PISCATAWAY – Dylan Harper was back in Rutgers basketball’s starting lineup Monday, but he wasn’t back to his old self – and that proved costly for the Scarlet Knights.
With the star point guard severely limited by the flu that sidelined him during last week’s loss at Indiana, Rutgers began a make-or-break three-game homestand with a 75-63 loss to Wisconsin.
Harper went scoreless in his 15 minutes, managing four rebounds and just two shots. In a sign of how badly the freshman out of Don Bosco Prep was hurting, he played off the ball offensively to conserve energy during his time on the court.
“He wanted to go tonight, but obviously that flu has taken a lot out of him,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. “We’ve got to get him back to normal. I appreciate his effort. He had a bad strand (of the flu). I appreciated that he wanted to be out there with his teammates, but he didn’t have the energy he needs to have, which is understandable.”
Without their All-America candidate at anywhere close to full speed, Rutgers fell into a 16-point hole, rallied to pull within three, then ran out of steam. The Scarlet Knights are now 8-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten. Their NCAA Tournament hopes hinge on winning the next two home games, against No. 20 Purdue and No. 22 UCLA, which of course hinges on Harper’s recovery timetable.
“It’s huge,” postgrad guard Tyson Acuff said of the Purdue game. “This is a must-win for us, for our confidence as a team, our chemistry as a team, to build that fight and let us know that we still can get it done.”
Wisconsin (12-3, 2-2) shot 53 percent from the field. With freshman forward Ace Bailey, who was just named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, unable to get going (9 points on 3-of-16 shooting, 7 rebounds, 5 fouls), Rutgers’ offense was dead in the water.
“I think his rhythm was messed up a little bit by the fouls,” Pikiell said of Bailey. “He’ll bounce back; that’s what the great ones do.”
Asked about Bailey appearing to hold his right hand gingerly as he went through the postgame handshake line using his left hand, Pikiell replied. “I don’t know anything about that. At this time of the year, everyone is banged up with something.”
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
1. Tyson Acuff comes through
There’s a reason why Acuff averaged 21.7 points last season at Eastern Michigan, and it finally was on display Monday.
After suffering a broken foot over the summer and missing three-and-a-half months, Acuff struggled to find his footing – literally and figuratively – in Rutgers’ scheme.
“It was tough,” Acuff said. “I had a scooter for two, three months, and then I had to learn how to walk again, and run and jump.”
After two months of fits and starts, it all came together for the 6-foot-4 guard.
“There’s always beauty in the struggle,” Acuff said. “The storm passed and I was able to get through it. Yeah, it was good to get that performance, but I really wanted the win.”
Asked to take on significant minutes with Harper hurting, Acuff checked in as the sixth man and put together a season-best effort. He posted 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-8 from 3-point range, while handing out two assists and committing just one turnover in 30 minutes.
“I’m always confident,” he said. “It’s just about being ready when your name and number is called, trying to get the team that boost we needed.”
If this marked a corner-turning moment for Acuff, that could be a game-changer for the Scarlet Knights, who’ve been looking for a consistent third wheel to take some burden off of Harper and Bailey.
“One good part about Tyson is he’s confident,” Pikiell said. “It’s more about his foot feeling great. I’ve seen him coming. He dunked the ball the other day – he hadn’t done that in a while. There’s more minutes available now, and he’s taking advantage of that.”
In a display of leadership, Acuff pulled Bailey aside in the locker room afterward for a pep talk.
“I talked to Ace tonight just about shots not falling,” he said. “That’s going to happen. People aren’t going to be there when you don’t make shots, but when you make shots they’re going to give you all the praise in the world. Try to block all that out as much as you can and stick with the people that always have your back.”
2. Angry Pikiell
Unlike many of his head-coaching brethren at this level, Pikiell rarely loses his cool during games. Monday was an exception.
After Wisconsin beat his team to the rim a couple of times in the opening moments, Pikiell called timeout and launched into an eyeball-bulging, hand-waving diatribe as he benched starters Manny Ogbole and Jamichael Davis.
He was so apoplectic that the rant carried into the next timeout.
“I just wanted us to play better from the jump, and that’s on me,” he said afterward. “That’s not on anybody else but me.”
It was quite possibly the angriest Pikiell has been with his team in public during his nine-year tenure on the banks.
“I should get animated,” he said. “I’m just coaching. I like the challenges. I’m the right guy. I’ve been here through many tough times – real tough times. We can figure this out. We had our chances in this game today, too, and we certainly didn’t play our best.”
He added, “We’ve got to get healthy and we’ve got to play better. I don’t get frustrated – I get back to work.”
The players got his pointed message, but by then they’d already fallen into a double-digit hole.
“We had two offensive rebounds in the first half and 16 in the second half,” Pikiell said. “You’ve got to come out ready. We just didn’t have what you have to have…and that’s on me.”
3. Hello, Dylan Grant
After appearing in just three games for 20 total minutes this season, freshman forward Dylan Grant checked in during the first half and made a big difference. He tallied five points and an assist in just five first-half minutes, hitting two of his three shots, including a 3-pointer.
“He had the two best practices of his season the last couple of days,” Pikiell said. “I was proud of him. He hasn’t played many minutes and other guys have gotten more opportunities, but his energy was excellent.”
That stint earned him a check-in in the second half, and he made the most of it, finishing with eight points on 3-of-8 shooting, three offensive boards, two blocks, one assist, one steal and no turnovers in 16 total minutes. In one telling sequence, the 6-foot-7 Grant scrapped for two offensive boards and a loose ball.
That’s the kind of hustle that earns you a permanent spot in the rotation.
“He needs to keep stringing it together; that’s where confidence is built,” Pikiell said. “If he keeps doing that, he’ll get his opportunities.”
4. Boos, then cheers
From the start, the nerves were palpable among the 7,500 fans in attendance. By midway through the first half, during one particularly gloomy timeout, those nerves manifested themselves in boos.
That’s a rarity in these parts, though Rutgers’ football team did get showered with boos during its 42-7 home loss to Wisconsin in October.
By the end of the first half, the mood in the building decidedly improved: Fans were on their feet as Rutgers cut the deficit to single digits. In the second half, once it sunk in that the Scarlet Knights were essentially fighting back without Harper, the RAC sounded more familiar. But it never reached fever-pitch levels.
5. Chips piled high
For just the second time since joining the Big Ten and the first time since 2017, Rutgers has a three-game conference homestand. The unstated imperative going into this was winning at least two of these three games in Piscataway.
The next two don’t get any easier: No. 20 Purdue (11-4) comes in Thursday (6 p.m., Fox Sports 1) and No. 22 UCLA (11-3) visits Jan. 13.
Those are serious resume-building opportunities, and to keep its NCAA Tournament pulse alive, Rutgers must win both of them. There is no other math necessary. It’s win both, or bust.
“I’ve got a ton of confidence (in this team),” Pikiell said. “We’ve got to get Dylan Harper back, obviously – last I checked he’s a pretty good player – and we will. In a league like this there’s ups and downs, but that’s what you get in the Big Ten.”
The hard truth is, the track is running out on the roller coaster. It has to come together fast. As in, right now.
“We’ve got amazing pieces, man; we’ve got all the pieces in the world to make it,” Acuff said. “We’ve got to string a couple of (games) together, be able to get some stops and put more effort into the game.”
The first order of business, obviously, is Harper recovering enough to play like himself.
“He’s a big piece,” Acuff said. “A lot of plays go through Dylan, he brings the energy, he’s a scoring guy. So yeah, we’re missing a big piece.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
