Rutgers men's basketball loses in ugly fashion against No. 14 Illinois: What went wrong?
The Rutgers men's basketball team fell to Illinois on Sunday 86-63 at the State Farm Center in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. The loss marked the Scarlet Knights' (10-8, 2-5) second of the season against the Fighting Illini (14-4, 5-2) as the latter completed a season sweep of Rutgers.
The Knights started off slow in this game, which has become typical for them this season. It took Rutgers more than 11 minutes of game time to crack 10 points. Head coach Steve Pikiell was forced to take a timeout with 7:19 to play in the half as his team let up a three-pointer, and No. 14 Illinois took a 27-13 lead.
The Knights came out of the timeout strong with a 6-0 run, but the Fighting Illini fought Rutgers off and kept a double-digit lead. That was until senior center Clifford Omoruyi knocked down his first three-pointer of the season and the Knights' first of the day. He followed that up with a pair of hook shots to keep Rutgers close.
Illinois continued to pick apart the Knights' defense, though, knocking down its open threes. The Fighting Illini went into the half with a 40-28 lead. For the Rutgers men's basketball team, which prides itself on defense while being limited offensively, giving up 40 points in the opening 20 minutes made things difficult for the rest of the day.
Omoruyi kept the Knights alive as he recorded 13 points on 6-8 shooting in the opening half.
The second half was much of the same poor play for Rutgers until fifth-year guard Noah Fernandes nailed a three-pointer with approximately 14 minutes remaining. This sparked a run for the Knights, and after trailing 51-36, it quickly turned into a 5-point deficit at 52-47.
But Illinois could not be stopped after that, and it finished with what turned out to be a 23-point blowout victory.
What went wrong for Rutgers?
Shooting struggles continue
The Knights are near the very bottom of the entire country in field goal percentage, shooting less than 40 percent this season. Of 351 Division I teams, Rutgers ranked 344th coming into this game.
The offensive struggles have plagued the Knights all season long, and it was no different against Illinois. Rutgers shot just 37.7 percent from the field and went 3-14 from three-point range.
Inconsistency in all facets of the game
Basketball is a game of runs. While the Knights were able to string together some positive runs and keep this game competitive much of the way, they simply did not play a complete 40 minutes of solid basketball.
It was reminiscent of the road loss to Michigan State on January 14, where Rutgers went on a run and took a second-half lead before quickly giving up a 19-0 run and, ultimately, losing the game in an ugly fashion.
Omoruyi was among the few bright spots for the Knights as he finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. Coming into this game on the heels of another solid performance in Rutgers' 87-82 overtime win over Nebraska, Omoruyi's impressive play in now back-to-back games is promising moving forward.
The Knights will now have a week off before hosting Purdue next Sunday at Jersey Mike's Arena on Livingston campus. The Boilermakers (17-2, 6-2) are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation.
"Our defense wasn't where it needed to be — I was disappointed in that," Pikiell said. "(The Fighting Illini) were driving into the lane. I've got to do a better job with that."
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