2/10/2023 basketball Edit

How is Rutgers moving forward without Mawot Mag?

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

Rutgers has played about 66 minutes of basketball since Mawot Mag injured his knee during Saturday's win over Michigan State in New York.

It was announced on Tuesday prior to the game against Indiana that Mag will be out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL. Mag traveled with the team for the No. 24-ranked Scarlet Knights' loss to the No. 18 Hoosiers.

Mag was one of the Big Ten's best defenders and the "anchor" of the Rutgers defense according to reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Caleb McConnell. The Scarlet Knights are ranked No. 2 on KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency, but the gap is closing.

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Mag was blossoming in his role on both ends of the courts, and his offense was improving. Mag was averaging 7.8 points and had seven points and maybe eight and nine as he was set to go to the free-throw line when he got hurt. He had scored in double figures the two previous games before that and had a career-high 15 points recently against Ohio State.

Mag, whose family is originally from Sudan, has dealt with a slew of dental issues in his career after first taking a strong elbow to the mouth in high school. The 6-foot-7 forward had started every game this season up until Tuesday.

"It's tough. Anytime you lose a player. These guys are tight. This group is really connected and Mawot's right in the middle of it. He's a great teammate. It's tough," Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said. "It's tough on Mawot. He's battled hard to get to where he's gotten and to have it end right here in the middle of things, it's not obviously where he wants to be or where any of us want him to be. So it's tough and he's got great friends on the team, so they all feel for him."

Against Indiana, Aundre Hyatt, a 6-foot-6 forward, got the start in Mag's place. He played 27 minutes and scored nine points on 3-of-8 shooting. He went 2-for-7 on 3-pointers while notching four rebounds and two assists.

Oskar Palmquist, who gained confidence with 13 points a few games back in the blowout win over Minnesota, also scored nine points on a trio of 3-pointers. He made his first three looks from long range. Palmquist kept Rutgers in the game in the first half with his scoring, but of his 13 minutes played, just three were after halftime when Rutgers started to play better defense, an area of weakness for the Sweden native. Palmquist's =/- of -11 was the second-worst on the team only to McConnell, who struggled in this one.

Derek Simpson, the team's freshman guard, came in and scored seven points on 3-of-5 shooting as well. Jalen Miller saw three minutes and committed a foul on a 3-point attempt.

"Obviously we only had a couple of days to figure things out without Mawot," Pikiell said. "He's been a huge part of what we've been trying to do. I feel awful for him. The guys love him too. He certainly would have helped us on the backboards today with our defense, but we have to make adjustments and haven't had a lot of time to work on some of the things without him, so we have to spend a little time here in the next couple of weeks getting life adjusted (without him). I did think Oskar came in and gave us some great minutes and Derek Simpson did too. That bench is going to be important to us moving forward now that we moved Aundre into the starting lineup.."

After seeing his minutes take a big dip near the beginning of January, Simpson has played double digit minutes the last four games including 15, 17, and 18 the last three, respectively. Simpson will likely continue to get more playing time with Mag not on the floor.

"He can go by people with his speed and quickness and he can defend too. I felt like today he had to go in a little bit and he can bother the basketball," Pikiell said. "He brings us another defender too now that Mawot's out. He's got to keep getting better because he's an important part of this thing moving forward."

At this point, it is unclear how long Mag will be out. The general consensus is about a nine-month recovery process after surgery just to get back.

"It's an ACL, so it's a long journey," Pikiell siad. "We're figuring out when he's going to have the surgery, but ACLs take time. We have great doctors and we have great rehab people, but those (take) a lot of rehab."

McConnell and Paul Mulcahy, two senior leads for Rutgers, combined for just four points on 2-of-16 shooting. McConnell was 1-for-12. The Scarlet Knights trailed by 14 points to the Hoosiers but fought back and made a three-point game with a chance to tie with three minutes left.

There's still plenty of basketball left to be played, and now Rutgers will have to do it without a Mag. It's a learning process.

Rutgers travels to Illinois on Saturday afternoon.

"I mean, you have to. We were down 14 in this game. They had the momentum. They had everything. We kept fighting. We fought the whole time," Pikiell said. "It's a one possession game with three minutes left. I look at these things and I just say the disparity there, you cannot defend the foul line, so you can't put people on there. That's something that we talk about and preach. You've got to defend without fouling. It was a huge advantage for him, but give him the credit. They got there. Trayce Jackson-Davis was a problem. They made some plays. Miller (Kopp) made some big baskets for him too when it was kind of getting close. Give them credit and it's a tough, tough environment. They're playing as well as anybody in the country.

"We have to battle back and it doesn't get any easier here. We're still on the road again. Three straight trips here on the road away from Jersey Mike's (Arena). It's not easy right now."