By Mike Vorkunov
The maturation of Dane Miller has been a running storyline underlining this rejuvenating season for Rutgers. A unique talent on the roster, he has had his ebbs and flows.
While his statistics are strikingly similar to last season’s, he has made significant strides defensively. Miller, who could formerly be described as apathetic in this regard, has blossomed into a shutdown defender.
Just ask Jeremy Hazell.
In the first Rutgers- Seton Hall game in a while where there was more intrigue about the matchups on the court than on the sidelines, Mike Rice and Kevin Willard supplied no time capsule moments in their first head-to-head meetings. Instead it was Miller who provided the marquee performance in the Scarlet Knights’ 66-60 victory at the Prudential Center.
The sophomore scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. His biggest impact was seen in a different number: the 6-of-21 shooting day that Hazell had.
Hazell struggled to score his 15 points as Miller stayed tethered to him, bothering him into the grotesque shooting line which included 2-of-11 from beyond the three-point line. Millers’ long arms, athleticism and tenacity was more than Hazell could overcome.
“Dane’s maturity defensively—you could write books about it,” said last year he just stood up away from the ball, he wasn’t engaged. Now he’s coming to me wanting to defend the best player on the opposition night in and night out. He was there on the catch every single time.”
Rutgers almost floundered down the stretch to make Miller’s game a moot point, as its 10-point lead with 1:52 remaining shrank to as little as four. The Knights did themselves no favors by hitting just eight of their 17 free throws in the final 3:26.
“Yes I would have liked for us to make free throws,” said Rice. “Was I sweating? I always sweat. We’re very fortunate because that aspect was horrendous.”
Gilvydas Biruta had a double-double of his own with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Jonathan Mitchell came close to one of his own as he scored 14 points and had nine rebounds.
Biruta provided the game’s most heated moment when he was tangled up with Herb Pope and made a swipe that landed in thin air. But all parties made no issue of it.
Instead it was another moment that had Rice appreciative of his freshman center’s moxie.
“He had some bad things happen to him,” said Rice. “For him to come back and have enough onions to knock down the perimeter J after I screamed at him for shooting the three—I loved that type for Gilvydas. Gilvydas just said ‘Alright Coach I got your don’t shoot the threes here’ and he did it, knocked down.”
Pope did have a banner game, scoring 15 points and gobbling up 16 rebounds for his third double-double in five games.
But his impressive line wasn’t enough to steal the attention away from Miller.
Miller’s gradual development defensively has enthused his coach, who usually tempers his compliments about his players. But Rice was taken aback when at halftime Miller stood up to proclaim that the game would be won with defense.
Miller has come to zealously search out the defensive assignment. Rice used Saturday’s game as a baseline test for the sophomore. Matchup with Hazell and keep the explosive guard bottled up and you can get what you want.
“I had a good defensive performance against South Florida and Coach Rice told me from here on out if I want to guard every team’s best player, I have to prove it tonight,” said Miller. “I felt this was a big challenge because he’s one of the best players in the conference and one of the best shooters in the country.”
He was certainly up to the challenge. To go along with his strong on the ball defense, he also blocked three shots for the fifth time in the last seven games. According to Kenpom.com, coming into Saturday Miller ranked 46th in the country in block percentage which measures blocked shots on amount of shots taken while the player is on the court.
“Dane was locked in the whole time,” said Rice. “We all know about his athleticism and his length. That certainly bothered him. He had a relentless to him and that was the reason why we won.”
Miller came to life in the second half offensively, scoring 15 points in the half. Conversely Mitchell gave Rutgers the firepower it needed in the first half as he scored 11 points to give the Knights a 31-23 halftime lead.
The win was the second in a row for Rutgers, matching its best record to start the Big East slate since 2005-06. It was just their fifth Big East road win in the last five seasons.
“A Big East road victory,” said Rice. “That’s all you have to say. It doesn’t happen. This league is the biggest and the baddest.”
Follow Mike Vorkunov on Twitter: @Mike_Vorkunov
