1/26/2022 basketball Edit

Time is running out for Rutgers men's basketball

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

The talk all preseason from the players was about not just getting back to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back (-to-back) seasons, but making a run for the ages.

The likes of Geo Baker, Ron Harper Jr., Paul Mulcahy, Caleb McConnell and others said they all had bad tastes in their mouths after how Rutgers men's basketball's Round of 32 loss to Houston happened last year. A win over Clemson in the opening round wasn't good enough.

Head coach Steve Pikiell also said this was the best team he's ever had.

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Then came reportedly strong performances -- and wins -- behind closed doors against Villanova and UConn, two upper-echelon teams in the Big East and former Rutgers rivals.

This team had flaws coming into the season and was missing key pieces from the 2020-21 season, but everybody bought the hype.

With an 11-8 overall record 19 games, the Scarlet Knights' tournament hopes are all but dashed. Sure, Rutgers in theory isn't eliminated from contention, there's still a lot of basketball left to be played in the next month, but it's looking like the NIT is in the cards, if that.

Bart Torvik's T-Rank has Rutgers at 0.2% odds of making the NCAA Tournament.

It all started back on November 10 when Rutgers had to squeak out a 73-70 win over Lehigh in overtime. Lehigh! Rutgers had to climb out of a hole and Baker had to use his heroics. Then came a 48-35 win but a brick fest against Merrimack and a 75-61 win over NJIT. A loss to DePaul ensued on the road. Rutgers couldn't get the defensive stops late. Rutgers trailed the first four games at halftime.

Then came the two killer losses.

Rutgers inexplicably fell to Lafayette, a team that is 4-11, at home, 53-51. It then squandered a big lead against UMass away. The Minutemen won 85-83 in the closing moments as Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano was giving his regular season finale post game press conference.

Needing a solid bounce-back performance, Rutgers got just that against Clemson. The Scarlet Knights won the NCAA Tournament rematch in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, 74-64.

But then Rutgers was blown out of the water by Illinois, 86-51, in Champaign.

Rutgers was able to turn the page quickly though and upset the No. 1-ranked team in the country, Purdue, at Jersey Mike's Arena. Harper Jr. lifted the Scarlet Knights, 70-68, thanks to his half court heave. A defeat at the hands of state rival Seton Hall on Dec. 12 took place three days later. The Pirates won convincingly 77-63.

Rutgers couldn't play another game until Dec. 30 as COVID and other illness took over the program. The Scarlet Knights came out of their pause on fire, winning against Maine (80-64), Central Connecticut State (79-48), Michigan (75-67), and Nebraska (93-65). The victory over Michigan was Rutgers' first all-time. Rutgers was scoring at will and sharing the game.

A trip to State College, Pa. sent the Scarlet Knights back down to Earth as Penn State defeated Rutgers, 66-49. Rutgers was a no-show.

Rutgers couldn't keep Maryland off of the foul line and turned the ball over in the first half of the next game against the Terrapins, but found a way to scratch and claw an 11-point win, 70-59. That was Rutgers' initial win away from Piscataway all season.

A standout defensive masterpiece against Iowa followed. Rutgers held down one of the country's best scoring and efficient teams on offense to 40 points below its average as Rutgers beat the Hawkeyes, 48-46. Rutgers shot just 31.7% overall and a mere 15% from 3-point land, but it was "OK" as it won and Iowa shot 27.9% and 22.2%, respectively, in those categories.

Rutgers, if it won the next couple games, could have had a chance at being in first place in the Big Ten, something that was just a pipe dream six years ago.

Instead, it lost to an undermanned Minnesota team in Minneapolis, 68-65, and let Payton Willis go off for a career-high 32 points. Minnesota shot 54.2% from the floor and from behind the arc (13-for-24). A Quad 2 win for Rutgers was there for the taking.

Looking to turn things around again, Rutgers couldn't beat Maryland for the second time in 10 days on Tuesday. The Scarlet Knights dug themselves in a 20-point ditch in the first half and fell at the end, 68-60.

From the very beginning, Rutgers has dug itself into a hole Warden Louise Walker from the movie "Holes" would even think is too deep. A team that has NCAA Tournament aspirations and one that was extremely confident -- and cocky -- cannot barely beat Lehigh or Merrimack or NJIT and lose to Lafayette.

This season, Rutgers is 2-2 against Quad 1 teams which is good, great even. But a 3-4 mark against Quad 2 and 3 combined isn't enough and the Quad 4 defeat at home is a resume-crusher.

With a current NET ranking of 112, Rutgers needs to win the next two games against Nebraska and Northwestern, both on the road, to have any sort of shot at going dancing.

A win over the Cornhuskers won't move needle, but a loss will the wrong way.

After a date with the Wildcats, Rutgers will be in for a grind against the league's top programs in Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Purdue, all of whom are ranked. It then faces Michigan in Ann Arbor and Wisconsin again round out February.

Indiana and Penn State are the two contest in March before the Big Ten Tournament.

There's been times when Rutgers has gone cold in games and it has doomed the outcome. If Baker and Harper Jr. can't buy a bucket, it's game over. Teams willingly let McConnell shoot, Cliff Omoruyi, albeit super athletic, doesn't really have an offensive game, and Mulcahy is hot and cold on any given night. Rutgers gets nothing from just about everybody else other than Aundre Hyatt.

If Rutgers wants to make the NCAA Tournament and accomplish some unfinished business, the wins needed to happen yesterday, because the upcoming schedule is a gauntlet.