{"id":111078,"date":"2024-12-07T19:47:40","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T00:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=111078"},"modified":"2024-12-07T19:47:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T00:47:40","slug":"how-rutgers-basketball-can-turn-its-season-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/07\/how-rutgers-basketball-can-turn-its-season-around\/","title":{"rendered":"How Rutgers Basketball Can Turn Its Season Around"},"content":{"rendered":"

After signing two of the top three players in the 2024 high school class, Rutgers basketball had high expectations coming into the season. Ace Bailey<\/a> and Dylan Harper<\/a> have both been incredible, but this has not translated to as much success as fans hoped for in the offseason. If Rutgers wants to turn things around it needs to change things quickly.<\/p>\n

How Rutgers Basketball Can Turn Its Season Around<\/h2>\n

Find a Third Scoring Option<\/h3>\n

The biggest problem for Rutgers this year is the lack of scoring options. Although Harper and Bailey<\/a> are both playing well, there needs to be another option. Both are freshmen and are bound for some growing pains, especially as Big Ten play starts. There needs to be a veteran who can be trusted when one is not playing well. So far nobody has stepped up. Last year, Iowa State transfer Jeremiah Williams<\/a> looked like he could be an important player for the Scarlet Knights this season. However, he is averaging under 10 points per game this year. Once Rutgers finds a third player to complement its two stars, thing should start to look better for them.<\/p>\n

Defense Needs to Improve<\/h3>\n

Over Steve Pikiell’s tenure, the Scarlet Knights have always been towards the top in defensive metrics. They would wear you out with traps and tough guarding. Now they rank as the number 98 defense in the country according to Kenpom. While this is still in the top 25% of teams, it is not what we are accustomed to at Rutgers. Some of this has been due to playing against some quality opponents such as Alabama and Texas A&M, but this trend is certainly concerning for a team that is typically so strong on defense.<\/p>\n

Improved Big Man Play<\/h3>\n

One of the best centers in the Big Ten, Cliff Omoruyi<\/a>, transferred to Alabama this offseason. He has been one of Rutgers’ best players over the past few seasons. His absence has been noticeable this season. Princeton transfer Zach Martini<\/a> and freshman Lathan Sommerville<\/a> have been fine, but not nearly enough to make up for Omoruyi’s production. Martini is more of a stretch four. While he helps to space the floor, he is not particularly good at rebounding or defending the interior. Sommerville’s skillset is more similar to Omoruyi’s but he is far less athletically. Like Martini, he has also been unable to make a difference in rebounding the ball. This has been a problem for Rutgers as nobody on the team averages 6 or more rebounds per game. This does not bode well for a team in the Big Ten, which is a conference filled with talented big men.<\/p>\n

Will Rutgers Make March Madness?<\/h3>\n

After missing the NCAA Tournament each of the past two years, fans came in with expectations of making it with the new talent on the roster. A month into the season, Rutgers has a record of 5-4 and has a bad loss to Kennesaw State. Its other losses are much easier to stomach as they came to solid teams; Alabama, Texas A&M, and Ohio State. But there will need to be some serious changes made if the team wants to go dancing in March.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After signing two of the top three players in the 2024 high school class, Rutgers basketball had high expectations coming into the season. Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper have both been incredible, but this has not translated to as much success as fans hoped for in the offseason. If Rutgers wants to turn things around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4878,"featured_media":111079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773,2,3],"tags":[1858],"class_list":["post-111078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","category-featured","category-news","tag-rutgers-scarlet-knights"],"modified_by":"Andy Grutkowski","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111080,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111078\/revisions\/111080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}