Biggest game 1 overreactions in No. 25 Rutgers men's basketball's domination over Wagner
While freshman forward Ace Bailey's Rutgers men's basketball debut was put on hold due to an injury suffered in practice, the rest of the Scarlet Knights (1-0, 0-0) took to the floor for the first time this regular season. No. 25 Rutgers opened the season with a 75-52 win over Wagner.
With it being the first game of a season filled with sky-high expectations and the team having plenty of newcomers, it's easy to get caught up and overreact to what we see in game number one. Here are some takeaways from the Knights' win and whether they may be an overreaction or reality.
Overreaction: Rutgers' defense is already a well-oiled machine
Seeing that the Seahawks (0-1, 0-0) only scored 52 points and Rutgers blew them out, it's easy to say that the Knights' defense dominated and is already up to par with teams of years past under head coach Steve Pikiell.
The Rutgers defense looked far better than it did in October's exhibition game against St. John's, albeit against a far weaker opponent in Wagner. The Knights impressively forced a Seahawk scoring drought in the first half that lasted more than 10 minutes and held them to 34.9 percent shooting across the whole game.
But things were not perfect defensively, and like all things, it will take time for Rutgers to truly start clicking. The defense needs a bit more work before taking on bigger, better opponents.
All in all, it looks like Pikiell has his guys bought in defensively, and the Knights' defense should only get more robust moving forward.
While noting the impressive 10-minute run in the first half, Pikiell still sees room for improvement.
"We've got a long way to go in that area," he said. "The great part about this group, they learn and try to incorporate what we're teaching them ... these guys stay steadfast on being a good rebounding and defensive team."
Not an overreaction: Sommerville will be the starting center sooner rather than later
If you had no idea who each player was on this Rutgers team, you'd think freshman center Lathan Sommerville was 1 of the 2 five-star recruits that the Knights brought in this year. Sommerville entered the game early in relief of starting junior center Emmanuel Ogbole and looked tremendous.
He displayed polished footwork and finishing ability in the post en route to 9 points and five rebounds in the first half alone. He finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and many highlight-reel plays, including a backward, over-the-head dime that looked like something only Nikola Jokic could pull off as a big man.
"I saw (junior guard Jordan Derkack) out the corner of my eye, I decided to just put a little flare on it," Sommerville said. "Big guard — that's what I like to call that."
While Sommerville's pass sure looked nice, Pikiell directed his focus toward other areas of Sommerville's impressive game.
"He's an excellent passer, but what I was most excited about was that he went up and grabbed eight rebounds," Pikiell said.
Sommerville wasn't as eye-poppingly impressive defensively as he was offensively, but he more than held his own at that end of the floor as well.
With question marks surrounding Ogbole as the team's starting center, having a freshman big who already looks to be an impact player should relieve some front court stress.
"Lathan is rock-solid from the beginning," Pikiell said. "He can do a lot of things, he stepped out for a three, he can pass, he can rebound — his best days are ahead of him."
Overreaction: Free throws and three-point shooting will be Rutgers' Achilles heel
Rutgers shot an unimpressive 12 for 21 from the free throw line and 7 for 23 from three on the evening.
Shooting more than 50 percent from the field on two-point attempts, threes were not overly necessary for the Knights in the dominating win. And knowing how streaky college shooters are in general, I'm not too worried about the team's shooting from long-range in this one.
As for the free throws, 57.1 percent is concerning on paper. But taking a deeper look at the numbers, freshman guard Dylan Harper accounted for 5 of the 9 misses, going 1-6 on the evening. I don't envision Harper shooting that poorly from the charity stripe again this season.
While last season's free throw woes may still loom large in the minds of Rutgers fans, the team generally looks to be improved in this department when Harper's outlier shooting is removed from the equation.
Besides, Harper scored 20 points on 9 for 14 shooting — clearly, he knows a thing or two about putting the ball in the basket.
The Knights will look to keep it rolling when they take on St. Peter's on Monday. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. on Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU FM.
"We've got a lot of work to do, but it's a good start," Pikiell said. "We wanted to be 1-0 and we are."
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