Rutgers 63, Marist 61. At home. That pretty much says it all. I'm happy that I wasn't in attendance to watch such an awful contest.
The good:
Greg Echenique - 11 points, 15 rebounds, 6 blocks
Mike Rosario - 17 points
Hamady N'Diaye - 8 points, 7 rebounds, 8 blocks
Corey Chandler was back in uniform.
That's a lot of blocks.
The bad:
16/30 on free throws, at a 53.3% clip
5/13 assist/turnover ratio
Reports from the game indicated that players started cramping late in the second half.
The Knights are young, and bound to improve throughout the season even without factoring in the returns of J.R. Inman and Jaron Griffin. In one game, but the team largely looked like it had the same problems that it did in 2007-2008; with the caveats that two players were suspended, and the freshman combo of Rosario and Echenique had big games.
It was more of the same yesterday, but Rutgers had a little more margin for error with Inman and Griffin returning (neither played as much as usual) in a hard-fought win at Delaware. Once again, the stories of the game were a terrific performance by N'Diaye, and solid games by the freshmen Rosario and Echenique. This was a game that some RU fans expected to lose, and they would have lost it if they played like they did against Marist.