Rutgers men's basketball loses close battle to Minnesota
The Rutgers men’s basketball team suffered a 68-65 loss to Minnesota on Saturday. With the loss, the Scarlet Knights (11-7, 5-3) drop to 5-3 in Big Ten play and have lost some ground in pursuit to make it back to the NCAA Tournament.
The Golden Gophers (11-5, 2-5) came out ready to play, scoring the game’s first 7 points and taking an early 17-5 lead with less than 14 minutes left in the first half.
Rutgers would battle back from its early-game deficit, ultimately taking the lead with a jumper from senior guard Geo Baker with 8:15 left in the half. The Knights would hold the lead until the very end of the half when a Minnesota three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Gophers a 31-30 lead entering the break.
The second half consisted of a battle between Baker and Payton Willis. From the 14 minute mark to a Rutgers timeout with 7:11 to play, the two guards combined to make 7 three-pointers, with Baker scoring 14 of the Knights’ 20 points during that stretch.
At the end of the scoring run, Rutgers held a 60-57 lead.
Minnesota did not falter in the face of a late-game deficit. With a dunk from Treyton Thompson with 5:16 remaining, the Gophers regained a lead that they would not surrender the rest of the way.
The Knights would get the deficit back down to 1 after a Baker three-pointer and get the ball back with a steal from sophomore forward Dean Reiber with 21 seconds left, but an offensive foul called on senior guard Ron Harper Jr. on Rutgers' final possession secured the win for Minnesota.
“(Minnesota is) doing a great job. I didn’t like the way we started. I knew they didn’t have players playing that we’ve been preparing for,” said head coach Steve Pikiell after the game. “We got to play better — obviously our defense won us the Iowa game, and our defense tonight really wasn’t up to speed.”
The Gophers had two players set career and season-highs in the win. Willis poured in 32 points and eight three-pointers, both career-highs, and totaled 11 made field goals, tying a career-high. Luke Loewe set season-highs in the same categories with 19 points, three three-pointers and 8 made shots.
Willis, Loewe and Thompson played all 40 minutes on the way to the win.
As for the Knights, Baker led the way with 25 points and tied a career-high with seven three-pointers. Harper was the only other Rutgers player to reach double-figures with 12 points and two three-pointers. Sophomore center Clifford Omoruyi led with seven rebounds in 24 minutes while junior guard Paul Mulcahy had a career-high nine assists in the loss.
The Knights shot 46.3 percent from the field and made 44.4 percent of their three-pointers. On the other hand, Minnesota finished the afternoon shooting 54.2 percent both overall and on three-pointers. Rutgers lost the rebounding battle 27-25 and are now 3-5 this season when the team is out-rebounded. The program’s largest lead of the game was 5 points.
The Knights will return home to face Maryland on Tuesday night. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. and will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
“Give (Willis) tremendous credit. I thought he hit some unguardable shots, and they were one play better than us,” Pikiell said. “But we can’t get off to an 0-7 start at the beginning — five turnovers — you know. We just got to do a better job.”
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