Rutgers Basketball: How Scarlet Knights adjust to Mawot Mag’s absence
Rutgers Basketball is facing adversity after losing starting forward Mawot Mag for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
Another dream season for Rutgers Basketball took a nightmarish turn last week when forward Mawot Mag went down with an injury. The worst was later confirmed: a torn ACL, sidelining Mag for the rest of the season.
It’s a crushing blow for the Scarlet Knights. Mag really came into his own as a productive scorer this season and his absence will be felt. It already was during the team’s loss in Bloomington to the Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday. Things felt even more bleak at Illinois on Saturday.
At Assembly Hall, Mag’s minutes were largely distributed to a trio of three: Oskar Palmquist, Derek Simpson, and Aundre Hyatt. All things considered, that experiment went well.
Moving forward, however, opponents will have a better grasp on how Steve Pikiell plans to work around the loss of Mag. That could create some difficulties for the Scarlet Knights, as seen in the game against the Fighting Illini.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are facing adversity after losing starting forward Mawot Mag for the rest of the season.
Mag started every game for the Scarlet Knights this season, prior to his injury. While his 7.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game didn’t necessarily leap off the box score, the Australian’s energy and consistency was a stabilizing factor for Rutgers.
Mag is also a strong defender and his absence was felt when Indiana jumped out to a big lead over Rutgers early on Tuesday. The Scarlet Knights couldn’t figure out how to contain Trayce Jackson-Davis all night. If the Hoosiers didn’t score 30 points in the first 12 minutes of the game, the final result may have been different.
Offensively, however, Palmquist and Hyatt stepped up to the plate, as did Simpson. The three combined for 25 points, picking up the slack while Paul Mulcahy and Caleb McConnell struggled from the field and only combined for four points. Even then, Rutgers still had a chance in this one.
Things looked worse against Illinois. Rutgers went into the half with a four-point lead on the road, only for their opponent to spend ten minutes of the second half keeping the Scarlet Knights scoreless. Mag may have been the one who could’ve broken that spell.
In both games, Rutgers seemed to have their best rhythm when they were feeding Cliff Omoruyi inside, which is often the case. Avoiding foul trouble has always been a bugaboo for the big man, but without Mag able to spell minutes or get some traction inside, Pikiell really needs Omoruyi to be available as much as possible.
It was good to see Rutgers was still able to get physical with Indiana at times, even with one of their most physical players out of the lineup. The Scarlet Knights are more than their defensive identity and strength, but it is how they’ve gotten to this point after losing Ron Harper Jr. following last season. Straying from their identity would be a mistake.
Still, the team will need better production across the board. Cam Spencer had 14 against Indiana, but he struggled badly against Michigan State in the previous game, missing all five of his threes. He struggled again on Saturday and was on the bench during crunch time. In general, he’s become inconsistent over the past seven games and will need to improve that if he’s going to resume being the alpha scorer for this team.
Many expected the Scarlet Knights to take a step back with Harper and Geo Baker gone. That hasn’t happened and Mag is a major reason why.
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Rutgers is not the same team without Mawot Mag. That doesn’t mean this season can’t end after a victory (or several) in the NCAA Tournament.