If Steve Pikiell could build a basketball player in a lab, Cam Spencer would come pretty close to the final product.
And now, Pikiell will get to coach him at Rutgers for the next two years.
The Scarlet Knights landed a commitment from Spencer, a sharpshooting transfer from Loyola-Maryland, on Tuesday.
It was the culmination of a recruitment that started when Rutgers contacted the 6-foot-4 guard over the phone after he entered the transfer portal earlier this month. The relationship built from there, the basketball-obsessed coach and player hitting it off thanks to their mutual love of the game. It led to a visit to campus at the start of this week and a commitment by the end of his stay.
“It started with building a relationship with Coach Pikiell,” Spencer told NJ Advance Media. “We had spoken over the phone. I thought we got along very well. Once I got on campus, I thought what we had talked about over the phone was confirmed in person. They had some interest and I was definitely interested in them as well. I think it will be a good fit.”
Spencer brings a scoring punch that the Scarlet Knights desperately needed with leading scorers Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker both moving on.
A first-team All-Patriot League selection, Spencer is one of the best scorers to enter the transfer portal this offseason. He led the conference in scoring (18.9 points per game), steals (2.3) and minutes (37), ranked second in free-throw percentage (85.8%) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4) and eighth in assists per game (3.2).
Spencer was the second-best player in the Patriot League by KenPom’s metrics, and is the ninth-best player in the transfer portal in Bart Torvik’s rankings of players in the transfer portal using the all-encompassing PORPAGATU! stat.
He is a sharpshooter who can stretch the floor; he shot 35.8% on 162 attempts last season and a blazing 44.3% on 106 attempts across his first two seasons. Spencer did so despite struggling with a hip injury through his first two years of college, missing nine games in 2020 and 12 games in the 2021 season.
But even in the worst shooting year of his college career, Spencer would have been Rutgers’ second-best 3-point shooter last season. The Scarlet Knights could certainly use his versatile offensive skillset, and that’s what Pikiell pitched him with.
“We talked about the roster coming back and kind of where I can fit in,” Spencer said. “They have some great pieces coming back and he thinks I can come in and help them score the ball a little bit and also pass the ball as well and do whatever I need to do to help the team win.”
Spencer mentioned some of the returning players he looks forward to playing alongside of.
“Paul Mulcahy is a great player. He led the Big Ten in assists and obviously a very team-oriented guy,” Spencer said. “Cliff (Omoruyi) is a great player, easy to play with. They’ve won before so they know what it takes. Those are some good pieces to join in with.”
The question for Spencer, like all low-major stars making the jump to high-major hoops, is if he can continue that production against a much higher level of talent and athleticism.
Spencer acknowledges that the transition will be difficult, but he notes he has experience playing against elite competition. He scored 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting, dished two assists and got three steals in a season-opening loss to eventual national runners-up North Carolina in November.
“The main thing for me is to work on some things like getting a quicker release on my shot and not speeding up my game,” Spencer said. “I always pride myself on playing at my own pace. I just want to continue that as well. I look forward to the transition.”
He does not have to go far to find someone who went through the same thing.
His brother Pat was a four-time All-American lacrosse player at Loyola-Maryland before transferring to Northwestern as a graduate student to play basketball in his final year of collegiate eligibility. He is now playing for the Capital City Go-Go’s, the G-League affiliate of the Washington Wizards.
“I got to see what Big Ten basketball was all about (because of him),” Cam Spencer said. “That was definitely a motivator for me. He helped me a lot throughout this process.”
Soon enough, Cam Spencer will get to experience Big Ten basketball for himself.
He will sign the paperwork to make his transfer to Rutgers official soon, and he plans to get on campus “on the first day we’re allowed to be.” That would be May 31st, the first day of the first summer session for the University.
Spencer will return to a “great campus” he saw this week during his visit.
“It was as big as you want it to be and as small as you want it to be as well,” Spencer said of Rutgers. “I enjoyed staying on campus and meeting the staff. I think it will be a great place for me for the next two years.”
He will do so for a coach who surely appreciates his off-court temperament as much as his on-court prowess. Spencer has no social media presence -- he’s “just not very interested” in that stuff -- and is all about basketball and winning, much like Pikiell.
“We both have the same love for the game of basketball,” Spencer said. “He told me he’s all basketball, doesn’t do much else which is pretty similar to me. I think our love for the game is pretty similar.”
In the end, they have the same goals.
“(Rutgers is) getting a competitor,” he said. “I’m somebody who is all about winning. I just want to do anything that the team needs for me to help the team win.”
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
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