Ace Bailey's 39 points not enough in Rutgers men's basketball's defeat to Indiana
Rutgers men’s basketball has dominated Indiana in recent years to the tune of 9 wins in the last 11 meetings, but the Hoosiers (11-3, 2-1) flipped the script Thursday night with an 84-74 victory over the Scarlet Knights (8-6, 1-2).
Rutgers was without the nation’s fourth-leading scorer, freshman guard Dylan Harper, who reportedly felt under the weather. The Knights needed some players to step up in his absence, but none did, aside from freshman wing Ace Bailey. Here are some takeaways from the Rutgers loss.
No help for Ace Bailey
Bailey played 38 of the game’s 40 minutes and finished with an astounding 39 points on 16-of-29 shooting in one of the wildest tough shot-making performances you’ll ever see. He also blocked four shots, notched one steal and grabbed eight boards. Bailey essentially didn’t have an inch of space all night long, yet somehow managed to shoot 55 percent and knock down a plethora of near-impossible shots. Outside of Bailey, though, the Knights scored just 35 points on 11-of-32 shooting.
Without Harper, it presented major opportunities for some other guys to score the ball, such as redshirt senior guard Jeremiah Williams, graduate student guard Tyson Acuff, and even sophomore guard Jamichael Davis and junior guard Jordan Derkack. But none of them reached 10 points or shot better than 50 percent from the field. The combination of fifth-year wing PJ Hayes IV and graduate student forward Zach Martini shot 0 for 7 from three and scored 0 points. Junior center Emmanuel Ogbole scored 0 points and grabbed three rebounds in 10 minutes.
Freshman center Lathan Sommerville had a decent outing with 8 points off the bench.
There was no semblance of an orchestrated offense the entire night, with it often being Bailey isolations leading to tough shots, which, of course, Bailey made many of. But there were not many sets being run on the offensive end and things looked messy all game. The players did not step up, but the coaching did not help set the team up for success either.
“I’m more concerned about our rebounding and our defense,” said head coach Steve Pikiell when asked about the lack of help from players not named Bailey.
Rebounding and defensive nightmare
The biggest downfall in this game for Rutgers was the second-chance points given up. Indiana grabbed a whopping 18 offensive rebounds, leading to 34 second-chance points. The Knights were often caught out of position and did not put forth the effort to match the Hoosiers’.
Oumar Ballo dominated Rutgers down low with 17 points and 12 rebounds, seven being offensive. The center position looked to be an issue coming into the season for the Knights, and the issue is getting exacerbated with each passing game that they continue to allow offensive boards.
Rutgers ran a zone defense at times, but it led to too many open baseline cuts for Indian, and once these cuts drew a paint defender to help out, it opened up the passing lanes for the Hoosiers and led to open layups.
Indiana came in as the third-worst three-point shooting team in the Big Ten but completely exploded from beyond the arc with 12 makes on 27 attempts. Lackluster closeouts and rotations by the Knights left a lot of space for the Hoosiers’ shooters, and the weak rebounding led to broken second-chance plays where Indiana found itself wide open for threes.
Rutgers’ Big Ten gauntlet continues on Monday with a home game against Wisconsin, followed by two more home games against Purdue and UCLA. With the Knights’ current season outlook, all three games might be considered must-win for them to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament or even the Big Ten Tournament.
The addition of Harper back in the lineup will certainly help.
“He’ll be more than ready,” Pikiell said postgame about Harper’s availability for Monday’s game.
While it’s back to the drawing board for Rutgers, the team hopes three straight home games is what it needs to get back on track.
“It’s basketball, you win, you lose,” Bailey said. “You just got to get back in the gym and just keep working.”
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