3/15/2021 basketball Edit

Rutgers Basketball HC Steve Pikiell reacts to making the NCAA Tournament

Craig Epstein

Staff Writer

For the first time since 1991, Rutgers is a part of March Madness as the tenth-seeded Scarlet Knights will battle No. 7 Clemson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 19 at 9:20 p.m. (ET) on TBS.

“Our guys are excited to be in the tournament for the first time in 30 years with a chance to play for a national championship,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said when speaking to the media following his team’s selection. “We got a great group of guys who worked very, very hard in a real challenging league. I’m really excited for Rutgers nation and the students.”

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Stepping into the university with tournament aspirations on his mind, Pikiell now joins a list of Tom Young and Bob Wenzel as the only head coaches to lead the Scarlet Knights to the big dance.

“Rutgers is an amazing university with great people and tremendous resources and I’m just really excited, our team represents the university the right way,” he continued. “We got a lot of great things going on in athletics. We got coach Schiano on the football side, we have a hall of fame coach who will hear her name for women’s basketball, our wrestling team is going to send five guys to the national championship, our men’s lacrosse team is ranked fourth, and our women’s soccer team is ranked nineteenth. There’s a lot of good things going on.”

Despite missing out on what would have been a sure-fire bid in last year’s tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pikiell and co. were able to carry over last season’s momentum into another year where the Scarlet Knights were able to capture double-digit conference wins marking the first time Rutgers had done so consecutively since 1989-91.

“Last year just kind of carried over into this year and this year was so challenging in so many ways,” Pikiell said. “I know last year they did it but nobody gives you credit for last year. These guys get the credit they deserve this year and now ‘What are you going to do with this opportunity?’ was my first question to them.”

Furthermore, the Scarlet Knights will look for their first March Madness win since 1983 when they defeated Southwest Louisiana 60-53. This is also just the seventh time the program has ever been a part of the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re ready for any challenge,” he added. “We have good players and we’re an exciting team to watch too. Our guys will be locked in and ready to play good basketball and play a good 40 minutes on both ends of the floor, that’s what you do to advance.”