Ugly wins count, too, and it's a good thing.
Last night's 54-44 win over Seton Hall was by no means a masterpiece. In fact, there were plenty of areas in which the Scarlet Knights were outplayed, badly even. And it was as physical a game as they have played all year, with both teams racking up fouls and showing irrefutably that even if the quality of play between these two teams ever suffers, the rivalry does not. Nevertheless, in the end, it was enough to cement the squad into the number seven seed in the upcoming Big East Tournament this weekend and to make for a strong finish to the regular season, going 4-1 in their last five games. But their first-round opponent in the tournament just happens to be Seton Hall, so whatever adjustments need to be made, they need to be made in a hurry.
Perhaps the biggest adjustment the Knights need to worry about is around the boards, where they were pummeled all night. Seton Hall almost ended up with more rebounds than points (42 rebounds, 44 points), and only their inability to put back offensive boards saved Rutgers in the end. They bested Rutgers in rebounding on the offensive side of the ball by more than a two to one margin, 20-9.
In the end, luckily, it wasn't the boards that mattered. Clutch shooting towards the end of the second half, something that can by no means be called an area of stability for Rutgers this season, ended up saving them. Sophomore guard Cappie Pondexter, who led the charge at the end with seven points in the Knights' 11-2 run they used to end the game, pointed to a team mentality of toughness.
"We knew we were in for a battle, and we refused to lose," she said. "We just couldn't lose this game. We knew if we lost it would have hurt us a lot."
Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer is now looking ahead to the rematch, where she will try to work out the kinks in the armor of the Knights and figure out the Pirates.
"They're a very physical team," she said, "which is kind of interesting because they're not a big team. We were trying to get a good sense of our offensive rhythm, and we weren't able to do that."
Coach Stringer was pleased with Pondexter's heroics at the end, however, and even more so with her star player's patience when the opening of a big lead was hard to come by.
"She seemed to take it one step at a time," she said. "Some games are going to be slow."
Along with the team's presence around the net, the Knights also need to worry about their health going into the Big East Tournament. Junior guard Chelsea Newton, who has been plagued by a barrage of ailments all season long, collided with Pondexter in the second half and did not return to the game. When it was revealed that Newton may have been hit in the nose, Stringer pointed out that it may have re-aggravated an injury from high school play.
"We're going to evaluate her tomorrow," she said. "But everything's been broken on her. She's been breaking up."
Senior guard Dawn McCullouch, who was honored before the game for Senior Night, has been bothered by an ankle injury sustained two weeks ago. She also appeared to be hurting last night and did not play much in the game.
Despite their areas of concern on the court and their various bumps and bruises, the Knights remain confident and optimistic about Saturday's rematch, however, and are eager to prove that not only can they hold their own in their conference tournament, but that they belong in the Big Dance afterwards as well.
"It doesn't matter who we're going to face," Jett said. But in closing she wanted to make it clear that the animosity between themselves and Seton Hall wasn't going anywhere.
"We're just going to go out and play our game. They're going to be mad and we're going to go out mad, too."
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