Derek Simpson set a new career-high in points with 23 in Rutgers' 85-63 victory against Howard. This marked the second consecutive game Simpson recorded double-digit points as he scored 15 in the team's win over Georgetown.
"He has just been taking command the past couple of games," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "He's really shown some tremendous leadership, it starts with his defense, they're really good guards today to play against. One is a transfer from Maryland and some all-league-type guys, so I think it starts with his defense. He had it going today and is one of the best foul shooters in the country. He's taking care of his body, he's practicing the right way, and there are great days ahead."
Simpson not only recorded his first 20+ point game of his career, but did so efficiently as he shot 7-for-10 from the field and 7-for-9 from the foul line. This marked the second time he posted back-to-back 15+ point games in his career. His efforts also helped the Scarlet Knights (4-1) finish 54.2 percent from the field, their best shooting day since last season's 90-55 victory against Minnesota when they shot 59.7 percent.
“I think we've been practicing very well getting the ball off the floor and making the right reads," Simpson said. "We tell guys, 'if you're going to cut hard, cut to the other side you're going to get somebody else open.'"
Simpson believes there is still room for improvement for Rutgers' offense though, specifically preventing turnovers.
"I think we still have a lot more cleaning up to do," he said. "We had 11 turnovers today, I think we're better than that as a team. We're going to keep working on those numbers."
Cliff Omrouyi notched his second double-double of the season and 22nd of his career, finishing with 15 points and 14 rebounds. The big man also moved into seventh all-time in program history with 713 rebounds, passing Kelvin Troy and Anthony Dukett.
"I think they really focused on Cliff a lot off the screens and stuff like that so it opened up a lot of shots for me today," Simpson explained. "I took them and a lot of them went in so I was happy."
This marked the most points the Scarlet Knights scored since last year's Minnesota win, and they finished with an early-season high in field goals (32), assists (19), and steals (11).
"Confidence is key in basketball and anything you do in life," Simpson said. "When you have confidence your attributes go up, and when I give this team confidence I think we do really good. We had a great practice yesterday so overall we were really locked in."
The Mount Laurel native gave the team a boost right before halftime as he sunk a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Rutgers a 39-31 lead at the break.
"3-pointers give me a lot of confidence," Simpson continued. "Last year I didn't shoot the ball too well from three. It wasn't really my role last year to shoot as many threes, but this year I feel like there's a bigger opportunity to get a couple of threes up a game."
Simpson also explained the biggest difference between his freshman season and now five games into year two.
"Playing my style of basketball," he said. "I'm quick and can get up and down the court pretty fast. The guys around me want to run and have fun, we've been taking care of our bodies a lot so we're able to get up and down pretty fast."
In addition, Simpson made sure to credit the scarlet faithful who made a game in November sound like March.
"Shout out to the fans for coming out on a Saturday night," he said. "They could have been doing other things, but they came to Jersey Mike's to enjoy a good 20-point win."
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