A quality road playoff performance by Rutgers

by user Leslie Monteiro

After the selection show last Monday night, there was outrage by Rutgers fans, New Jersey newspapers, and News 12 New Jersey because the Rutgers Scarlet Knights were assigned to play in a tough bracket. They have to face Michigan State Spartans at the Spartans home court and then if they advance, they have to face the Duke Blue Devils at Greensboro, which is considered a home game for Duke.

The way these people were complaining, one would think the Rutgers would have no chance against Michigan State.

Talk about a pleasant surprise. The Scarlet Knights not only beat the Michigan State Spartans last night to advance to the Greensboro Regionals Semifinals, but they made a mockery out of them as they blew them out 70-57.

It may have a been a thirteen-point win, but this was not even close. Rutgers shot the ball well. They also frustrated the Spartans by blocking shots and forcing them to take bad shots. The bottom line was that they came out to play basketball instead of worrying about the external factors like seeding and the home-court advantage.

Everyone contributed in the Knights victory. Their three starters scored in double figures and they got scoring from their bench.

The Knights needed Kia Vaughn and Epiphany Prince to step up if they want to go further in this tournament. They came through with flying colors in this game.

They were the reason why they won this game. They made Matee Avajon's and Essence Carson's job easy because with those two being defended, Avajon and Carson were able to get wide open shots.

Vaughn had a great performance. She had 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 blocks. This is what the team expects out of her in these big games.

She set the tone very early. With the Spartans leading 12-7, she got started by getting an offensive rebound and then she shot a jumper to get her team going. She scored five straight points to get her team back in the game. She scored 12 out of her 16 points in the first half.

Her best work was her defense on Big Ten Freshmen of the Year Allyssa DeHaan. She made her a non-factor. She did not score must in this game. She scored only 6 points and she had foul problems in this game with two fouls in the first half.

Prince needed a game like this. She is going to be the cornerstone of this team in the next few years. She will be relied on to give C. Vivian Stringer the national championship that she deserves along with this team. This type of performance can go a long way for her.

She did a great job. She scored 14 points. She provided Vaughn the help she needed in the first half. She hit a layup that tied the game at 14. With that, she gained confidence. She was able to score from the paint and then, she was shooting from downtown in the second half with several three-pointers.

The thing that was impressive about her was her defense and her assist ratio. This game showed that she has really worked hard on defense at practice in recent weeks.

She had four steals including two steals in one sequence. She did a good job of getting to loose balls. She did great job of finding her players at the right spots. She got 6 assists in this game.

Carson, Avajon, Heather Zurich, and Brittany Ray also contributed this game.

Carson had 15 points.

Avajon had 7 points.

Zurich had 7 points. Ray had 9 points.

The key moment for Rutgers came when Rutgers had a 13-2 run that gave them a 23-16 lead in the first half. From there, the team did not look back. It helped that the Spartants just quit after that.

The question that should be poised for Michigan State was how prepared they were for this game. They were better than they were last night. They did not know what Rutgers was throwing out there. They just quit in midway.

One has to wonder if the players decided to quit on their head coach, Joanne P. McCallie in this game.

McCallie has likely coached her last game at East Lansing. There are job openings at Florida, LSU, and Texas. Those three schools have great facilities and they will spend. They have great fanbases when it comes to women's hoops. The pay will be better at either of those three schools.

It is doubtful that that her current employer can match what the SEC schools can pay her. Based on that and the fact that her team rolled over, it is a great bet that she is out the door.

While Michigan State worry about what their head coach will do, Rutgers will have a bigger fish to fry which is how they are going to find a way to beat the best team in the nation on Saturday. It will not be easy.

The Blue Devils humiliated them 82-45 in the regular season at Piscataway, NJ. The score should be different this time around. They are much better than than were when the season started, but Duke is still better and experienced. It should be interesting what happens.

Right now, Coach Stringer and her players should enjoy this accomplishment.