The inaugural Players Era Festival has been chock full of standout performances, but no participant is flying quite as high as Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper.
Harper put up 36 points, six rebounds and six assists in Rutgers’ 85-84 opening win over Notre Dame, in which he delivered the go-ahead free throw late in overtime. He rewrote his career high the next night with 37 points in a 95-90 loss to No. 9 Alabama.
Rutgers and its freshman phenom were slotted into the fifth-place game against No. 20 Texas A&M on Saturday in Las Vegas.
The Scarlet Knights (5-2) were invited to the Players Era Festival in the first place because of their star-studded freshman class that features both Harper and fellow top-three prospect Ace Bailey. Harper showed off in Tuesday’s win over the Fighting Irish that featured 10 ties, 16 lead changes and four gutsy 3-pointers by Notre Dame’s Matt Allocco from the end of regulation through overtime.
It was a crucial victory for Rutgers to pull out two days after it was stunned 79-77 by Kennesaw State.
“I feel great, not just for me but for the whole team,” Harper said. “Just how we bounced back, you know, fought through adversity. The one key thing that stood out to me (Tuesday), we’re in the huddle, (co-captain Jeremiah Williams) talking about, âLet’s learn how to win right now instead of waiting till later.'”
Harper has been fantastic on the dribble drive this week, making 21 of 32 2-pointers and a whopping 25 of 30 free throws in the two games combined. Alabama coach Nate Oats admitted Harper “gets to the rim whenever he wants” and none of his players could stay in front of him.
Harper’s classmate Bailey had a slower start to the week, with inefficient shooting against both Kennesaw State and Notre Dame, but he went 9-for-18 for 22 points against Alabama’s elite squad.
Rutgers is still trying to get more consistent on the boards and from the 3-point arc. The Scarlet Knights have a minus-1.5 rebounding margin this year and shot 2-for-13 from deep in the Alabama game.
Another SEC opponent awaits in the Aggies (5-2), who lost 80-70 to Oregon on Tuesday but responded with a 77-73 win over No. 21 Creighton the next day.
Texas A&M was unhappy with how it allowed Oregon to score the last 11 points of a close game. Facing Creighton and 7-foot-1 star center Ryan Kalkbrenner, the Aggies dominated in the paint 42-20 and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds.
One of the best rebounding teams in the country last year, Texas A&M has maintained that physical identity this season and ranks sixth in D1 with a plus-12.4 rebounding margin.
“It starts with how we practice,” guard Wade Taylor IV said. “We have two refs in practice that are — don’t tell them I said this — but are unbelievably terrible. One is a grad assistant, and one is an assistant coach. And they don’t call anything. We just go about it every day being physical because that’s who we want to be. We want to be the most physical team.”
Zhuric Phelps (15.2 ppg) and Taylor (14.7) have been Texas A&M’s leading scorers this year. Henry Coleman II (11.3 ppg) and Andersson Garcia (6.1) both average seven rebounds per game.
Harper’s 24.6 scoring average ranks third in Division I, and he adds 4.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists per contest. Bailey averages 17.8 points and 5.0 rebounds, and Jordan Derkack is a Swiss army knife in the backcourt with 8.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals in seven games (six starts).
