Tag: Rutgers men’s basketball

With three-game losing streak, Rutgers has tumbled in the NET Rankings

Rutgers men’s basketball has slid in the most recent NET Rankings update.

Following a loss on Wednesday night to Nebraska, Rutgers men’s basketball has taken a dip in the recent NET Rankings.

The three losses, all in the Big Ten, have seen Rutgers slip down 10 spots in the most recent NET Rankings update. The most recent update came on Wednesday night, following the Scarlet Knights’ Big Ten loss to Nebraska.

Rutgers now sits at No. 29 in the Net Rankings. They are one of seven Big Ten programs in the top 40 of the NET Rankings.

Here are the seven Big Ten teams in the top 40 of the NET Rankings as of Feb. 15:

Future Big Ten member UCLA is ranked fifth in the rankings.

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Now the good news for Rutgers is that in each of their final five games, they are favored by ESPN Analytics to win. With four wins, Rutgers is likely booking a return trip to the NCAA Tournament for a third-straight season.

Rutgers returns to the court on Saturday at Wisconsin.

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According to ESPN, Rutgers basketball’s loss on Wednesday doesn’t change their season outlook much…or at all

ESPN projects the final five games of the Rutgers men’s basketball season.

In the midst of a three-game losing streak, Rutgers men’s basketball still has a positive outlook for the remainder of the season. That’s the message from ESPN anyway as the Scarlet Knights are still favored to close out the season strong.

Prior to Wednesday’s loss to Nebraska, the outlook according to ESPN Analytics had Rutgers (16-10, 8-7 Big Ten) favored to win out each of their final six games.

Now, that scenario is no longer in play…however…the outlook is still good for Rutgers closing out the season. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. With five remaining games left, all in the Big Ten, Rutgers will need to get back on track or risk losing out on an NCAA Tournament berth for what would be a program-record third-straight appearance.

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Here is the updated breakdown of how ESPN analytics has Rutgers basketball closing out their season:

  • February 18 at Wisconsin (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 58.8 percent, was at 62.8 percent)
  • February 23 vs. Michigan (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 84.6 percent, was at 89.2 percent)
  • February 26 at Penn State (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 56.5 percent, was at 61.5 percent)
  • March 2 at Minnesota (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 90.7 percent, was at 90.2 percent)
  • March 5 against Northwestern (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 80.3 percent, was at 83.2 percent)

In four of the five remaining games, the percentage chance from ESPN Analytics went down for Rutgers to win in each game. In one game, at Minnesota, Rutgers saw their chance to improve go up slightly (90.2 percent to 90.7 percent).

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What does Rutgers need to do to earn an NCAA Tournament berth? At least three more regular season wins and a win in the Big Ten Tournament would likely do it. Four wins in the regular season and a respectable loss in the conference tournament and Rutgers would still be projected to go dancing.

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Geo Baker likens Rutgers football’s rebuild to Steve Pikiell turning around the basketball program

Former Rutgers men’s basketball star Geo Baker likens the football rebuild to that of the men’s basketball team.

Rutgers football’s Saturday’s 27-10 loss to Iowa was discouraging for many around the program. But according to Geo Baker, this looks and feels like the Rutgers basketball team’s rebuild under head coach Steve Pikiell.

And Rutgers men’s basketball has made the NCAA Tournament the last three two seasons.

There was hope that the rebuilding effort undertaken by Greg Schiano was ready to take the next step and that Saturday’s game against Iowa would be that springboard. But three turnovers, two of which led to defensive touchdowns in the first half, showed that Rutgers isn’t quite there yet in terms of being able to compete with the elite of the Big Ten.

All of which led Baker, who was an integral part of those consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, to provide some perspective on where things stand with the football program:

 

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Following Saturday night’s loss to Iowa, Rutgers football is now 3-1 (0-1 Big Ten). They will face No. 3 Ohio State on the road on Saturday afternoon.

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Baker is currently the founder and CEO of the Knight Society, an “organization aiming to build the Rutgers community while empowering athletes, fans, alumni and businesses.”

