Head Coach Steve Pikiell Conveyed A Strong message to Rutgers, highlighting important factors with significant emphasis
The college basketball season is coming to a close, and Rutgers is already looking ahead to next year. This past season wrapped up with a 15-17 record and no postseason play, marking the second consecutive losing season, even with two projected top-five NBA Draft picks, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey.
With that chapter behind them, head coach Steve Pikiell is working on crafting a new vision for Rutgers basketball. He’s actively searching the transfer portal to bring in fresh talent and anticipates revealing a revamped style of play next season.
“We’re going to be different and exciting next year,” Pikiell stated on Thursday. “We’ll bring back the defense and grit that Rutgers is known for. I hope we can also land Ace and Dylan, which would be incredible. Over the past few years, we’ve enjoyed an 80 percent winning percentage at home. Our fans have witnessed many victories in the country’s top league. My staff is diligently working hard, navigating these challenges without an athletic director and a president. But good things are on the horizon.”
Rutgers ended up in eleventh place in the 18-team Big Ten, and a few additional victories could have made Selection Sunday much more intriguing.
“We’ll get things sorted out. We were just a few games away from being a potential at-large team,” Pikiell remarked. “Ohio State managed to win one more game than us and they were in the bubble conversation, as was Indiana. I hope to host more games at home next season, as this year required us to spend a lot of time on the road. You might critique my non-conference schedule, but if we hadn’t been traveling so much, I believe we could have secured a few more home wins, particularly while we were still figuring out our team.”
Rutgers suffered defeats against Princeton at the Prudential Center, Michigan State at Madison Square Garden, and Kennesaw State on their home court. Additionally, the Scarlet Knights lost tightly contested games to Alabama and Texas A&M at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
“I prefer to play games here at Jersey Mike’s Arena, especially while I’m still getting to know my team,” Pikiell stated. “Even this year, we faced the toughest schedule in the Big Ten. When I’m planning the non-conference schedule, I don’t have insight into what my league schedule will look like. I have to create the non-conference schedule without knowing what they will assign me. We played Michigan twice and faced Purdue twice as well.”
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