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Dane Miller makes case for Big East Rookie of the Year

BY KYLE FRANKO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

On a day known for its surprises, Rutgers provided the biggest one of all.

The Scarlet Knights stunned No. 8 Georgetown 71-68 Sunday at the Louis Brown Athletic Center for their first win over a top-10 team since beating ninth-ranked Notre Dame in March 2003.

It was the kind of win they'd been waiting for.

"We were going to play with a chip on our shoulders," said junior forward Jonathan Mitchell who scored a career-high 24 points. "They weren't going to come in here and do to us what they did down in D.C. We defended our home court today."

Mitchell had a career-high, but Dane Miller stole the show. Down one, the freshman tipped home a Mike Rosario miss with 21 seconds remaining. Then he stepped up to the free throw line and knocked down both shots.

BOXSCORE: Rutgers 71, Georgetown 68

Georgetown got back within one after Rosario gave a foul on Austin Freeman. Just like Miller's moments earlier, Mitchell was clutch; knocking down both his free throws with 4.1 seconds left. Freeman had a chance to tie it with last-second shot but it rimmed out.

Fred Hill endorsed Miller for Big East Rookie of the Year two days prior to the game. Miller proved his coach right Sunday night. He scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds all while defending Georgetown's leading scorer Freeman.

"I don't think he has to prove it to me," Hill said. "I think he has to prove it to everybody else."

Miller's 12.5 points per game in Big East play leads all conference freshmen. He's also first in steals and third in assists and rebounds.

"I'm going to say a Jay-Z quote: ‘Men lie, women lie, numbers don't,'" Miller said. "Even though we don't have the best record - like [Cincinnati's] Lance Stephenson or [Syracuse's] Brandon Triche - I feel like I've played to the ability that I have, but I haven't reached my potential yet. Even if I don't win [Big East ROY] it's all right. I'm trying to help this program turnaround and get more wins."

Could this be the performance Miller's talking about to get things kick-started? If you want to use the previous meeting between the Scarlet Knights and Hoyas as a measuring stick this one was certainly better.

When they met back on Jan. 23 the Hoyas built a 33-point second half lead en route to a 25-point victory. That game was never close. Greg Monroe dominated and negativity around the Rutgers program was soaring.

"They just wanted it more than us today," said Monroe who scored 19 points and nearly bailed Georgetown out.

"Them," said Georgetown head coach John Thompson III when asked about the difference between the two games. "They're playing well. I thought they did a better job of executing on both sides of the floor."

Not that all the negativity evaporates with one victory, but Sunday afternoon's win helps quell some of the sting on what has been a difficult season.

"The heart," Miller said when asked what he was most impressed by. "A couple weeks ago I made a comment that we didn't play hard and gave up. In this game, nobody gave up. We had a lot of heart."