Coach confident Scarlet Knights can turn it on
BY MIKE McDONALD
Correspondent

The Rutgers University men's basketball team (8-11) has lost four straight conference games, but head coach Fred Hill, forever the optimist, has found some positives despite the losses.

"I like the character of our team and I think that there is a point where it becomes mental in terms of shooting the basketball," he said. "There are going to be some tough times, but we're just going to keep working, keep playing and going after it and keep defending and hopefully start to get a little more confidence and get a little better offensively, and that's all you can do."

Rutgers' latest defeat came at the hands of Providence College (13-5) by the final score of 78-63 Saturday. Guard Marquis Webb led Rutgers with 19 points, but the effort was simply not enough for Rutgers, whose offense was rather unspectacular. Coach Hill chalks that up to inconsistent shooting and missed opportunities.

"I felt that we had good looks, but I didn't feel that we stepped up to them, especially in the first half," the coach said. "We talked about that a little bit at halftime. In the second half, I thought that we made plays and big players make plays. I thought that we took the dribble penetration when it was there and we got a couple layups, and we got a couple dishes inside and we got to the free-throw line."

Hill also felt that his guards played good defense and were able to shut down Providence College's guards.

"Through the course of the game, I thought we did a good job on their guards," said Hill. Hill implemented a trap-style defense at different points in the game, and the coach seemed to like what he saw.

"I think we did well in certain stretches of the game, and I thought we trapped them effectively at times," explained Hill.

At the end of the day though, it was Providence's good offensive flow and their big guys, which keyed them to victory.

"They were very efficient on offense and there front line is very solid," Hill said.

Just last Wednesday Rutgers dropped another conference game, this time to Georgetown University, by the final score of 68-54. Sophomore forward J.R. Inman led the team with 13 points, showing once again how the Rutgers offense needs to get going.

The Rutgers' defense played well, holding Georgetown's second- and third-leading scorers below their season averages. But when your team only scores 54 points, you are destined to be defeated.

Again, despite the loss, Hill liked what he saw from his offense, at times, in the game.

Unfortunately, well-executed offense comes in spurts at this point and to be successful the team will have to put together longer stretches of good ball movement and dribble penetration.

With only 10 games left before the Big East Tournament, now is the time Rutgers has to put together a winning streak to make the 8-11 record more respectable and put the team in a better position for the Big East tourney.

Rutgers faced South Florida last night in Tampa Bay.