Rutgers basketball in jeopardy of missing Big Ten Tournament after wipeout at Oregon

Posted by author February 17, 2025 Basketball

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A once-unthinkable scenario is now a possibility for Rutgers basketball: Missing the Big Ten Tournament.

Sunday’s 75-57 wipeout at Oregon leaves the Scarlet Knights hanging onto 15^th place with five regular-season games left. Only 15 of 18 teams make the league tourney.

Rutgers (12-14 overall, 5-10 Big Ten) has dropped three straight and is playing disconnected and unfocused on both ends of the court. Sunday’s second half looked dangerously close to a mail-in as the program’s most-anticipated season in decades has unspooled into a nightmare.

Oregon (18-8, 7-8) dominated the first meeting between these programs since 1985, outrebounding and outshooting the Scarlet Knights, who managed just five assists.

THREE THOUGHTS

1. That 3-point defense

Oregon came in ranked 11^th in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting at 33.5 percent but looked like a team of Steph Currys against the Scarlet Knights, hitting 13-of-22 (59 percent) from deep against a perimeter defense wracked by confused switches and late close-outs.

It’s one thing to make a bunch of tough, contested shots. But most of Oregon’s triples were the result of defensive breakdowns.

That’s three straight porous defensive efforts by the Scarlet Knights, who yielded 90 points to Maryland and a 51-point second half to Iowa.

Steve Pikiell knows how to coach defense. Even last season’s sub-.500 squad ranked among the nation’s top 10 in defensive efficiency. But this group, which seemed to be making progress on that end until last week, is not playing smart or hard right now – and it’s a bad look for everyone in the program, from the top on down.

2. Another struggle for Bailey and Harper

For the third straight game, Ace Bailey was invisible with 8 points on 4-of-13 shooting and just 2 rebounds in 29 minutes. Dylan Harper (15 points on 5-of-14 shooting, 3 rebounds) managed just one assist in 31 minutes. The point guard looked a bit better than he did during Wednesday’s loss to Iowa, but not anywhere near the game-changer he was earlier this season.

The stunning truth is Rutgers right now is getting more from its “other” freshmen, Lathan Sommerville (14 points, 3 blocks) and Dylan Grant (8 points, 6 rebounds), than the two projected NBA Draft lottery picks.

For the first time this season, Pikiell was mildly critical of Harper and Bailey in his postgame comments (see below). You have to read between the lines, but it sounds like the message is not getting through, which is on both the coach and the players. At this point, if their attention to detail is not where it should be, Pikiell should consider pulling one or both from the starting lineup.

3. Big Ten Tournament watch

Suddenly the Scarlet Knights’ visit to Washington (13-12, 4-10) on Wednesday (a ridiculous 10:30 p.m. tip on the Big Ten Network) has major postseason implications – the loser will be on track to miss the Big Ten Tournament.

The bottom of the Big Ten standings right now, 14th through 18th:

Minnesota 5-9

Rutgers 5-9

Washington 4-10

Northwestern 4-11

Penn State 3-12

Rutgers holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Northwestern, but Penn State holds it over Rutgers by virtue of having the better conference victory (over Purdue). The other tiebreakers will be decided soon; the Scarlet Knights close out the schedule with a home game against Minnesota.

A season that began with a ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 and buzz about March Madness possibilities ending short of conference tournament qualification would be an abject failure.

Beyond Washington and Minnesota, the remaining slate consists of trips to league powers Michigan and Purdue and a home game against USC. Continue playing like this, and they’ll lose them all.

THREE QUOTES

From Steve Pikiell’s postgame radio interview…

General thoughts: “Obviously we’ve got to play better on both ends of the floor. Our offense didn’t help our defense, and our defense didn’t help our offense. We’ve got to share the ball better too. Tough place to play, tip of the hat to them (Oregon). I’ve got to get us playing better, that’s for sure.”

On what Oregon did against Ace and Dylan: “I thought they got some decent looks, too. They’re just a little bit out of synch. Teams get real physical with Ace. With Dylan, they’re in the gaps. I’m trying to explain to the guys they’re just coming in the gaps (defensively), they’re not even double-teaming. You’ve got to make the extra pass and they’ve got to make some of those opportunities. We got some decent looks and didn’t capitalize on them.”

On the rest of the team: (Sommerville) was physical, and Dylan Grant got us off to a good start. J-Williams, I hope he’s OK because he banged up his shoulder. We’ve just got to get better contributions from everybody and I’ve got to do a better job.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.