Mag’s game-winner to beat Ohio State the essence of how Rutgers’ resurgence was built

Mawot Mag exults after his 3-pointer in final minute served as game-winner for Rutgers against Ohio State. (Photo by Rutgers Athletics)

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Steve Pikiell’s track record lacks the gaudy results of some of the more glamorous basketball programs in the country, but the Rutgers head coach continues to prove accurate the age-old axiom of hard work beating talent when talent does not work as hard.m

On track to lead Rutgers to its unprecedented third straight NCAA Tournament barring an unexpected meltdown in the last seven weeks of the regular season, Pikiell has always been lauded for his player development savvy, and his Midas touch for taking a player and making him better no matter the number of stars next to his name was on full display again Sunday.

In a rough-and-tumble war of a game that had already gone into overtime, Rutgers — clinging to a one-point lead — found an unlikely hero against Ohio State as Paul Mulcahy found Mawot Mag all alone in the left corner for what turned out to be the game-winning 3-pointer with 38 seconds left in the extra session, giving the Scarlet Knights all the margin they would need to fend off the Buckeyes in a 68-64 grinder of a Big Ten contest that could very well vault Rutgers into the Top 25 for the first time this season before yet another pivotal league showdown Thursday night in East Lansing against Michigan State.

“Paul had the ball and he was going to break down his defender,” Mag said as he recounted how his defining moment unfolded. “We were all spaced out, and I had seen Paul had nowhere to go. I was wide open in the corner and once I caught it, once I shot it, I knew it was good.”

“He’s a worker,” Caleb McConnell gushed, citing Mag’s blue-collar mentality on and off the court. “We’ve seen him make that shot a million times, in practice, outside of practice, and he’s just a worker. Just to echo what Pike said, he developed a lot, and that speaks huge, huge volumes to the kids that Pikiell recruits, because he just wants workers. (Pikiell) don’t give a damn if you’re 5-star, 4-star. To him, he’ll take a one-star if he sees the potential in you and knows you’re a hard worker. And that’s all the guys we have on this team.”

Ironically, Rutgers got a verbal commitment after the game from five-star prospect Ace Bailey, a Top 10-rated player in the class of 2024. But as his potential future coach reaffirmed Sunday, rankings only comprise 50 percent of the total package, with the immeasurable attributes being what Pikiell predicates the build of his programs upon.

“When I watch these guys play, they have heart and they have grit,” he shared. “We don’t get caught up in the ranking stuff. Guys that work at it get better, and I want guys that fit our locker room, that are team players and great families, all these guys made the dean’s list. That’s what I look for. Rankings are some of the last things I look at. These guys just keep getting better, too, and that’s a great sign, their credit.”

Rutgers (13-5, 5-2 Big Ten) needed a collective effort after its stout defense let up briefly in the first half on the way to a 15-0 Ohio State run in the opening minutes after Rutgers had pitched a shutout going into the first TV timeout of the afternoon. The Scarlet Knights chipped away, eventually pulling within three at halftime, but still needed an extra boost to push the tempo. It came in an uncharacteristic and exceedingly rare occurrence just 59 seconds removed from the intermission, when Pikiell was rung up by Courtney Green for a technical foul, just the second of his 18-year head coaching career. Ironically, his lone other technical came against the Buckeyes as well, on the road in Columbus on December 23, 2020, when a questionable second-half whistle by Bo Boroski against Myles Johnson sent the normally placid Pikiell into a frenzy.

“I’m fighting for my guys,” he said after Sunday’s game. “I thought they missed a call.”

“That definitely turned us up, man,” McConnell opined. “Personally, I felt like I got fouled and I’m glad Pike stood up for us. The five (of us) that were out there, we said, ‘come on, now it’s time to step on their necks, now it’s time to turn it up.’ Pike got us going with that tech, and I’m actually glad he got it because Mawot scored right after that. We got a stop and a score right after that.”

Rutgers went on a 7-0 run immediately following the technical free throws to retake the lead, and again ripped off seven straight to pull ahead once more after Ohio State had taken a 44-38 advantage. From there, the second half remained within one possession either way, including in the final two minutes, when an alley-oop from Mulcahy to Cliff Omoruyi was answered with a pull-up jumper by NBA prospect Brice Sensabaugh, whose attempt to win the game at the end of regulation fell just short, with a last-ditch runner by Cam Spencer falling off the mark at the other end to trigger five additional minutes. Once in the extra session, Rutgers did not let its visitors drive away, trading baskets before Omoruyi’s layup with 1:34 remaining put the Scarlet Knights ahead for good, with Mag’s corner triple serving as the dagger nearly a minute later to exact a retribution of sorts after Ohio State shocked Rutgers last month in a controversial ending the Big Ten would later apologize for as an out-of-bounds call was missed on the final possession in Columbus, even if most parties within the home locker room had short memories with respect to what happened on December 8.

“Quite honestly, I don’t even think I brought it up,” Pikiell said of the potential revenge factor. “Maybe they might have a different answer, but we moved on to this game and we’ve got Michigan State on the road next, so we’ll quickly move on to that one.”

“When we do us and we play us, then we get us results,” McConnell added. “That’s exactly what we did, we kept fighting, kept jabbing, and that’s how we were able to come out with the win.”

At 5-2 in Big Ten play, Rutgers stands a half-game behind Purdue — who Rutgers defeated two weeks ago on Spencer’s game-winning 3-pointer from the top of the key — for conference supremacy. But in a deep and immensely talented league, big-picture thinking only deviates from the task at hand, which McConnell was quick to reference by recognizing the need to keep an even keel before, during and after each encounter.

“You can’t be too high, you can’t be too low,” he said. “This damn conference is wild, and I don’t care what no one says. Ohio State just lost their fourth game in a row. You couldn’t tell me in the beginning of January or the beginning of December that they would lose four in a row. It’s the Big Ten. Even Iowa got off the mat and Iowa's on a run now. You just don’t know whose turn it is, and that’s why you’ve got to take every game day by day, week by week.”