape. Yes, I am being pedantic here. I know. It just seems every game from game 1, somebody is calling a must win. Yeah, I mean understand the term 😂, but given performances, metrics, likelihood of quality wins, we REALLY need this one. We can keep kicking the bucket down the road and saying, “well we can upset such and such, or maybe we can win out, or maybe we can win the Big10 tournament” but I think we all know that’s a long shot. Need to win games like this. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluegrassIU Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 16 minutes ago, kyhoosier29 said: Yeah, I mean understand the term 😂, but given performances, metrics, likelihood of quality wins, we REALLY need this one. We can keep kicking the bucket down the road and saying, “well we can upset such and such, or maybe we can win out, or maybe we can win the Big10 tournament” but I think we all know that’s a long shot. Need to win games like this. Oh, I 100% agree with your sentiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IU Scott Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 1 hour ago, bluegrassIU said: To be fair, it's not a must win. That term is a bit overused. A one and done playoff game is a must win. If one more loss mathematically eliminates you, that's a must win. If we lose to Rutgers but then beat Purdue, Illinois and Wisconsin (granted very unlikely) then we are in great shape. Yes, I am being pedantic here. I know. It just seems every game from game 1, somebody is calling a must win. To me every game is a must win. The team only needs to worry about the next game which is the most important game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IUFLA Posted January 7 Author Report Share Posted January 7 If y'all remember, as a freshman Derek Simpson torched us last year at the RAC for 14 points in a Scarlet Knights win...and he rubbed it in on us a little... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IUFLA Posted January 7 Author Report Share Posted January 7 1 minute ago, IU Scott said: To me every game is a must win. The team only needs to worry about the next game which is the most important game. 😁 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5fouls Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 With the upcoming schedule being what it is, I consider this to be a very important game. Lose here and the losses could start piling up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier987 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 (edited) Need to win this game…primarily cause it’s a winnable road game and frankly we need to pile up some road wins while holding serve at home. Rutgers is weaker this year than previous seasons Edited January 7 by Hoosier987 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoB2011 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Rebounding and minimal turnovers will be the key IMO. Do a good job on those two, which will be easier said than done, and we should be in a good spot for a road win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FKIM01 Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 7 hours ago, IUFLA said: Yes, we're 3-4 against Rutgers in their building...This was before we beat them at our place on Feb 7th of last year I guess the 2-8 record in the last 10 matchups is coloring my recollection... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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