Issa Thiam comes up big in Rutgers' win at Iowa
There were many chapters inside the story of Rutgers’ 86-72 redemption victory at Iowa on Saturday night.
There was Ron Harper Jr.’s career-high 27 points, there was stout perimeter defense by the Scarlet Knights, and there was a high amount of foul trouble.
But the most surprising and possibly most important chapter was the resurgence of Issa Thiam.
A lot of things finally went in the right direction for the 6-foot-10 guard/forward for Rutgers. In 10 minutes of action -- the most since Jan. 18 against Northwestern -- after scoring just 12 points in January and February combined, Thiam netted 13 points, which only trailed Harper in that category on the team. It was the first time Thiam reached double figures since the first three games of the season way back in November.
“We had a lot of adversity tonight. We were in the most foul trouble that we’ve been in all year. We figured out a way to win. A lot of guys stepped up and make some real big plays,” Pikiell told BTN’s Stephen Bardo after the game. “How about Issa Thiam coming off the bench giving us some great minutes. ...To come on the road and do this it’s a great win in this program.”
Thiam was 3-for-3 for nine points on 3-pointers in just three minutes in the opening half. When the junior drained his first triple, it was like a revelation. He also showed his confidence was back as he made two more, including a highly-contested one, before the first buzzer sounded.
Thiam helped Rutgers make a whopping 11 treys in the contest and finish shooting 48 percent from the arc, which is the best mark in Big Ten play this year. Rutgers entered the game averaging six 3-pointers-per-game.
He finished 4-for-6 from deep and put Rutgers up by 21 points -- its largest lead -- for a second time with 5:10 remaining with a 3-pointer.
"Issa came in in the first half and hit three big 3’s,” Harper said to Jerry Recco and Joe Boylan in a postgame interview. “Issa’s a guy who works hard every day and he deserves to have a moment like that more than probably anybody, he deserves a moment like that and he did today.”
Rutgers is improving in all areas. If Thiam can be effective in his minutes and hit a couple shots from beyond the arc, it only makes the Scarlet Knights more dangerous and have another weapon at their disposal, and one they thought would have all along.
"Huge lift for us. I’m proud of him,” Pikiell told Recco and Boylan. “I trust all my guys. He hasn’t been getting the minutes that he would like, but today he took care of his minutes, that’s for sure.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.
