Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball coach Steve Pikiell recaps today's victory against Caldwell University.
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Opening statement: “I want to thank everyone for coming out. I want to wish everybody a happy new year. We got guys up and down the floor, I thought we had some good minutes from a lot of guys and we move on with a road game come up and league play starting. So we’re on to the challenges of the Big Ten.”
On scheduling the game: “You play games for a lot of reasons and there’s challenges in every game, not worried about the postseason, just worried about winning games coming back from Christmas. We play in the best league in the country. We play the best schedule in that league. Every year we play the hardest schedule the Big Ten. Good game for us coming back from break, always worried coming back from break all the different things that happen. Get the Christmas out of our system. I really want to thank Caldwell for that date, it's hard to get teams in that date, a lot of teams are into league play already. Coach Corino is one of the best kept secrets really in New Jersey. He’s won 580 games. They beat Norfolk State this year. Their court is named after him. He's one of the good guys and good basketball people too, so tip of the hat for those guys to come here. And much respect for him, he's a really good guy and some really good basketball guy too. You can tell they’ll win a lot of games in their league. I mean, everyone the country is playing games like this. You come back from break and you get your guys back ready. They had a three and a half, four-day layoff, so it's good to get them up and down the court and try some different matchups. We will be challenged every game for the next 18 as hard as the program can be challenged.”
On being ready for the resumption of Big Ten play:“We'll see. We'll see. We have to go on the road and win on the road. That’s the next step. Yeah, Nebraska, it's going to be tough game, it's always a tough place, I know it's sold out already so tough venue. I think our team is growing. Our defense is getting better. We shared the ball well today, especially in the second half, which I like. So we're going to prepare well and hopefully stay healthy and go after it.”
On takeaways from the nonconference section of the schedule: “I like our rotation, I think our bench is getting better. I think that's been a really good thing. The guys have come off the bench and given us terrific energy like you saw today. I like our defense and I like that we're unique so we can do different things on the defensive ends of the floor. I like when we have five or six guys in double figures, which we could never do in the past. So we have a lot of different weapons. We're young, we're young we and we have to keep getting older. And we have to stay with the game plans, and I think we've done a really good job. I think this team is locked into the important parts of winning and stopping the other team and continue that's a good trait for us.”
On Jacob Young: “It’s good for everybody. He did a really good job. Got off to a good start, attacked the rim. Played with smile and some swagger and defensively he's been really good. And tonight you saw some of the things he could do on that side of the floor too. Paul Mulcahy was good too. I thought we had a lot of guys that were that were really good in this basketball game and we can keep doing that every night with somebody different, that’s a good thing for us.”
On Joey Downes: “Joey, on the first one he threw it to the basket, I said he was wide open for three. But seriously, Joey is one of the great kids I've coached and he's a straight A student, he's a Dean's List guy, he’s involved in the university, he's been great in practice and he's a leader. He does all the great things that you want a basketball player and from great family, so I was really happy for him today and you saw how you know our bench when Nick Brooks scored and Luke Nathan scored, our bench was real happy, that's a really good sign for our basketball program that guys will really enjoy other people's success. Happy for Joey.”
