10/20/2021 basketball Edit

Caleb McConnell feeling as good as ever for Rutgers men's basketball

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

Knock on wood, Caleb McConnell is injury free.

For the first time in his college career at Rutgers, the senior guard/forward is heading into the season without any nagging or severe injuries.

"Of course it's basketball, so you'll feel sore and beat up, but other than that I'm feeling great," McConnell told TKR at Rutgers men's basketball media day last week.

McConnell originally planned to redshirt last season due to a bad back injury, but he managed to play in 20 games in 2020-21 starting in January with eight starts. As a junior, the Jacksonville, Fla. native averaged 5.7 points and a career-best 4.3 rebounds with a career-high 29 steals.

"I want to thank God for those situations that he put me through and to allow me to overcome them. I've been dealing with injuries since my freshman year just in and out," McConnell said. "Going into my junior year, that summer, unfortunately I pulled two disks in my back and I had a little bit of a hernia so I had a procedure done. I was going to redshirt my junior year. But man, just really want to thank the coaches and my teammates, they really gave me confidence. They really wanted me to come back and were saying, 'Hey Caleb, we need your help and we just need you'. I'm really glad I even got a chance to even come back and play for a great team that we had last year. It was a very fun team, a very versatile team. It wasn't easy coming back. I really pushed myself to get back to where I can even play and just kind of can contribute any way I can."

McConnell scored 12 points with three assists and four boards against Ohio State. He had 14 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three steals in the win against Minnesota, and posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the NCAA Tournament first round win over Clemson that gave the Scarlet Knights their first tournament since 1983 in their first appearance since 1991.

"This the most healthiest I've been in a while," McConnell said. "I'm not dealing with no nagging injury or pain. Honestly I'm just ready to compete. I'm very excited for you guys to see a new Caleb and a healthy Caleb."

The 6-foot-7, 200-pounder is in-line to start when Rutgers faces Lehigh Nov. 10. McConnell has the ability to score, defend point guards to power forwards, make free throws, and is a high-effort player who will dive on the ground and give up his body for the good of the team.

Being healthy will allow McConnell to just play.

"I'm bringing more energy to the game. I'm always everywhere on the floor and I'm always disrupting things defensively. But even offensively this year, I want to fly around, make shots and just get guys open," McConnell said. "I feel like I can really contribute on both ends of the floor more now that I'm up to par and I'm up to speed. I kind of got my swagger back a little bit so, I'm very excited coming into this year."

Head coach Steve Pikiell said in his press conference that McConnell has by far been the most efficient player in practice in all the stats.

"It really falls back on me being healthy. I'm able to be everywhere. I'm able to be in the spot that I'm supposed to be and I'm able to help a guy out (on defense) and then get back to my spot," McConnell said. "I'm able to get deflections, fall on loose balls, block shots and just to help and be everywhere. I'm using my voice a little bit more and that tends to help me and I tend to help my teammates. I just want to thank God that I'm healthy."

Caleb McConnell (Richard Schnyderite -- The Knight Report)

Being more vocal and more of a leader is something that McConnell is embracing. He is no longer a young pup on the team. McConnell has seen action in 82 career games with 29 starts.

"With me, Ron (Harper Jr.), Geo (Baker), and Paul (Mulcahy) being the older guys, us being here and us experiencing a lot and going through the fire, we learned so much that we got so many younger guys and we got some new guys that it would be wrong for us not to give them feedback and to help those guys out," McConnell said his leadership role. "This whole offseason, this preseason has been great and we're able to help so many of the new guys out just by telling you where to be at or this is the play that we're running. I have actually taking a leadership role and it has really been fun for me. We've been using our voices so much that the guys are starting to respect us. It's been fun."

And if you couldn't tell already, McConnell is amped up for the upcoming campaign. Over the last two years, Rutgers has recorded back-to-back winning seasons for the first since 1990-91 and 1991-92 and won double-digit conference games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1989-90 and 1990-91. The Scarlet Knights went 16-12 overall last season and had a KenPom ranking of 38 and a NET ranking of 40. Rutgers went 11 weeks either ranked for receiving votes in the Associated Press Poll, peaking at No. 11 in the country.

Rutgers tallied 11 votes in the 2021-22 preseason AP Top 25.

"Oh man, I'm very excited coming into this season, man," McConnell said. "We got a good core coming back. Some older guys are here that are going to be great for us. I feel like our younger guys are very ready right now. They've been working their asses of this whole offseason, all summer, all preseason. They're ready to just contribute to the team. Coach Pikiell added some new pieces, two transfers, Dre (Hyatt) and Ralph (Gonzales-Agee) and those guys have been great. They've been helping us out a whole lot. I just think it's gonna be a very exciting year for us and I think we're ready."

McConnell is also ready to see and hear Rutgers nation back at the RAC.

"That's probably the thing I'm most excited for, seeing the fans back and getting the RAC jumping," McConnell said. "In (2019-20), it was a nightmare for teams to come in the RAC and pla.me I always say it's probably the top five hardest places to play."