Rutgers’ shooting wall, Princeton’s big shakeup and Madison Durr’s streak
Rounding up the biggest topics from a busy weekend around New Jersey, starting with Rutgers’ near miss against Michigan.
PISCATAWAY – Because Tyson Acuff and Jamichael Davis each hit 3-pointers in the final six seconds, Rutgers’ 66-63 home loss to Michigan wasn’t as close as it appeared. A three-point defeat was more like a six- or seven-point loss in spirit.
Granted, the Scarlet Knights kept the margin within single digits all afternoon, and they stayed in the mix against a good team even though Dylan Harper remained sidelined with a high ankle sprain, allowing Michigan to double Ace Bailey at every turn. But this will be another one Rutgers rues letting slip away, because it performed well in most aspects of the game.
Except shooting.
For the fourth time in eight games, Rutgers shot less than 40% from the field (32.8), and they’re now 2-9 when they shoot less than 46%. Momentum from Wednesday’s win at Northwestern – where they made 57.1% from both the 3-point arc and the field at large – did not carry over.
Michigan coach Dusty May made it a point not to let Bailey go for 37 on his team the way he did at Northwestern. Bailey usually passed his way out of those traps, but almost every shot he took was tough and he never established a rhythm – finishing 3-for-15 overall and 0-for-7 from three for 10 points.
Bailey is now shooting 54.9% from the field and 53.8% from three in true road games, with recent outings of 16-for-29 (Indiana), 13-for-15 (Penn State) and 13-for-20 (Northwestern). He’s 41.9% overall and 29.2% from deep at home.
“Every time we play, they play Ace differently, every team,” Steve Pikiell said. “I did think he got some good looks and stuff but they were running guys at him. Thought a lot of other guys got some other open looks. I mean, we got 15 offensive rebounds, we outshot them.
“You know, just gotta make those, and we’ve been a team that’s been pretty efficient scoring the ball.”
It might be the story of the season for Rutgers, besides Harper’s unfortunate lack of availability: The Scarlet Knights have drastically improved in order to become an average shooting team, but given the talent and expectations, average doesn’t seem good enough.
Rutgers’ shooting was abysmal last year, ranking near the bottom of Division I everywhere from field goals on the whole to free throws. Per BartTorvik.com, the Scarlet Knights’ averages are better across the board on dunks (from 84.6% to 88.5%), close 2-pointers (53.6% to 59.7%), long 2-pointers (31.5% to 38.9%) and 3-pointers (28.7% to 33.2%). Yet in none of those categories does Rutgers rank better than 138th nationally.
Davis had a career day, going off for 20 points and grabbing four steals. Much of his offense stemmed from defensive plays, whether he was the one to wind up with the steal or he poked it free for a teammate. His blow-by speed was on display.
Yet Davis has not been an offensive dynamo for this team, only showing it in spurts after enduring a five-game scoring drought in late November and December.
The point being: We’ve now seen Rutgers have four straight standout scoring performances, with Bailey’s 30 at Penn State, Jordan Derkack’s season-high 26 at MSG against Michigan State, Bailey’s 37 at Northwestern and Davis’ career-high 20 Saturday. But Acuff’s recent shooting rhythm notwithstanding, the Scarlet Knights can’t get two guys on fire at the same time.
“Yeah, that’s the dream, right? You want everybody to score 30 points together,” Derkack said Saturday. “We do a good job getting guys good shots and we understand when somebody’s feeling it. They’re feeling it so we try to get them the ball as much as possible. Same thing, at MSG guys were trying to find me. Again, at Northwestern we were just giving the ball to Ace, and tonight J-Mike stepped up. He did what he had to do and we came up a little short, but he did what he had to do for us to win tonight.”
Over the past five games, the second unit of Davis, Acuff and Zach Martini have gotten more run together, and my only quibble Saturday was that Rutgers didn’t get more looks for Acuff, who put up 14 points in 21 minutes after a promising first half.
The other area Rutgers can’t have a repeat showing is on second-chance points. Pikiell cited Rutgers’ 15 offensive rebounds, an encouraging number against a taller frontcourt like Michigan’s. It means squat if you only produce six second-chance points, and zero in the first half.
“Once you read that stat, you’re usually scoring 12 points on second-chance points. We weren’t able to,” Pikiell said. “Sometimes we kicked it back out and tried to get back into our offense, but you’ve got to be able to finish.”
Princeton’s new rotation?
Friday night, Princeton nearly pulled off one of its most miraculous rallies yet, to the point where the ESPN2 broadcast began citing the Tigers’ five previous double-digit comebacks of the season in a graphic.
Was it Xaivian Lee? Caden Pierce? Try Jack Stanton and CJ Happy.
Mitch Henderson had seen enough of Princeton’s usual core and, with the Tigers down 69-49 with 7:37 left, the coach yanked them all in favor of a freshman-heavy lineup.
Stanton, who also gave Princeton a spark in its come-from-behind win against Columbia, answered the bell by scoring 17 points in the last 7:02 of the game. The lineup combo of Stanton, Happy, Malik Abdullahi, Peyton Seals and Jackson Hicke improbably brought the Tigers within five points before falling 77-70.
“That’s what Princeton basketball looks like to me,” Henderson said of his reserves. “Breathing fire, absolutely no fear playing against seniors and juniors. We have a problem on our team, for sure, but these guys are not it.”
