How a faster Antwone Woolfolk is ready to make a bigger impact for Rutgers basketball

PISCATAWAY – Antwone Woolfolk needed just one word to describe how he’s feeling heading into his second season with Rutgers basketball.

Fast.

“I don’t even know how else to explain it,” Woolfolk said with a smile. “I just feel fast.”

That’s good news for a Scarlet Knights team that has more athleticism and is looking to play at a faster pace this season, and Woolfolk figures to play a significant role in the frontcourt playing behind Cliff Omoruyi.

The 6-foot-9, 225-pound Woolfolk lost about 20 pounds in the offseason and it’s made a noticeable difference.

“Toward the end of the year last year and then right after the season,” Woolfolk said, “I started doing a couple of workouts and I felt the change.”

After a recent practice, coach Steve Pikiell said Woolfolk, also a former high-level football recruit who held Power 5 offers, including one from Cincinnati, would get tired a lot during practices.

Not anymore.

“Once you’ve gone through it a little bit, you’re just more prepared,” Pikiell said. “Even today I didn’t have anybody sub in for him because he was playing through fatigue.”

Woolfolk last season played in 32 games, averaging 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per contest. He showed plenty of promise but also faced the rigors that any freshman player endures in the Big Ten.

Now with more experience, Woolfolk said he feels more confident and prepared heading into Year 2.

“Coming in, not just knowing what to expect but knowing what I need to do,” Woolfolk said. “Just having a year under my belt, I think that helped a lot coming into my sophomore year.”

Battling Omoruyi every day in practice doesn’t hurt, either.

That’s a daily competition against one of the best centers in the Big Ten – though Woolfolk believes he’s helping Omoruyi just as much.

“It’s fun,” Woolfolk said. “Iron sharpening iron. I feel like that helped me a lot all last year, I was doing the same thing. It helped me get used to the physicality and the length throughout the Big Ten. And I feel like I help him a lot, getting up and down, having him keep up with me. It goes back and forth.”

Woolfolk said he’s worked on developing his jump shot and his ball-handling, an area that Pikiell pointed out that’s improved.

Pikiell believes a faster, more athletic Woolfolk is primed for an impactful season.

“He’s made a major jump,” Pikiell said. “I’ve got to figure out how to make sure I play him a little bit at the 4 spot, and the 5. I’ve got to give him some minutes because he’s clearly deserving of that.”

Rutgers basketball gets bulletin-board material from Big Ten preseason poll

Rutgers basketball fans, get ready to hear the phrase throughout the 2023-24 season.

“They picked us 10th.”

That’s where the Scarlet Knights have landed in the annual poll of the league’s media members, published Monday in advance of Big Ten Media Day. They were ranked as high as eighth by six voters (including us) and as low as 12th by three voters. Cliff Omoruyi, Rutgers’ standout senior center, wound up making second-team All-Big Ten in the same balloting, finishing sixth in the voting and just missing first team.

More bulletin board material for Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell.

The Big Ten does not conduct a preseason coaches’ poll, so Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch and Brendan Quinn of The Athletic canvass 28 media members – two in each team’s market. Here are the results:

Big Ten Basketball: Preseason Poll

1. Purdue, 388 (24 first-place votes)

2. Michigan State, 368 (4)

3. Maryland, 304

4. Illinois, 301

5. Wisconsin, 276

6. Indiana, 244

7. Ohio State, 228

8. Northwestern, 195

9. Iowa, 164

10. Rutgers, 147

11. Michigan, 131

12. Nebraska, 90

13. Penn State, 71

14. Minnesota, 33

Big Ten Basketball player of the year

• Zach Edey, Purdue (27)

Also receiving votes: Tyson Walker, Michigan State (1)

Big Ten Basketball freshman of the year

• Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana (19)

Also receiving votes: DeShawn Harris-Smith, Maryland (5); Xavier Booker, Michigan State (2); Myles Colvin, Purdue, and Scotty Middleton, Ohio State (1)

Big Ten Basketball transfer of the year

• Ace Baldwin, Penn State (14)

Also receiving votes: Olivier Nkamhoua, Michigan (6); Jamison Battle, Ohio State (4); Kel'el Ware, Indiana, and AJ Storr, Wisconsin (2)

Big Ten Basketball: First team

• Zach Edey, Purdue 56

• Jahmir Young, Maryland 55

• Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois  55

• Tyson Walker, Michigan State 46

• Boo Buie, Northwestern 45

Big Ten Basketball: Second team

• Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers 36

• A.J. Hoggard, Michigan State 26

• Ace Baldwin, Penn State 11

• Keisei Tominaga, Nebraska 11

• Bruce Thornton, Ohio State 7

Also receiving votes

• Coleman Hawkins, Illinois 6

• Julian Reese, Maryland 6

• Steven Crowl, Wisconsin 5

• Dawson Garcia, Minnesota 5

• Braden Smith, Purdue 5

• Chucky Hepburn, Wisconsin 4

• Xavier Johnson, Indiana 4

• Zed Key, Ohio State 4

• Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana 4

• Payton Sandfort, Iowa 4

• Jaden Akins, Michigan State 3

• Connor Essegian, Wisconsin 3

• Olivier Nkamhoua, Michigan 3

• Tony Perkins, Iowa 3

• Jamison Battle, Ohio State 2

• Coleman Hawkins, Illinois 2

• Fletcher Loyer, Purdue 2

• AJ Storr, Wisconsin 2

• Tyler Wahl, Wisconsin 2

• Malik Hall, Michigan State 1

• Ben Krikke, Iowa 1

• Donta Scott, Maryland 1

• Kel’el Ware, Indiana 1

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Big Ten basketball: Purdue ranked No. 1, Rutgers No. 10