Rutgers Downs McGill 80-68 in Exhibition Action
Nov 02 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. –Sophomore Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help Rutgers to an 80-68 victory over McGill in an exhibition contest Monday evening at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Five Scarlet Knights posted double digits as the home squad led from start to finish in head coach Mike Rice’s first game courtside.
Senior forward Jonathan Mitchell (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) scored 16 points and sophomore forward Austin Johnson (Elkins Park, Pa.) contributed 10 points, while freshmen Mike Poole (Rosedale, N.Y.) and Gilvydas Biruta (Jonava, Lithuania) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
RU shot 44.6 percent (29-65), while the Redmen made 43.1 percent (22-51) of their shots in a game that saw 52 fouls whistled. The Scarlet Knights made 19 of 29 (65.5 percent) of their free throws and McGill shot 56.7 percent (17-30) from the charity stripe. The home squad out-rebounded the visitors by a 45-35 margin.
Senior point guard James Beatty (Wilmington, N.C.) and Miller each had four assists as the Scarlet Knights tabulated 16 helpers. Beatty also contributed a game-high three steals.
Rutgers opened-up 13 point advantages on two occasions in the first half before taking a 43-38 lead into the locker room at the midpoint. The Scarlet Knights’ largest advantage was 19 points (72-53) after a Miller three-pointer with 4:55 remaining in regulation.
RU travels to state foe Princeton for its season opening on Friday, November 12. The game is slated to tip-off at 7:00 p.m. at Jadwin Gymnasium.
Postgame Notes
- Five players - Dane Miller (19), Jonathan Mitchell (16), Mike Poole (11), Gilvydas Biruta (10) and Austin Johnson (10) - notched 10-plus points for the Scarlet Knights. Last season, RU had five players score in double-figures three times.
- RU led wire-to-wire. After coming within one at 4-3, the Redmen got as close as 39-37 with 2:12 left to go in the first half.
- The 80 points by the Scarlet Knights was the most in a game since defeating St. John’s, 84-72 on Feb. 2, 2010 (the highest output of last season). RU scored 80 points four times last season.
- Dane Miller tallied a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. He had two doubles-doubles in 2009-10. The sophomore chipped in a team-high tying four assists.
- The Scarlet Knights used 11 of 12 players dressed in the exhibition with no player seeing more than 29 minutes of action.
- RU won the rebounding battle, 45-35. The Scarlet Knights also notched 18 second chance points off 19 offensive rebounds.
- RU also dominated the paint, notching 40 points to McGill’s 22.
- The Scarlet Knights came out shooting 7-for-10 from the floor before missing their next five shots. For the first half, RU ended 17-for-36 (.472).
- Rutgers withheld from turning the ball over until 6:50 to go in the first half. The Scarlet Knights only turned the ball over three times in the first half, 13 times overall. RU’s assist to turnover ratio was 3.33 in the first half, 1.2 overall.
- The Scarlet Knights had four runs of five-or-more, going on a 5-0 and 7-0 streak in the first half and ripping off six-straight and nine-straight in the second stanza.
- Rutgers allowed just one field goal in the first 4:58, causing two turnovers and jumping out to a 13-4 lead.
- Head coach Mike Rice sent a player to the table 30 times in the first half. In comparison, McGill head coach Dave DeAveiro subbed 13 times in the first 20 minutes.
- Gilvydas Biruta took the first offensive charge of the season with 14:42 to go in the game.
Postgame Quotes
HEAD COACH MIKE RICE
Opening Statement:
“Same thing happened at Robert Morris the first – and hopefully we’ll correct it quicker – the first four or five games. We played hard, we were closing out, we’re trying to be the aggressor and aggressive doesn’t mean putting your hands on the offensive opponent. You want to make the (opposing) team play quicker than they want and get them out of their offensive sets, but that doesn’t mean putting your hands on them. We have to play with that aggressiveness, but with a little more purpose. Other than that, I thought the energy was good and the effort was good. When you have 12-13 full days of practice, you are going to get some sloppiness. (You’re going to get) some scratching your head (asking), what was that play? What we are working on is going to carry over and I saw some carry over. We have to tweak it and get a little bit better.”
On sharing the ball:
“I was in the top 25 the last three years in assists-per-game. It has to happen. I wasn’t very pleased with it. I thought we were very quick with a lot of our shots. This team can’t be quick. We can be quick during misses and turnovers, but then we have to have patience and use each other. There was unselfishness, the willingness to make a play for a teammate – yes that is what we harp on every day.”
SOPHOMORE WING #11 DANE MILLER
On rapid substitutions:
“I definitely have to get used to (the rapid substitutions). I think it is good because it gives everyone a chance. Everyone gets their feet wet and then you come out. You know you’re going to get back in, even if you mess up. Everyone has to get used to it. He does it in practice too. “
SENIOR GUARD #10 JAMES BEATTY
On getting used to teammates:
“We are getting used to each other. Every day, we beat on each other. We go at each other and we know what we are doing. There were a lot of (times tonight) when I think guys were surprised they were so open. Every day, we bang on each other and we know what we are going to do, so when we run our sets against other people, guys were surprised how wide open they were. A lot of those shots we are going to make. We’re going to correct those things.”
On half court sets:
“In the half court sets, we want to attack, attack, attack. We don’t want to sit back and let the defense get comfortable. Every chance we get, we are going to attack them and make them uncomfortable because (we don’t want to) let them get set in their defense. We want to make it tough on them every chance we get. Every time you get the ball, you want to attack the basket. Don’t hold the ball. We need to get better at that.”
