Rutgers men’s basketball interim head coach Brandin Knight met with Big Ten Network hosts Dave Revsine and Bruce Weber during the Big Ten basketball media days to discuss the future of the team this season and the new role he finds himself in following head coach Steve Pikiell’s cancer diagnosis.
The first question that Knight was asked was what is the biggest challenge stepping into this role.
“Really, I just try to focus on what I can control throughout the day and also get our players to understand that we just have to focus on what we can control every day. We dominate the day, and we worry about what the outcomes will be down the road,” said Knight.
During the interview, Knight touched on what the coaching staff’s expectations are for certain players entering their second year with the program, most of whom are also entering their second year of college basketball overall.
“I think we’ve had some guys, Lino Mark, Jermichael Davis, Tariq Francis, obviously Kaden Powers is back from last year. But the thing is, each one of those guys was tasked with trying to take their game to the next level this summer. Then, with some of the pieces that we added through the transfer portal and from overseas, like now every year it’s a new team. So when we go into it, even for the coaching staff, there are some of the positives that we finished with at the end of the year. You like to look at them and see where you can improve. But also, I try to remind guys that this is a different year. So, some of the guys’ percentages from last year, whether they were good or bad, like we still have to pay attention to how they’re progressing and focus on that moving forward,” said Knight.
He also spoke on the different pieces the team added in the off-season via the transfer portal. Knight had a lot of praise for former Virginia Tech center Christian Gurdak, who he said has been a pleasant surprise on the interior.
“We added some experience scoring on the wing, and then on the interior, we added four big guys. One who was a returner from last year, obviously, but he wasn’t healthy all last year. He’s healthy now. Then our three that we added through the portal or just from picking guys from overseas, I love our front line as a group and as a collective. Christian Gurdak kind of leads them. He’s been a pleasant surprise for us, especially on the interior. He can really score the basketball when we get it to him. He can play inside and outside. And then some of our other pieces there, I think we’re going to be in for a rude awakening, like when some other guys see what they’re fighting against on a regular night-in, night-out basis,” said Knight.
To view the entire interview, as well as BTN’s interview with JaMicheal Davis and Tariq Francis, click here.
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