Rutgers basketball fans showered their team with boos vs. Michigan. That's not helping

Jerry Carino, Asbury Park Press
·3 min read
21

PISCATAWAY – First, there were gasps at the missed free throws. They grew louder with each successive brick. Then there were catcalls – Rutgers fans heckling Rutgers basketball players as the team’s offensive struggles unspooled against Michigan Thursday night.

Finally, there was booing. For the first time in recent memory – we’re talking 20 years – Scarlet Knights fans showered their basketball team with boos as they lost 58-45.

“Listen, I love the fans,” head coach Steve Pikiell said when asked about it. “They have their opinions and I love it. We have a lot of assistant coaches and that’s good.”

A lot of assistant coaches. That’s one way to put it. None of these “assistant coaches” were around when Pikiell took over an ash heap of a program in 2016, or when Caleb McConnell and Paul Mulcahy started turning around this perennial loser program a few years later. But with success comes interest, and in big-stage college athletics, it’s fair for fans to second-guess and be critical of poor performance, even if some of the noisiest ones are bandwagoners who don’t grasp the swings of a 31-game season and couldn’t tell the difference between a pick-and-roll and a pick-and-pop.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights fans cheer during the first half of the game between the Scarlet Knights and the Michigan Wolverines at Jersey Mike's Arena.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights fans cheer during the first half of the game between the Scarlet Knights and the Michigan Wolverines at Jersey Mike's Arena.

All that said, it was shocking and disappointing to hear Rutgers fans booing and heckling an NCAA Tournament hopeful like this – some of them even yelling as Scarlet Knights were shooting free throws.

This never happened during the Freddie Hill years, when Rutgers teams with more individual talent than this one routinely got run off the floor. It never happened Eddie Jordan’s tenure, when there was a 15-game losing streak and Purdue won at the RAC by 50.

Yes, the sustained success under Pikiell has heightened expectations. Students waited in line for hours to get in the arena Thursday night. People are emotionally invested in Rutgers basketball now to an unprecedented degree in modern times.

Mulcahy said he appreciates the fan support, pointed out “there are some positives” about raised expectations, and acknowledged that “people got opinions.”

Michigan Wolverines center Hunter Dickinson (1) celebrates after a basket against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the second half at Jersey Mike's Arena.
Michigan Wolverines center Hunter Dickinson (1) celebrates after a basket against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the second half at Jersey Mike's Arena.

Opinions are fair game. The Scarlet Knights played horribly on offense, seemed scared to shoot, committed unforced errors and imploded at the free-throw line, where they shot 5-of-16.

But booing and heckling the home team, the ultimate turncoat act, should never happen in college athletics. Even as amateurism slides into a gray area with players cashing on their name/image/likeness, these are still students representing your school. And nobody on the current Rutgers team is breaking the bank due to NIL or even netting what amounts to a living wage; far from it.

“These guys fight and scrap; it wasn’t the outcome any of us wanted today,” Pikiell said. “We played a really good Michigan team, too; I want to remind them (fans) of that.”

Michigan came in desperate and performed with the kind of laser focus you often see from teams backed into a corner. Rutgers may be in that spot in 10 days, when Northwestern visits for the regular-season finale. It’s worth remembering that the Scarlet Knights were picked to finish eighth in the Big Ten, which is where they are now. This was a fringe NCAA Tournament team when the season tipped off and, after some surprising December and January flourishes, it’s back there again (with the help of some injuries).

“Come back, stay with Rutgers basketball,” Pikiell said after the Michigan loss, speaking to the fan base. “You’ve been great all year and we want to make sure they continue to be great.”

Pikiell can do his part by getting Cam Spencer more catch-and-shoot opportunities, tinkering with player combinations to minimize the damage when he goes to his struggling bench, and getting his guys to shoot and attack the rim with more confidence.

That last part might be easier on the road right now, an absolutely stunning thought.

“Don’t listen to any, any, any outside noise,” Mulcahy implored his teammates late Thursday night.

That’s hard when it’s right there in your face.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball fans showered their team with boos vs. Michigan