With their matchup against Penn State being postponed until Thursday, Jan. 21, Rutgers’ lone game of the week came against ninth-ranked Wisconsin. Despite holding the Badgers to just 60 points, the Scarlet Knights’ offensive struggles continued as they shot 37 percent en route to the 60-54 defeat. With the loss, Rutgers (7-5, 3-5 Big Ten) has now dropped four in a row and five out of their last six.
“I did love how we played defense, they are one of the most efficient offenses teams in the country,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said after the game. “We finally got back to rebounding the way we want to rebound but the ball did not fall in today.”
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In addition, the Scarlet Knights finished the day shooting a horrid 2-19 from the three-point line and continued to struggle in the free-throw department as they made just two of their seven attempts.
“It’s another game where the foul line becomes a huge thing for us, but I like that Rutgers team today,” Pikiell continued. “I thought we were tough, and I thought defensively and physically, and I thought our guys were connected. If we keep on that path we’re going to be fine.”
While Rutgers has experienced a myriad of problems throughout this losing streak, one of the biggest concerns is figuring out what has happened to Ron Harper Jr. Finishing the day shooting 2-13 from the field and missing all five of his three-point attempts, Harper Jr. has cooled down significantly in his last four appearances as he has been held under 15 points in each of them.
“Ron’s a good player, he’s just getting guarded. He did a lot of things too for us today. He had to defend multiple guys on the perimeter and Ron is a good player so I expect Ron to bounce back,” Pikiell said. “I want him to get to the free-throw line a little bit more, I think that would help us a great deal, but Ron’s a good player. Ron approached practice, we had a great week of practice leading into this game.”
On a brighter note, the game saw the return of freshman center Cliff Omoruyi who had been sidelined the last five games with a knee injury. So, for the first time all year the Scarlet Knights were able to play with their full ensemble of players.
“Cliff’s the most athletic player in the program so to not have him for the last month and not be able to play him with Myles [Johnson] and do different things that I wanted to do, so that hurt us, but it was a great lift to have him back to his high energies, a good teammate,” Pikiell added “He’ll block and alter shots and those big guys are tough matchups because they can shoot threes and they can post you, but just having someone with his size and his athleticism back on the floor and he really hasn’t practiced either.”
With Omoruyi back in the fold, some of the stress can be taken off Myles Johnson’s shoulders as the Scarlet Knights look to return to the team they were earlier in the season.
“I look forward to getting him back into the regular reps and having another big guy that can rebound and block shots, certainly helped us on the glass,” Pikiell said. “It’s the first time we’ve out rebounded a team since he’s been back so getting him back is huge to us on that end of the floor.”
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