Jalen Rose gives his 2 cents about problems with Rutgers despite Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper’s impressive freshman seasons
Despite boasting freshman stars Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights have struggled to consistently win games, drawing attention from former NBA star Jalen Rose.
In a video uploaded to YouTube by NBC Sports on Monday, Rose joined Ahmed Fareed and Josh Pastner to discuss why the 2024-25 season has been challenging at times for Rutgers and their star duo of Harper and Bailey.
Rose acknowledged the talent of the two freshmen but noted that talent alone isn’t enough for the Scarlet Knights to succeed at a high level.
"(It's a) team game," Rose said (2:38 mark). "Even though you have two lottery picks, you still have to fill out the rest of the roster and they're just not deep enough, not good enough as their opponents."
"But as the season progresses, again, that's the challenge of your two best players, is to make the people around you better, and I want to see if they're able to do that."
Looking at Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey's numbers this season
Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey have cemented themselves as the focal points of the Scarlet Knights’ offense, living up to their reputations as legitimate college basketball stars.
Bailey leads the team in scoring with 19.9 points per game while averaging 7.9 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.1 steals on 48.4% shooting and 39.3% from 3. Over the last four games, he has averaged 22.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.8 spg and 1.3 bpg.
Harper follows closely, averaging 19.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 4.3 apg and 1.1 spg while shooting 48.8%, including 34.1% from 3-point range. Recently, he scored 18 points against UCLA on Jan. 13 and 21 points against Nebraska on Jan. 16.
However, Rutgers has been hampered by the lack of a consistent third scoring option, which has prevented the team from becoming a potent offensive force.
The Scarlet Knights have lost three of their first eight conference games and hold a 10-9 overall record, averaging 76.6 ppg on 45.2% shooting, including 33.1% from deep.
Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey and the Scarlet Knights will prepare for their next matchup against the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans at Madison Square Garden in New York on Jan. 25 at 1:30 p.m. ET.