2/15/2021 basketball Edit

The Monday Morning Step-Back: Rutgers Hoops goes 1-1 on the week

Craig Epstein

Staff Writer

If there is any team that has shown just how wild and unpredictable the Big Ten season is it is Rutgers. Coming out like a house on fire, the Scarlet Knights found themselves ranked as high as 11 before falling to Ohio State, a currently projected one-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and losing six out of seven. Now, Rutgers has flipped the script winning five of their last six and positioning themselves well with five games left to go in the regular season.

Despite dropping the season series to Iowa, the Scarlet Knights avoided disaster by capturing both of their games against Northwestern who have now lost 11 in a row.

“I thought Northwestern played really well and I thought our defense was really, really good,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said after his team’s 64-50 win over the Wildcats. “I love the fact that we outrebounded them and we got contributions from everybody.”

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Although Northwestern jumped out to a 14-2 lead, Rutgers was able to settle down and go into halftime with a 10-point lead. Although it did not come easy, the Scarlet Knights were able to take every shot the Wildcats gave to them in the second half and walk away with the 14-point victory.

“They jumped on us quickly there but I thought we really settled down and made stuff difficult,” Pikiell continued. “I thought we got to the free-throw line more than they did and I thought that was a huge key for us and I love the way we can mix our defenses.”

Despite shooting 4-19 from the three-point line, Rutgers was proficient on shots inside the arc and the backboards as both Myles Johnson and Ron Harper Jr. came away from the contest with a double-double.

“Ron is having a great year, he really is and he’s shooting almost 50 percent from the field,” Pikiell said. “He raised his points per game, his rebounds from last year, and his defense is getting better and better and to defend all the different guys he had to defend and did it without fouling.”

Even though Harper Jr. is not filling up the score sheets in the same manner he had earlier in the year, Pikiell commends the fact he is willing to commit to other avenues to help Rutgers come away with wins.

“I know everyone will look at if the ball goes in or not, but that’s a small percentage of what he brings to our team,” Pikiell added. “Today, you saw the rebounds and you saw the free-throws and he was making some shots, but he’s been doing a lot of good things for us during the streak here.”

And, if there was ever an award for unsung heroes it would go to Paul Mulcahy and Caleb McConnell who have been the glue guys for the Scarlet Knights all season long. Whether it is playing through a broken nose and dislocated finger or deciding to forego a redshirt season to help the team, it is hard to imagine where this squad would be without the presence of those two.