Rutgers steps up in competition, but does so with more questions than answers

Steve Pikiell (seated, second from left) diagrams a play in huddle during Rutgers’ game against Maine November 10. Although 4-1, Scarlet Knights still have glaring concerns ahead of schedule gauntlet that begins Monday in Players’ Era Festival. (Photo by Rutgers Athletics)

Almost a full month of basketball has been played across the country, and for most teams, a majority of the questions surrounding them before the first ball was thrown up have been answered. Some others, however, still have more uncertain root issues plaguing them, with more ominous signs in the near future.

At 4-1, Rutgers would fall more in line with the former than the latter based solely off its record. But as the Scarlet Knights begin play Monday in the prestigious Players’ Era Festival, they converge upon Las Vegas at a crossroads of sorts after several harbingers manifested themselves in an uncharacteristic loss to Central Connecticut Friday.

“It’s really starting to get on my nerves a little bit,” head coach Steve Pikiell conceded. “A lot of new guys are a big part of it, scouting reports are a part of it. We have to grow up in how we approach scouting reports. I have to get some guys out there that understand what that job is against every team. Central Connecticut was one of those teams that have five guys that could make threes.”

Rutgers’ defense behind the three-point line is not the only cause for concern heading into its first matchup in Las Vegas, coming Monday afternoon against Tennessee. Pikiell has bemoaned his team’s lack of rebounding — usually a calling card for the coach’s rosters over the years — on more than one occasion during the young season, and has been visibly frustrated with the lack of aggression on a young roster still learning its way and each other.

“It all starts and ends with the backboards,” he insisted. “You can’t be plus-15 in a game and then minus. We have to be consistent with rebounding the basketball. Some of the second shot threes, that always happens when you’re scrambling off a rebound, a missed shot. We have to do a better job and find some consistent rebounders.”

“We have to go at people. We’re not one of those programs and we don’t have that kind of talent on the floor that we can just sit back. We have to go after people. We gotta play better and we gotta own our record. I told our guys in the locker room that nobody feels sorry for us. We gotta find a three-point defense, we gotta find some better ball movement, and the backboards.”

It does not get any easier for the Scarlet Knights, with Big Ten play starting immediately after coming back from Las Vegas. The conference slate does Rutgers no favors with its first two league contests coming against a pair of Top 10 teams in No. 1 Purdue and No. 7 Michigan, and Pikiell wasted little time outlining his primary demand from his team.

“We have to, obviously, play with more energy,” he said. “We gotta play harder, we gotta rebound better. We have no time now to put our heads down. We gotta bounce back and we gotta do it quickly. We just have to play better, point blank. We just have to play better, that’s on me, and we have to play hard from the opening tip.”

The aforementioned need to follow the scouting reports will be of particular importance this week, with three games in as many days, and even as Rutgers is still working through whatever kinks it may still face, it is still perplexing to its leader after questioning whether his team had perhaps looked past Central Connecticut. The stress does not dissipate when facing a gauntlet, and Pikiell knows that.

“We’ve gotta get better,” he reiterated. “It’s a long season, we go through ups and downs. I don’t know if our guys’ minds were on the right thing. Were they already in Las Vegas? I don’t know. I have ten new guys that I’m just learning, but they certainly weren’t on the task at hand. I have to make sure that they understand what Tennessee looks like, what Notre Dame looks like, what Purdue looks like, what Michigan looks like.”

“We’re 4-1, that’s what we are. And we better learn from a night like (Friday). That’s all you can do in a season like this. We’ve gotta get off the mat and we’ve gotta make sure that we’re ready to go.”