And with just less than a month until the season begins, they expectedly have some things to work on.
Rutgers lost 77-75 to Villanova in a scrimmage at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Sunday, Oct. 11, the first of two preseason tests the Scarlet Knights will have.
Their next scrimmage will be Oct. 18 against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.
The Scarlet Knights were led by associate head coach Brandin Knight, who’s filling in for head coach Steve Pikiell as he undergoes treatment for cancer.
Knight deployed a starting five that consisted of Jamichael Davis, Lino Mark, Darin Smith Jr., Darren Buchanan and Christian Gurdak – Smith (Central Connecticut State) and Gurdak (Virginia Tech) are both transfers.
Rutgers shot 40.0 percent from the field, and struggled badly from the perimeter, shooting just 4-of-17.
Villanova opened up a 13-point lead early in the second half, but the Scarlet Knights fought back and cut it to four with just less than a minute left when Mark drained an off-balanced three-pointer – Mark drew the foul but missed the free throw.
Mark delivered again for Rutgers about 30 seconds later, hitting a three from the left corner that made it a one-point game.
Following a Scarlet Knights timeout, Mark had a chance to give Rutgers the lead but missed the layup and Villanova secured the rebound. The Scarlet Knights had to foul and Elijah Crawford hit a free throw to put the Wildcats up by two.
Mark’s desperation heave at the buzzer just missed.
Here are more takeaways from the scrimmage:
No Tariq Francis
Rutgers was without Tariq Francis, who was the Scarlet Knights’ leading scorer last season.
Strong performance from Darin Smith Jr.
Rutgers’ best showing came from Smith, who was the Northeast Conference Player of the Year last season.
The 6-foot-7, 210-pound Smith finished with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-3 from the perimeter, with five rebounds and two assists.
Smith, who shot 37.6 percent from deep last season at CCSU, looked comfortable and confident – good news for Rutgers, which is going to need a consistent scoring spark from the Massachusetts native.
Christian Gurdak holds his own at center
The Virginia Tech transfer drew a tough assignment in his Rutgers debut – battling Villanova’s 7-foot-3 center Luigi Suigo.
Gurdak (mostly) passed the test.
The 6-foot-10 Gurdak steadily improved as the scrimmage progressed, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting with eight rebounds in 29 minutes.
Thirteen of Gurdak’s points came in the second half.
Something to note?
After not attempting a single three-pointer for the Hokies last season, Gurdak attempted three against Villanova.
Gurdak didn’t make any of them, and whether that becomes a part of his game remains to be seen.
Suigo finished with 10 points, but Gurdak did all he could to make those points tough to get despite his size disadvantage.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball falls to Villanova in scrimmage | Takeaways