The first two games were hardly flawless for Rutgers, but they’ve provided a chance for coach Steve Pikiell to get a better look at the roster following the departures of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper to the NBA.
Rutgers gets another chance to evaluate its personnel and attempts to win a third straight home game Friday night against Lehigh in Piscataway, N.J.
Rutgers (2-0) opened the season with double-digit home victories over Rider and Maine with different players standing out each time. In the Scarlet Knights’ 81-53 rout of Rider, Tariq Francis shined with 20 points, and during Monday’s 72-60 victory over Maine it was Dennis Badalau’s turn.
Badalau scored all 19 of his points in the first half after shooting 1 of 12 in his collegiate debut five days earlier.
“He does so many good things for us,” Pikiell said. “You saw him get it going. He can shoot it, he can put it on the deck, he’s a good passer.”
Francis added 12 after his impressive opening game. The Scarlet Knights also got 10 points with 10 rebounds from Dylan Grant along with 10 points from Darren Buchanan Jr. after the duo combined for 28 points in the season opener.
But it was Badalau’s emergence that was a welcome sight.
“That’s regular for Denis,” Buchanan said. “Denis can do that any given night.”
The varied contributions occurred in a game when the Scarlet Knights shot 46.0% and went 8 of 19 from 3-point range after hitting 10 of 27 in the season opener. Rutgers, however, struggled again at the free-throw line by shooting 18 of 29 after going 21 of 33 in its season opener.
Lehigh (1-2) is playing its third game against a power-conference opponent after taking double-digit losses at Houston to open the season and at West Virginia on Sunday. Lehigh shot a combined 36.1% in the two losses when it made 11 of 36 shots from 3-point range and committed 31 turnovers.
The Mountain Hawks were done in by a slow start in their 69-47 loss at West Virginia, when they committed 11 turnovers and trailed by 42-20 at halftime. Andrew Urosevic has led the team in scoring in the past two games and finished with 16 off the bench, while Joshua Ingram added 14.
“West Virginia was a strong, physical and athletic team,” Lehigh coach Brett Reed said. “We’re going to see some of those same elements against Rutgers, and I think we’ll adapt well, understanding some of things we need to work on from today against them.”
–Field Level Media
