By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
THE 'CATS CRUISED Saturday at Welsh-Ryan while saddling Rutgers with its 16th straight conference defeat. They led by 10 with just over four minutes gone; by 21 with just under 11minutes gone; and by 30 with five minutes yet remaining until halftime. That was still their lead when the break finally came and 20 minutes later, when this rout finally ended, they had run up 98 points and won by a healthy 39. "Certainly," Chris Collins said later, "this was a feel-good day for us. It was something we needed."
IT WAS CERTAINLY SOMETHING needed by the 'Cats, who entered this game off a pair of enervating losses at Purdue and Michigan. Yet here, impressively, they exhibited no hangover from those defeats, instead attacking their overmatched foe from the start with a defense that pressed full court. "We extended our defense to start the game just to get some energy in the building and to get us playing," Collins would explain. "I didn't want to start this game running back and sitting in a zone. In a game like that, you can come out and be sluggish. So I wanted to extend it. If it didn't work early, I would have gotten out of it. But more than anything I wanted to use it to juice our guys up. We got a couple turnovers, we got some buckets, we got that quick lead, we stayed with it. I thought it was really effective for this game."
THAT EXTENDED DEFENSE turned Rutgers over at 17:26, which led to a Tre Demps' layup, and then turned it over again on its next possession, which led to a Bryant McIntosh three at 17:00. Quickly, down six, Knight coach Eddie Jordan called time, and out of it his team did break the press to get a 12-footer. But now, in quick succession, Demps hit a three and the Knights missed a three; Aaron Falzon hit a three and the Knights missed another three; Alex Olah dropped in a layup and the Knights missed one more three; the Knights missed a fast break layup and a tip after a Falzon turnover; and Demps hit a three to put the 'Cats up 15 at 14:01.
Right here, even with 34 minutes remaining, this game was effectively over.
DEMPS WAS TERRIFIC all afternoon, ending it eight-of-13 overall and six-of-eight on his threes while scoring a game-high 24 in just 28 minutes. Special too was his fellow-senior Olah, who in his 22 minutes scored 14 and collected 10 rebounds and abused any defender the Knights put on him. "I just wanted to be aggressive," Demps would later say. "Alex and I talked about, for the rest of the season, we want to try and set the tone. There's a sense of urgency that comes naturally when you realize the games are winding down. You don't want any regrets, so you just try to leave it all out on the court every game, every practice."
THOSE TWO, whose careers are guaranteed just three more games, were most certainly the center pieces of this win, but there were these factors as well. The 'Cats shot 53.6 percent overall and 60.7 percent on their threes. And they out-rebounded the Knights by 20. And they got double-figure contributions from Falzon and Scottie Lindsey and Nathan Taphorn as well as Demps and Olah. And they had 33 assists on their 37 field goals. And McIntosh, in his 29 minutes, had 13 of those assists with just a single turnover.
That left him one short of the school record set back in December of 1992 by Patrick Baldwin, who is now a 'Cat assistant. "At halftime (when he had eight), that was my goal coming out," McIntosh would later say when asked about that record. "And Coach Collins throughout the second half was getting on me for not taking some open shots. And he's right. I had some open shots. But I had my eyes set on something. I didn't get it done."
THAT WAS THE ONLY THING the 'Cats didn't get done on Saturday, which set up a most-interesting final week of their regular season. For ahead of them now are games at Penn State (Thursday) and at home against Nebraska (next Sunday), the very teams they are jostling with in the Big Ten standings. "We're bunched up together -- nine, 10, 11," Collins finally said. "So we kind of control our won destiny to where we're going to finish now. We're going to find out this week.
"Do we want to make a push and come in ninth (which would earn them a first-round by in the Big Ten tourney)? Or are we going to come in 11th (which would force them to play on the first day)? So it's a big week for us."