Weekend of heartbreak: Ace Bailey turnover in final seconds crushes No. 24 Rutgers men's basketball's comeback hopes
A gut-wrenching, soul-crushing weekend for Rutgers sports and its fans just got worse as the men's basketball team fell 79-77 to Kennesaw State on Sunday. The Scarlet Knights (4-1, 0-0) got dismantled early by the Owls (4-1, 0-0) before making an inspired second-half comeback and falling just short.
It was No. 24 Rutgers' first road game of the young season, traveling down to Kennesaw, Georgia, in a homecoming game for sophomore guard Jamichael Davis and freshman forward Ace Bailey, who played high school basketball together not far from Kennesaw.
"I talked to a couple coaches and they told me I'm crazy for doing this kind of thing," said head coach Steve Pikiell. "But I promised (Davis and Bailey) we'd get them back home ... and I was glad we were able to do it."
Ultimately, the decision to head south for this game proved costly, as the loss will dent the Knights' postseason resume down the line. Early-season struggles against lower-end opponents have become a recurring issue for Pikiell's teams in recent years, and even a team as highly touted as this one could not escape those demons.
Kennesaw State jumped all over Rutgers in the opening half, opening up a lead as large as 20 with less than a minute left and finishing ahead 44-26 going into the locker rooms.
"We weren't locked in, in that first half, and that tremendously hurts," Pikiell said. "We lost this game at the beginning of the game, not at the end."
The Owls shot 50 percent from the field in the first half to the Knights' approximately 28 percent. Rutgers struggled to put the ball in the basket, which had not been an issue yet this year. The Knights' defensive issues, though, have been persistent. Like other times this season, the rotations looked slow and lazy, and closeouts on shooters were halfhearted.
All of these things were tightened up in the second half, though, as Rutgers stormed back with purpose. Kennesaw State had to work much harder for its buckets and also struggled to keep possession of the ball, finishing with 22 turnovers in the game, many of which were in the final 20 minutes.
The Knights went tit-for-tat with the Owls down the stretch. Freshman guard Dylan Harper, who finished with 21 points and nine assists, made many timely plays.
Trailing by 2 points, Rutgers gained possession following a pair of missed free throws by Kennesaw State. Fresh off a clutch three-pointer a few possessions earlier, Bailey brought the ball up the court with the tie or the win on his mind. He then threw a cross-court pass that would've been nearly impossible to complete, and the Owls intercepted it to end the game.
In Bailey's homecoming game, it seemed he was forcing many shots and playing a bit too much hero ball — possibly pushing too hard to impress in front of so many friends and family in attendance. But when it was time for him to be perhaps a little selfish and take a tough shot for the tie or win, he pushed too hard in the other direction and forced an errant pass that sealed the Knights' demise.
Bailey finished with 17 points on 6 for 17 shooting. Coming off a double-double where he grabbed 10 boards, he had just one rebound in this game.
"One of the big things (Bailey's) got to continue to do for us is rebound," Pikiell said. "That's something that he didn't do a great job of tonight, but he will."
Rebounding was an issue across the board for Pikiell's squad as they lost the rebounding battle by an astounding 46-27 mark.
Giving credit where it's due: Kennesaw State, in front of its sold-out crowd, snagged its first-ever victory over a ranked opponent in its first time hosting a ranked opponent and first time hosting a nationally broadcast game.
"When you go on the road, you gotta deserve to win — we didn't and they did," Pikiell said. "They deserved to win. They played really well."
Rutgers now has a quick turnaround with games against some big-time opponents, Notre Dame and Alabama, coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Players Era Tournament.
"You got to get off the mat. This is a big-boy league," Pikiell said. "We don't have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves."
Heading all the way out to Las Vegas for the tournament, the young Knights team has a lot to figure out in a short period of time.
"When you go on the road, it's a different ballgame," Pikiell said. "I tried to tell these guys that, but you have to live it, too. We'll live from this experience, we'll learn from it."
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