Rutgers men's basketball's defensive issues continue against Ohio State in 4th loss in 5 games
In head coach Steve Pikiell’s tenure, the Rutgers men’s basketball team has always prided itself on defense. It's unclear what this season’s Scarlet Knights (5-4, 0-1) pride themselves on – but it does not seem to be defense.
Rutgers put up some mighty fights against ranked opponents Alabama and Texas A&M in the past week, but unimpressively fell to Ohio State Saturday afternoon 80-66. It's now the fifth straight game that the Knights have allowed at least 79 points. For reference, Rutgers allowed 79 or more points just 5 times in 32 games last season, and that was considered one of Pikiell’s weaker teams in recent years.
Saturday’s contest started as an offensive shootout from both sides, as the score snowballed to 20-20 in less than 10 minutes. The defense wasn't there for the Knights, but their high-powered offense kept up with the Buckeyes (6-3, 1-1).
Ohio State then began to pull away as Rutgers’ offense slowed down and the latter could no longer keep up. The Buckeyes led by 10 with under 20 seconds to go but the Knights got a nice steal and a bucket from freshman guard Dylan Harper to trim the deficit to single digits heading into the locker rooms.
The second half followed suit of the end of the first half as Ohio State continued to expose Rutgers’ defense and the Knights just could not keep up on either end.
The Buckeyes limited Harper, forced freshman forward Ace Bailey into numerous tough long two-pointers and even managed to keep redshirt senior guard Jeremiah Williams out of the lane, where he has thrived lately as a third option for Rutgers.
Bailey and Harper combined for 30 points on 12-29 shooting, with Harper scoring 18 of the 30. Bailey attempted just one three-pointer and did not make it. Williams scored just 2 points on 1 of 6 shooting.
Pikiell's rotations have shown that he clearly is emphasizing trying to have his best defensive guys on the floor alongside the star freshmen. Still, the defense struggles.
The defense has looked poor regardless of who has taken the floor for the Knights, but what has kept them in games so far this season is the offense.
It may be time for Pikiell’s priorities to shift toward offense if the defense cannot be fixed with any combination of players on the floor. It is unusual for a Pikiell-led team to be in this situation, but it's the fact of the matter right now. This Rutgers offense has the weapons to keep up with anyone in the country, so Pikiell might have to lean into this.
If you can't slow a team down, then you must at least try to keep up.
Things were obviously going to be different this year with two five-star recruits shaking up the makings of Pikiell’s squad completely, but if the defense cannot start to live up to a fraction of Pikiell’s usual expectations, they are in trouble.
It won't get easier for the Knights as they finally return home on Tuesday to take on Penn State. The Nittany Lions (8-1, 1-0) have been a surprise team so far this season and are coming off a victory over No. 8 Purdue. Bouncing back will be a tough task for Rutgers.
"We worked all week on our defense and obviously we’ve got to get some more consistency there," Pikiell said. "Got to keep working with these guys to get some fiber on that end of the floor."
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