Ever since Coach Steve Pikiell arrived at Rutgers three seasons ago, the Scarlet Knights have been picked last in the Big 10 pre-season poll and somehow been matched up against No. 1 in the league opener. Talk about a “Gift That Keeps On Giving” stuck in reverse. This time around, it was pre-season pick Michigan State, at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) Friday night, and the Scarlet Knights came up short, 78-67, in a game that was competitive most of the way before the Spartans’ superior talent took over.
The Big 10 Conference isn’t exactly welcoming the Rutgers basketball program with open arms. The Scarlet Knights have been provisional Big 10 members for five years. There is absolutely no randomness in the way the Big 10 conference is scheduling in men’s basketball. Simply put, Big 10 commissioner Jim Delany is trying to protect the league’s best teams with rigged early-season scheduling. If the Big 10 actually had a computerized system working randomly, it’s possible one of the stronger teams (the league has seven teams ranked in the Top 25) might face a handful of good teams early in the season and lose confidence with a shaky start. Better from Delany’s vantage point to have the stronger teams in the Big 10 building up confidence against the bottom of the barrel for early season wins, a formula surely geared to gain more NCAA berths.
Now, let’s look at how Delany has taken this strategy a step farther beginning this season. Under Delany’s leadership, the Big 10 has expanded to 20 league games from last year’s 18. More league games will allow the better teams in the Big 10 to have a stronger strength-of-schedule index, increasing the league’s NCAA possibilities. But definitely not promising news for teams at the bottom like Rutgers.
Coaching at one of the most challenging jobs in college basketball, Pikiell would surely prefer scheduling a few more wins against lower DI’s, than playing two more league games. Okay, so now that we have safely determined that Rutgers is Delany’s punching bag for the Big 10’s elite, what is really going on in the land of Springsteen? Pikiell is working diligently at Rutgers (he had a great run at Stony Brook before arriving) and has been creating a buzz on campus that’s been lacking for some time. Rutgers still does not have nearly enough talent to compete at the top of the Big 10, and it’s safe to say a program that hasn’t been to the NCAA’s since 1991 won’t be dancing this March either. But Pikiell has created continuity by keeping a strong coaching staff – Jay Young, Karl Hobbs and Brandin Knight together all three years, no easy task when you’re at the bottom of your league. And perhaps most important to any rebuilding effort, Pikiell and his capable staff have the Scarlet Knights playing with high energy. Witness the nine offensive rebounds in the first half against a Michigan State team that usually blocks out with the best. And for all of you hustle-play fanatics out there (that would include me), freshman Caleb McConnell’s head-first dive for a loose ball late in the first half was off-the-charts exciting. Chasing after a turnover heading to the other end of the floor, McConnell dove from the three-point line and recovered the ball in the middle of the lane. Probably left skin marks on the RAC floor.
Coming off one of Rutgers’ biggest wins in the Pikiell era, a 57-54 thriller at Miami, the RAC was sold out for the first time since 1997. Granted, it took 21 years and four coaches before Pikiell (Gary Walters, Fred Hill, Mike Rice and Eddie Jordan) to arrive at this moment, but when the No. 9 ranked Spartans rolled into town, the rowdy RAC crowd was juiced for an upset. The RAC is one of the loudest arenas in college basketball and it was a factor early in this game.
The Scarlet Knights got off to a fast start, making 7 of their first 11 shots, to jump out to an early 18-10 lead. Michigan State responded with a 9-0 run but Rutgers regained a 23-21 lead, when the game’s fortunes turned on one foul call. In a sport that’s almost always determined by star power (Michigan State had a 3-1 advantage in this department), Rutgers’ one-star player, Geo Baker, got called for his second foul contesting the Spartans’ star point guard Cassius Winston’s lane jumper with 9:23 left in the half.
This was a double-whammy for the Scarlet Knights, as they needed both Baker’s offense and defense shutting down Winston to really have any chance against Michigan State. Baker had helped Rutgers gain the early lead by burying two 3’s and holding Michigan State’s most dangerous offensive player, Winston, to just two points. Once Pikiell decided to save Baker for the second half, Winston had 12 points by halftime, including a step-back 3 at the end of the half that put the Spartans ahead, 39-37. By the time the final horn sounded, this Cassius had floated like a butterfly and stung like a scorpion. Winston finished with 22 points and six assists and eventually knocked out Rutgers’ pick and roll defense.
On three different plays, Winston turned the corner going middle on pick and roll plays, scoring twice at the basket and creating an easy put back for a teammate on another. Winston is an excellent pick and roll player and will have a chance to be a First-Team All-Big 10 player, but Rutgers’ low off-side defenders were asleep at the wheel coming over to stop him in the lane. Early in the game, Baker had done a good job defending Winston on pick and rolls, keeping him on one side of the floor and away from the middle.
It was a frustrating night for Baker, who should be one of the better guards in the Big 10 this season. By the time Baker returned to the game in the second half, he was a bit rusty and struggled for his 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. But give Michigan State off guard Joshua Langford, one of the Spartans’ other stars, credit too. Langford’s tough on-the-ball defense forced Baker into difficult shots, and he pitched in 14 points on the offensive end.
Enter Michigan State’s third star, center Nick Ward, who turned in a strong effort with 20 points, on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Michigan State is one of the best running teams in the country; just ask the No. 2 ranked Kansas Jayhawks, who were beaten down the floor three times on made baskets by Michigan State in the season opener. The Spartans take the ball out of the net as well as any team in the country. Rutgers did a good job not allowing Michigan State easy opportunities on made baskets, but once the Scarlet Knights struggled to make shots after a fast start (3-of-18 in one stretch midway through the first half and just 3-of-15 to start the second half), the Spartans were off and running. Ward did most of the damage, easily outrunning the Rutgers’ big men down the middle of the floor – it looked like Bolt distancing himself from the pack – for easy post-up opportunities.
A