Rutgers men’s basketball suffers lifeless loss against Ohio State on Senior Day
The Rutgers men’s basketball team fell to Ohio State 73-51 on Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the Scarlet Knights (15-16, 7-13) suffered their first losing season since the 2018-2019 season.
Rutgers honored senior center Clifford Omoruyi, senior forward Aundre Hyatt, senior forward Mawot Mag, redshirt senior forward Oskar Palmquist, fifth-year guard Noah Fernandes, graduate student guard Austin Williams, senior guard Aiden Terry and graduate student guard Zach Hayn for Senior Day before the game started.
All eight players were greeted by a rousing ovation from the crowd and Omoruyi was overcome by emotion during his ovation.
“It was the greatest feeling,” Omoroyi said on his senior day celebration.
After the celebration, though, the Knights’ seniors got off to a slow offensive start and the Buckeyes (19-12, 9-11) took an 11-1 lead approximately 6 minutes into the game.
Sophomore center Emmanuel Ogbole got Rutgers’ first basket of the game approximately 8 minutes into the game on a ferocious dunk, and the Knights used their momentum from the big play to cut Ohio State’s lead to just 4 points with 8:32 left in the first half.
The Buckeyes would quickly reestablish their double-digit lead but Rutgers fought back and ended the last 3 minutes of the half on an 8-1 scoring run to cut its deficit to just 2 points heading into halftime.
At halftime, Ohio State had the 30-28 advantage and were led by Felix Okpara, who had 6 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. The Knights were led by 8 points from Hyatt, but they shot just 31 percent from the field and 20 percent from three-point range as a team. Omoruyi only played 8 minutes in the first half due to two fouls he picked up early in the game.
Both teams went back and forth to start the second half, and the Buckeyes had a 36-32 lead with 16:48 left in the contest.
With Rutgers threatening to tie the game, it went cold from the floor again, going on a 9:48 field goal drought that lasted from the 16:48 mark of the second half to the 7:00 mark of the second half. During that field goal drought, Ohio State went on a 22-8 run that gave it an 18 point lead and effectively put the game out of reach.
During that cold stretch Omoruyi fouled out and exited the Jersey Mike’s Arena court for what might be the final time in his collegiate career.
The Buckeyes would slowly grow their lead over the final 7 minutes of the game, with the Knights failing to put up much of a fight on what became a disappointing senior day.
Walk-ons Terry and Hayn did enter the game with 1:49 remaining much to the crowd’s delight.
Roddy Gayle Jr used a strong second half to lead Ohio State with 14 points. The Buckeyes shot 50 percent from the field, 45 percent from three-point range and 76.2 percent from the free-throw line in the victory.
Rutgers was led by Hyatt’s 11 points. As a team it shot 27.3 percent from the field, 22.2 percent from three-point range and 60.7 percent from the free-throw line. The Knights’ struggles in the paint continued as they had eight of their shot attempts blocked and shot an abysmal 6-21 from layups. Rutgers’ lone bright spot was Ogbole, who played 17 minutes backing up Omoruyi, scored 7 points and grabbed three rebounds.
The Knights will now head to the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the 13 seed. Rutgers will take on the loser of the Penn State versus Maryland game in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The game will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. and be broadcast on Peacock and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
“It's the start of a new season,” Hyatt said. “We are going to have to come up with a way to fix the scoring droughts and try to defend without fouling.”
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