Rutgers basketball will move forward this season without Steve Pikiell on the sideline, after the longtime Scarlet Knights coach announced he has been diagnosed with cancer.
Pikiell, who has led Rutgers since 2016, said Wednesday that there is no timetable for his return. While he undergoes treatment, assistant head coach Brandin Knight will serve as interim head coach.
In his statement, Pikiell said he received the diagnosis earlier this year and credited doctors at RWJBarnabas Health and Memorial Sloan Kettering with a “kick-ass game plan to finish treatment.”
“I will still be involved with the team to the best of my ability as I navigate the challenges of the season through treatment. I have great confidence in Coach Knight, the rest of the talented staff, and our exceptional student-athletes. I know they will do an amazing job leading our program when I’m not able to.
Just as I ask my team to fight and embrace challenges head-on, I’m going to attack cancer the same way. With the support of my doctors, my family, and now Rutgers Nation, I am confident we will be victorious.”
Pikiell has compiled a 161-160 record at Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights went 14-20 last season and reached the NCAA tournament twice under his watch, in ’21 and ’22.
Before arriving in Piscataway, he spent 11 seasons at Stony Brook. Pikiell played his college basketball at UConn, where Jim Calhoun was his coach.
Knight has been part of Pikiell’s Rutgers staff since 2016. Before that, he was an assistant at Pittsburgh, after a playing career that included sharing Big East co-player of the year honors with UConn’s Caron Butler in 2002. His older brother, Brevin Knight, played at Stanford and was selected in the first round of the 1997 NBA draft.
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