Steve Pikiell guides ‘connected’ Rutgers to a win it sorely needed
‘He fought for us and we fought for him today,’ Derek Simpson said of his coach after Rutgers grabbed 56 rebounds against Nebraska.
PISCATAWAY – Steve Pikiell looked about as livid as he’s ever been in eight years at Rutgers.
Early in the second half, Nebraska had gone up by three and Cliff Omoruyi was under the basket trying to provide Rutgers’ response. The Cornhuskers swarmed, and Juwan Gary fouled Omoruyi as he went up for a shot. Except no foul was called.
Calls are missed in every single game of basketball, but this particular moment – the clarity of Gary’s hand contacting Omoruyi’s wrist, all skin, no ball – set Pikiell off. You don’t need to hire a professional lipreader to glean what Pikiell said at the start of this clip. He was assessed a technical, and Nebraska’s Keisei Tominaga made his free throws to make it a five-point lead.
Soon it was eight, then 12 with less than 10 minutes in regulation. But Rutgers locked in on defense and, crucially, on the glass. The Scarlet Knights held the Cornhuskers without a made field goal for the final 9:38 of regulation in order to force overtime. By then, they were the much hotter team, playing with fire and grit, and they pulled away for an 87-82 win.
“We were very connected today,” Pikiell said. “I like it.”
That connectedness, which seemed absent at various points this season, exhibited itself in Rutgers’ vastly improved rebounding Wednesday night. And it was evident in the connection between these players and their coach.
“It shows that he’s gonna fight for us,” Derek Simpson said of Pikiell’s tech. “When I went back to the huddle, all I could do was clap and say, ‘Man, he fought for us. We didn’t have to go do that, he did that, he went and got the technical.’ He told the ref that we’re not playing these games no more.”
Pikiell had returned to his familiar, mild-mannered personality with reporters after the game and the cooling-off period.
“I was just a little frustrated at that point in time and I’m gonna fight for my guys no matter what,” Pikiell said. “… I know I’ve got to do a better job with the referees. I can’t let myself get that way. I was frustrated. I haven’t watched the tape, I’ve got to see what the play was, but I think I saw it correctly.”
Simpson wasn’t the only player who saw Pikiell’s tech as an act of defending and motivating his team.
Omoruyi had been held to single-digit points in four straight games before Wednesday. He has been the focal point of the scouting report in every game Rutgers has played. Sometimes he’s won his individual matchups, and sometimes he hasn’t. He’s been goaded into foul trouble. He’s been doubled in the post. And like many centers who aren’t reliable free-throw shooters, he’s been hacked.
“I get it every game. That’s not a new thing,” Omoruyi said. “(Gary) literally grabbed my hand. I had to hold the rim for me to get my balance back. So that was a foul, and the ref didn’t call anything. I think Coach Pikiell got pissed, he had a tech. I think that’s his second tech since he started coaching (at Rutgers). I think both techs were because of me.
“He cares about his players. You can see he really cares about us and stuff. He don’t like the refs going against us.”
Omoruyi responded with several massive plays down the stretch, but especially on the boards.
Rutgers’ rebounding problem has been well-documented in this newsletter and elsewhere. When you shoot 39% as a team, rebounding is especially pivotal. Since the Scarlet Knights have returned to conference play, they’ve won the rebounding battle in four of five games. They turned 25 offensive boards (six by Omoruyi) into 20 second-chance points Wednesday, and their 56 total rebounds set a program record for a Big Ten game.
“You have to find a way to match toughness with this group. It’s what Steve Pikiell hangs his hat on,” said Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg, an NBA and college veteran who went on to say he thinks “the absolute world” of Pikiell. “It’s what his teams do every time they step on the floor and they just flat-out out-toughed us tonight on the glass.”
It’s rubbed off on players not named Cliff. When I asked Omoruyi about the full team effort – including Simpson getting eight rebounds for the second time this month – he began by joking that he doesn’t want his teammates fighting him for his rebounds.
“Like Derek, I told him there’s going to be 3-point shots so long rebound, so be ready … on the 3-point line and get the long rebound,” Omoruyi said with a smile. “That’s what he did, he was able to get the long rebounds.”
When the clock reached zeroes – not any earlier, because he didn’t want to risk a tech of his own – Omoruyi spiked the ball in jubilation, and it flew halfway to the rafters.
The primary reason Rutgers didn’t put the game away sooner was its 16-for-30 showing at the foul line, including just 8-for-19 at the end of regulation.
“Wish (Omoruyi) could have made a couple more free throws, but we’re going to get better with that tomorrow,” Simpson said. “Everybody going to get better with that tomorrow, the next day. We’re just going to keep building and growing and being more connected.”
There was that word again – connected. The Scarlet Knights are back to rebounding as a team and defending as a team, as fans are accustomed to seeing during the Pikiell era.
Simpson said he remembered moments from his freshman year that Pikiell went to the mat for him and his teammates.
“There was a couple times last year where he really got on the refs and he really got on us, he really challenged us,” Simpson said. “The past week he’s really challenged us to do better, you know what I’m saying? … He fought for us and we fought for him today.”
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Happy Thursday, people.
There is plenty more to break down about Rutgers’ overtime W, so with all due respect to Seton Hall and its dominant win Tuesday night, let’s keep things scarlet for the rest of this newsletter.
I’m not going to spend time on postseason ramifications other than to say that Rutgers is now 1-0 in Quadrant 2 games. (I’ll bring back New Jersey bracketology next Tuesday.) It was an important win for the Knights for other reasons – defending home court and grinding out a win to prove to themselves they’re going in the right direction.
Another shrewd move by Pikiell was to play Antwone Woolfolk for 13 minutes in a tight game to spell Omoruyi during regulation time. Woolfolk’s stat line isn’t going to leap off the page to many, mainly because he went 0-for-1 from the field, but he played solid defense and made one key play at the end of the first half. An airballed shot was about to land out of bounds, but Woolfolk reached it with one hand and bounced it to Mawot Mag, who scored the tying layup in the final second of the shot clock.
Rutgers never led by more than four points until Austin Williams’ clutch 3-pointer made it 79-74 during overtime. Williams has had to tough out a knee injury and still gets listed as questionable on the game reports, but the coaches surely have settled on Simpson and Williams as the starting guards and Jamichael Davis and Noah Fernandes as the second unit.
Gavin Griffiths shot 2-for-2 from three Wednesday after going 1-for-19 in the previous seven games. But after that second three, he let a defender blow by him and then made a questionable pass in traffic that Nebraska intercepted. The freshman is being held to 5-10 minutes off the bench as of late and has a long way to go.
This was our best game this season, sans the victory against the team that rents out a hockey stadium in Newark. The Indiana game was a much needed win, but we didn't really look that good. The hoosiers were just much worse. This game I felt the team finally came together. Hustling for rebounds and loose balls, all starters having double digit points, overcoming the horrid officiating, and persevering when all seemed lost to battle back from a 12 point 2nd half deficit. I just hope this is the spark to get the team going for the rest of the season and not a flash in the pan. Regardless, this was a blood pressure rising, eardrum shattering, nail biting RAC classic that were a staple of the Ron, Geo, Caleb years and it was a blast. Now they have a huge (or should I say B1G?) opportunity this weekend at Illinois. GO RU! POUNDING NAILS!