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The Rutgers basketball team picked up a much-needed win against #23 Illinois on Wednesday night. The Scarlet Knights have been struggling in Big Ten play, but a strong finish led to an 82-73 victory. A big reason why Rutgers was able to get the win was the return of Dylan Harper to the lineup. Harper has been battling an ankle injury, but he was able to play against Illinois. He did not disappoint.
Dylan Harper led all scorers on Wednesday night as he dropped 28 points on 7-15 shooting. He was also 3-5 from deep. He brings a lot to this Rutgers basketball team.
“It opens up a lot for us, I mean can't double me,” Harper's co-star Ace Bailey said after the game, according to an article from SportSkeeda. “I mean once he gets downhill, he can attack the rim, put pressure on the rim any time, kick out.”
Rutgers came into this season with incredibly high expectations because of their two star freshmen, Bailey and Harper. When they are both out on the floor, the Scarlet Knights are a tough out.
“I mean he's 6-foot-6 and he can rebound, so just having another person out there to rebound, open up, playmaker, get us open, attack at the same time that's good,” Bailey added.
Harper has had to miss a good amount of games lately, and Rutgers struggled without him. He is happy to be back, and the Scarlet Knights are definitely happy to have their star healthy again.
“It felt great being back with my teammates, I mean, everyone played a big part in me coming back,” Harper said, according to an article from The Daily Targum. “They put me in the right spots … it was great to be back out there with my guys.”
Having Harper back and healthy was obviously huge for Rutgers in this game, but the home-court advantage was big as well. Harper gave the Rutgers crowd a shoutout after the game.
“It got real loud tonight, I couldn't even hear myself — offense or defense, it didn't matter,” he said. “If I can't hear, I know the other team can't hear and we're home turf, we’re gonna hold down the fort and go out there and win.”
Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell knows how important Harper is to this team and how he impacted Wednesday's game. Offensively, Harper provided a spark, but Pikiell thinks that things on the defensive end won Rutgers the game.
“We made free throws,” Steve Pikiell said. “Obviously, you know, getting Dylan back opens up some things, too, for everybody and we've been a good offensive team pretty much, we've scored a lot of points this year. It's our defense and rebounding today that won us the game.”
Being fully healthy is not a luxury that this Rutgers basketball team has had this year, so it was nice to get things back to normal.
“It was nice to have almost all of our players available to us,” Pikiell said. “I thought everybody chipped in, gave us great minutes and you have to play really well against a ranked team and the team with terrific players and well-coached. We played well, we were even on the backboards, which was a huge key for us and you know, just a great win but nice to have Dylan back, obviously.”
Rutgers still has a lot of work to do to get into the NCAA Tournament picture as they are now 12-11 overall and 5-7 in Big Ten play. Anything can happen if this team can stay healthy, though.