3/17/2021 basketball Edit

Rutgers-Clemson: Tigers have some NJ flavor

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

Rutgers is the only New Jersey-based team and university in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, but the Jersey players on the Scarlet Knights won’t be the only natives of the Garden State in the dance.

Tenth-seeded Rutgers’ first opponent on Friday night at 9:20 p.m. (TBS), seventh-seeded Clemson, features sophomore guard Al-Amir Dawes, a Newark native who went to the Patrick School.

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Rutgers junior forward Ron Harper Jr., who went to Don Bosco Prep, said he went up against Dawes many times in the past. The last time the two met up in high school was in the 2016-17 NJSIAA Tournament of Champions final. Patrick School won, 69-55.

In the game, Harper Jr., who was a junior, scored 13 points with seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals. Dawes, a sophomore at the time, made three 3-pointers for nine points with three assists, and two boards.

Dawes is shooting 38.7% from deep this season (41-of-106) for Clemson.

“I used to play Al a lot in AAU and high school. He's a real scrappy guard. He'll do whatever it takes for his team to win. He is a great player,” Harper Jr. told TKR on Wednesday. “I have tremendous respect for him and his game. Looking forward to playing another Jersey guy on Friday.”

Dawes played with Rutgers sophomore guard Paul Mulcahy in AAU for the NJ Playaz.

“I don’t know how hard they recruited him,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said on Tuesday. “He’ll be excited about the game, obviously. He’ll be excited about playing somebody that is his home state’s school.”

The Tigers’ leading point-scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker, forward/center Aamir Simms, spent his early childhood in East Orange before moving to Virginia as a kid.

“He's a matchup problem. He's a center that can get a rebound and push it up the floor. He can post up. He has a really versatile game,” Harper Jr. said. “He's different from the modern day center we're used to facing in the Big Ten.”

While he’s not from New Jersey, Rutgers fans may be familiar with Nick Honor, a redshirt sophomore guard who netted 30 points in a 78-70 upset win over the Scarlet Knights in 2018 as a rookie.

“Any time you get into a tournament like this there are good guards that can really shoot the basketball. They're very impressive defensively too. They do a great job of ball pressure. They're good players,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said of Dawes and Honor. “They can shoot it and can go by you. They have a center in Simms who's a matchup problem, but they got a lot of guys on the perimeter. They cause many problems. They all can shoot the basketball too. Coach plays a lot of guys. They try to wear you down a little bit but. I think this will be a tournament as you look through it, teams that don't have good guards probably don't get here and those guards are as good as any.”

Rutgers broke a 30-year drought of not making the NCAA Tournament. Harper Jr., who said his parents will be in the stands Friday night, is happy to be playing for and representing his home state during March Madness and hopes he can help deliver the Scarlet Knights their first win in the tournament since 1983.

“It's surreal to be able to do this for the State University where I was born, where I was raised in Jersey. It's a great feeling,” Harper Jr. said. “Wherever I go, my mom always tells me we're going to make history and break records and now we're doing it. We're in March Madness for the first time since 1991. It's a great opportunity. It's a great feeling, but we have a very good understanding that the job is not finished. We still got a lot more to accomplish.”