Two of Rutgers’ largely unseen bright spots flash through in loss to Wisconsin

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — For most of the season, and understandably so, Rutgers has gone as its dynamic freshman duo of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper has on any given night.

But on some days, especially now as Big Ten play heats up, there will be instances in which the Scarlet Knights will have to rely on a supporting cast head coach Steve Pikiell has heralded on more than one occasion.

Monday night was one such moment, as Bailey struggled shooting the ball against Wisconsin—missing 13 of his 16 attempts—while Harper was held scoreless and missed both shots he took on a night where he still showed lingering effects of the flu that sidelined him Thursday in a loss at Indiana. But even with the emergence of Tyson Acuff and Dylan Grant, Rutgers’ effort in cutting a double-digit deficit to three points fell by the wayside as the Badgers came into Jersey Mike’s Arena and led from tip to buzzer in a 75-63 victory.

“Not a lot of teams come in here and beat us like that,” Pikiell said as Rutgers to 8-7, its third loss in four games. “It’s a 40-minute league and I gotta get these guys to play 40 minutes. We’ve obviously gotta play better, gotta get healthy, all those things.”

“I just wanted us to play better from the jump, and we didn’t. And that’s on me. That’s not on anybody else but me. I’m trying to get them to play to the level that they need to play in a game like that, and we didn’t.”

From a health standpoint, Harper was visibly hindered as he struggled to regain his mobility. According to Monday’s FS1 telecast, the freshman has dropped nine pounds since coming down with the flu last week, but still attempted to gut it out as best as possible.

“He wanted to go tonight, but obviously that flu has taken a lot out of him,” Pikiell said. “I appreciated him trying today, but he just didn’t have the energy that you need to have, and it’s understandable.”

In his stead, Acuff stepped up. The fifth-year senior, one of the nation’s leading scorers last year at Eastern Michigan before entering the transfer portal, scored a team-best 17 points Monday, by far his best outing of the season as he has played his way back from a broken foot that cost him most of the preseason and lingered through non-conference play.

“He hasn’t played many minutes and other guys have gotten more opportunities, but his energy was excellent,” Pikiell said of his veteran. “Tyson had a serious foot injury and he’s been working practice more and more confident with his abilities. He’s been stringing together good practices, and I think it shows out there. We need him to be real good, especially when we’re down some guys and we need the energy that he can bring. Those were two real positives from today’s game.”

Grant, an oft-forgotten piece of Rutgers’ freshman class alongside Harper, Bailey and Lathan Sommerville, made the most of his time Monday as well. The Canadian scored eight points and chipped in three rebounds in just over 16 minutes of action, and along with Sommerville, was one of the Scarlet Knights’ most efficient players with a plus-4 rating.

“He’s talented,” Pikiell said of Grant. “His ability to block shots, you saw that, he could finish plays, he’s got a lot. He just has to become more consistent in everything that he does, but I’m proud of him. When you haven’t played much and you jump into the Wisconsin game, and you’re ready to go and give us some great minutes…we were looking for a boost off our bench, and he was able to really do that. Hopefully he continues what he’s been doing the last couple days. He needs to keep stringing it together. That’s where confidence is built, and if he keeps doing that, he’ll keep getting his opportunities.”

The schedule does not get any kinder for Rutgers in the coming days, with a pair of ranked teams visiting New Jersey in Purdue and UCLA. Pikiell appeared to be more demonstrative in timeouts Monday, looking for a spark to galvanize his unit, and insisted he would bounce back in lockstep with his players.

“I’ve been here through many tough times,” he reiterated. “We could still figure this out. I don’t get frustrated, I get back to work.”

Acuff concurred.

“We’ve got amazing pieces, man,” he added. “Myself, Dylan Grant, Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, Jordan Derkack, we’ve got all the pieces in the world to make it where we need to be. We just gotta string a couple of those together, get some stops, and just put more effort into the game.”