‘Look at how far he’s come’: The ballad of Cliff Omoruyi
If the arc of Rutgers’ season can be boiled down to consistent, week-by-week improvement, consider Cliff Omoruyi the poster boy.
PISCATAWAY – Caleb McConnell saw it all summer. Mornings, nights, you name it: Cliff Omoruyi was in the facility up to three times a day, whether in the gym, in the weight room or watching film.
Steve Pikiell knew what was coming, too. Rutgers barely took care of Lehigh in its season opener, winning 73-70 in overtime, but Omoruyi had two dunks in OT and a solid enough night that Pikiell was ready to declare, “We don’t have to have any more talk about the five spot. ... I love this guy. He’s as good a worker as we’ve ever had in the program. He’s getting better and better every day.”
Given the way Rutgers stumbled to a 4-4 start – the way Omoruyi and some of his teammates looked ineffective or out of their depth at times – that may have looked like a premature pronouncement. But if the arc of Rutgers’ season can be boiled down to the theme of consistent, week-by-week improvement, then consider Omoruyi the poster boy.
Omoruyi’s 15 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks and multiple highlight-reel moves inspired Rutgers to its fourth straight win over a Top 25 opponent, a 70-59 victory over No. 12 Illinois that was never very close. Faced with national player of the year candidate Kofi Cockburn for the second time this season, Omoruyi displayed undeniable progress and held his own. He’s fulfilling the potential Rutgers has needed him to fulfill.
“I know the work I put in,” Omoruyi said, “so I’m not scared to play against anybody.”
A native of Benin City, Nigeria, Omoruyi came to New Jersey when he was 14 and landed at Roselle Catholic. His athletic, 6-foot-10 physique helped him become a four-star prospect, ranked No. 51 in the country in the 247Sports Composite. The likes of Auburn and Kentucky had their eyes on him, with the former hosting him on a visit, but Pikiell convinced him to stay local.
Omoruyi backed up Myles Johnson and occasionally shared the floor with him as a freshman. When Johnson decamped for UCLA last offseason, Rutgers did not add a new starter via the transfer portal, putting a heavy spotlight on Omoruyi, whose game needed work.
Pikiell and his players knew that Omoruyi was primed to make that jump.
“He came in, he was fresh. He wasn’t ready,” McConnell said. “But now, man, this summer he took a huge leap. Huge leap.”
After every game as both a freshman and a sophomore, Omoruyi said, he’s watched film – not just by himself, but with his head coach. In between games, he’ll get a phone call from one of the team managers, asking if he was available to come in and crunch more tape. The answer is always yes; they find a time that works around Omoruyi’s class schedule, and he shows up.
“(Pikiell) shows me plays, he shows me what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong,” Omoruyi said. “We keep doing it. Every time we do it, he shows me, ‘You did this, what you are doing last night... you’re getting better.’”
Undoubtedly, that factors in when studying an imposing matchup like the muscle-bound Cockburn, with his 21.4 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Omoruyi’s familiarity with Cockburn dates back past college to four years ago, when his New York Lightning faced Cockburn’s New York Renaissance on the AAU circuit.
“He wasn’t as big or strong back then, though,” Omoruyi said. “Playing him again (in college), he kind of bullied us. So I was like, I will use my speed and my quickness against him.”
The plan worked. Omoruyi beat Cockburn with some slick post moves throughout the night, though his second alley-oop dunk of the game was by far the highlight, when he slipped out of Cockburn’s peripheral view and caught a lob from Geo Baker:
And while Cockburn still went for 20 points and 10 boards, Omoruyi’s defense was crucial in ensuring that he didn’t produce more.
“Throw the tape on from last year and look at how far he’s come,” Pikiell said. “Defensively outstanding. ... These guys, they deserve all the credit. They’ve gotten better. They had unbelievable summers. Every single guy came back better and you’re starting to see the work that they put in.
“Cliff – you just see it coming. His best days are ahead of him, too.”
Wednesday was the apex of a stretch of standout performances this month, usually as the complementary piece to someone else. When Paul Mulcahy scored a career-high 31 points in the overtime loss to Northwestern, Omoruyi had a career-best 22 of his own, the two men carrying the Scarlet Knights back from a steep deficit. He shot 6-for-6 against Michigan State and 6-for-6 again vs. Ohio State, defying opposing frontcourts with help from Ron Harper Jr. or Baker. Against Cockburn and Illinois, it was as though Omoruyi had to take the leading role.
Omoruyi is a joyful giant off the court. He laughed out loud when a reporter playfully asked Pikiell if he’d taught Omoruyi the reverse oop. When asked about facing some of the country’s best centers week after week, Omoruyi cracks, “It’s called Big Ten for a reason. Every team got a big!”
Illinois coach Brad Underwood would agree. Despite the competition, his teams (especially the teams with Cockburn) are traditionally the aggressors, not the ones being outrebounded 46-28. Like Michigan State’s Tom Izzo 11 days prior, Underwood was astounded by how easily Rutgers “out-physicaled” the Illini – and he said Omoruyi controlling the game from the center position had a lot to do with it.
“I think that’s a tribute to him,” Underwood said. “His energy level’s up. His involvement is much more prominent. They’re throwing him the ball. Mulcahy does a great job with his post-ups, his late feeds. He’s added a left hand. I think he’s a guy, as any center in the league, you’re dependent upon others to help you in terms of getting the ball, but they’re getting him the ball. He’s impacting the game with his rebounding, he’s impacting the game with his defense and his energy’s great.”
Indeed, Omoruyi later credited his teammates for believing in him and getting him the ball. In his mind, the biggest difference between Rutgers’ 86-51 loss at Illinois 10 weeks ago and Wednesday’s victory is the “togetherness” the Scarlet Knights are playing with now.
Then he appeared to reference the 1992 Team USA “Dream Team” and its fabled high-intensity scrimmage days before the Summer Olympics.
“We just want to win. The momentum keeps us going... We’re trying to make history,” Omoruyi said. “The work that you put in, the hard work. The Dream Team also (had to) prepare for this. They go aggressive, they used their elbows and everything. That just gives us the physicality and everything we need.”
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Thanks for reading, as always. Now let’s make like Omoruyi and clean the glass of some other stray news and notes:
Harper exited Wednesday’s game with 2:34 to play, holding a finger or fingers in pain. From my vantage point, it looked like he was holding his left hand. In postgame, Pikiell only said it was a hand injury and the team doctors were seeing him at that point. He obviously didn’t try to put a timeline on the injury yet, though he mentioned much later on that his bench players should be ready for some more minutes due to Harper’s situation. It would be incredibly deflating for this team to lose its best all-around player for any length of time, even though every other starter has been playing lights-out for a few weeks.
Speaking of injuries, difficult news for Seton Hall. Kevin Willard could not promise that Bryce Aiken would return to the court this season after suffering a concussion last month. “This is something that we’ve seen every specialist and everything,” he said in his postgame radio interview. “Concussions, you just never know ... He hasn’t practiced. I haven’t seen any improvement. If he could practice and jump in, maybe. But it’s been a month, almost five weeks. I just don’t see it happening.”
The Pirates lost 70-65 at No. 24 UConn, splitting the season series with a close win at home and a close loss in Connecticut. It barely hurts Seton Hall’s metrics at all – its NET fell one spot from No. 33 to 34, and its KenPom ranking is 32. But now the Pirates can’t afford any slip-ups against a softer part of the schedule down the stretch, or its bubble status will get a bit bubblier.