2/21/2023 basketball Edit

Rutgers navigates obstacles, the grind to end losing skid

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

Obstacles.

That might be Rutgers men’s basketball head coach Steve Pikiell’s favorite word other than “grind”. He loves the grind of a particular game, the grind of the season, and says there are always obstacles teams have to go through.

The Scarlet Knights are going through both right now.

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After riding high after a win over Purdue to begin the new year and mounting wins to stay above the rest in second place in the Big Ten, Rutgers is now a part of the log jam in the standings that is the vast majority of the league.

Rutgers ended a three-game losing streak on the road this past Saturday at Wisconsin. It was a total team effort, and Pikiell’s crew dealt with plenty of obstacles to pull off the victory. Featuring two of the better defensive clubs and average offensive squads, you knew it was going to be a grind and it was.

"First of all, the Kohl Center is always a tough place to play. Coach (Greg) Gaard does an unbelievable job and the way they play and how connected they are. This was a tough game, but we were lucky to get it on the road,” Pikiell said. “Our defense came back. We haven't been playing Rutgers defense the last few games, but I am proud of our guys. We were down a couple guys and everyone checked in and did some great things but just another Big Ten grind."

With Mawot Mag, a defensive stopper, already out with a torn ACL, the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Caleb McConnell, tweaked his back during warmups just before tip-off. He didn’t play the entire game, and reports are saying he will be out for Thursday’s home game against Michigan. McConnell has dealt with many injuries including his back in the past. Oskar Palmquist started in his place.

Paul Mulcahy got a stinger in the game, but he appears to be OK going forward.

"Right before the game I found out. His back just went out on him and he couldn't walk. It was during warmups right before tip off. So that's when we knew. We've lost Mawot Mag for the season and now we are down Caleb McConnell, who I think is the best defender in the country. The next guy was ready. Oskar hasn't played a lot of minutes and gave us 18 really good minutes. Dean Reiber and everyone chipped in and you needed that in a game like this against a really good Wisconsin team."

Defensive returned

As Pikiell said, the team’s defense came back. The No. 4-ranked defense per KenPom held Wisconsin to 33.3% shooting (19-of-57) overall. Wisconsin made 12 3-pointers, but again, it shot just 33.3% in doing so (6-for-22), and had just 14 points in the paint. It was noted last week that Rutgers had to figure out and get back to what got it there -- defense. Rutgers played solid defense without its top two defenders.

There were 13 lead changes in the contest and four ties. Wisconsin’s last field goal came with 3:36 remaining. Tyler Wahl (seven points), Steven Crowl (eight), Chucky Hepburn (six), and Connor Essegian (two foul shots) scored just 23 points combined. Together they average close to 50. Wisconsin had just five turnovers, Mulcahy notched the only two steals, but Aundre Hyatt and Cliff Omoruyi each had two blocks.

Omoruyi, who played 38 minutes, committed only one foul with eight rebounds and 12 points. He saved the game with massive defensive plays in the final moments. Omoruyi first stopped a drive attempt by Essegian, tipped the ball out, stopped dribble penetration by Max Klesmit who grabbed the offensive rebound, and then flew from the paint out to the 3-point line is less than a second to get a finger on the would-be game-winning shot by Essegian.

“Cliff was very active. I couldn't take him out of the game tonight. But he did a lot of good things for us. He was able to finish. …We knew they would go on runs but you count on your defense to make some stops, and we got a huge stop at the end there. Cliff gets involved, gets a block, out rebounds, and finishes up the game on that end of the floor.”

Welcome back, Cam

On the other end of the court, Cam Spencer came back at the perfect time. After going through another slump and hitting 4-of-17 3-pointers the last four games, he netted 22 points, was 7-for-14 from the field, 6-of-10 from behind the arc, and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. He was 6-for-7 shooting with 19 points in the first half, making his first six attempts.

His 19 points were the most by a Scarlet Knight entering intermission since 2018-19.

Get to the rim

Wisconsin took a 57-54 lead with 3:36 to go on a 3-pointer by Kamar McGhee, but that would be the Badgers’ last points of the game. Rutgers ended the contest on a 4-0 run. The key go-ahead bucket was by Hyatt, who had a Mag-like game with eight points, five rebounds, and the two blocks. He only shot two 3-pointers, and he missed both, but he didn’t waste any more possessions by chucking up bad shots.

To take a 58-57 lead with 1:08 left, Derek Simpson drove to the rim with the shot clock winding down. Hyatt followed him in and dunked home the eventual game-winning points. It was close to being goaltending -- Wisconsin fans thought it was and Rutgers thought the opposite. Either way, the basket counted. The ball following Simpson’s drive wasn’t going in and it was rolling off of the rim.

Good things happen in basketball when you get to the rim, and Simpson quickly made that decision.

So what’s next?

Rutgers has four games remaining starting with a Blackout promotion on Thursday night versus Michigan (8:30 p.m., FS1). Again, don’t expect McConnell to play, so Reiber, who had five points against Wisconsin, and Palmquist, who made a 3-pointer and had the team’s top +/- at plus-eight, will have to step up once again.

After that, Rutgers goes to Penn State on Sunday evening (6:30 p.m., BTN), travels to Minnesota on March 2 (7:00 p.m., FS1), before finishing the regular season on Senior Night on March 5 against Northwestern (7:30, BTN).

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In order to keep improving its seed for the NCAA Tournament and stay within the top four in the Big Ten standings for the conference tournament, Rutgers will have to keep playing defense and get healthy.