Finally, it looked like Rutgers Basketball was about to turn the corner after pulling off a massive 82-73 upset of Illinois eleven days ago. After the win, it felt like Rutgers was poised for a run during the final leg of the season to keep their at-large NCAA Tournament hopes alive, but everything came crashing down in their last two games.
Last Sunday, Derik Queen and the Maryland Terrapins dominated Rutgers in College Park and walked away with a decisive 90-81 victory. Even though Rutgers lost by nine points to Maryland, the game itself really never felt close. Despite the loss to the Terrapins, the Scarlet Knights still had everything to play for to keep their hopes alive this past Wednesday.
Iowa entered Wednesday's contest winless on the road for the season, but that all changed as Peyton Sandfort and the Hawkeyes fought tooth and nail in the second half to pull out the 84-73 win at The RAC. Wednesday's loss to Iowa not only killed any at-large NCAA Tournament aspirations but it also sunk Rutgers under .500 on the season and put them in serious danger of missing the Big Ten Tournament
It was truly an embarrassing loss and encapsulates how the 2024-25 season has gone so terribly wrong.
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One cannot tell the 2024-25 season without talking about the health of this basketball team. From a few key players catching the flu and the norovirus to multiple injuries, it has been a bit of bad luck for Rutgers but should serve no excuse as to Wednesday's loss because the Scarlet Knights were near full-strength with both star players Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey on the floor together, while Iowa was without two key players, Drew Thelwell and Owen Freeman. We can now put to rest the theory 'had Harper and Bailey been on the floor together in previous games during the season, maybe Rutgers would have won some of those games'.
After dropping two games in a row, Rutgers now finds themselves in a peculiar situation as the Scarlet Knights must now fight to survive and avoid finishing in the bottom three of the Big Ten, so they can earn a berth to the conference tournament. Had Rutgers not blown their nine-point halftime lead against Iowa and won the game, the Scarlet Knights would've given themselves a little breathing room in the Big Ten standings. However, Steve Pikiell feels differently and still believes his team can make a run to March Madness.
"Six games left, we still have a lot of basketball to play," Pikiell said after the game on Wednesday. "Everyone's kind of bunched up in our league, there's only a difference of a game or two between everybody. We've got to go on the road, obviously we've got to play better, and win some games. But we still have some chances. There's still a lot of Quad 1 wins still out there for us."
Pikiell won't quit on his team but right now, he sounds pretty damn delusional after everything that has transpired this season. The Scarlet Knights haven't given Rutgers Nation much to cheer about this season as they have been unable to build off big wins and string together more than a two-game winning streak against Big Ten competition.
With an upcoming West Coast trip to face Oregon (17-8, 6-8) and Washington (13-12, 4-10), Rutgers will take with them a 2-5 road record, which doesn't give anyone much confidence the Scarlet Knights can win. Rutgers hopes to complete their West Coast tour with a 2-0 record, and anything less would be catastrophic, sending the Scarlet Knights nose diving to the basement of the Big Ten.
"We are going to keep grinding," Pikiell said. "That's what we've always done here. Every year something's stacked against us, so we've always figured out a way. So, we've got to figure out a way this year too."
Hopefully, Pikiell figures it out soon because the 'backs against the wall' story is getting old, and there has been little evidence this team is close to improving as he's suggested throughout the season.
This season has already become a mismanaged dumpster fire, and while it hasn't quite been fully engulfed in flames, Rutgers still has a chance to finish the season strong to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament and extinguish those flames for the time being.
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