Rutgers-Seton Hall in a Few Stats

I guess I’ve taken the role of the statistician here… I’ve always liked to break down basketball using the math and simple Xs and Os principles. Mike is your guy if you’re looking for well-written diatribes on the trials and tribulations of the sport.

Today produced one of the all-time high frustration levels for Rutgers basketball fans… it’s as bad as it has been since the Craig Littlepage days.

Seton Hall 65 Rutgers 60. Let’s get at it.

Stat #1: 9-of-17 from the free-throw line for Rutgers… leaving eight points at the line in any Big East game, especially when half of those are in the second half, will lead to a losing equation every time.

Stat #2: Rutgers won the battle of the glass 42-29… really? It didn’t look like that in the last five minutes, as John Garcia went to work underneath.

Stat #3: RU goes 3-of-10 from deep… on the surface, it doesn’t look too bad, but Mike Rosario went 1-of-6. Therefore, the rest of the team hit 2-of-4 chances… the Scarlet Knights needed to spread around the deep chances.

Stat #4: 34 personal fouls… yep, it had a Jim Burr-Curtis Shaw feel to it. Wait, they were both there? Wow… you would think Gonzo had to take some sedatives pre-game to keep those two from doling out a technical.

Stat #5: JR Inman puts up 11 rebounds… has to learn how to finish. Unfortunately, he’s a senior, so the learning curve has flat-lined.

Stat #6: Robert “Stix” Mitchell plays with an illness, shoots 2-of-11 and still finds a way to put up 10 points and 10 rebounds. That’s resilience.

Stat #7: Seton Hall sweeps Rutgers for the first time in five years. Neither side has swept the series since ’03-’04 when SHU beat Rutgers twice in a year that RU went to the NIT Final.

Panic time for Rutgers and Fred Hill, who is now 6-39 in Big East play since taking the head coaching position in Piscataway.