BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Rutgers @ Connecticut

February 21, 2007



Believe it or not, even this late in February, tonight's game with Rutgers might go a long way in deciding if Connecticut makes the Big East Tournament. With dates left against Louisville, Villanova and Georgetown, the Huskies can not afford to let this one slip away, even in a tough environment such as the RAC, which will be ready for UConn.

Rutgers is 3-10 in the Big East, so a loss tonight would end their hopes for a Big East Tournament bid as that would give Connecticut (5-7) and St. John's at least six wins each in conference play, making it impossible for the Scarlet Knights to match.


Here are some of the articles and pregame stories on tonight's game:

Rutgers Still Barely Alive for Tourney (Courier News)
Adrian Hill Confident Rutgers Can Pull it Off (Newark Star-Ledger)
Calhoun Getting No Sympathy (Danbury News Times)
UConn Men's Scouting Report (Norwich Bulletin)
Huskies Can Clinch Spot in Big East Tournament with Win at Rutgers (Norwich Bulletin)
Frustrations Mount for UConn's Calhoun (Bristol Press)
UConn's Defense Not the Problem (Connecticut Post)
Even Calhoun Can't Defend Huskies' Offense (Hartford Courant)


Rutgers and Connecticut met 18 days ago in Hartford and, playing without leading scorer and rebounder JR Inman, the Scarlet Knights took the Huskies to overtime, tying the game late in regulation at 47-all. Connecticut prevailed, outscoring Rutgers 14-3 in overtime and scoring all 14 points from the line in the extra five minute session, including the last 12 of the game.

The Huskies have won three of their last four in the conference, but are still just 1-5 away from Connecticut in conference play. Rutgers has not fared much better at home this season, just 2-4 at the RAC, but expect the cozy building to be ready to welcome the young Connecticut team in their own special way.

Jim Calhoun is still looking for offense from his team. Jerome Dyson has averaged nearly 21 PPG in their last three outings, taking the most steps towards becoming a go-to source of offense, however, he is shooting just 33% (19-57) in those three games. As a team, UConn shoots a conference-worst 37.6% in Big East games. They don't have to look too far up in the statistics to find Rutgers, however, who is 15th (out of the 16 teams) with a 38% shooting percentage in conference games. Maybe, by the time this game is done, a new building could be constructed on the Rutgers campus with all the bricks hoisted up between the two teams. In their first meeting, the teams combined to shoot 34-108 (31.5%) from the field...ouch!

Each team, in my opinion, should be better than that. Yes, Connecticut is young, but they have talent, but for whatever reason, that talent is not close to clicking offensively. Jim Calhoun has remarked often that nobody on his team does the little things to help others score. That is a trait most experienced teams learn, but Connecticut has yet to see improvement in thos little things.

Rutgers lost Quincy Douby from last year's team, but expectations for their three sophomores in JR Inman, Anthany Farmer and Jaron Griffin were high, along with senior Marquis Webb. Adding transfer Courtney Nelson, freshman Hamady N'Diaye and some complimentary pieces such as Adrian Hill, Ollie Bailey, etc should be enough for Rutgers to have wins over more than just Cincinnati (twice) and an OT win over Seton Hall, a pair of teams at the bottom of the conference like RU.

Tonight looks like another struggle to score points. I do think Connecticut is the better defensive and rebounding team. They have potential to score in transition when the opportunity is there and take advantage of their defense to turn that into offense better than Rutgers.

Connecticut is a 3.5-pt road favorite, and they should get it done tonight.


NBE Blogger Prediction: Connecticut 60 Rutgers 53

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Rutgers @ St. John's

February 15, 2007



St. John's looks to continue to solidify themselves a spot in the Big East Tournament when they welcome the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to New York City. A 6th conference win would give the Redstorm a 3-game lead over Rutgers, Seton Hall and South Florida, as well as keep them ahead of UConn (in wins) for the last spot for the BET.

Rutgers needs this game and a minor miracle to reacy Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament. At 3-9, with only two wins over Cincinnati and an overtime win over Seton Hall, the first year of the Fred Hill era is not looking to end very promising.

Here are the pregame stories and previews found on the internet this morning:

Webb is Savoring Final Games (Star-Ledger)
Uphill Trek to Garden Begins With Beating St. John's (Courier-News)
Rutgers-St. John's Scouting Report (Courier News)
Storm out for Revenge (NY Daily News)
Johnnies Crank up for Big Finish (NY Post)


Tonight in Carnesecca Arena, the St. John's Redstorm will look to earn their 6th conference win of the season and virtually assure themselves of a spot in the Big East Tournament, a first under Norm Roberts. In order to do so they will have to handle the Rutgers Scarlet Knights this evening.

The Redstorm are 8.5-pt favorites tonight and should have too much offensive firepower for Rutgers. With Lamont Hamilton inside and athletic forwards like Anthony Mason and Qa'arron Calhoun in the mix and a steady point guard like Eugene Lawrence, the Redstormshould be able to put points on the board at a greater pace then the offensively challenged Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers is still waiting to find some consistent offensive output. JR Inman is their leading scorer anf rebounder, but their offensive output from the rest of the squad has been pretty non existant, especially from a consistency standpoint. Marquis Webb and Jaron Griffin each have had solid games, but more than not, their shooting touch has been missing.