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Rutgers basketball rolls out another offer to Drew McKenna

Drew McKenna gets offered by Rutgers men’s basketball this week.

A new offer went out from the Rutgers men’s basketball program this week to Drew McKenna. The class of 2024 recruit has become a priority recruit for a number of top programs.

The offer from Rutgers is the third from a Big Ten program for McKenna.

A 6-foot-6 forward at Glenelg Country School (Ellicott City, MD), he also holds offers from Maryland, UConn and Illinois in addition to Rutgers. The Dragons went 3-13 last season.

He is currently unraked by 247Sports.

As is typical of head coach Steve Pikiell, McKenna has a lot of tools that fit into the Rutgers system. He is good defensively, has good length and McKenna holds good range as he can shoot from the perimeter.

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He tweeted about the June 20:

 

For Rutgers, the class of 2024 is already off to an impressive start. Gavin Griffiths, a four-star recruit, has committed to the program. He is ranked as the No. 32 recruit in the nation in the 247Sports Composite.

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What did we learn from Rutgers at Illinois?

Rutgers’ men’s basketball team hit the road on Friday night to kick off Big Ten play with a matchup against Illinois airing on ESPN 2. The Scarlet Knights dropped an ugly one, losing by 35 with a final score of 86-51.

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Rutgers’ men’s basketball team hit the road on Friday night to kick off Big Ten play with a matchup against Illinois airing on ESPN 2. The Scarlet Knights dropped an ugly one, losing by 35 with a final score of 86-51.

Rutgers now falls to a 4-4 record after starting the season has taken on Illinois 12 times in the programs history. The last meeting was this past March in the Big Ten Quarterfinals. The Fighting Illini also won by a big number, 90-68. Rutgers did defeat them during the regular season last year at home, 91-88.

The Fighting Illini have now gotten out to a 6-2 start. Despite winning two of three last week, Illinois dropped from No. 15 to just outside the top 25 in the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll. Since the poll was last updated on November 29, Illinois has defeated Notre Dame at home before demolishing Rutgers in the same building, where they are now 5-1 on the year. Fans may remember that the Scarlet Knights were receiving votes for the top 25 earlier this season.

The Scarlet Knights Geo Baker was once again out of commission while dealing with a hamstring issue. Facing off with an Illinois team that is 26th in the country in defensive efficiency without one of their Senior leaders was always going to be an uphill battle.

Let’s take a look at the key observations from Friday night’s Big Ten opener.

After back to back Rutgers hoops losses, Steve Pikiell says ‘I thought we’d be a lot better than this’

Steve Pikiell didn’t think his Rutgers basketball team would start off slow, but still likes the group.

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This is not the start that Rutgers men’s basketball had envisioned, a 53-51 loss on Tuesday night dropping the Scarlet Knights to 3-2 on the year.

In light of last season’s trip to the NCAA Tournament, there seemed to be some momentum this offseason about the direction of the program. Especially with a relatively light schedule to start, the back-to-back losses for Rutgers are shocking. Tuesday night showed a team that didn’t always have their motor on and that, for a fifth time this season, struggled to make shots.

Saying “we need to figure out a way to score my points,” head coach Steve Pikiell mixed realism with hope following the loss to Lafayette.

“I thought we’d be a lot better than this, obviously. We lost two one-possession games. I’d like to be 5-0, that’s where I thought we’d be right now but we’re not there,” Pikiell told reporters after the game.

“There is nothing you can do about the past, you can only work on what you need to do to get better in the future. We’ll devour film, we’ll keep working. We need to get some new guys into the rotation.”

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Rutgers, despite creating 20 turnovers, struggled in several other areas, including losing the rebound battle. The Scarlet Knights also shot poorly, making just 28.6 percent from the floor and 15.4 percent from behind the arc.

“I thought we just didn’t make shots today and that’s everyone. We have nights like and we’ll have a stretch where we make a lot of shots too,” Pikiell said.

