Rutgers basketball: After foreign tour, new floor general Noah Fernandes off and running

As members of the Rutgers basketball team went kayaking during their recent trip to Portugal, Noah Fernandes was entrusted with a key responsibility – wearing the GoPro camera.

“It was really choppy out there,” he said. “We had a couple of kayaks tip over.”

The postgrad point guard, who transferred in from UMass a few months back, had gone kayaking once before. For many of his new teammates, this was a first.

“Coach (Steve) Pikiell organized the trip kind of like that, with a bunch of things that would make us a little uncomfortable – that you weren’t used to,” Fernandes said.

Like visiting a former slave-trading post on Senegal’s Goree Island and conducting a hoops clinic for dirt-poor villagers outside of Dakar.

“Someone can always remind you that someone has it worse, but when you actually get to experience it and see it firsthand, it changes you as a person,” Fernandes said. “We (college basketball players) get leggings, T-shirts, long sleeves, short sleeves, arm sleeves, headbands. Those kids don’t have any of that. Some of them don’t have shoes.”

When it came to kayaking Fernandes held up his end of the bargain, narrating the adventure and guiding his two-man skiff with a steady hand.

“No tip-overs for me,” he said.

A change in tempo

A month out from the first full practice and 10 weeks from the season-opening game, Fernandes is putting his imprint on the new-look Scarlet Knights. He’s shorter (5-foot-11), faster, and better-shooting than most of the playmakers have been under Pikiell. The offense, plodding at times last season, should look dramatically different as a result.

“We’re going to try to play really fast,” Fernandes said. “Rutgers has been one of the best defensive teams in the country. We want to use that to play fast, to get in the best shape possible, wear people down and play in transition.”

Pikiell and Rutgers fans saw what Fernandes is capable of in November of 2021, when he posted 16 points and 11 assists, committed just two turnovers in 39 minutes and sank a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as the Minutemen stunned the Scarlet Knights 85-83.

When Fernandes visited Rutgers in April – the connection came through former Scarlet Knights assistant coach Karl Hobbs, who is longtime friends with Fernandes’ AAU coach – Pikiell reviewed the tape of that game with him.

“I was in the huddle every time saying, ‘Who can guard this guy?’” Pikiell said.

Fernandes said it was the first time he ever broke down film with an opposing coach.

“I appreciated the outlook he had on me,” Fernandes said. “From the beginning, our relationship jelled because of that.”

Building relationships

Being a point guard, by definition, means being a leader. That’s not an easy role to assume right away for a newcomer.

“You have to build relationships with people,” Fernandes said. “They have to be comfortable talking to you.”

By all insider accounts, Fernandes’ personality has hit the mark, especially with his younger backcourt mates – sophomore Derek Simpson and freshman Jamichael Davis. He’s taken them under his wing.

“Noah gets along with everybody,” Pikiell said. “He’s very mature, very worldly.”

Fernandes is 23 years old and in February became a father to a baby boy, Theo. After his playing days, he wants to become a basketball coach. He owns a degree in communication and is going for a postgraduate certificate in education. Look for him to emerge as one of Rutgers’ spokesmen this coming season, along with senior center Cliff Omoruyi.

The overseas trip was the first time Fernandes and Omoruyi played together. In summer workouts Pikiell had them on opposite teams, possibly to get Fernandes used to driving against the trees of the Big Ten. Omoruyi is an All-America candidate, but this will be the first time he’s paired with a true slash-and-dish point guard. And having an interior option of Omoruyi’s caliber is new ground for Fernandes, too.

“I’ve never played with an athletic big man like that in my career,” he said. “He just makes the game easier for everybody.”

Everything will seem a little easier after Senegal, where there were goats on the roadways, people living without running water and a gym for the Scarlet Knights’ first exhibition that featured bent rims and sweltering heat.

It was a bond-forming, character-building experience for Rutgers’ new floor general. One without tip-overs.

“I think he had a really good time,” Pikiell said, “and learned a lot.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball: Noah Fernandes off and running after foreign tour