The Rutgers men's basketball team's freshmen haven't had the necessary amount of time and games to adjust to the college of play.
Rutgers (4-0) has had just four out-of-conference games compared to eight a year ago (11 total) before the Big Ten slate kicked in.
Combine that with the fact there's a pandemic, and it has been easiest of years for anybody, especially for Oskar Palmquist, Dean Reiber, Clifford Omoruyi, and Mawot Mag.
"This isn't a normal year for freshmen," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "The two exhibition games would have been huge for them. They didn't get that luxury. We're figuring them out. …It's a lot of navigating. Again, we're ramping this thing right up to a high level. We used to have 10 games or so to kind of figure it out and they need me to figure it out, too, all the different challenges. They need to have success and they also need to make some mistakes and play through them. It's a hard thing to kind of navigate."
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Omoruyi, the prized center recruit of the 2020 class, has started all four contest so far and has made 10-of-12 attempts from the floor with six makes on 12 attempts from the foul line. He also has 28 rebounds and three blocks.
Mag has averaged 11.7 minutes per game and has 13 points on five field goals and three free throws. He's also brought down 11 boards.
Reiber has made all four of his foul shots and two other shots with five rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.
Palmquist has made just one of his nine 3-pointers and has missed his two foul shots, citing nervousness per Pikiell.
"I love our freshman class, they're going to be really good. We've been challenging them. But we've gotten good minutes out of all of them. Cliff's gonna be really good. I loved Oskar's minutes the other day. Everyone will just say he was 0-4 from three (against Syracuse), but he played really good minutes. He got assists, he rebounded the ball, and his defense was 1,000% better than it had been. He'll be fine. I like those guys, but they got a ways to go we're throwing them in here. Unfairness to them. We had no real offseason and no exhibition games to try to and learn. They're getting small minutes aside from Cliff, They're just gonna have to keep getting better. They got great approaches and great attitudes and they'll continue to get better."
Pikiell uses a deep rotation to keep guys fresh, but the rookies have received some playing time.
And for once, the Scarlet Knights have a slew of upperclassmen who have been through the fire. Now it's the freshmen's turn.
"As media you guys, like, your job to talk about all the freshmen and all the newcomers but, we're kind of a veteran team. Mawot is playing behind Ron Harper (Jr.) and Ron's pretty good. As much as you want to talk about the newcomers, because the veteran guys have been around, it's different Rutgers and now we have nine returning starters on this roster. The young guys are the only four that you know haven't started -- three as Cliff is one, but it's challenging for them.
With Big Ten play starting up on Monday at Maryland, Pikiell said it's going to take time for the freshmen to get adjusted and really dig in and play their game at a high level and that there's a learning curve.
"You gotta be patient," Pikiell said. "You gotta keep working with them and then when their minutes are called they got to come in and do a good job and. But the No. 1 thing is trying to win games, and so it's not always about how many minutes this guy plays or that guy plays. Sometimes about matchups, sometimes it's about the strength that a kid maybe brings to us like Mawot can really guard the ball. So if I'm having issues guarding the ball, Mawot can go in and play. Oskar can really shoot the ball. I know what his percentages are, but he can shoot the ball. I've seen him now for a year and a half. He makes shots. Dean's very athletic. I feel confident using them in those areas if they can help us with some of their strengths right now while we're working on developing some of the things that they don't do as well."
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.
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