All teams are equally tired this time of year. Good teams overcome it, particularly when games are on the line and especially when one team has something to play for. If anyone could have used the tired excuse it should have been Minny, not RU. Minny was tired for the prior 12 games and 38:45 of the game with us, but somehow got some energy in the last 1:15.
This loss was not on any individual person or exhaustion. It was a rarely seen epic meltdown and loss of focus, basketball IQ and fundamentals on behalf of the team - coaches and players. That last 1:15 will live in Rutgers athletics infamy and is a tutorial on how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and how not to end a basketball game.
Missed free throws, poor passing, not blocking out allowing an easy offensive rebound and put back, failing to move up court when four defenders are trailing you by a good distance and you have a two on one in your favor but instead pass the ball back, not calling time out to set your defense with 5.8 seconds to go (especially if the team is "tired"), letting Minny roll the ball in to save time and not pressuring them, not having the proper players in there at the end, letting the opponent's hot shooter get open, leaving your feet without even a good pump fake, not having your best defender on the hot shooter. I may have missed something.
As you can see, I have gotten over the loss. Lol.