After 10 seasons at Rutgers, Steve Pikiell finds himself in unfamiliar territory - not just in the standings, but in the tone of his postgame pressers. On the other side, Buzz Williams is still getting settled at Maryland, but the urgency is already there. Sunday’s matchup between the Scarlet Knights and Terrapins in Piscataway isn’t just another game on the Big Ten schedule - it’s two programs trying to find their footing in a season that’s slipped away.
Let’s start with Maryland. At 10-14 overall and 3-10 in conference play, the Terps have been stuck in the mud for most of the season.
They dropped 10 of their first 11 Big Ten matchups before finally stringing together two wins that at least gave them a pulse. A gritty 67-62 road win at Minnesota was followed by a 77-70 victory over Iowa at home - a game that saw freshman Andre Mills break out with a career-high 24 points.
That kind of performance is the spark Maryland’s been desperate for.
David “Diggy” Coit has carried much of the scoring load this season, averaging 15.3 points per game among the team’s healthy options. But it’s been a grind.
Injuries have hit hard - especially the extended absence of Pharrel Payne, the team’s top scorer, who’s been out for two months with a leg injury. Still, Williams isn’t leaning on that as a crutch.
“I have not tried to dodge anything relative to the results,” Williams said earlier this week, addressing fans directly. “We have to do a better job in our decisions.
We have to do a better job in our evaluations... There's not an excuse or justification for our lack of success, other than we have to do better and we will do better.”
That kind of accountability is what you want to hear from a coach trying to change a culture - and it’s clear Williams is owning the rebuild, even if the results haven’t come yet.
Rutgers, meanwhile, is in the middle of a tailspin that’s tough to watch. The Scarlet Knights have lost seven straight - their longest skid since early 2018 - and at 9-15 overall (2-11 Big Ten), this could end up being their worst season since Pikiell took over in 2016-17.
Their most recent outing, an 80-68 home loss to then-No. 9 Nebraska, marked another missed opportunity. The team has had a full week off since that game, and Pikiell is hoping the time off translates into some kind of reset.
"I'm looking for improvement," Pikiell said. “Even with this losing stretch, we were at USC with a chance to tie the game. We have to keep getting better.”
When asked whether the team’s NIL situation is part of the problem, Pikiell didn’t take the bait. He acknowledged that Rutgers was late to the game, noting that new athletic director Keli Zinn has recently hired six people to work in the NIL space. But he made it clear - excuses aren’t going to change the scoreboard.
“We weren’t as innovative as we needed to be, but we still have to win - nobody cares about excuses,” he said.
One bright spot for Rutgers has been Tariq Francis, who’s averaging 16.5 points per game and has led the team in scoring in four of the last five contests. He’s been a consistent force on a team that’s struggled to find rhythm on either end of the floor.
So what’s at stake on Sunday? For both programs, it’s less about postseason dreams and more about pride, progress, and planting the seeds for next year.
Maryland is trying to show that its recent wins weren’t just a blip. Rutgers is trying to stop the bleeding and prove it still has fight left.
Two teams, two coaches, both searching for something to build on. Sunday’s game won’t change the standings much - but it might reveal who’s still locked in for the long haul.