Big opportunity lost, Rutgers Hoops overwhelmed by veteran Princeton team
It was the basketball game every New Jersey college hoops fan wanted to see to start the 2023-24 season, the 121st meeting between Rutgers and Princeton.
The game everyone anticipated watching concluded, but it wasn’t the outcome most expected as Rutgers fell to Princeton, 68-61.
It was a brilliant, resounding win for Princeton as they were the far more physical and aggressive team the entire evening. The Tigers surprisingly bullied the bigger Scarlet Knights in the post, blew past the defense en-route to easy layups, hustled for loose balls, and crashed the boards relentlessly for second chance points.
It was a very disappointing loss for Rutgers and it put a bit of a damper on the start of the 2023-24 campaign. It was evident team chemistry and cohesion was lacking all night long as Rutgers could not get on the same page on both sides of the ball.
The new look backcourt struggled mightily as the group shot a collective 9-of-30 from the field and could not push or dictate tempo throughout the night.
It was gut wrenching at times to watch multiple mid to long range shots fall half way down and rim out, but Rutgers was especially putrid in finishing around the basket. The Scarlet Knights missed way too many layups (6-of-14) and finished the night 13-of-27 with shots close to the net.
Starters Aundre Hyatt and Derek Simpson both finished the night with a combined 1-of-10 from the field. Both players saw their minutes reduced for their poor performances.
Newcomer Gavin Griffiths was ill-prepared on the defensive side of the ball as Princeton’s guards and forwards raced past him to the basket. Griffiths logged only 14 minutes for the game.
The Rutgers perimeter defense struggled all night as Princeton torched the Scarlet Knights on 9-of-20 (45%) shooting from deep while the Scarlet Knights only converted on 4-of-14 (28.6%) shooting from beyond the arc.
The biggest disappointment of the night was how Princeton ‘out-toughed’ Rutgers, especially in the post. The bigger and more dominant Cliff Omoruyi was not so dominant as Princeton’s Caden Pierce and Matt Allocco combined for 9 offensive rebounds and 15 rebounds total. Matt Allocco, Xaivian Lee, and Caden Pierce willingly pounded the ball down low to convert easy shots around the basket.
Rutgers was downright outplayed by a smaller Princeton unit, but furthermore, Mitch Henderson outcoached Steve Pikiell, whose squad looked unprepared for what the Tigers threw at them.
As frustrating of a night as it was, there were some positives.
As soon as head coach Steve Pikiell inserted Antwone Woolfolk into the game, he made an immediate impact. Woolfolk provided a much-needed boost to get Rutgers back into the game after falling behind 12-4 in the first half. The much leaner and athletic Woolfolk showed his ability to move quickly and covertly on the floor as he converted a layup from a steal and slammed home a big alley oop dunk from Cliff Omoruyi. Woolfolk finished the night with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, 2 steals, and 4 rebounds before going down with an injury late in the game.
Oskar Palmquist was another bright spot in the game as the Swedish native logged 23 minutes. Palmquist looked comfortable on the floor as he drilled two 3-pointers, finished with 8 points and 3 steals, and committed zero turnovers.
Transfer Austin Williams provided a slight boost for Rutgers as he nailed a big 3-pointer to pull the Scarlet Knights closer to Princeton in the second half, but he also appeared to slow down the red-hot Matt Allocco when no one else could.
Although there were more negatives than positives in this game, Rutgers can certainly learn from this loss. This inexperienced bunch now knows what they have to do to improve in certain areas and what it takes to compete with better teams.
November will provide this team an opportunity to better develop their team chemistry and cohesion as well as address/fix any deficiencies, but this group needs to find themselves on the same page quickly because there is little room for error going forward. Rutgers is projected to win their next five games with 85% or more certainty, according to Bart Torvik.
Outlook
While it’s only one game into the season, last night was a huge opportunity for Rutgers as they could have grabbed themselves an important neutral site victory over a potential Quadrant 2 opponent and tally a quality win for their NCAA Tournament resume.
Under Steve Pikiell, Rutgers is now 1-3 in regular season non-conference neutral site games. Their lone win over a non-conference opponent at a neutral site was against Fordham in 2016.
If Rutgers wants to talk about dancing in March, they will need to handle business and get through the rest of November with five wins before they face a tough early December stretch, which includes Illinois, Wake Forest, Seton Hall, and Mississippi State.
I still believe Rutgers will need to finish no worse than 9-2 in the non-conference schedule, must pick up a neutral site win over Mississippi State, avoid any catastrophic home losses to a Quadrant 3 or 4 opponent, and pick up a road win against either Wake Forest or Seton Hall if they want to think about the NCAA Tournament.
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