Rutgers Basketball Head Coach Steve Pikiell talks with the media following the loss to USC on Wednesday in the first round of the 2025 Big Ten Tournament.
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STEVE PIKIELL: ”Thank you all for staying this late. Incredible game really tonight.
So disappointed for our guys that they played hard and you know USC was very good, but I thought we were very good to come back and played our hearts out. It was a sad, sad locker room but I'm proud of these guys, proud of the work that they did. I enjoyed coaching them too so just a tough tough unfortunate you know ending.
I mean Tyson, obviously it's your last game. Jeremiah, I'm not sure your eligibility completely, but I mean what's the feeling right now going out like that?
TYSON ACUFF: “Heartbreak. I think that right now I'm just trying to be there for the guys. Make sure everybody keeps their head up and you know all the guys in that locker room have bright futures so just be there for them.”
JEREMIAH WILLIAMS: “Yeah I mean Tyson said everything, just devastated. I think the guys in the locker room and even the coaches we worked so hard all year and even this game I think that was a reflection we worked so hard and sometimes you just come up short and it's just devastating.”
Tyson, you obviously just spent one year here. I mean looking back how will you remember this season and you know the decision you made to come to Rutgers?
“Oh yeah, I'll make it a hundred more times. I love Steve Pikiell. I love the guys, but you know the connections I've built here I always choose Rutgers again and again and again.”
This is for either one of you guys. Obviously you guys had that big surge in the second half to come back and take the lead and then USC did just enough to kind of get back into it and force the overtime. What do you think kind of happened after you guys went all the way back to take the lead? Did you end up letting off the gas a little bit or do you think it was just USC figured something out and was able to attack certain advantages?
JEREMIAH WILLIAMS: “Yeah like you said I think credit to USC I think they just did just enough to you know surge back into the game and force overtime and anything can happen in overtime at that point it's kind of like a like another game in a sense you know regulation doesn't matter at that point and you jump into a new segment of the game so I think like you said they did just enough to make it a new game and they executed in the extra minutes we had.
TYSON ACUFF: “Yeah I think they schemed, we schemed, they changed their game plan, we changed our game plan. You know it's hard fighting for 65 minutes. I don't know if any of you have ever been to fight but it's hard to keep fighting for 65 minutes and we gave it everything we got.”
Of course you know a lot of new faces on the team this year for both of you guys. Was it kind of hard to gel with the team at times and offensively and defensively just kind of be on the same page in certain games?
TYSON ACUFF: “Oh yeah it's always hard you know just meeting new people and trying to figure them out and do stuff like that but I think we you know we got along really well we bonded really well on and off the court and did a lot of things together to build that bond and that chemistry so yeah these guys are my brothers this is my family Rutgers is my family.
JEREMIAH WILLIAMS: “Yeah I mean for any team been college five years and I think for any team especially nowadays with the Portland stuff like that I think it'll be you have times where you know we may have miscommunications or it may be hard to gel at times and sometimes we probably went through that this year we had a younger team but yeah to answer your question yes I think sometimes we did but I think that's the nature of college basketball now and I think every team in America has had that issue.”
You guys are obviously you know this isn't your first rodeo, you guys are experienced veterans what was your guys kind of message after the game to you know some of the younger players on your team like Dylan or Ace who you know maybe haven't been through a situation like this especially you know after such a tough tough loss like that.
JEREMIAH WILLIAMS: “Yeah I mean honestly I don't think there's much to say I mean coach probably gave us a speech after but throughout the players I mean it's very devastating it's a lot of emotions the end of the year we've been through a lot and I think a lot of emotions in everyone and you just take it all in and I mean I'm pretty we will all communicate after this season I think we'll regroup then but you just kind of taking in all the emotions and it just really sucks at that point no need for us to talk amongst each other.
TYSON ACUFF: “Oh yeah right now like I said earlier just trying to be there for the guys right now is not the time for to give speeches and it's not the last time we're gonna see each other so you know we'll talk amongst ourselves like Jeremiah said you know sort it out there and talk to each other about different type of things.”
In the flow of the game now that's gone double overtime and the game's over do you think you should have put that press on differently and I thought I've seen some differences in your Rutgers press that I hadn't seen all year long against USC. Do you think you might have put your press on a little bit earlier?
STEVE PIKIELL: “You know it's hard to do that too but you know we got down early in the first half and we've pressed kind of a lot at the end of the season we changed our rotation a little bit and we press more and more I thought it was effective at times and then at other times they get some easy baskets too but when a game goes that long and it's that grueling you know it's really tough to do that and I thought you know at the end they kind of were throwing the ball over the place getting some easy looks and you know we had we had our opportunity certainly this game I would have liked to have ace in the game for a little bit longer I think that was a huge you know I think his third foul was you know just a tough one and you know kind of needed to you know him at the end too but you know put in a lot of work this team and they're great kids and you know they've worked all year with a lot of obstacles as a lot of teams in this league have had this is a great league and we you know fought and we couldn't get big stops down the stretch too in games I couldn't get this team to rebound or defend the way I would have liked them to but they shown some great signs we scored 89 points in the basketball game plenty of points to win but I really love these guys they were they were really good to coach and you know we obviously didn't win the amount of games that anyone would like but these guys were a joy to coach and our press helped us get back into the game today but hard thing to do for 40-50 minutes."
