Rutgers basketball coach Steve Pikiell credits ‘terrific’ Ohio State after OT win, with
Rutgers basketball coach Steve Pikiell shared respect for Ohio State and turned the page to Michigan State after Sunday’s 69-64 overtime win at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, New Jersey. The Scarlet Knights, who earned a spot in Monday’s AP Top 25 at No. 23, improved to 13-5 overall and 5-2 against Big Ten play — a half game behind Purdue (16-1, 5-1) for the conference’s No. 1 spot — with the victory against the Buckeyes (10-7, 2-4).
“What a great college basketball (game), truly,” Pikiell said. “Ohio State is terrific — real physical and well-coached. To be able to come away with a ‘W’ after 45 minutes, it was a really difficult basketball game. These guys, they all stepped up. It was one of those games — the ball wasn’t going in early. We just stayed the course, hung with it. Our defense always gives us a chance. I’m just real proud.”
Cam Spencer led the way for Rutgers and scored a game-high 21 points. Ohio State beat the Scarlet Knights earlier this season when Tanner Holden buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the 67-66 win.
“Maybe by these guys (the players),” Pikiell said of if the loss to Ohio State earlier in the season gave the team extra motivation. “Quite honestly, I don’t even think I brought it up. You’ve got to move on in this league. It was a long time ago. Maybe they would have a different answer, but we moved on to this game and we’ve got Michigan State on the road next. So we’ll quickly move on to that one.”
Rutgers faces Michigan State next on Thursday on the road. The Spartans are tied for third place, which is just behind Rutgers, in the Big Ten standings.
“No, you guys can talk about that,” Pikiell said of being second in the Big Ten standings and if winning the conference title is on the team’s mind. “We’ve got Michigan State and it’s the best league in the country. We don’t ever look down the road these guys know how I am and I’ll never change. There’s a lot of season left and there is a lot of really good basketball and there’s a lot of things that go on, so we’ve got to stay focused on what’s important.”
The Scarlet Knights cracked the AP Top 25 this week for the first time since February 2021. The team has posted an 11-2 record at home this season and could move up in the poll with a win over the Spartans (12-5, 4-2) this week.
Three of Rutgers’ five games in 2023 have been decided by less than four points. The Scarlet Knights are 3-0 in those games.
“They just stay the course,” Pikiell said of winning close games. “Even in the first half, in the locker room, I said I liked the looks that we got. They’re not going. But if we can’t score, they can’t score and that’s how we just continue to grind. Even getting it into overtime the way that we did. They’re really good. That was a really good basketball team. I have a ton of respect for these guys, but down the stretch, we made a few more plays than them and that was the difference.”
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