Rutgers basketball is playing its worst defense of Steve Pikiell era: Here are the shocking numbers

Steve Pikiell sounded optimistic.

After leading the most disappointing team in school history that finished with some of the worst defensive numbers of his decade-long tenure in Piscataway, the Rutgers basketball coach entered this winter believing his latest team would get back to what made his best teams so successful.

“Every day in practice they’re working to raise the standards that we built around (here): playing great defense and rebounding and all those things,” Pikiell told NJ Advance Media at Big Ten Media Days this fall. “It’s been great. They’ve been refreshing in their approach.”

Through 24 games, though, these Scarlet Knights have gone even further in the wrong direction.

With seven regular season games and at least one Big Ten Tournament game remaining, Rutgers (9-15, 2-12) is on pace to finish as the worst defense of the Pikiell era by a significant margin.

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Following an 80-68 home loss to No. 9 Nebraska on Saturday in which the Cornhuskers did whatever they wanted offensively, the Scarlet Knights are now 180th nationally in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rankings, conceding 109.7 points per 100 possessions.

Both the number and the national placement are on pace to shatter the previous low under Pikiell set last year, furthering a shocking turn for a coach who produced three top-10 defenses during his decade at the helm.

Two of those elite units came in back-to-back years — 2022-23 and 2023-24 — immediately before the two worst defensive seasons of the Pikiell era.

In 2024-25, the Scarlet Knights ranked 116th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency (104.2 points per 100 possessions), surpassing the previous low of 70th nationally in Pikiell’s first year (99.3 per 100 possessions). It marked the first time Rutgers allowed more than a point per possession in a season under Pikiell, and this winter is on pace to demolish that low even further.

The issues have been plentiful and consistent, because it doesn’t seem like Rutgers can do anything right defensively:

— The Scarlet Knights struggle to rebound the ball, allowing opponents to rebound 33.6% of their misses (302nd nationally). That is the highest rate ever allowed under Pikiell, surpassing last year’s record (32.3%, 302nd nationally).

— The Scarlet Knights are getting grilled from the perimeter, allowing opponents to shoot 37.7% (312th nationally). That is the highest percentage conceded under Pikiell, surpassing the previous record set in 2018-19 (35.3%, 226th nationally) and last year’s poor showing (35.1%, 259th nationally).

— Rutgers does not force enough turnovers, doing so on just 16.4% of its defensive possessions (217th nationally). That marks a low under Pikiell, surpassing the previous record set last year (17.4%, 155th nationally) and in 2018-19 (17.4%, 245th nationally).

— Rutgers does not block many shots, doing so on just 10.1% of opposing team’s two-point attempts (140th nationally). That marks a low under Pikiell, surpassing last year’s record (10.2%) and sits 5.2% lower than its previous high set in 2023-24 (15.3%, 5th nationally), the final year of Cliff Omoruyi’s tenure in Piscataway.

— That is a big part of why Rutgers struggles to defend inside the arc, too. Opponents are shooting 50.9% on twos, the second-highest clip Rutgers has allowed under Pikiell, surpassed only by the 2024-25 season (52.8%, 273rd nationally). Under Pikiell, the Scarlet Knights had never allowed opponents to shoot over 47.6% on two-pointers.

“Extremely disappointed in our defense,” Pikiell said following Saturday’s loss to Nebraska. “It just hasn’t been consistent at times. We’ve shown some minutes. This league is too good not to be elite defensively. Communication is a big part of it, and talking on the court, we just haven’t been able to, and that’s on me. We’re going to continue to stress and work. I mean, you can’t imagine the film work that’s been done and how our practices are.”

The Scarlet Knights have conceded some absurd numbers to opponents, including four games of at least 1.2 points per possession during its ongoing seven-game losing streak: 1.56 against UCLA, 1.39 to Indiana, 1.31 to Wisconsin and 1.23 to Michigan State.

On Saturday, Rutgers allowed the Cornhuskers to shoot 12-of-20 on layups (60%) and conceded open three-pointers by the dozens. Nebraska created open shots at will, blew by defenders en route to the basket and made life difficult for the Scarlet Knights with a ton of off-ball movement. It finished with just six turnovers on 65 possessions (9.2%) and rebounded eight of its 34 misses (23.5%).

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In the end, the 80 points the Cornhuskers scored does not reflect how thoroughly they dominated on that side. For a program like Rutgers that prides itself on the defensive end, that’s not good enough.

“Defensively, we haven’t gotten there,” Pikiell said. “It just hasn’t come together the way that it needs to and we’ve spent a lot of time on it. We’ve shown signs but this isn’t a league to show signs.”

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