PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball held its local media day Friday afternoon at the RWJ Barnabas Health Athletic Performance Center. Sixth-year head coach Steve Pikiell held a press conference before student-athletes met with a group of assembled media to preview the 2021-22 season.

"I like this group and I think there is a ton of good things happening here," Pikiell said. "We have awesome chemistry, and that's going to help us with any obstacle we face, including playing in the best conference in the country. We had a great Summer, and by far our best Spring. We're excited the students are back on campus and that we'll soon be seeing and hearing the Riot Squad and the rest of our amazing fans."

Pikiell has completed a tremendous rebuild of the Rutgers program, as the Scarlet Knights are coming off the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991. Rutgers defeated No. 7 seed Clemson for the team's first NCAA Tournament victory in 38 years, dating back to 1983. Rutgers has had back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1990-91 and 1991-92 and won double-digit conference games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1989-90 and 1990-91.
The Scarlet Knights return nine letterwinners, including starters Geo Baker, Ron Harper Jr., Paul Mulcahy, and Caleb McConnell, from a squad that went 16-12 overall and posted a KenPom ranking of 38 and a NET ranking of 40. The team spent 11 weeks nationally ranked or receiving votes in the AP Poll, peaking at No. 11 in the nation. In the regular season, RU earned wins over five teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament - No. 1 seed Illinois, No. 4 seed Purdue, No. 10 seed Maryland, No. 11 seed Michigan State and No. 11 seed Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights then defeated No. 7 seed Clemson in the opening round, the highest seeded team defeated in the NCAA Tournament since 1979, before falling to an eventual Final Four team in No. 2 seed Houston. Rutgers led the Big Ten in blocked shots, finishing ninth nationally with 5.1 blocks per game.