NBE Blogger Prediction: St. John's 67 Rutgers 58

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Cincinnati @ Rutgers

February 10, 2007


The battle at the bottom of the Big East takes place on Saturday when Cincinnati travels to meet Rutgers. Earlier this season, Rutgers came out on top with a 12-point win at Cincinnati, one of their only two conference victories.

Cincinnati is coming of a disheartening loss at Providence where they completely collapsed in every imagineable way in blowing an 8-point lead in the last 1:41 to lose 71-70. Cincinnati has lost a 5-pt lead in the last 30 seconds to UAB and a 3-pt lead in the last 35 seconds to Syracuse to add to a frustrating season. Poor foul shooting and tale game decisions doom the Bearcats in each situation. There was no excuse on Tuesday night as they had fouls to give and three time outs remaining in the last two minutes and still fell apart.

Rutgers battled hard last weekend but came up short in overtime at Connecticut, even while playing without leading scorer and rebounder JR Inman. Neither team is very profecient at shooting the ball, so scoring will likely be at a premium. Cincinnati has the athletes, but Rutgers has a little bit more experience and a little bit more depth. At home, the Scarlet Knights need to win this game, but it should be a tight one, and the way Cincinnati finishes games, you have to like the chances of Rutgers.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Rutgers 66 Cincinnati 63

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Rutgers @ Marquette

February 7, 2007



Here are the pregame stories and previews found on the internet this morning:

Marquette Basketball Preview (Appleton Crescent)
Hill's Moral: Improve, but Win (Star-Ledger)
Crean is Wary of Rutgers (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
Hill Pleased with Rutgers Recent Play (Courier-News)
Rutgers Scouting Report


Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.


READ OUR PREVIEW AND SEE OUR PREDICTION...CLICK "Read More" BELOW



Last year it was Rutgers pulling off the big upset when they beat Marquette, don't look for the same result this time. This year there is no Quincy Douby and the game is in Milwaukee, not at the RAC. Still, Tom Crean is worried about Rutgers, especially after the Scarlet Knights, without JR Inman, took Connecticut to overtime in Hartford in their last game. Still, that is likely coachspeak because Marquette matches up very well with Rutgers at every position and will be playing the game at home.

Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wes Mathews are probably the nation's top guard trio and they will likely make life very difficult tonight for Anthony Farmer, Marquis Webb and Jaron Griffin. Theu ball-hawking defense and explosive quickness should allow them to have an answer for everyone Rutgers wants to do on either side of the court on the perimeter.

Inside, Rutgers has not been getting much production, besides from Inman. They will need a Herculean effort from Inman to stay in this one as he is likely the only match-up Rutgers can look to exploit. However, marquette has several defensive options, including a suffocating zone, that they could use to slow the ability of the Knights to get Inman in position to take over the game.

Look for the Golden Eagles to race out to a big lead early and put the game on cruise control. A comfortable win is expected, not sure if they will cover the 17.5-pt spread by the end, but they are capable of it.

NBE Blogger's Prediction: Marquette 74 Rutgers 57

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Rutgers @ Connecticut

February 3, 2007



Connecticut returns how as the try and stop the downward spiral of their season. There were many questions on the young Huskies even as they raced out to an 11-0 start with easy home win after easy home win. However, they have dropped eight of their last 10 games, including five in a row and are now in the dangerous position of 13th in the conference. As we all know, only 12 teams head to Madison Square Garden for the Big East Conference Tournament in March.

Rutgers has had their share of struggles this season and it was just a week ago that they stopped their own five game losing streak with a come-from-behind 2 OT win over rival Seton Hall last weekend. Their brief two-game homestand ended with a loss on Wednesday as they scored a season-high 83 points, but it was not enough as they fell to West Virginia.

It is very strange seeing Connecticut involved in a key game at this stage for qualifying for the Big East Tournament. This is a must-win game for the Huskies because they have Syracuse twice, along with Villanova, Georgetown and Louisville among their last seven conference games as well as an out of conference trip to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech. They desperately need to find some momentum and consistency in a hurry.

Rutgers will definitely be without one starter as JR Inman will miss the game as he attends the funeral of his grandmother. Adrian Hill injured his left knee in practice yesterday in what he calls a mild sprain. The 5th year senior has given the Scarlet Knights a big lift against a couple of the softest interior teams (Seton Hall and West Virginia) over the last two games with a combined 33 pts and 27 rebounds in the two contests. They will need him inside against UConn's Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet, especially without Inman who leads RU on the season in scoring and rebounding.

Honestly, without Inman I do not give the Scarlet Knights much of a chance. I think Marquis Webb will do a good job defensively on the inexperienced UConn backcourt, but the Huskies will be too deep and too strong inside. Neither team will shoot the ball very well, but UConn's lenght and athletic defense at the wings, led by Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson and Marcus Johnson, along with the superior quickness of guards Doug Wiggins and AJ Price will cause the RU offense tremendous problems. Without Inman to help bail them out, this will be a very tough game for Rutgers.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Connecticut 69 Rutgers 53

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