What did you say to them in the locker room?
STEVE PIKIELL: “Well honestly you know I told them that I love him and I mean if you saw the fight of that team today, we were down at halftime and you know this group just kept fighting no matter what the obstacles were. We didn't have this kind of season, it was choppy, we hit a lot of obstacles and there's no excuses.I take full responsibility for our season, but this is a great group of guys. I mean Tyson, I wish I had four years with him. These kids really grew up in so many ways, through all the obstacles and playing in this league is tough, it's a humbling league and you know just after the game like that one, what do you say to the group that played hard. I mean we played as hard as you could possibly play you know and they left it all out on the court. We know we needed a few bounces to go our way and that didn’t happen and it’s kind of been that way this season, but I'm proud of them. The year that Ace and Dylan had and this newly assembled group came together despite the youth we have. It's the oldest time in college basketball too and we got the young team, but they fought the entire night. They're banged up right now and they got ice bags everywhere. I told them I love them, I'm proud of them and you know they should be proud of how hard that they worked and that we put in a lot of work. I wish you guys could just see us practice like you would really understand it, but that's not part of it you know, you come to games and you just see the results, but like the work that these guys truly put in to try to be great was a lot. I’m proud of them for that so I told them that after the game.
One more thing, talk about Ace Bailey his freshman year and Dylan Harper coming in. I mean they were five stars and they seem to play good team basketball most of the year.
“I know that's hard coming off the talk a little bit about how they get acclimated into your system, but I mean the year they had what they broke every freshman scoring record in the history of Rutgers Basketball, which is unbelievable especially in a league as competitive as this one. What they did after not playing in every game, they were injured and they missed games so if they played every single game I know those records would be untouchable and they both did it. I know together that they've been great great kids to coach, great families, and the hours that those two put into it, I only wish I had another year or two with them, but unfortunately their best basketball's ahead of them too. I think they learned a lot this year and they grew a lot. They grew a lot from film and they saw every kind of defense you could imagine and they are getting guarded by 25 year olds, they are 18 years old. They were fantastic and they're going to be fantastic pros.”
Can you speak more on some of the other younger guys like Dylan Grant, Bryce Dortch, and Lathan Somerville?
STEVE PIKIELL: “They really kind of broke out throughout the season, they're going to improve next season and help the team you know out of the future. The development those two guys had, I mean Lathan lost 50 pounds from June to get into the kind of conditioning and shape that he needed and continued to get better. Dylan Grant didn't play much early on and he kind of figured it out late and then turned into a really good basketball player for us. Bryce Dortch is gonna be another really good player for us. You know I thought those guys improved as did you know you know. Tyson Acuff had foot surgery in June and did not practice until the end of October. He had a serious foot injury and you could see his get better and better, I only wish he wasn't injured early, but you know the improvements of those guys, playing in this league and playing against the guys they went up against. If they continue to work you know they're gonna be really you know really good basketball players and they're they're workers and surrounded by great people so you know development's been a part of what we do here and hopefully we can keep keep those guys around and keep them keep them developing a couple more for coach right here.”
Steve you have two guys that are gonna be picked in the top five in the NBA draft in a few months, but you guys finished two games below .500. How do you explain you guys falling so short of expectations in the season?
STEVE PIKIELL: “Yeah I mean you know these guys worked their tail off and you know there's really good players on every team we play against and today they were 23 year old really good players. It’s a really good league you know the ball didn't bounce the way we needed it to, but I understand your expectations. I think the league picked us ninth, but I understand the expectations that I set for this program, which are to win every game and those guys did everything that they could. The ball didn't bounce our way sometimes and you know it was a disjointed year with injuries. I think you know Dylan (Harper) missed most of the month of January, which didn't help us and there were some close games there that we could have won. I'm proud of this team and I take full responsibility for our win-loss record, but I'm really proud of how those guys performed and got better. They are gonna do a lot of really good things in basketball, so I'm really proud of their development.”
Where do you go from here with this program now you tried experimenting with Ace and Dylan? Where does this go next?
STEVE PIKIELL: “I think our recruiting class is 28th in the country next year, so Ace and Dylan helped us a lot in that area. I think with the settlement, I'm really excited that's gonna help us a great deal and we're gonna keep working like we always do I think other coaches in the league will tell you Rutgers is pretty good and they don't want to play us every day. I know I think you you pretty much can talk to coaches we're gonna be good like we always are I got to try to keep my staff because every year they want to steal them from me and you know hopefully we'll do a great job with our players and we got to jump in the portal too so I'm excited 78 straight sellouts and you know I get the disappointment I have to live with it you know but a lot of good things are happening at Rutgers I think a lot of people would want 78 straight sellouts and they want to have the top 30 ranked recruiting class in the country coming in and if we can retain our guys from this year yeah we'll keep plugging you know I'm a worker and we'll get them to play defense you know and and we'll rebound better but yeah we'll do Rutgers is gonna be fine in the best league in the country coach thank you okay thank you very much.”
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