A much-anticipated Rutgers season opened on Wednesday night as Dylan Harper led the Scarlet Knights against Wagner.
freshman got the team’s first standing ovation. Who could have imagined that plot twist during the lid lifter on this much-anticipated college basketball season?was wearing street clothes at the end of the bench, his minor injury the only bummer in this two-hour long party in Piscataway. Dylan Harper was every bit as good as advertised, slashing his way to an introductory stat line that no Rutgers rookie has had in decades.
Steve Pikiell had to be the happiest man in New Jersey. His Scarlet Knights might have growing pains against the better competition to come, but after a difficult 13th-place finish a year ago, he finally can look down the bench and see options. He experimented with different lineups all night, and had to be tickled that his team held Wagner without a point for one 10-minute first half stretch.
The 6-foot-11 Sommerville, who hails from Peoria, Illinois, was supposed to be a developmental player. He shed about 30 pounds after arriving in Piscataway, a transformation that took place far quicker than Pikiell and his staff expected, but he only played seven minutes in the team’s exhibition game against St. John’s last month.
Even so, Rutgers was outrebounded, 42-39. Fans looking for something to worry about — and is their any other kind at Rutgers? — will point to that discrepancy and a typically bad shooting night from the free throw line and three-point range .
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