ATLANTIC CITY – Jonathan Mitchell had this potential matchup circled on his calendar a long time ago.
Given the chance to square off against his former team – the junior forward transferred from Florida prior to last season – Mitchell came out hot.
Mitchell sank the game’s first basket – a smooth pull-up from the right elbow – and had four of the Scarlet Knights’ first six points.
Then his fire turned to ice.
Tentative play led to Mitchell’s team-high four turnovers. He dribbled off his foot, underthrew a streaking player on a break down court, missed a finger role late in the first half and was called for a moving screen in the second.
Though a second-half jumper helped spurn a Florida run in the second half, Mitchell finished just 3-of-8 from the field with two rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes.
“We were just struggling to score,” said Rutgers head coach Fred Hill Jr. “We have to get easy baskets, and that’s why we’re playing the way we play. We had a couple of opportunities and we didn’t capitalize.”
The Mt. Vernon, N.Y., native won a national title as a true freshman with the Gators, seeing time in 30 games on a veteran-laden team. After averaging 11.4 minutes as a sophomore, starting once for head coach Billy Donovan, Mitchell switched gears and returned closer to home.
The Scarlet Knights only allowed six offensive rebounds in the first half, a little under par from their season average, but that provided all the difference.
Florida turned those extra helpings into nine second-chance points, while Rutgers translated its four offensive boards into four digits. The five-point differential accounted for the Knights’ 34-29 halftime deficit.
“We didn’t rebound as well as I wanted to, but I thought we were better at that tonight than even the other night,” Hill said.
Florida’s third offensive rebound came with 4:45 to go in the first half – a stark improvement from the 68 Rutgers allowed in its previous four contests.
The non-rebounding bug evaporated in the second half as RU ended up with one more offensive board (14) than Florida. For the second straight night, sophomore guard Mike Rosario was the team’s leading rebounder.
“That’s two games in a row where he’s our leading rebounder,” Hill said. “That’s what we need our guards to do.”
Junior point guards James Beatty and Mike Coburn saw significant minutes on the floor together Friday night for the first time this season with decent success.
Hill went against that grain facing a Florida press that refused to let Rutgers pass “Go” and collect fast break dollars Saturday night in Atlantic City.
“Whenever you can have ball-handlers on the floor, and guys who can make free throws and make good decisions – which is the most important thing – it certainly helps,” Hill said Friday. “But on the defensive end you have mismatch problems.”
Coburn played 28 minutes compared to Beatty’s 15, but the two saw fewer than eight minutes simultaneously on the court. Hill opted to use forwards Dane Miller, Austin Johnson and Miller in the backcourt to help break the taller Gators’ press.
Sophomore guard Mike Rosario was named to the Legends Classic’s All-Tournament Team and given a plaque after Saturday’s loss to Florida.
Rosario dumped 36 points in the semifinal and final games, including 18 first-half points against Massachusetts.
Center Brian Okam saw the first action of his collegiate career, sinking a short jumper in the lane in the closing moments.
Okam missed multiple practices prior to the season with a foot injury and Hill said he was unable to catch up in time for the start of the 2009-10 campaign.
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