After navigating through one of its more difficult stretches of the 2024-25 season, which included matchups against Alabama, Texas A&M, Ohio State, and Penn State, the Rutgers men’s basketball team finds themselves sitting at 6-4 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten Conference, and 77 in the NET Rankings.
While it’s not the most ideal start to the season, the Scarlet Knights are still in a good position to make a run for the NCAA Tournament with a plethora of opportunities to add resume building wins, however, they now face a stretch of games in December that could cause significant damage to their postseason hopes.
Rutgers already set off one landmine in November when they suffered a non-conference Q3 road loss to Kennesaw State. It was a calculated risk by Steve Pikiell to have his Scarlet Knights play a road game against a mid-major program, but he wanted to give his players Ace Bailey and Jamichael Davis the opportunity to play in front of their families and hometown fans. In the end, the move backfired on Pikiell, and Rutgers now has a blemish on their NCAA Tournament resume. While it’s not a back breaking loss, the margin of error for Rutgers has now become slimmer.
One wrong move in December, and Rutgers could step on a landmine that would blow up their season, creating the insurmountable task of having to win the majority of their remaining Q1 and Q2 games in the Big Ten to make up for lost ground.
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