Upset of Seton Hall is latest proof of Rutgers' road back to relevance

Steve Pikiell has first signature win at Rutgers, against a Top 15 team in Seton Hall, and it solidifies his claim that Scarlet Knights are in a better place midway through his second season. (Photo by On The Banks)

PISCATAWAY, NJ -- Steve Pikiell was part of a career-defining court storm 21 months ago, one that helped get him to where he is now, when the Stony Brook program he built from the ground up; bridesmaids four times in the America East Conference, finally broke down the door on their fifth attempt and secured an automatic bid to the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament at the Division I level.

Nearly two years later, the affable Jim Calhoun disciple, now in his second season at the helm of his mentor's former Big East rival, Rutgers, experienced a similar feeling of postgame jubilation in Saturday's takedown of Seton Hall, the 15th-ranked team in the nation and former Big East companion who just so happens to be the Scarlet Knights' fiercest rival. However, this one did not carry the reward of hearing his team's name announced on Selection Sunday. Instead, it was a harbinger of optimism, and Pikiell's long-held belief that he would indeed be the man to awaken the sleeping giant on the banks of the old Raritan.

"Every job along the way, I've never let an athletic director down, I've never let a president down, and I've never let a student body down," Pikiell vowed in March of 2016, when he was hired to replace Eddie Jordan and trusted with the daunting task of bringing winning basketball back to a program now 26 years removed from its last dance at the highest level.

"We're a better program right now than we were a year ago," the confident coach emphatically assured at Big Ten media day this past October, doubling down on the wager he placed on himself, that Rutgers president Robert Barchi and athletic director Pat Hobbs placed on him.

Saturday afternoon, amid a sold-out RAC, may have been the first true validity behind the boasts, and offered substance behind the veneers in the process. As Rutgers fought harder for loose balls, took a quicker step for each offensive rebound, the desire of upperclassmen the likes of Mike Williams and Corey Sanders willing a hungry, scrappy team to victory, you got the sense that this was only the beginning of the long road back to respectability.

Corey Sanders raises Garden State Hardwood Classic trophy after Rutgers used game-ending 17-2 run to upset Seton Hall and score first victory over Pirates since 2013. (Photo by Peter Ackerman/Asbury Park Press)

"We've been in games, plugging away," Pikiell recollected while addressing a gaggle of media on hand to see Rutgers' first victory over a ranked opponent in nearly three years. "I thought we had tremendous poise down the stretch. They played with good swagger and great intensity. Everybody kind of made a big play."

"It was an exciting environment," he added, citing the largest crowd at a Rutgers home game since 2002, three years before he took over the reins at Stony Brook. "I learned that if we keep plugging, and we have better basketball ahead of us too, that's exciting to me. And when the place is rocking like this is, it's a tough place to play."

Considering that from which the Scarlet Knights have come over the past decade, the morass of Fred Hill, Mike Rice and Eddie Jordan; where moments of glory have been far more fleeting than sustaining, Saturday was certainly a step in the right direction, and one all too familiar for the program's shepherd.

"You know what, I think the first game I coached here; 1,800 fans, this is the most fans to watch a Rutgers game here at the RAC since 2002," Pikiell reaffirmed, striking a parallel to his remembrance of a mere 172 patrons in attendance for his Pritchard Gymnasium debut with Stony Brook in 2005. "To have a place like that after a year of being here is a credit to these guys. They made this a game, and these are the guys that believed in us a year ago and stayed the course. It's a step in the process, and if these guys keep working and keep believing, good things happen. I'm excited, but we can play better, too. We have the potential to be better."

"I enjoyed coaching in it today," he said of the atmosphere inside the RAC. "It was a lot of fun. Today was awesome. We have a lot of people. The marketing people do a great job, the students came out. It takes everybody. Rutgers is a good place, it's a good time for us. It's an exciting place, and I'm very thankful I'm the head coach."