In his last few games, Derek Simpson has stepped up his role as "the facilitator" in the backcourt, but can he continue to do so for the rest of the season?
by Mark Remsa
Although Cliff Omoruyi's dominant performance was the highlight of Rutgers men's basketball's massive 87-82 overtime win over Nebraska this past Wednesday, Derek Simpson was the facilitator in the second half that helped steady the ship across the finish line to victory.
With Rutgers down 63-51 and under nine minutes remaining in the game, Simpson stepped up and answered the call. It wasn't Simpson's scoring ability that helped propel Rutgers to victory, it was rather his passing ability.
In those last nine minutes of the second half, Simpson was meticulous in finding ways to feed Omoruyi in the post as he was able to thread the needle through a tight window in the lane to find Omoruyi for a few scores to help erase the Cornhuskers' lead.
Throughout most of the season Rutgers has struggled to generate plenty of assists mainly from the backcourt, and while 16 total team assists from Wednesday's game doesn't capture your attention, what should capture your attention is Derek Simpson's ability to create half of his team's total assists.
According to KenPom metrics, Simpson currently ranks 9th in the Big Ten for assist rate, only slightly behind Michigan's star guard Dug McDaniel and Michigan State's sharp-shooter Tre Holloman.
Instead of forcing himself to take shots from poor looks on Wednesday, Simpson opted to create plays though his passing and to feed his teammates when they had better opportunities to score. Despite shooting just 24% from the field, Simpson was clutch down the stretch in overtime as he converted his free-throws and finished 85.7% from the line.
Simpson has also cleaned up the turnovers as he's only committed two in his last two games.
EARLY SEASON STRUGGLES
Throughout this past November and December, it was pretty clear Rutgers did not have a true facilitator in the backcourt and Simpson was certainly part of those early season struggles.
Entering the season, expectations were somewhat modest of the backcourt after head coach Steve Pikiell brought in transfers Noah Fernandes and Austin Williams and freshman recruit Jamichael Davis to join sophomore Simpson in the backcourt to help provide a lift after Pikiell was blindsided by Cam Spencer's and Paul Mulcahy's untimely decisions to enter the transfer portal this past summer.
Pikiell had initially tailored the roster around Spencer and Mulcahy for success, but when they decided to transfer Rutgers immediately lost a lot of experience in the backcourt and their true facilitator in Mulcahy, who was the primary ball handler and assist generator.
Last year, Simpson emerged as a promising freshman after he had a breakout performance when he single-handily took control of the game against #10 Indiana and scored 14 points. Rutgers would go onto claim a decisive 63-48 victory over Indiana.
Simpson would go on to have a high impact on other big games throughout last season, and fans began comparing his style of play to that of recent Rutgers great Geo Baker. It was Simpson's ability last season to take over games, beat defenders off-the-dribble, and score points that really caught each fans' eye. So, when Rutgers needed a spark in several games last season, Pikiell turned to the freshman to do so.
It was never Pikiell's intent to use Simpson as the primary guard in the backcourt for the current season because Simpson still had a lot more learning and development to undergo, but when Pikiell lost his two most experienced guards, he had no choice but to thrust Simpson into a larger and more responsible role.
The question begged itself in the offseason: Can Simpson take his game to the next level this season and is he ready to become the facilitator? This would mean other than just scoring, Simpson had to be ready to handle ball security and distribution for the upcoming season.
Simpson's 2023-24 campaign got off to a rocky start as he committed 13 turnovers in his first six games, shot very poorly in several big out-of-conference contests, and registered few assists.
At times in the early going of this season, it almost felt as if Simpson was attempting to recreate some of the magic he had from last season when he would single handily takeover games. Simpson started this season playing more isolation basketball, forcing contested shots, and second guess his decision making.
However, as of lately, Simpson has been instrumental in playing more team basketball. His ball security has greatly improved; his passing and ball distribution has been more efficient; and he's been reliable down the stretch of games by converting on his free-throws (85.2% on the year). According to KenPom, Simpson had his second most efficient offensive rating of the season against Nebraska.
REMAINDER OF THE SEASON
With a difficult slate remaining in January, can Simpson continue to be the facilitator Rutgers needs in the backcourt?
Although it's taken almost two months for many of the players on this team to come into their roles, one thing is clear, this is Simpson's team. Simpson has been unafraid on the court to mitigate risk and to try to help his team win games, but for the remainder of the season Rutgers will need consistency out of Simpson.
Even though Simpson is still developing and learning to hone his new role, he can certainly provide a serious boost for Rutgers by being the facilitator this team desperately needs.
If Simpson can continue to orchestrate plays and efficiently find ways to deliver the ball to his teammates, mainly Omoruyi, Williams, Hyatt and Mag, Rutgers will be dangerous in the Big Ten and can be successful.
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