You can read between the lines to see where Henderson feels the problem does, in fact, lie.
The coach kept Lee, Pierce, senior Blake Peters and others on the bench the rest of that game but claimed it wasn’t to send a message. Less than 24 hours later with Brown in the building, Henderson left Abdullahi and Happy in the starting lineup in place of Philip Byriel and Dalen Davis.
For once, Saturday was drama-free. Lee, Pierce and Peters all scored in double figures, Pierce added 10 rebounds and five assists to his 13 points and the Tigers played well from the start to pull way from a 69-49 win.
Happy scored seven points and had two steals in his first collegiate start and Stanton made two threes off the bench. It was a tight seven-man rotation most of the way, with Davis seeing only two minutes and Byriel one.
Does Henderson have the right group in place for the second half of Ivy play? On paper it feels like an ideal mix of talent, experience and hot-handed freshmen who are too new to fear anything.
“When I’m in at the end with those guys, it’s all or nothing at that point,” Stanton told reporters after the Yale game. “You just got be fearless, go at the rim and get shots up.”
When I wrote about the Pierce-Lee-Deven Austin freshman class back in 2022-23, Henderson said his philosophy was to treat freshmen like any other players. “If I told them that they were freshmen all the time, they’d start to rethink what they’re doing,” he said. “… Play. You’re sophomores now. Play.” Stanton and Happy are getting the full Princeton experience now.
Madison Durr can’t be stopped
I missed one hell of a game Thursday when Drexel visited Monmouth. The Hawks built an 18-point lead in the first half thanks to sequences like this, and once Drexel came all the way back to force overtime, Manasquan’s Jack Collins was putting up prayers like this.
If you’re looking for highlights of Madison Durr’s 40-point night, maybe the reason they’re scarce is because you don’t tend to make clips for free throws. Durr finished a ridiculous 19-for-19 from the line, with eight of his 12 points in the second OT coming at the stripe. I get that Drexel wouldn’t want to foul Abdi Bashir Jr., one of the best foul shooters in America, but some point after Durr’s 13th and 14th free throws you’d think they try to get someone else, eh?
To be fair, there are highlights we can share, with Durr going right down the right edge of the lane and daring someone to stop him.
I was impressed with Durr’s game against Seton Hall back in November, when he only took two shots but facilitated the offense and added four steals to help guide the upset. I was even more enamored after watching him go for 18 points and a season-high six assists in the upset of Charleston, though we didn’t request to interview him postgame because multiple other players also had breakout games.
Not only did Durr set several Monmouth program records against Drexel, and not only did he make the most free throws without a miss in college hoops this season, he followed it up with 27 points Saturday in a win over Delaware – including another 14-for-14 from the line.
Thirty-three free throws attempted. Thirty-three free throws made. All in a week’s work.
“Abdi is the best shooter in the country, so he makes my life easier,” Durr told the Asbury Park Press. “They’re giving me a lot of opportunities to go downhill and they’re fouling me – stepping to the line and making free throws is my job at the end of the day. And everyone is doing their job and you finally see it all coming together.”
Monmouth rose to 5-5 in the CAA this week and gets another two at home this week, including Saturday against league leader Towson. Perhaps more intriguing to watch will be how long Durr can continue his free throw streak.
………
Happy Sunday, and thanks, as always, for reading. Michigan-Rutgers was the only game I attended this weekend, but several other teams deserved coverage so I went forward with this three-team whiparound for today. But I’ve got doubleheaders planned for each of the next three Saturdays. We’ve made it to February, after all, and Selection Sunday is now a mere six weeks away. Time to ramp up.
That said, just time for a very light Cleaning the Glass section today, starting with a Rutgers injury update:
Jeremiah Williams was sick throughout the week but tried to give it a go Sunday. He started, played nine minutes in the first half then disappeared from the bench during the second. He wasn’t mentioned on the Big Ten availability report. In Pikiell’s eyes, this means Rutgers was down three starters: Harper, Williams and Emmanuel Ogbole, who had lost that starter designation before his season-ending knee injury.
Pikiell confirmed earlier this week that Harper’s injury is a high ankle sprain. He made clear that such injuries are no joke but wouldn’t entertain the possibility that Harper was done for the year. “I’ve had high ankle sprains. I have no idea when he’s going to be back,” Derkack told us. “But we want Dylan 100%. We don’t want Dylan at 65. That would be bad for him. So we’re going to wait until he’s 100% and he’s going to get out there, he’s going to be back to normal.”
Rider defeating Saint Peter’s 67-64 on Friday needs a mention. It gave Kevin Baggett his 200th career MAAC win, the fourth man to reach the milestone. T.J. Weeks Jr., Zion Cruz and Tarig Ingraham seem to be rolling, and Ife West-Ingram went 5-for-6 for 11 points off the bench, the third time this season (Navy, Fairfield) he’s popped out of nowhere to have a terrific offensive night. As for Saint Peter’s, the season hasn’t been pretty – it’s now 2-7 and second-to-last in the league standings – though anything would have been a better showing than its 48-37 loss to Merrimack the week before.
The Princeton women swept their road back-to-back with ease, 74-38 at Yale and 60-47 at Brown. I’d like to dive more into Ivy League women’s basketball, so I think I’ll dedicate Tuesday’s edition for paid subscribers to this intriguing three-team race.