By Aidan Joly
There are probably few teams in the country who were more disappointed with the end of the 2019-20 season than Rutgers.
The Scarlet Knights had been a walking punchline since joining the Big Ten in the 2014-15 season, a doormat in the league. That changed last season, year four of the Steve Pikiell era in Piscataway. They went 20-11 and 11-9 in Big Ten play as part of the first time the program went above .500 overall since 2005-06, well on its way to the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991. However, COVID-19 forced that drought to continue and now they must prove that last year wasn’t a fluke.
One challenge of that could be the fact that they are unlikely to have their full home-court advantage after going 18-1 at home last season. The RAC became one of the best places in the country to see a game last year, perhaps the loudest arena in the Big Ten.
Despite the uncertainty of that, Rutgers fans have every reason to be optimistic. Except starting forward Akwasi Yeboah and role player Shaq Carter, they have every important player back. With all of this, they could find themselves in the preseason top 25, unthinkable given how awful they were in their first five years in the Big Ten, where it went 16-76 in league play before last year.
A pair of guards, Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker, will be leading the charge once again. Harper Jr., a 6-6 guard/forward combo, led the team in scoring at 12.1 PPG last season and made a team-high 38 three-pointers on a respectable 34.9% clip. He also averaged 5.8 rebounds per game, second on the team. He is also a good defensive player, who averaged nearly a steal and a block per game. He might not be an NBA player like his father was, but he’s a guy who makes the Scarlet Knights better on both sides of the ball.
As for Baker, he averaged 10.9 PPG despite dropping from 34.1% from three his sophomore season to 28.2% his junior year. Part of that can be attributed due to a nagging thumb injury all season, which forced him to miss three conference games during the year. He also averaged 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game last season. He is someone that Pikiell can rely on to make a big shot at the end of the game.
Sixth man Jacob Young provides some scoring off the bench, but struggles with efficiency and should improve that. Sophomore Paul Mulcahy, a solid shooter and junior Montez Mathis, a tough guard who is good at defense, provide depth. Junior Caleb McConnell is redshirting this season for injury concerns.
As for the frontcourt, it will again by anchored by 6-11 junior Myles Johnson. He averaged 7.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game last season in just 23.5 minutes and is going to have a bigger role this year.
Freshman Cliff Omoyuri, a big recruit picked up by Pikiell, will get some minutes immediately as well. He is the #48 player in the class according to 247 Sports and chose Rutgers over Arizona State and Auburn. He is seen as a strong player in the post with a good ability to block shots and rebound. Him and Johnson probably won’t play together too much but they won’t have to worry about a big drop-off in production while rotating.
Another freshman that could see minutes is Mawot Mag, a 6-7 forward out of South Sudan. He is reported to be a physical defender, which can very much help off the bench. He will be one player to pay attention to once the season begins.
This team should be largely the similar to, if not better, than last year. They won games because of their defense on top of one of the best backcourt duos in the league. As long as there isn’t significant regress in either the offense or defense, expect the tournament drought in Piscataway to come to an end this spring.
AJ Hoops 