Rutgers left plenty of room for improvement in its 68-61 season-opening loss to Princeton on Monday.
Coach Steve Pikiell said he would like to see the Scarlet Knights get off to a better start and shoot a higher percentage from the floor when they face visiting Boston University on Friday in Piscataway, N.J.
Rutgers (0-1) made 25 of 62 (40.3 percent) from the field in the loss and missed 10 of its 14 3-point attempts. The Scarlet Knights fell behind 12-4 early.
“We need to have our guys more ready out the gate,” Pikiell said. “We can’t start off a game like that.
“We had to finish around the basket. I think we missed … 17 layups. Not a recipe to win a game.”
Senior center Clifford Omoruyi led the Scarlet Knights with 12 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 27 minutes. Guard Noah Fernandes added 10 points and three assists, and forward Antwone Woolfolk finished with 10 points and four rebounds.
Rutgers forward Mawot Mag did not play. Mag, one of the team’s top defensive players, is recovering from a torn ACL.
“Mawot will tell people when he’s ready,” Pikiell said. “He’s been practicing, so it’s kinda on him moving forward. But he’s only going to play when he feels 100 percent, and I don’t know when that will be.”
“I like our team. We’re going to be good. We’ve got to figure it out a little bit and we’ve got to get a couple more pieces back.”
BU opened its season with a 67-58 loss against host Northeastern on Monday in Boston.
The Terriers (0-1) had a 34-31 halftime lead but shot 35.7 percent from the field in the second half. Northeastern shot 52 percent over the final 20 minutes.
“I thought we controlled the game in the first half,” BU coach Joe Jones said. “Then (Northeastern) came out and played with a lot more energy. They started pressing us and we just had a hard time getting into our offense.”
Freshman guard Kyrone Alexander made three 3-pointers and tossed in a team-high 15 points for BU. Freshman guard/forward Matai Baptiste added 11 points and five rebounds.
–Field Level Media