Rutgers Basketball Head Coach Steve Pikiell talks with the media following the win over USC on Sunday night inside of Jersey Mike's Arena
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Opening Statement: This was our 77th sell-out in a row. If you told me that a few years back, I would never believe it. I’m thankful for all the people that worked to make it a sell out too, we have great fans, we got season ticket holders, awesome students. I was afraid of them offensively, as you guys could see. We didn't do a great job on that end of the floor, but we did enough. We played with great energy. These guys are getting better and so we just keep plugging away one game at a time, and it's nice to be home. Now we're on the road in Michigan, one of the best teams in the league that we are playing for the second time.
Coach Pikiell on sharing the ball: Dylan too, when he gets nine assists and they played them a different way. It's one of the hard parts of our league, we don't play teams twice. You can make adjustments the second time. But we only play teams once so every game is a little bit different. How they attack us, I thought we did a really good job of sharing the ball at the end. As well as getting the ball to the right people. I thought Lathan Somerville in the second half after foul trouble really managed his way around. Bryce was awesome today, he gave us great energy and J-Mike always does what he does. We made a ton of free throws too down the stretch, so sharing the ball, making free throws, makes your life a little bit easier.
Dylan Harper on Tracy McGrady and Dylan’s impact on basketball: It is a blessing. Growing up watching all the greats saying my name and shouting me out. That is amazing. I just go out there, try to be my best, and I imagine I am going to just keep on working. Time will tell.
Coach Pikiell on the importance of free throw shooting: When you have J Michael go 8 for 8 down the stretch really never let him get an opportunity to come back. It’s very important and we’re a good foul shooting group. We've spent a lot of time on it. They take a lot of pride in it, and we're much better on the road too, so to be at home and be well at home. And we have not shot the ball well from home on the free-throw line. Tonight to be able to do that was great.
Coach on Bryce Dortch’s development and career high nine points today: He’s been high energy, he's a high energy guy and I’m just thankful that he was able to come in these last five, six games and really help us. He's helped us in a lot of different ways. Today he got it going with his offense, too, but blocked a couple shots, grabbed a couple rebounds, we needed it. We were in foul trouble up front and it was nice to have Emmanuel back. He obviously hasn't practiced. Rhythm and all those things are hard for a big guy who hasn't really been on the floor much. I hope to get him back and give us another dimension too up front. Bryce was great today, a big help.
Coach Pikiell on Emmanuel Ogbole recovering from a season-ending injury: He had the surgery and he did a great job with rehab. I'm just thankful and hopeful he feels good tomorrow. That'll be a key thing for us, but he hasn't really practiced much. They gave him clearance the other day, he said he wanted to try it, so we got him in there and we'll see where it leads. He practiced a little bit yesterday.
Coach Pikiell on the team being back to full health and the chance to make it to the Big 10 Tournament: One game at a time, you know how we go. I tell these guys don't listen to the phones today, we're just trying to win one game at a time. They’re going to tell you you’re good today, and we'll believe them, and when they tell you're not good, don't believe them. So just stay the course, but one game, we're at Michigan, and we got a tough stretch, but we never get too far ahead of ourselves, cause we gotta continue to get better defensively, too. It’s a big number we gave up today.
Dylan Harper on showcasing for scouts: I obviously always want to play my best. I don't think that is the reason I played this game. I play for the guys in front of me, my teammates. We all practice every day together hard, work out hard, it's obviously great having the scouts in there. Not just me, everyone else showcases what they're capable of.
Coach Pikiell on the team’s character and ability to bounce back from people talking: I try to tell them all the time. If I had a magic wand, there would be no phones. In both directions, it's just not helpful to them. They've been very focused, and if you were at our practice yesterday, you would have said this team is ready to really play. They practiced really well, and they were spirited. We went on the road, had tough road trips, and we were together for a good amount of time. We played Washington who was tough as nails, and we hit every obstacle in that game and they needed it, we needed it. We got it done, and then today to come back home, and to see our crowd again was awesome. It was our 77th sell out, really proud of all the work that people do to make it like that. The fans make it a hard, hard place to play. USC’s really good, that’s a talented group, they got a ton of transfers. I knew it would be tough, but we had great practices and this group's been pretty resilient and I think now they're just starting to really focus on what's important.
Coach Pikiell on the importance of training and preparation: What’s important is the work that we do and the preparation that we do in the training room. If you guys ever saw what went into winning a game, you'd be mind-boggled at the film that they have to devour. Followed with the practice time and the hours of shooting, individual clips and individual time with Rich. It’s hard to win one game so they've done a really good job of being focused on all the work that it takes. Emmanuel, to come back, had 20 rehab sessions in a span of six days or something like that. It’s a lot and I’m proud of these guys that they're putting the work in and staying focused on the important things.
Everyone on their favorite T-Mac moment:
Dylan Harper: 13 points, 26 seconds. That’s unheard of. When we’re down 13 I be thinking that I could, but it's hard to do, so, that's just a great moment.
Jamichael Davis: Definitely what he said, I agree.
Coach Pikiell: I was just looking at him, I wanted to sub him in. He still looks like he can play, unbelievable size and shape, and I just admire a guy like him. He handled his pro career with class and dignity, and those are the things that I say, and just what a gentleman. So, those are the things, the dunks and this and that, but the guys are gentlemen, so really impressive person.
Bryce Dortch: Like both of them said, 13 points, for sure.
Coach Pikiell on having a bench presence when roles have fluctuated: Everybody’s important. They were able to wrestle some big rebounds too. Zach Martini, which helped us a great deal. Cuff can score the ball, and give us a calmness, on the floor. A tip of the hat to him, he has a screw in his foot he could not practice or play, that was not too long ago. That’s another guy in rehab all the time and doing what he needs to do to get on the court. I’m just happy for those guys, they give us good leadership and some really good minutes.
Coach Pikiell on what the team is capable of when fully healthy: We've really shown them some signs during the course of the year, but it's nice to have all the pieces. I mean we were really good against UCLA and some really good teams. We went to Nebraska that had a 22-game home winning streak and we were able to break that, so we've shown some signs. Now we're together, scoring 95 points, which is a lot of points, but we got to keep getting better. The defensive end of the floor, this team has a chance to be good defensively and you know, we show signs, but when we just string it together and and do a better job and that's on me.
Coach Pikiell on the tough schedule Rutgers has: It is a lot and I will tell you this, we play I think we play the most strengthened schedule. We have the third toughest schedule in the league. We've been tested, there are 18 teams in our league. We have the third toughest schedule. That factors in some of the groin pains. We are playing outstanding teams on the road. No one ever mentions this is a young group. Two freshmen and a sophomore here, we have learned a lot of lessons. When they have it going the combos are a little easier. Foul trouble always gets in the way J Will today ended out. Lathan ended. When those guys are ready to play off the bench it makes it really easy. He came in (Bryce) and gave us great minutes. We need to fight through the different obstacles that keep coming about.
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