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Published Jan 6, 2025
Rift between Kiyomi McMiller, Rutgers grows further with recent reports
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Alec Crouthamel  •  TheKnightReport
Staff Writer
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@aleccr12

After Rutgers Women's Basketball's 78-61 loss to No. 8 Maryland on Thursday night, something was clearly trending in the wrong direction.

Star freshman Kiyomi McMiller struggled in limited minutes, committing seven first-half turnovers and battling with inefficiency from the floor. As a native of Silver Spring, Maryland, her homecoming game felt anything but homely, and she ended up not playing the final 15 minutes of the game. Head coach Coquese Washington said after the game it was not injury-related and was a coach's decision.

Now, a divide between McMiller - with her circle - and the Scarlet Knights has become publicly apparent, with new reports confirming their unhappiness with the program.

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A report from NJ Advance Media's Steve Politi and Joey Chandler on Monday morning outlined the most recent turmoil, sparked by an Instagram post from McMiller six hours before Sunday night's tipoff against nationwide star JuJu Watkins and No. 4 USC.

The post read:

"To My Fans

I would Like to apologize to my fans. I will not be playing in today's game vs USC, which is #4 in the country. This decision was made by my Head Coach Coquese Washington. Thank you for your continued support.

Godbless all of you ~ Kiyomi "The Product" McMiller"

McMiller's post quickly sent shockwaves through the women's basketball world, with fans questioning what caused the benching and expressing disappointment that the hyped-up matchup between the two stars would no longer be happening.

Politi and Chandler received word from Leonard Ellerbe, a longtime CEO of Mayweather Promotions and a widely-known sports executive and promoter and advisor of McMiller, expressing disappointment with the decision to suspend her for the game. Ellerbe joined McMiller's "Executive Team" in November, according to a press release.

"In my opinion, this should have been handled in an entirely different matter, and I think this is embarrassing to the entire program.” Ellerbe said in the report.

It also stated that people "with knowledge of the situation" told NJ Advance Media the decision was made after a "locker-room altercation with a teammate following a recent game."

Following Sunday's 92-42 loss to the Trojans, Washington declined to go into specifics on McMiller's absence.

"We're going to keep the specifics and everything internal," she said before talking about her role as a coach in preparing her players for life, not just the basketball court, citing a recent video from Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang discussing how he views coaching as a ministry.

"For me, coaching is not just about what happens on the court on gameday," Washington said. "It's about how we impact these young women that are in our program in all aspects. From their character, to their growth into womanhood, and their decision-making. I see my role as a coach as being more than Xs and Os and wins and losses, but how am I impacting the young women in my care? That's always going to be first and foremost, and the decision-making that we do that goes into this program, it's about defining character, growing young people, so as we deal with different circumstances and situations, for me the first thing is, how are we impacting these young people? How am I using my position and my role as head coach to grow teenagers into young women?"

It is currently unclear if McMiller will return for Wednesday's game at Minnesota.

Purely on the court, the absence of McMiller was glaring on offense for the Scarlet Knights in Sunday's loss. They struggled with handling USC's length and pressure on the defensive end, committing 27 turnovers and shooting just 28% from the floor. For stretches of the game - particularly the third quarter - Rutgers seemed unable to move the ball up the floor and lacked another ballhandler to work around the Trojans' stifling defense.

According to Bart Torvik's database, McMiller ranks first in the Big Ten - and among all freshmen nationally - in usage rate (the percentage of possessions that end with a player while they are on the floor) at 32.8%, while fellow star Destiny Adams (32.7%) ranks second in the conference. The duo rank 20th and 21st among all players nationwide.

An extended absence for McMiller would leave a large opening for ballhandling duties and scoring, putting the onus on Adams once again to carry the offensive burden in the back half of the season for the second straight year.

Off the court, moving on without McMiller for any period of time could spell trouble for the future of the program. Last season, Kaylene Smikle played her final game as a Scarlet Knight on December 17th, 2023, before sitting out the remainder of the season with what Washington described as a "medical issue." Smikle entered the portal two weeks after the season ended before eventually committing to Maryland, where currently she leads the eighth-ranked Terrapins in scoring with 18.1 points per game.

While McMiller has not stated any intent to transfer immediately or at the end of the season, there has been some smoke in the wake of the latest incident. Ellerbe told Politi that he had not spoken to McMiller, but did not outright deny the possibility of a transfer.

"I don’t want to speak in terms of long-term, but this is — you don’t treat people like this,” he said. “You don’t handle a situation like this. I’m trying to say the right thing here. Who knows what her future looks like right now? Who knows what her future looks like?”

McMiller also reposted multiple posts on her Instagram story that expressed disappointment with the decision, including one post (that has since been deleted) stating, "Transfer Portal Immediately."


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Losing a second star player in two years would reflect poorly on the program's ability to retain talent and the near future with a crucial offseason upcoming.

The Scarlet Knights lose Adams, forward Chyna Cornwell, and guards JoJo Lacey and Awa Sidibe to graduation. Six scholarship players (including McMiller) will remain, with only one high school recruit committed for the 2025 class.

If McMiller were to enter the portal following the season, Rutgers would not only need to fill out its roster, but also bring in talent to fill the holes left by Adams and McMiller in the offense.

With the Scarlet Knights' Big Ten slate already off to a slower start with three straight losses to top-ten ranked teams, the rift between the team and one of its star players is taking over the play on the basketball court.

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