Scarlet Knights shoot lights out vs. Tigers BY MIKE McDONALD Staff Writer The Rutgers University men’s basketball team (4-5) is starting to show some progress under first-year head coach Fred Hill. The Scarlet Knights were able to defeat Princeton University (6-3) Saturday by the final score of 53-47, giving the team its third straight victory. The star of the game was sophomore forward J.R. Inman, who had a stellar game offensively and on the glass, finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds. “We’ve talked to J.R. about doing other things when he doesn’t score. Tonight, he was very efficient. He gets 12 points and 13 big rebounds. He’s got to grow into his role because we’re asking a lot of him,” said Hill. “We’re asking him to be a big-time go-to guy on offense, and it’s not always going to be there, so now we say, ‘Be a big-time player and make the plays to win games for your teammates,’ and I think tonight that was evident that he did a very good job of doing just that.” Also performing well for Rutgers was Jaron Griffin, who added 11 points. Most impressive was the fact that Rutgers never once trailed in this game, beginning the contest on an impressive offensive streak, making 14 out of their first 16 shots from the floor. “Someone asked me if I would frame a box score after a game — well, I might frame the first-half box score,” Hill said. “It’s not very often that you shoot 87.5 percent. I talked on the pregame [radio show] what I was impressed with, the Princeton defense. No one ever talks about that. Everyone talks about the Princeton style, and certainly they have pretty unique and tough offensive style. It’s tough for people to guard. “But they play one of the best matchup zones, and they have for years. People didn’t talk so much about that when [longtime Princeton coach] Pete [Carril] was here, it was always offense. But I just think they do a terrific job. I walked in [the locker room] at halftime and saw what the shooting percentage was and I just said, ‘Wow.’ “I give our kids a lot of credit for getting good looks, open looks, and they went down,” Hill added. “When they go down, everything looks great. I thought our defense was what really separated us in the first half. They only shot 29 percent, and that’s a ‘wow.’ That’s a team that’s a much better shooting team than that. To hold them to 29 percent and no threes, I was extremely proud of our defensive effort in the first half.” With the team’s fourth win in the books, Hill is looking forward to seeing if his team can continue to play with the same kind of fire and focus they showed against Princeton on Saturday. “Our goal from day one was that we have a certain way we want to play. We knew that we would have to continually grow, and I do see growth, and I’m happy for that. And I’m happy for them that they can feel good about themselves because you always feel a lot better when you win than when you lose. I think they feel good because they’ve worked so hard and now they’ve been rewarded for that hard work they’ve put in each and every day,” Hill explained. Rutgers, which began the season winning one out of its first six games, looks to be rolling now after getting three straight victories. Next up are games against Iona and Lehigh in back-to-back home games Saturday and next Friday.