Rutgers Beats UNC-G 87-80

Myles Mack is the best player on the Rutgers basketball team.

In a game where Rutgers trailed by as many as 10 in the first half, Mack took over the game down the stretch, knocking down a step back 3 to basically ice the game. In the last 3 minutes of the game, Mack also fed Wally Judge for a fantastic wide open dunk. Rutgers dominated down the stretch.

In the postgame interview with Carlin and Lloyd, Mike Rice said the offensive pace of this game was the pace he wanted to play. If that's the case, the big guys are going to have to learn to rebound out of a zone. Too often, early in the game, the zone lead to long rebounds and UNC Greensboro being quicker to the ball. Rutgers wants to force a stop, get the board and run. When that happens, Rutgers looks fantastic. That's what they did today.

Eli Carter was also impressive, taking advantage of the space he was able to create for himself. Too often, though, one could tell when Carter wanted to score. When he learns to pass off the ball when he's double teamed, when he learns to trust that the ball will come back to him, Carter can be an all world player.

Kadeem Jack was active again on defense and was a few blown lay-ups away from a double digit offensive game. And Judge and Malick Kone hit some clutch free throws down the stretch. Overall, this was a team effort, and Rutgers' depth really wore the Spartans down. A game like this can lead to in-game frustration for the fans (see my Twitter account) but sometimes, waiting for the final score is important.

This was a solid road win, and paves the way for next week's game on the road against Ole Miss. 4-1 is a good start. If Rutgers can win next week, 5-1 will set the pace for a very solid out of conference record.

Things are looking up a bit since the opening loss, and the maturation of Myles Mack is part of the reason why.