Turnovers the latest culprit as Rutgers women hit 0-7 in Big Ten
Plus: Notes from Wednesday on both the Seton Hall women and men.
PISCATAWAY – Chyna Cornwell made a nice handoff pass to Destiny Adams in the high post to set her up for a drive and a shooting foul. One minute later, Cornwell rebounded Adams’ miss and tossed it in off the window.
When JoJo Lacey got out in transition and knocked down a jumper, it capped off an 11-0 Rutgers run that spanned the first and second quarters, building a 28-22 lead and prompting Michigan State to use a timeout.
And that was the last time the Rutgers offense had any flow to it Wednesday night.
The Scarlet Knights only made two more baskets the rest of the quarter, both by Kiyomi McMiller, and just three for the duration of the third quarter, two coming from McMiller. No. 22 Michigan State avoided a potential upset on a night it didn’t bring its A game, sneaking away from a halftime tie to beat Rutgers 70-60.
For the second straight game, the Scarlet Knights came within 10 points or fewer of upsetting a team that was ranked at some point this season, after they let Nebraska get away 69-62 on Sunday. But for the seventh time in seven Big Ten contests, Rutgers came out on the short end.
Coach Coquese Washington lamented that something different has done in her team in each game. Recently Rutgers has been badly outrebounded by bigger, stronger opponents. Rutgers won the rebounding battle Wednesday but kicked away 22 turnovers – losing the turnover fight 13-5 in the second half.
That neutered a pretty serviceable defensive performance in which Rutgers notched eight steals and six blocks (four by Cornwell) and watched the Spartans go 0-for-10 from three after halftime.
“It’s not been one thing that we say, ‘Oh, we just got to fix X,’” Washington said. “Every game it’s something different. But I think the overarching theme is not being able to put together a full 40 minutes of execution. I’ll say all three phases, offensively, defensively, rebounding. Every game it seems like we have a period of the game where we have a little bit of a drought, where either we’re not getting the rebound or we’re not getting the stops that we need or we’re not scoring or we’re turning the ball over.
“So it’s not really one thing, but it’s just our inability right now to really execute for 40 minutes. And so we just got to keep plugging away and trying to find a way to make that happen.”
McMiller scored 33 points against Nebraska in her return to action but had a much tougher game Wednesday, facing consistent attention from Michigan State’s defense. She managed 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting (2-of-8 from three). She had one assist and committed seven of Rutgers’ turnovers.
The way Rutgers’ offense clicked in the first half Wednesday made the third quarter that much more frustrating to watch. Zachara Perkins had a nice three-point play after getting the ball in transition, tying the game at 40, but she was hardly incorporated the rest of the game.
Late in the third, with the game very much still in reach, one possession saw McMiller dribble for roughly half the shot clock before passing it to Cornwell near the top of the key. McMiller cut, but the other three Rutgers players on the floor remained stock-still for most of this time, and Cornwell didn’t have anywhere to go with the ball.
It found its way back to McMiller, whose layup attempt didn’t fall. Adams got the rebound – and was then whistled for a charge, one of four offensive fouls by Rutgers on the night and one of several ways the Scarlet Knights handed over possession.
I asked Washington if she felt Rutgers’ turnovers had more to do with decision-making or execution, and her response wasn’t a shock.
“They were more decision-based, you know, they’re more decision-based,” she said. “Like sometimes we have to make quicker (passes) and also be more decisive with our passing. So something that, again, we will keep working on.”
McMiller’s return against Nebraska appears to have marked the conclusion of her off-the-court situation – in which she was effectively suspended for the team’s biggest game of the season to date, used social media to draw attention to her displeasure with the decision (with an assist from someone on her “executive team”), traveled to Minnesota with the team but did not play in a “game-time decision” and reaffirmed her desire to play for Rutgers. After the Nebraska game, when asked how the external input from McMiller’s advisor was handled, Washington shut it down by saying, “I don’t have any additional insight for you all because it’s an internal matter that we handled internally.”
Whether McMiller plays or sits hasn’t made an impact on the win column. At 0-7, Rutgers is one of four Big Ten teams still without a win at this stage in the season (Northwestern is 0-5 but had games in Los Angeles postponed; Purdue is 0-6; Penn State is 0-7). The bottom of the standings matters because due to league expansion, only 15 of 18 teams will qualify for the Big Ten tournament.
Washington, who repeated multiple times the idea that Rutgers just needs to put 40 good minutes together, said her team is persevering “as well as can be expected” amid the defeats and distractions.
“We’ve got a locker room full of coaches and players that are competitive, you know, so nobody’s happy. Nobody’s satisfied. Nobody’s, you know, walking around like nothing’s wrong,” Washington said. “We’re all ticked off and want to get over this hump. And because we’re competitors, we have the mentality like, ‘Next day, let’s find a way to get better.’”
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Happy Thursday, and thanks for stopping by for this slightly abbreviated version of Guarden State. I’ll let readers draw their own conclusions about Rutgers women’s basketball from my recent coverage. The reality is, the once-proud women’s hoops program is now 10-50 against the Big Ten since 2021-22 and 7-36 under Coquese Washington.
Wednesday marked my sixth game of January and I have another three coming up in quick succession. Follow along on Twitter and Bluesky for a Saturday doubleheader – FDU vs. Central Connecticut in an NEC showdown in Hackensack, then Kadary Richmond’s return to Seton Hall in a St. John’s jersey – as well as Princeton’s Ivy League home opener against Columbia on Monday afternoon.
Let’s clean the glass with a pair of Seton Hall topics…
The Seton Hall women did something they’d never done in program history: Win at Marquette. The Pirates led through the second, third and fourth quarters and prevailed 58-52 to move to 5-1 in the Big East, further cementing themselves as the Big East’s third-best team. It was an encouraging response to their loss to Creighton on the weekend. Jada Eads went for 20 points, and fellow freshman Ja’Kahla Craft had a breakout performance. After playing just nine minutes in Big East action before Wednesday, Craft provided 10 points (with two 3-pointers) and five rebounds off the bench, contributing to a key second-quarter run that saw the Pirates outscore the Golden Eagles 23-9. Seton Hall, I’m coming to your city on Wednesday the 29th for the game against Butler.
Speaking of Seton Hall and Butler, Shaheen Holloway’s group was back in Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday, the site of the Pirates’ NIT championship that Isaiah Coleman, Dylan Addae-Wusu and David Tubek were a part of. (Addae-Wusu didn’t even make the trip, however, with a foot injury.) Hall’s offense continued to show progress and its defense continued to do the opposite in an 82-77 loss to a Butler team that was stuck in a nine-game losing streak. Feels like Seton Hall is destined to tussle with Butler and DePaul for the ninth through 11th seeds at MSG.