It was a rough night offensively for Rutgers Basketball as it suffered its first loss of the season to Temple 72-66 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Here are three thoughts after the game….
Filling Paul Mulcahy’s shoes
This game showed just how important of a role Paul Mulcahy plays for Rutgers’ offense as the Scarlet Knights (3-1) shot just 38 percent from the field and struggled to develop any type of flow for most of the night. The Scarlet Knights were without Mulcahy for much of their Saturday afternoon game against UMass Lowell and, despite coming away with the win, also struggled offensively as they shot 34 percent and went 3-16 from three.
“These are the obstacles that come with the season but that's no excuse," head coach Steve Pikiell said regarding his team’s injuries. "We were plenty good enough at all the positions and that just put guys in different roles. We have to come out better and ready to play no matter who is out on the court but experience is something that you can't replace.”
While it was probably wise to hold Mulcahy out of this one and wait for him to come back when he is 100 percent healthy, the Scarlet Knights will need to find somebody who can step up and run the offense in the senior's absence whether he is forced to miss some more time with this injury or just needs a breather during various points of a game.
An ugly first half
Not much went right for the Scarlet Knights in the first half as they dug themselves into a giant hole shooting just 29 percent from the field and went into the tunnel down 38-23. The Scarlet Knights also did themselves no favors from the three-point line as they went 0-5 and finished the half with nine turnovers.
“Our team played a second half that was tough and physical and we learned a lot about ourselves here tonight but we have to play better and we have to play for all 40 minutes," Pikiell said. "Give Temple credit they made big plays down the stretch and they never gave us a chance to come back. When you are down that many points things have to go perfectly and certainly it's a hard thing to do.”
At the end of the day, the Scarlet Knights need to play a much better 40 minutes of basketball no matter who is on the court for them. They do not possess the type of offense that can afford to fall behind by double digits early on and finish a half with almost half as many turnovers as points.
Threes and Frees
In spite of everything that transpired in the game’s first 20 minutes, the Scarlet Knights found themselves only down by six points with about seven minutes to play thanks to some ferocious defense and an elite full-court press. Not only did Rutgers force the Owls (2-2) into 20 turnovers, but it came away with 12 steals to nearly erase a 19-point deficit in the second half.
“We lost the game in the first half," Pikiell said. "We are a different kind of team that can do a lot of different things defensively. We're learning too and we made some big plays down the stretch but they made their free throws when they had to and they made some big shots. We gave ourselves a chance because of how hard we played but you can't spot a team 20 minutes.”
However, the Scarlet Knights also left a lot of points on the floor as they shot just 1-16 from the three-point arc and 19-29 from the free-throw line. In the end, Rutgers left too many boxes unchecked to come away with the victory and will need to start plugging up those holes in order to reach its full potential.
Rutgers will return to action when it takes on Rider on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (ET) at Jersey Mike’s Arena on BTN.
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