The Rutgers men's basketball team went 20-11 this past season including 11-9 within the Big Ten Conference. Along the way, plenty of coaches on the other said had positive things to say about the head coach Steve Pikiell and the Scarlet Knights.

TKR compiled a slew of quotes from throughout the year after games. Check out what the coaches had to say.

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Niagara head coach Greg Paulus

"Rutgers did a tremendous job playing with great energy and enthusiasm. They shared the ball well. They came out from the very first possession and they were really, really, aggressive. I think Rutgers did a tremendous job of pushing the basketball in transition. Defensively, they were very, very good, and they help their offense by using their defense to get out in the open floor."

Stephen F. Austin Head Coach Kyle Keller

"I thought Rutgers just punched us in the mouth and kept punching us for 40 minutes. I didn't think we were any good. I give coach (Steve) Pikiell all the credit in the world. They dominated the game and they played really well. They took us out of what we wanted to do. The aggressive team always wins, and they were much more aggressive than we were tonight.

“(Steve Pikiell is) great. We both have lost our moms in the last 10 months or so. We were just talking about that and how you look at things differently. It's just a total different transition when you lose your mom, who is always there to support you. We talked about it before the game and were talking once the game was over with. What a great guy he is. I wish him the very best. He's a really, really good basketball coach in our profession. I told him the worst thing that could happen to us was them losing to St. Bonaventure the other day. I thought their kids were tremendous tonight. He may disagree, but I thought tonight was their best game so far, that I'd seen. They had toughness, energy and I thought their kids rose up. He may not agree, but that's what I thought."

NJIT Head Coach Brian Kennedy

"Myles (Johnson) had a career night tonight with 17 (points) and 11 (rebounds). He's a big, long guy and when he gets the ball in close, he's going to score it. We needed to do a better job of resistance in there and making it harder to throw the ball in. Myles is 6-11 and a really long and talented player."

UMass Head Coach Matt McCall

"I thought that was the best Rutgers has played all year. I've been watching them on tape. Rutgers, I love their team, I love their size, I love their physicality. That really showed today in today's game and had us rattled. We were rattled on offense. We weren't really able to overcome some unforced turnovers. We have to get that corrected because obviously our schedule doesn't get any easier, but you got to give Rutgers a lot of credit, how they played. And I thought our guys competed but we're not there yet to get a win in a game like this on the road and a hostile environment."

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

"Steve Pikiell is a guy that I have developed a good friendship with because I have so much respect for how hard his teams play. This is a pretty good Rutgers team. We actually did a hell of a job on (Geo) Baker and a hell of a job on (Ron) Harper Jr. Our keys for the game were not to turn the ball over and other than Cash (Winston) actually in the first half, I thought we did a hell of a job of that. We had 12 for the game but they were putting pressure on us the whole game. Our second key was to rebound and run. I thought we ran as good as we have ever run in the first 10 minutes. He (Cassius) threw some balls away and that's not like him. On those fast breaks… in all honestly some not very good plays. He was pushing it and he pushed it all night. We played a lot of guys a lot of minutes and to win a game against a team as physical as them… they were plus nine on the boards going in and we won the board battle by plus eight."

Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard

"(Geo Baker is) a really good player. There's some shots that are indefensible that you can't guard matter how well you play it. He split us twice on ball screens and he hit some tough ones. But we made some mistakes too and good players make you pay for those. I would say his ability to make plays for himself and others and obviously our inability to keep them off the glass. When we got stops there, we had a four-point game with a minute to go and we gamble and (Caleb) McConnell gets the three-point play. Like I said, we couldn't finish out possessions when we did get a miss. That's a credit to them."

Seton Hall Head Coach Kevin Willard

"I think [Rutgers] did a good job and just jumped on us. I didn't do a very good job of getting these guys ready for this atmosphere. The only ones who have really played in this atmosphere before were Myles Powell and Myles Cale. Sandro [Mamukelashvili] also played a little. We talked about it with them a little bit, but I didn't want to get them thinking about it, but I didn't do a good enough job to get them to understand what this game and atmosphere is like. I've been here now 13 times and I should have done a better job.

"I think by far this is the best atmosphere I've seen here. I really do. [Steve Pikiell] has done a phenomenal job here. Pat Hobbs has done a phenomenal job. But this is by far the best atmosphere I've seen. It was a great atmosphere."

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg

"Give them credit. They're the most physical team we've played to this point. We talked a lot about that leading into this one and how important it was to try to keep them out of the paint as much as possible, and they got in there way too often. They make five threes a game and they hit five tonight, two early and three spread out over the rest of the game. Too often, defensively, we allowed them to get into the paint where we either had to help with the big or they were spraying it out and driving us out on long closeouts. Once they shot it, whether they made it or not, we had no chance of getting it off the glass, just too big and too physical. When we go out there with a defensive mindset and a defensive mentality, we have a chance to win, and when we don't, we don't give ourselves a chance. We have to find a way to correct it, get more consistent, on that end of the floor. It's on me that we're not more consistent right now and that starts tomorrow."

"I give a lot of credit (to) Steve Pikiell. I'm happy for Steve, he's a wonderful person and one of the true good people in this business. It's good to see everything that he's got going and where he has this program right now. For our guys come in here and battle in a place, you know, this team is 13-0 in this building for a reason, and it's a crazy environment. For our guys to keep our poise; I know it's tough for them to hear this, but you know our guys, if they continue to play like that, we're going to get over the hump here soon."

