PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Scarlet Knights took care of business in the home-opener against Wagner on Wednesday night at Jersey Mike's Arena.
Despite star freshman
Ace Bailey being declared out due to injury on Wednesday morning, the Scarlet Knights dominated Wagner 75-52 shooting 51 percent from the field and amassing 17 team assists in the victory. Freshman guard
Dylan Harper scored a game-high 20 points and had four assists, three steals and three rebounds in the victory.
Fellow freshman forward
Lathan Sommerville gave the Scarlet Knights a jolt early with nine consecutive points of his own in the first half. Sommerville was one of the team's top performers with 11 points and eight rebounds. Grad student guard
PJ Hayes IV chipped in with 12 points and made four of his six attempts from the field. Senior captain
Jeremiah Williams scored ten points in 24 minutes.
New Jersey natives
Zach Martini and
Jordan Derkack each scored eight points in their respective RU debuts. Sophomore guard
Jamichael Davis had three points, three rounds, five assists, and zero turnovers in 24 minutes.
The Scarlet Knights compiled a key 20-0 run in the first half where they held Wanger without a point for nearly ten minutes to take a 36-19 lead into halftime.RU outscored Wager 39-33 in the second half to close out the game. RU outscored Wagner 26-2 on fastbreak points and 40-22 on points in the paint.
Up next the Scarlet Knights take on St. Peter's on Monday at 7 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena.
With the Win
- Rutgers improved to 10-1 all-time against Wagner, with five straight wins in the series. It was the first meeting of the two teams since 2001.
- Rutgers is 8-1 in season openers under Steve Pikiell and has won 10 of their last 12 season openers.
Postgame Notes
- Freshman Dylan Harper scored a game-high 20 points, the most for a RU freshman in a debut in 52 years since Phil Sellers scored 30 in 1972.
- Harper had the most points for a RU player under head coach Steve Pikiell in a season opener. It was the most points for a RU player in a season opener since Kadeem Jack scored 30 versus Florida A&M on November 18, 2013, when Jack was a redshirt junior.
- PJ Hayes was second on the team with 12 points in his RU debut.
- Fellow freshman Lathan Sommerville had 11 points and lead the team with eight rebounds
- The first points of the season were scored by Dylan Harper on a three-pointer.
- Wagner made 5-of-8 shots to start the game up 10-5 at the 14:13 mark. RU responded with a 20-0 run as the Seahawks missed their next 17 shots en route to a 10:57 scoring drought, with RU extending their lead to 25-10.
- In the first half, RU held Wagner to 19 points. The last time RU held an opponent under 20 points in a half was November 27, 2023, when RU limited St. Peter's to 17 points in the opening half.
- Rutgers finished the opening half on a 31-9 run for a 19-point advantage (36-19) at the intermission.
Gallery: (11-6-2024) Men's Basketball Beats Wagner in Opener
Participation Notes
- Rutgers first starting lineup of the season featured: Jordan Derkack, Dylan Harper, Emmanuel Ogbole, Jeremiah Williams and Zach Martini.
- Dylan Harper and Emmanuel Ogbole made their first collegiate start.
- Jordan Derkack and Zach Martini made their first start at Rutgers
- The starting lineup featured three players from New Jersey in Harper (Franklin Lakes), Derkack (Colonia) and Martini (Warren)
- First collegiate game (3): Dylan Harper, Lathan Sommerville, Dylan Grant
- First collegiate points (2): Dylan Harper, Lathan Sommerville
- First game as a Scarlet Knight (7): Dylan Harper, Lathan Sommerville, Jordan Derkack, Zach Martini, Tyson Acuff, PJ Hayes, Dylan Grant
Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell :
Opening statement:
"It's great to be back for Year 9. I am thankful for Rutgers. I am thankful for the opportunity to coach these guys. The fans were awesome. It was great to see everybody today. I thought we did great. Our bench came and gave us a lift. We have a lot of work to do, but it's a great start. The band, the cheerleaders, and the dance team; make this place rock and I appreciate it very much. I am looking forward to a great ninth year here on the banks."
Pikiell on what he learned about his team today:
"Well, I say this every game. There are a lot of obstacles. We had the
Ace Bailey injury right before the game. The season is always very interesting, there's nothing that you can predict in college basketball. So, we just try to go at it. From the last time we took the court, I thought our defense was much improved. We have to rebound better. We have to do a lot of things better. But, I have a lot more players to decide from. Our bench was outstanding tonight. Lathan (Sommerville) came in and gave us great minutes. PJ Hayes was amazing. Also, Jamichael (Davis) had two blocks, five assists and zero turnovers and he guarded Wagner's best player. We changed the pace of the game and Jamichael has done a great job. It was great to have
Zach Martini out there.
Jordan Derkack gave us a lot too. So, we've got some different combinations. Hopefully, we get Ace (Bailey) back soon, it would give us another dimension."
Dylan Harper on his first time playing at Jersey Mike's Arena:
"It was a dream come true to be honest. I remember coming here when I was little, watching my brother and all the other guys play. Now getting my chance to play in front of this crowd, in front of the Riot Squad, it is crazy and honestly a blessing."
Pikiell on Dylan Harper's Debut at Jersey Mike's Arena:
"It's a blessing for me too. All of these guys came and took on the challenge that we put forth. They have a lot of choices nowadays in college athletics. They picked us. I'm proud Dylan (Harper) did, and the rest of our freshman class. But, Zach (Martini) Tyson (Acuff), all those guys picked us too. So, it's great to have them. We saw today, Dylan (Harper) is multi-positioned, can do a lot on the court, and his best days are ahead of him too. So it's an exciting thing for
Dylan Harper."
