PISCATAWAY, N.J.—In a battle of two teams in the Big East cellar, the game certainly played out as such in the first half.
After starting the game on a 9–0 run, it turned into an ugly first half for Rutgers. But USF struggled as well, resulting in a 25–25 tie at the break.
Like they have throughout Big East play so far, the Scarlet Knights (11–7, 2–4) came out flat in the second half as the Bulls (7–13, 1–6) went on a 5–0 run.
But Rutgers responded with an 11–0 run of their own as senior point guard James Beatty hit three 3’s in a row, capped off by a Dane Miller dunk.
With only two points in the first half, Beatty led Rutgers with 18 second-half points, 12 of which from came from 3-point land.
While being tabbed the best shooter on the team, the senior point guard is a very selective shooter—too selective at times.
“I know, I know, I know. Why don’t you shoot more?” Beatty said before any reporter could even ask him a question.
His answer?
“I don’t [have one],” Beatty said. “It’s funny because everyday after practice you all see me. I’m always shooting. I even got in the paint today.”
And doing just that is exactly what the coaching staff told him to do after the first 20 minutes.
“We explained to him at halftime that he needs to shoot and he needs to penetrate,” Rutgers head coach Mike Rice said.
To get him to shoot more, his head coach draws up plays to get him shooting.
“We’re trying to design plays for James and he never seems to shoot when we design the play,” Rice said. “It’s about just pulling the trigger and he’s got to pull the trigger.”
Once he started shooting, Beatty was hard to stop, going 7-of-11 in the second half.
Fellow senior Jonathan Mitchell helped Beatty offensively. The forward notched 20 points.
And while Rice noted how the seniors stepped up tonight, one of them found himself in an unfamiliar territory in guard Mike Coburn. Coburn came off the bench for the first time all year.
“To wake Mike Coburn up,“ Rice said of Coburn’s benching. ”I need to get Mike mad again. I need to get Mike ornery a little bit. He was feeling too sorry for himself and all those types of things.
“He’s such a warrior, he plays with such heart that I have a hard time benching him because I still believe in everything he’s going to do. But he needed it because he was kind of walking around with his tail between his legs.”
Follow Matt on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MattSugam and tune in every Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on WRSU-FM as he cohost’s Scarlet Fever discussing Rutgers, Big East basketball, football, and other New York sports.
After starting the game on a 9–0 run, it turned into an ugly first half for Rutgers. But USF struggled as well, resulting in a 25–25 tie at the break.
Like they have throughout Big East play so far, the Scarlet Knights (11–7, 2–4) came out flat in the second half as the Bulls (7–13, 1–6) went on a 5–0 run.
But Rutgers responded with an 11–0 run of their own as senior point guard James Beatty hit three 3’s in a row, capped off by a Dane Miller dunk.
With only two points in the first half, Beatty led Rutgers with 18 second-half points, 12 of which from came from 3-point land.
While being tabbed the best shooter on the team, the senior point guard is a very selective shooter—too selective at times.
“I know, I know, I know. Why don’t you shoot more?” Beatty said before any reporter could even ask him a question.
His answer?
“I don’t [have one],” Beatty said. “It’s funny because everyday after practice you all see me. I’m always shooting. I even got in the paint today.”
And doing just that is exactly what the coaching staff told him to do after the first 20 minutes.
“We explained to him at halftime that he needs to shoot and he needs to penetrate,” Rutgers head coach Mike Rice said.
To get him to shoot more, his head coach draws up plays to get him shooting.
“We’re trying to design plays for James and he never seems to shoot when we design the play,” Rice said. “It’s about just pulling the trigger and he’s got to pull the trigger.”
Once he started shooting, Beatty was hard to stop, going 7-of-11 in the second half.
Fellow senior Jonathan Mitchell helped Beatty offensively. The forward notched 20 points.
And while Rice noted how the seniors stepped up tonight, one of them found himself in an unfamiliar territory in guard Mike Coburn. Coburn came off the bench for the first time all year.
“To wake Mike Coburn up,“ Rice said of Coburn’s benching. ”I need to get Mike mad again. I need to get Mike ornery a little bit. He was feeling too sorry for himself and all those types of things.
“He’s such a warrior, he plays with such heart that I have a hard time benching him because I still believe in everything he’s going to do. But he needed it because he was kind of walking around with his tail between his legs.”
Follow Matt on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MattSugam and tune in every Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on WRSU-FM as he cohost’s Scarlet Fever discussing Rutgers, Big East basketball, football, and other New York sports.
