When the plane started to land, and Rutgers players had phone service again, they saw the news. The NCAA tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak.
There was shock, tears, disappointment. And that was before word had even reached head coach Steve Pikiell, who hadn’t turned his phone on yet after the flight. He thought and hoped that maybe this was speculation. He was unsure if what his players were reading on social media was true. Then he checked the NCAA website.
“Then I was like, oh, it’s over,” Pikiell says.
Rutgers was on the cusp of program history.