Rutgers Basketball head coach Steve Pikiell spoke with TKR and other local media members on Tuesday afternoon, previewing his team's Thursday night matchup against Michigan State.
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On new look starting five.... "Obviously Jacob and Montez did a good job coming off the bench. I don't put a whole lot of stock into starting and stuff, I think I have a lot of starters and I told you guys that all along. I'm fortunate in that sense, but I don't think it's as important as everyone else thinks it is. It's just a matter of guys playing and getting us off to good starts and we just haven't been getting those good starts. We changed it up a little bit and I thought everyone played better. Everyone that checked in the game did something really positive for us and that's we need to do and continue to do moving forward. Our defense was way better a lot better then it had been and outrebounding a team is important stat for us and we were able to defend a team a without fouling, which hasn't been a strong suit of ours. They had been averaging 30 free throw attempts per game in the last five games before playing us and we held them to just 17, which is a really telling stat."
On the play of Myles Johnson and Cliff Omoruyi... "Cliff is really starting to get back into shape, when you have a month off it's a tough thing. Obviously between the two of them, guarding the post players that Indiana has that have been on a tear lately, they did a really good job of limiting their touches. Both guys were really active in blocking shots and altering shots, those guys did really well. I think our guards did a really good job too, digging down and helping too at times with the post guys. We did a better job rebounding as a team, both those guys Cliff and Myles are a big part of it. Myles just continues to do a lot of things for us in the game that don't show up sometimes in the box score. Really great effort by them against two really good post players that play really good basketball."
What do you have different this time around versus MSU.... "We didn't play well obvuiously, we really struggled to do the things you have to do. They have a hall of fame coach, it's a program that is the elite program in our conference and we have yet to beat them. We have to play really well, we got outrebounded by a lot, our defense really struggled, but we have another opportunity to get better. They have been practicing so they will be well prepared for us, but we have to continue to play our kind of defense and rebound. Those will be huge keys in this game and they can really score, plus they rebound as good as any other team in the country."
On Caleb McConnell's impact since his return... "Every guy is important. Certainly Caleb being healthy and everyone being healthy is so important. But Caleb can play a lot of different positions, he is a really good defender and he really moves well with the ball. You saw his versatility in the game too and he's starting to round himself too, it takes a while since he had around a year off of playing in these kind of games. He is starting to round into better shape, becoming more consistent and he's a really good practice player too, with a lot of energy. To have Caleb back and have him healthy, just gives us another verastile, experienced player which we need in these kind of games."
On Montez Mathis struggles..... "Everyone goes through these times of the year. Montez was great the other day too, other guys were just playing really well. I trust him a ton, he's a good player, he's gotten a ton of minutes and started a lot of games for us. He was the happiest guy in the locker room after we won. He will be back today, he will have a great practice and we need a good Montez too moving forward. Everyone has strecthes like this, our season is longer than any, this isn't a 10 game season, you are going to have stretches like this and you have to keep fighting through them. You have to embrace the challenges that this league and every game brings and Montez will do that."
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