Penn State Head Coach Pat Chambers

“You know what, I hope so for Pikes (if Rutgers is a NCAA Tournament team). I do. I hope so. It'd be great to see him punch his ticket. They have a good team. They got some depth and Geo Baker is not even playing, so that bodes well for Rutgers."

Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller

"Well, they do a great job on the ball. They really work, they pressure, they're quick. And they have length. I thought their big guys did a really good job of impacting ball screens. They put our guards in situations to get knocked back off hedges. We didn't handle that very well. And then when we did drive at times, they did a really good job crowding the floor and our outlet passes or the balls that came out resulted in nothing. You know, most of the time when you drive the ball and you're penetrating on some of these passes, you get an easy one. We didn't get many. And when we did get them, it felt like even the guys who shot them felt sped up. It didn't feel clean or in rhythm. So again, the game is dictated by the team that sets the rules. Rutgers set the rules right at the tap. We had to adjust and had to fight through it. But the game was fast on offense for us. They really worked, they pressured and their big guys did a good job of making things very difficult around the rim. We got very few easy ones. And we were 2-for-18 from three. That's not definitely not going to get it done. We have to be able to find a way to make a couple of the open ones, especially on the road. That keeps you in the game and helps you. And for the first time in a long time, 12 free throw attempts in the game. We just didn't get to the line, and probably has a lot to do with our inability on offense to run clean stuff. And then when we did get around the basket, you know, it was one of those games when you have to finish through it. We didn't, but guys played hard. Certain guys really, really kind of grinded it out and hung in there for long minutes. I thought Joey (Brunk) played really hard. I thought Justin (Smith) played really hard. Those two guys played pretty well in the game for us. Our guards didn't take care of it as well as we needed to throughout the course of the game. Just didn't get enough from the three-point line. You'll look back on it when we watch the game. Can you control what you can control? Have to take care of the ball better."

Minnesota Head Coach Richard Pitino

"Well, obviously we give credit to Rutgers, they absolutely manhandled us on the offensive glass. You can't win, road, home, anywhere when you give up 20 offensive rebounds. We were playing good defense; we were just not physical enough on the glass. Credit to Rutgers, it's a tough team, it's a tough environment."

Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter

"They have more experience. I think the guys that are playing, even (Akwasi) Yeboah, he has a lot of experience playing before then the rest of the guys outside of (Jacob) Young, they are guys that have played for (Steve Pikiell). Just being in a program, Steve is a program guy. You can see the defense and the toughness and the rebounding from UConn. You can see the guys that they have up there. It's a difficult place to play. They're a difficult team to play against. But they've got good athleticism, they got people that can shoot you guys and have interchangeable pieces. They got quickness, they got size. That's what you want, you want a little bit of everything. More than anything, they play hard and they're tough. So when shots don't go for them, they still got a chance to win games. That's what you want to be able to do.”

“(Baker) did a good job. The shot he made at the end of regulation was a really tough shot. When he gets hot like that, if you've watched him, he makes those plays. It's amazing he averages just 11 points. He has had a handful of games this year just like the game he had today where he just makes impossible shots. They got the matchup they wanted at the end, he got that shot, and made it, and that was huge. Give him credit. He's a good player. He made tough shots. They all made tough shots tonight. I thought Jacob Young's drive and dunk was a huge play. Ron Harper's three, he was very efficient, comes on the road and scored 15 points on nine shots. Give Rutgers credit, they continue to make plays. This wasn't one of those grinder type games where neither team could score. They made plays."

Michigan Head coach Juwan Howard

“They’re an excellent offensive rebounding team. They’re gonna attack the glass because they’re long, athletic, and quick. You have to commend them and respect the fact that they’re a hard-working team.”

"(The RAC is) loud, you could say that. They have an energetic crowd. The crowd has had a lot of success here, 17-0. It's a small environment, one of the smaller arenas in the Big Ten. Everyone talks about it, it's a historic place. I just happened to have a chance to witness it."

Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins

"The first thing is that Pikiell didn't take shortcuts. He came in here; he has his philosophy of how he wants to play and the kind of players he wants to recruit. They've done a great job in evaluation. You look out there and there are a lot of guys who maybe by the star rankings and all of that, but they found guys that fit how they want to play and they've developed them. They've done a great job with that and now they're getting a lot of confidence. I sensed it with us when we did our build to get to the tournament. The difference from hoping you're going to win versus believing you're going to win and you see that in their kids' eyes, especially at home. This has been such a good home court for them, they've built this up. I've been a big fan of Steve, I've always been. He's a terrific coach and his kids play really hard. He's done a great job building this program."

Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood

“Give a lot of credit to Steve Pikiell and this Rutgers program. It's a great environment. They're 17-0 at home and it's one of the loudest buildings we've seen all year. They have a great basketball team. Rob Harper was in a little funk, maybe we didn't close him out enough, and he got going early and was sensational. Geo Baker is the best closer in college basketball. He is a difference maker. Without our alpha, we competed, but you can't shoot 26 percent on the road and win. Give the Rutgers defense a lot of credit for that. They deserve that.

"I love (Ron Harper Jr.’s body, I love his skillset. He's a terrific small ball four-man matchup. There's no doubt he has some pretty good genetics. I'm a big fan of his.

Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon

"Oh yeah, absolutely (Rutgers is an NCAA Tournament team). They're talented, have really good players and are deep. They have good size and when they shoot it like they did, that helps them. When they went through their little slump there, they weren't shooting the ball well and tonight they were fresh. They had six days to get ready and get their legs back under them. It's an absolute grind every night. If you don't have time to get your legs back underneath you, it's tough. I think with our league and what we're doing, this will help them. I think they can win a game or two, too."

Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.