Paul Mulcahy: “The best memory hasn’t happened yet”
Paul Mulcahy will be honored on Senior Night prior to the Rutgers men’s basketball team’s home game at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Sunday (7:30 p.m., BTN).
Mulcahy, who is in his fourth year, has already graduated and is pursuing a Master’s Degree, has another year of eligibility due to getting the COVID year back as a blanket waiver. Mulcahy said on Friday he hasn’t given much thought of if he will return or not in 2023-24.
“I’m trying to be in the moment as much as possible,” he said. “I don’t even know what day it is or what I’m going to eat for dinner. I’m just being in the moment.
“I’m a senior, but mentally sometimes I feel like I’m a sophomore because of the COVID year and the last three years have been so quick. It doesn’t feel like four years to be honest. I learned a lot about myself and other people. Thanks to coach (Steve Pikiell). He’s the best coach in the country. Thankful to be able to play with Caleb (McConnell, who sat beside him for the interview). It’s awesome to see what Rutgers is now. We’re not done.”
Since Mulcahy joined the team in 2019-20, his time at Rutgers has been anything but smooth. His freshman year ended abruptly due to the spread of the coronavirus, and even though he got his Bachelor’s Degree last year and is technically taking a “fifth” year of college courses, he’s only had four classes where he’s sat in a room with other classmates.
“My college experience has been very weird,” Mulcahy said. “My freshman year was cut short, then it was the COVID year, and last year there was still a COVID year kind of last year. I’ve only had four in-person classes. I haven’t reminisced on things like that. It’s been weird. It’s affected everything with people coming back and the transfer portal. College basketball right now is older. My sophomore year, we were isolated. I’m a big believer that the best has yet to happen.”
Being that he did graduate, Mulcahy could have left Rutgers prior to this year (or any other season). But he’s New Jersey and Rutgers through and through. He battled through a fire at his home in the past, so he wasn't going to bolt the state when things got tough.
“Caleb and I along with all the other guys who have stayed the course, I think long term it’s going to help us more than anything,” Mulcahy said. “It’s sexy to transfer and to chase the big names especially with NIL. But we stayed the course. When (stuff) got hard, we didn’t run from it. I’ve never done that. There’s plenty of kids who would have chased the high road and greener grass elsewhere. It’s cliche, but we’re watering our own grass. That’s life. I’m proud of us. Caleb could have played his last year by home and made a lot of money but he came back to win.”
Mulcahy referenced a lot of times during the chat that the team isn’t done and that he feels the best has yet to come. Rutgers, despite a damaging loss to Minnesota on Thursday, is still on track by many to make its third appearance in a row in the NCAA Tournament, something the program has never done.
Mulcahy went on a tear last February to help light a spark as the team put itself back on the bubble.
“The best memory hasn’t happened yet,” the Bayonne point guard said. “But recently, the Penn State game was the best game I’ve been a part of. I was so proud of the team. It just showed how connected we are. A lot of teams wouldn’t be able to fight through that. That was incredible.”
Mulcahy, who started the Grateful 4 Foundation, has been one to point out the work all the people behind the scenes of the team do like the managers and more. Mulcahy again gave credit to the job they do.
“Off the court, I really appreciate all the background people like the managers, David VanDyke, and Rich Campbell. We’ve been banged up and they go above and beyond to help us,” Mulcahy said. “There’s so many great people within this program that don’t get recognition. It’s way bigger than just the guys on the floor.”
The year before Mulcahy joined the team, only Ron Harper Jr. was the one bigger name out of New Jersey that joined the fold and saw the vision of the coaches. And even he was an underrated pickup.
Mulcahy, a 3-star recruit out of Gill St. Bernard’s, has now seen top prospect Cliff Omoruyi (Roselle Catholic), and current freshman Derek Simpson (Mount Laurel/Lenape HS) commit to Rutgers with more potentially on the way.
Rutgers Men’s Basketball is now a team fans in the Garden State have taken notice of and want to root for, and players are more open to playing at.
“I haven’t gotten the chance to think about that. I think 10-15 years down the road I’ll be able to appreciate it more because there wasn’t a New Jersey kid that came here. I was the only one who was recruited from Jersey that came here for four years. There were a lot of guys in my (high school class) that chased the bigger name,” Mulcahy said. “Everybody has their own journey, but I believed in this program before there was anything to believe in. Then we got Cliff and Derek. We got the right kids. I think in the future we’ll get high level New Jersey kids, but if there’s a kid from Dayton, Ohio that’s a worker we’ll take him as well. New Jersey. Things have changed a little bit I feel and I think it’ll keep changing for the positive.”
Pikiell is one who hates phones, hates the internet so to speak, and hates social media. He feels they are all distractions. Mulcahy has taken on the personality of his head coach and believes the same thing, and would tell his freshman self to think that way, too.
“Stay the course because there are highs and lows and stay off of social media and don’t listen to outside noise,” Mulcahy said on advice to his younger self. “Keep working and stay true to yourself. At some points I let other things affect who I was.”
In order to pad its NCAA Tournament resume, Rutgers has one last regular season game coming up on Sunday night.
“We bounce back all the time,” Mulcahy said. “We work hard. It’s another game. We had a walkthrough and we’ll mentally prepare and be as connected as possible and play as hard as possible as we do.”
TKR's Richie Schnyderite contributed to this article.
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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