“I’ll watch the tape again, I thought we had some good open looks and we’ll go from there. I don’t like the rebounding numbers; I thought we even we’re missing in the past we could crash the boards and get second shots. We did a little bit in the second half. We have to play better, [with] more energy. That’s on me, that’s on me as the coach. I’m fully aware of that.”

Pikiell didn’t sound set to panic, even after no one envisioned two losses from the season’s first five games.

“I stand by that I like this team a lot. I really do,” Pikiell said. “We got to figure it out, we got to get better.”

Rutgers men’s basketball picked surprisingly low in Big Ten preseason poll

Rutgers men’s basketball picked eighth in preseason Big Tenn poll.

Like Rodney Dangerfield, Rutgers basketball don’t get no respect, no respect at all.

Returning four of five starters and with some solid additions via the transfer portal, Rutgers was picked to finish eighth in the preseason Big Ten poll.

This despite an NCAA Tournament appearance last year, a win over Clemson in the tournament’s first round, and a narrow loss in the next round to Houston, who made it to the Final Four.

Rutgers went 20-11 last season and 11-9 in the Big Ten. They finished tied for fourth place in the conference.

The preseason poll saw Michigan receive the most votes followed by Purdue and Illinois. All three programs received votes in the poll:

1. Michigan, 373 (13)
2. Purdue, 373 (12)
3. Illinois, 320 (3)
4. Ohio State, 316
5. Maryland, 269
6. Michigan State, 262
7. Indiana, 219
8. Rutgers, 208
9. Iowa, 150
10. Wisconsin, 149
11. Nebraska, 105
T-12. Northwestern, 81
T-12. Penn State, 81
14. Minnesota, 34

Illinois center Kofi Cockburn was named the preseason player of the year for the Big Ten.

Steve Pikiell on Tournament loss to Houston: ‘we’re not very far off from where we want to be’

Rutgers men’s basketball head coach Steve Pikiell talks about the importance of the team’s NCAA Tournament and the big picture significance of their second-round loss.

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Rutgers men’s basketball made the NCAA Tournament this past spring for the first time since 1991. For head coach Steve Pikiell, it was a sign of not just progress but also how close his Scarlet Knights are to their eventual goal.

Rutgers lost to Houston in the second round of the tournament, a hard-fought 63-60 knockout to a team that eventually made it to the Final Four. It was a bittersweet moment but one that head coach Steve Pikiell said underscored the progress and direction of this team.

So much progress has been made over the last three years and the tournament appearance plus the first-round win should be celebrated by the program. But the team was very close to a Sweet 16 appearance and could have beaten Houston with better execution on the offensive end.

“Our focus was more than anything, the one thing the Houston game really taught us, it gave us tremendous confidence. They were to see and [Houston] played in the Final Four. We were able to see, we’re not very far off from where we want to be. We want to play in the Final Four, we want to win the national championships,” Pikiell said last week.

“I think it gave our program as a staff tremendous excitement about the future; tremendous confidence going into this year.”

Pikiell spoke to Jon Newman and Danny Breslauer of the Scarlet Spotlight podcast. Available on Apple Podcasts, the bi-weekly show is an excellent resource for Scarlet Knights fans and focuses on Rutgers sports with an emphasis not just on football and basketball but also the school’s full offering of Olympic sports.

 

While Rutgers has brought in several good pieces via their recruiting as well as the transfer portal, the program’s starting five was rocked with the transfer of Myles Johnson to UCLA this offseason. In addition, guard Jacob Young, a significant piece of the rotation over the past two years, transferred to Oregon.

“Once the season ended it quickly turning to the season that we’re almost at right now. We didn’t spend a lot of time – we knew three of those guys were graduating and leaving, so we were very prepared for that,” Pikiell said on the podcast.

“And then had meetings with everybody and I want everyone to be happy. Just thankful for the time that we had with those guys, they were great people, great teammates, and excited about the opportunity that the freshmen and incoming players have for us.”