1/25/2021 basketball Edit

The Monday Morning Step-Back: Rutgers Hoops gets back on track

Craig Epstein

Staff Writer

Despite a poor performance against Penn State in which Rutgers was down by as many as 18 points in the second half, the Scarlet Knights were able to salvage the week with a quality win over Indiana to secure their first-ever win in Bloomington.

“To win here on the road against a really well coached team and a team that has been playing great,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said after his team’s 74-70 victory over the Hoosiers. “I thought our guys had to fight through a lot of adversity today and I was proud of them, they stuck together.”

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After losing five-straight and six of their last seven, Pikiell’s decision to go with a different starting lineup paid dividends as he inserted Paul Mulcahy and Caleb McConnell in place of Jacob Young and Montez Mathis.

“I liked how we played, it helped us on the backboards and I liked how the guys came off the bench and responded,” Pikiell continued. “You make changes when you feel like there is a need for it and we were not getting off to good starts at the beginning of games, but we were real connected today.”

Sunday’s matchup with Indiana also saw the reemergence of team captain Geo Baker as the junior went off for 19 points on 7-15 shooting along with making four of his nine three-points attempts and dishing out five assists. It has been a rough go for Baker since returning from his high ankle sprain earlier in the season so to see him start to resemble his old form is sure to be a welcome sign for the Scarlet Knights.

“Geo is a good player, I thought really everyone had great numbers today,” Pikiell said. “We have not been rebounding well, a huge stat for us, and Geo has been very involved. I could not take him off the court at a couple points.”

And, while players like Baker and Ron Harper Jr. will get a majority of the praise scoring 19 and 15 points respectively, it was Myles Johnson who made the play of the game and perhaps one that could end up turning Rutgers’ season around. With about 10 seconds left, the junior big man secured an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out leading to Baker icing the game with his one made free-throw.

“I thought Myles did an unbelievable job, Trayce Jackson-Davis is one of the best players in the country and averages 20 points a game and had 30s in games,” Pikiell added. “Paul [Mulcahy] does all the things you need him to do. I thought Caleb [McConnell] gave us great energy and Jacob [Young] gave us great energy off the bench. Cliff [Omoruyi] was a real bright spot in the first half and Ron Harper, the whole game, was very involved vocally and to grab 12 rebounds was huge life for us.”