1/16/2021 basketball Edit

Three Thoughts on Rutgers Basketball's loss to Wisconsin

Craig Epstein

Staff Writer

The slump continues for Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights lost their fourth in a row and five out of their last six after falling to Wisconsin 60-54 to drop to a 7-5 record overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten.

Here are three thoughts after the game:

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Offense Continues To Sputter

One would have figured going into this game if Rutgers was able to hold the Badgers to 60 points on 35 percent shooting they would have easily come away with the win. However, that was not the case as the Scarlet Knights also struggled offensively as they finished the day shooting 25-67 and went an abysmal 2-19 from the three-point line.

“I thought we got good looks, so we shot 10 percent from three-point land, but I thought we got good looks,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said in his postgame press conference. “I’m going to have to watch the tape but I thought we got open ones and we got good shooters. At one point we were one of the best three-point shooting teams so credit to Wisconsin.”

This game is part of an ever-growing problem for Rutgers as the magic touch the Scarlet Knights had early in the season seems to have evaporated. Right now, outside of Jacob Young nobody on this team has been able to consistently put the ball through the basket. If the Scarlet Knights hope to get out of this rut before they do any further damage to their resume they are going to have to figure some things out offensively and fast.

Where Has Ron Gone?

Despite coming out of the gate looking like a serious contender for NCAA Player of the Year, Ron Harper Jr. appears to have hit a wall as the junior has been held to under 15 points in each of the team’s last four games. Not only that, but he seems to have lost his shot as the Franklin Lakes, NJ native went 2-13 from the field against Wisconsin and missed all five of his three-point attempts.

“Ron’s a good player, he’s just getting guarded. He did a lot of things too for us today,” Pikiell continued. “He had to defend multiple guys on the perimeter and Ron is a good player so I expect Ron to bounce back.”

If Rutgers is going to get back to their winning ways, then they are going to need to see more of the Harper Jr. they witnessed in November and December rather than the one that has shown up in January. The same goes for just about the rest of the team as well.

Penn State Of The Union Address

While it is hard to say a game in January should be classified as a “must-win,” the Scarlet Knights are now in a dangerous position where if this drought rages on any longer the Big Ten could end up passing them by. Rutgers has what it takes to beat a team like Penn State and with everybody healthy this should be a game where the Scarlet Knights start to get their mojo back.

“We go one game at a time, I think we got better today with our defense,” Pikiell said, “We got to continue to defend like that and rebound. We play in the best league in the country so you can go on losing streaks and hopefully we can go on a good winning streak too.”

At the same time, it is hard to expect which Rutgers team will show up against Penn State and if they are not careful they could easily find themselves falling behind their heated rival. Although the road through the Big Ten is long and arduous, it is the one Rutgers has chosen and if they want to end up playing meaningful basketball in March then they are going to have to find a way past this current roadblock.

Rutgers will return to action Thursday, Jan. 21 when they travel to the Bryce Jordan Center to take on Penn State on BTN.