LAS VEGAS — Since he was hired in 2019, Nate Oats has coached three freshmen who eventually became first-round NBA draft picks, including Brandon Miller, the former SEC Player of the Year and the No. 2 pick in 2023.
After projected top-five picks Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey combined to score 59 points for Rutgers, albeit in a 95-90 loss to No. 9 Alabama on Wednesday in the Players Era Festival, Oats said he was convinced the duo belongs in the same conversation with the other elite freshmen he has witnessed in college basketball.
“We’ve had a couple ourselves,” the Alabama coach said, “and these guys are up there.”
Harper, a 6-foot-6 guard, scored a career-high 37 points, becoming the first Big Ten freshman in the past 20 seasons to score 94 points in a three-game span and the first Division I freshman in that span to record back-to-back efforts of 35-plus points, according to ESPN Research.
Harper, who shot 11-of-19 from the field and 15-of-16 from the free throw line, produced his best game thus far at the MGM Grand Garden Arena as his father, former NBA standout Ron Harper Sr., sat courtside.
Oats said he couldn’t find a formula to slow down Harper, whose layup with 2:23 left cut Alabama’s lead to one before the Tide closed out the game at the free throw line.
“[Harper], I mean he pretty much gets to the rim whenever he wants,” he said. “We didn’t have anybody that could stay in front of him on ball screens. We didn’t do a very good job. I mean he’s got some force, some physicality, some strength coming down the hill.”
Bailey, a 6-foot-10 talent who could challenge Duke‘s Cooper Flagg for the top spot in the upcoming NBA draft, also excelled Wednesday, mostly with high-arching jump shots that seemed unblockable.
Bailey finished a first-half fast break with a dunk that energized the Rutgers fans who made the trip. Bailey pounded his chest and flexed on his way to 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field.
“He’s the best midrange shot-maker I’ve seen,” Oats said about Bailey. “He just kind of rises up over guys. The floaters with the touch, he’s tough. We didn’t do a great job. We needed more size on him. He’s a guy that if you don’t have size on him, he’s just shooting over 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 guards and he’s going to cause some problems.”
Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said the tough tests early will help his team later in the season. For now, he has a group that is still learning while relying on a couple of elite first-year talents, he said.
“I think it’s like anything, the journey,” he said. “You grow through your seasons and you grow through the games and this is as talented a team as we’re probably going to face. It’s definitely the deepest team.”
Harper said he’s more focused on the loss than his individual effort. But he also said the growing pains his team endured Wednesday will prove to be beneficial as he and Bailey continue to develop during their first season of college basketball.
“I think we just showed that we can compete with anyone in the country,” he said after the game. “I mean, obviously we fell short, but I feel like as a team, sometimes you have to fall short in order to have the season you want to have.”
Despite the victory, Oats talked like a coach who thought his team had lost. Alabama, which is ranked No. 3 in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom, had 20 turnovers and also weathered a lengthy scoring drought in the second half.
Oats said Rutgers would continue to get better, especially as Harper and Bailey develop. And that reality will create problems for the rest of the teams on its schedule.
“If they play like they did tonight, they’re one of the best teams in the country,” Oats said. “They’ve got two of the most talented players, regardless of class.”
