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TagsBY MIKE VORKUNOV
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
RUTGERS NOTEBOOK
Just by looking at him on the court, you would think nothing was wrong with Gregory Echenique against Marist. And judging by his line in the box score — 13 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks — there was little to quibble about. But looks can be deceiving sometimes.
Echenique let it slip out after the game that he played battling an illness and was close to not playing because of it.
"I had a fever before the game, I was worried because I wasn't feeling well," said sophomore forward. "Everybody was saying ‘Oh you should get sick more often.' It actually was not a good thing because I didn't want to play. I was like ‘This is my first game and I feel sick.'"
Coach Fred Hill asked him for four or five good minutes, before he would put in Hamady N'diaye, but Echenique ended up playing 26 minutes despite difficulty breathing that forced him to sub himself out at times.And given all that he still put up the sixth double-double of his career and blocked three shots, the 15th time in 33 games that he swatted at least that many.
As for his teammates jests that he should get sick more often, Echenique had other thoughts.
"I don't wanna feel like this," he said. "I know I had a good game but it's not fun."
On second thought, maybe you could see something wrong with Echenique: last year he scored 11 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked six shots against Marist.
RELATED:
New Patrick Jackson shoots Rutgers to victory over Marist
BOXSCORE: Rutgers 74, Marist 67
If basketball does not work out for Mike Rosario, he may already have a second career in the making. Mike Rosario, motivational speaker.
As a veteran compared to his freshmen teammates, Rosario took it upon himself to give them some words of wisdom.
"Don't be shy, you're going to have goosebumps before the game because you're at the college level," said Rosario. "Just go out there and know that you're going to give 100 percent and do what you do best to help the team."
He also gave some advice to his roommate Patrick Jackson before the game, and Jackson ended up having his best performance yet.
But whether or not he ever needs to fall back on his motivational skills, it won't be anytime soon because he's doing just fine on the basketball court.
Rosario led Rutgers with 17 points, on seven of 18 shooting, and added four assists and four rebounds.
It was part of his new goal of being a more well-balanced and efficient player, taking less unnecessary shots and focusing on other aspects of the game.
"I thought Mike did some really, really good things," said Hill. "Obviously offensively he scored, which is something he does. He didn't shoot particularly well but he took great shots. That's something he's worked hard on."
In Rosario's opinion he took only three or four bad shots, although he did get frustrated by his cold shooting touch from beyond the three-point line to start the game.
"I'm always going to score points every game for my teammates but I just wanted to go out there and do other things besides shooting the ball," said Rosario. "And Coach was like ‘Mike you're shooting good shots' even though I was probably like 1-8 from three. And I said to myself after I missed the first couple of shots I was like I gotta get in and shoot. Because a lot of the shots that I shot are shots that I usually make."
For more Rutgers and Seton Hall news and coverage you can follow Mike Vorkunov on Twitter at @Mike_Vorkunov