Lathan Sommerville on his Performance:
"I felt great, like Dylan (H arper) said it's a blessing to be able to play in this environment. It was great to play with my teammates; my brothers. I felt great out there, I tried to bring as much energy as I could, and just play as hard as I can."
Pikiell on Lathan's performance:
"Lathan (Sommerville)was rock solid from the beginning. He is improving every day. College is not an easy adjustment. He has lost weight, and gotten into better shape. He's learning he can do a lot more things. He can pass, he can rebound, and his best days are ahead of him too. He's got that new haircut which is going to keep him going too."
Pikiell on his optimism going into this season:
"Every year is exciting in it's own way. But, every year is challenging in its own way too. Quick reminder with Ace (Bailey) and the challenges that come during the season. Having guys ready is always a challenge. There are all new rosters. You don't know how anyone is going to play together. But, I have a great staff. No one went into the portal, I'm excited that they're back. These guys wanted to be here. They've done a really good job at working and we still have a long way to go. But, we're excited about the season and how the fans showed up today. We're going to continue to get better."
Pikiell on importance on having the veteran experience:
"It's really important. Our blend of veterans and rookies, we have five freshmen playing for the first time and those [veteran] guys have been around a little bit.
Tyson Acuff has been a good leader too with that group. Jordan's been around. Martini, obviously, has been around, so to have PJ Hayes in that role, and he's played some awesome basketball last year at San Diego. If you watch the films of him he could really do a lot of things, and he's improving too. He's improving his defense, his rebounding, so I'm real pleased to have him, he gives us a real big-time weapon, and we need that."
Pikiell on Ace Bailey's injury:
"Day-to-day. Got hurt in practice the other day and so precaution, we always want to make sure we take care of our guys, but day-to-day."
Pikiell on any specifics on the injury:
"It's just an injury that he got during practice and I'm not anticipating this to be a long journey, but when he's ready to play, we'll play again. It's a basketball injury."
Pikiell on how great is it to look down the bench and see the number of options you have and is it fun experimenting with lineups:
"These game minutes are really valuable. It's hard to experiment sometimes when you're trying to win every game, but to have options, and I'm going to have to plug them in the right places, but we can fight through injuries. We already proved that today. If we get in foul trouble, we have enough guys.
Tyson Acuff, as he continues to improve his injury, he's gonna be real viable, he's the seventh leading scorer in the country, so he can do some things too. So it's nice to look down the bench and have options, it's nice to look down the bench and have size, it's nice to look down the bench and have guys that can get a bucket, and drivers, and the most important thing we got to continue to do is just share the game and get our defense up to snuff, and these guys have a chance to be really good defensively too. I'm excited about the options."
Pikiell on thoughts on the defense tonight:
"We had a stretch there where we were as good as you can do. 20-0 run, they didn't score for 10 minutes I think was the minute mark, so improving. We've got a long way to go in that area, we'll break down film and that's the other great part about this group. They learn and they try to incorporate what we're teaching them, and film is a great teacher, and these guys are going to do a great job devouring that. And where can we go if we really devour film and these guys stay steadfast on being a good rebounding and defensive team? We could do a lot of things, and offensively I could do a lot of things with them too so it's exciting to me."
Pikiell on most important play from Lathan Sommerville tonight:
"He's an excellent passer but what I was most excited about was that he went up and grabbed eight rebounds, and he grabbed them in traffic too, so I like seeing those things but if he can rebound like that, he's going to be in a good place. So I'm proud of him and how he attacked the rebounds today."
Pikiell on thoughts on rebounding overall:
"We got to offensive rebound better. That hurt us, but we've done a much better and I'll watch the film, but we're blocking out and we're doing things that we didn't do against St. John's, so it's a work in progress—got to find a couple of guys now. Ace is a guy who can get you 10-15 rebounds too, so we gotta get him back in and add another weapon, but everyone's got to do their job. I think we're going to be more of a team rebounding. Dylan's going to stick his nose in there, he's going to get eight a couple of times, [Martini] is as good a block out guy as there is in the country. Jordan's a good rebounder too so we gotta put it all together and make sure teams aren't getting second looks."
Zach Martini:
What was it like sharing the court with these two freshmen in their first career game?
"It was awesome. It was awesome to share the court with them. Like Coach Pikiell said, I think Lathan should keep this new haircut because he was a beast today, mean-mugging, great on defense, and then Dylan was awesome as usual so no surprises there."
Wagner Coach Donald Copeland:
On takeaways from the game:
"I thought we were terrible. As soon as they pushed back on us in the beginning of the game, that was it, we were done. I think some foul trouble with Javier Ezquerra, having to sit him, maybe I shouldn't have sat him as long, but he picked up two quick uncharacteristic fouls, and then I kind of went in a different direction and other guys just didn't step up. But overall we were terrible on both ends of the floor."
In what areas did Rutgers play well throughout the game:
"I think they just stayed within themselves. Even with us having a good start, I felt they never really wavered. I know they're down Bailey or whatnot, but they stayed within themselves and kept playing to who they are. They were never bothered by us and I know what these games are, and that's the testament of a team that handled their business the right way."
What factor did playing in Jersey Mike's Arena have on your team? Did the crowd play a role at all:
"I think it's great, they have a good crowd, I know what their game means right now. I can't say that it had an effect on us because these guys deal with me every day, but I just thought Rutgers the team really took it to us and we didn't respond at all."
On what it's like trying to defend Dylan Harper:
"I thought he did a good job of really trying to get others involved. He picked his spots. I watched the St. John's game, I thought he was really aggressive, sometimes even too aggressive to score at times. I think he played how the game told him to play today, which is really impressive. The talent that he has, but also the youth."
