12/24/2020 basketball Edit

Rutgers Hoops vs. Ohio State: Three Thoughts on the game

Craig Epstein

Staff Writer

After getting out to a 6-0 start, Rutgers was brought down to earth a bit as they blew a 16-point lead en route to their first loss of the season to Ohio State 80-68.

Here are three thoughts after the game:

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Myles Johnson Finds Himself In Foul Trouble

After a game like this the Big Ten might have to issue a statement on how Myles Johnson is allowed to play defense as some of the calls that went against the junior big man were downright criminal.

“Myles had been playing really well and to only have him on the court for 15 minutes without Cliff [Omoruyi] is not a good thing,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said in his postgame press conference. “He’s a good player, he’ll bounce back and learn a lot from this.”

Fouling out with 8:44 left in the second half, Johnson’s loss played a pivotal role in this matchup as the Buckeyes would continue to attack the paint at will and finish the game on a 29-9 run.

“We’ll have to be more creative with our lineup when guys are out, we have to do a better job,” Pikiell continued. “So I’ll take the hit for this but we’ll get better. These are the obstacles you face in the best league in the country.”

Even backup center Mamadou Doucoure could not escape the refs’ quick trigger whistle as he also found himself in early foul trouble and ended up finishing the game with four fouls to his name.

Jacob Young Goes Down

As bad as the second half was for Rutgers, it became even worse with about eight minutes to go when senior guard Jacob Young went up for a dunk and injured himself after landing hard on his back.

“He fell really hard, he was in a lot of pain. We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” Pikiell said. “We’re banged up, we’re down a few guys. Every guy is important but we’ve got to get him back.”

Already having to play without freshman big man Cliff Omoruyi and freshman forward Mawot Mag, the Scarlet Knights seem to have found themselves plagued by injuries just seven games into the season.

“Not having Cliff today hurt us but I thought that Mamadou Doucoure came in today and worked his butt off and gave us some really good minutes,” Pikiell added. “And Jacob Young, he’s having a great year and has been our most important defender. I just hope he’s okay, that’s the most important thing, to keep our guys healthy.”

While Rutgers appears to have lucked out with Geo Baker’s high ankle sprain not being too serious, they can ill afford to lose Young for an extended period of time as he has seemingly become the engine that keeps the team going.

In Search Of Depth

Although Rutgers has six players who can compete against just about anybody in the country, if they want to make a deep run then they are going to have to find reliable seventh, eighth, and ninth guys as well.

“Everyone’s got to be ready,” Pikiell said. “Mawot was out too and that’s another guy that could have helped us a bit today. So, the next guy has to be ready to step up.”

As they are finding out already, to try and get through the grind known as the Big Ten with the same players every game is next to impossible. At some point the Scarlet Knights are going to have to find reliable sources from some unlikely places.

“Today we certainly had a lot of obstacles thrown at us,” Pikiell said. “It’s a tough league and you learn from it. We’ll be ready to go the next time.”

While the sky is not falling and there is plenty of season left to go, this loss should serve as an early wake up call for the Scarlet Knights not to get too high and remember what lies ahead of them.

Rutgers will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 29 when they take on Purdue at the RAC at 7 p.m. (ET) on FS1.