The 12th-seeded Rutgers men’s basketball team begins Big Ten Tournament play on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. in Chicago, Ill. against 13th-seeded Nebraska. It marks the first time that Rutgers (14-16, 7-13) isn’t in the basement as the 14th seed since joining the conference in 2014-15.
Rutgers finished tied for 10th place in the regular season, its best final standing. The Scarlet Knights’ seven wins this year against Big Ten competition was most league-game victorious since 2005-06 in the Big East.
“Our new season begins with Nebraska. I liked our season this year,” Scarlet Knights head coach Steve Pikiell said Monday. “we made some strides but we have a long way to go. I’m excited for the tournament.”
After playing well in late January winning three in a row and two straight at the end of February into March, Rutgers lost the last two games of the regular season, missing out earning a first round bye in the tournament.
Last season, Rutgers lost 10 of its last 11 contests before hitting reset button and shocking the conference and all of college basketball by winning against Minnesota and Indiana in the first two rounds to make the quarterfinals where it went toe-to-toe but ran out of gas against Purdue and fell by seven points at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Pikiell is hoping he and his young team can do it again.
“We have to do it again. The tournament is so different,'' Pikiell said. "You can learn from mistakes during the year and you can get your guys to bounce back from things. But this is 40 minutes or your uniforms are being handed in. So it’s a whole different perspective you have to take in this tournament. We’ve shown signs of being real good and we’ve shown other signs that we have a long ways to go.
“But this is now the time where you better put it together and you better stay out of foul trouble and you better be well prepared. We intend to be that, and again, there are many challenges when you’re playing in a league like this no matter who you play. ...We have to get a young group to be ready to play at a high level for 40 minutes and we plan on doing that.’’
One of the players that needs push his own reset button is Geo Baker. The sophomore guard, who is second on the team in scoring with 12.3 points-per-game, was anything but is normal “big shot Baker” self in the final two games of the year. Against Penn State and Indiana combined, he went 1-for-14 with five points. He was shutout against Penn State at home in Rutgers’ 66-65 loss. A bucket by Baker would have made the difference.
Getting him back on track is key for Rutgers. In the Big Ten Tournament last season as a freshman, after hitting the proverbial wall, he averaged 14.3 points in the three games including going off for 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting versus No. 8 Purdue in the quarterfinals.
“Geo’s really good. He played really well in the tournament last year. He’s an important player for us. He’s still young too as a sophomore. Teams certainly key in on him. I expect him to play great. He did last year,” Pikiell said. “We have to get him back on the right track and we will. He works hard and he’s been terrific.”
Two starters for Rutgers freshman and two more come off the bench and play a lot of minutes in the rotation. Those four, along with JUCO transfer Shaq Carter and redshirt sophomore Peter Kiss, will be making their first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament, so Pikiell is relying on Baker and guys like Eugene Omoruyi, and Shaq Doorson to help educate the rookies and first-timers about the tournament, preparing, and flipping the switch.
“You always lean on your veterans. They’re the ones who always understand the urgency of the tournament setting. You depend on those guys and we have to continue to educate our young guys how important this is,” Pikiell said. “It’s a whole new season and this is why I love a league like this. This is our last way to keep the season going.”
Rutgers beat Nebraska, 76-69, at the RAC back on Jan. 21. Six days later, the Cornhuskers lost their top player, Isaac Copeland Jr., who scored 16 points against the Scarlet Knights, the rest of the season with an injury. Pikiell talked about how different Nebraska is this time around.
“He was a hurt a long time ago so I think they’ve gotten through that adjustment. They have really good players. (James) Palmer Jr. is an all-league player, (Glynn) Watson, (Isaiah) Roby is one of the most talented guys in the conference. Watching their game the other day against Iowa, I saw the confidence in the way they play. They made 3’s, they’re getting good minutes out of their bench guys. Even in the games they lost down the stretch, they played well,” Pikiell said.
“They’ve been in games and it’s a tough league so to finish these things off it become a one or two possession game. They have good talent all across the board and they will be ready. We have to be ready to play good basketball.”
Rutgers and Nebraska both played Sunday afternoon and have little time to prepare and rest up for Wednesday. But the essentially two day break is a vacation compared to the 24 hours or less you’ll get if you move on in the tournament.
The winner faces fifth-seeded Maryland on Thursday at 3:00 p.m.
“You always want more preparation time, but it’s the time of the year where the guys want to play anyway. Hopefully we can get some rest and then jump right on the plane,” Pikiell said. “There’s obstacles in this league always and this is another one. We played an unbelievable schedule, one of the toughest in the county and we’re one of the youngest teams. Hopefully are guys are ready to fight through obstacles.”
