Rutgers University
Iowa State
Douby Nets 35 to Lift Rutgers to NIT Championship Game
Mar 30 | Men's Basketball
The Scarlet Knights (20-12) will go for their first championship Thursday night against Michigan.
Douby and Stinson both grew up in New York City, often playing one another on the city's playgrounds. In the NIT semifinal, they matched career highs, Douby scoring 35 points and Stinson countering with 32 before he fouled out with just under three minutes left in the extra period and the score tied at 79.
Douby converted a pair of free throws on Stinson's final foul for an 81-79 Rutgers lead. But Jake Sullivan, whose desperation 3-pointer tied the game with four seconds left in regulation, tied it again with a pair of free throws.
With just over a minute left, Sean Axani sent Rutgers in front again. Then Iowa State's Jackson Vroman, who scored 14 points and had 20 rebounds, was fouled but cramped up and was unable to take the shots.
Reserve John Neal, who had attempted just three free throws all season, came off the bench and missed both attempts with 52 seconds left. Douby made one more foul shot, and the victory was sealed when Sullivan missed another long shot at the end.
Douby hit six 3-point shots in the game, four in the first half as Rutgers opened an 11-point lead. Stinson, the Big 12 freshman of the year who was playing with a heavily taped left hand, managed just three points in the first 20 minutes.
But Stinson fueled a furious comeback for Iowa State (20-13), scoring 27 in the second half. His final basket of the night gave the Cyclones their only lead in overtime, but Douby came right back to tie it again and then put Rutgers on top as Stinson fouled out.
POSTGAME NOTES
RUTGERS ADVANCES TO NIT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FOR FIRST TIME IN SCHOOL HISTORY
With the 84-81 victory over Iowa State, Rutgers advances to the title game of the NIT for the first time in school history. Tonight marked RU's third appearance in the semifinals of the NIT with its previous appearances in 1978 and 1967. The Scarlet Knights lost to Texas in the 1978 NIT semifinals before defeating Georgetown in the third place game. Rutgers lost to Southern Illinois in the 1967 NIT semifinals before defeating Marshall in the third place game. Rutgers' other appearance in a national tournament semifinal was the1976 NCAA Final Four where the Scarlet Knights lost to Michigan (the same team they will face in Thursday night's title game) in the semifinals and UCLA in the third place game.
RUTGERS RECORDS FIRST 20-WIN SEASON SINCE 1982-83
With the win, the Scarlet
Knights improve to 20-12 for the season. It is their first 20-win season since
the 1982-83 campaign. Rutgers won 19 games in 1990-91
and 1998-99.
DOUBY AND SHIELDS IN THE NIT
Freshman guard Quincy Douby and junior guard Ricky
Shields are averaging 24.0 and 19.3 points per game in the NIT, respectively.
They are also shooting .604
and .697 from the field, respectively.
Points Rebs. Assists FGM-FGA 3FGM-3FGA
Douby 96 (24.0) 7 (1.8) 10 (2.5) 29-48
(.604) 15-33 (.455)
Shields 77 (19.3) 17 (4.3) 17 (4.3) 23-33 (.697) 14-26 (.538)
Totals 173 (43.3)
24 (8.0) 27 (6.8) 52-81 (.642) 29-59 (.492)
DOUBY SETS RUTGERS FRESHMAN SCORING MARK
Freshman guard Quincy Douby's
35-point outing vs. Iowa State established a Rutgers record for most points
ever scored by a freshman. The previous mark
of 31 points scored by a Rutgers freshman was shared by Todd Billet (31 points
vs. Notre Dame on Jan. 18, 2000, and Phil Sellers, 31 points vs. Navy on Feb.
3, 1973 and 31 points vs. St. Francis (NY) on Feb. 24, 1973).
DOUBY CONTINUES TO IMPROVE ON CAREER NUMBERS
Freshman Quincy Douby set five
career highs and tied another in the victory over Iowa State. He set a career-high
scoring mark with 35 points. The 35 points
is also the most by a Scarlet Knight since Todd Billet scored 37 vs. James
Madison on Dec. 2, 2000. Douby is the first Scarlet Knight to score 30 or more
points in a game since Jerome Coleman netted 31 vs. Syracuse on Jan. 29, 2003.
Douby bested his previous career high of 28 recorded against Temple in the
first round of the NIT on March 17. He also matched his career high in three-pointers
made with six and established career highs in field goals made (10), field
goals attempted (19), three-pointers attempted (12) and minutes (41).
SCARLET KNIGHTS TAKE FIRST EVER MEETING AGAINST CYCLONES
Tonight's game
marked the first-ever meeting between Rutgers and Iowa State. With the 84-81
victory, RU moves to 1-0 all-time against the Cyclones.
SCARLET KNIGHTS IMPROVE TO 4-2 vs. BIG 12
Tonight's victory improved
Rutgers to 4-2 all-time vs. teams from the Big 12 Conference. They own two
wins over Missouri, and one over Nebraska and
the Cyclones. The Scarlet Knights also improve to 2-1 against Big 12 teams
at Madison Square Garden, having defeated Missouri and losing to Texas previously.
AXANI PULLS DOWN CAREER-HIGH 17 REBOUNDS
Senior captain Sean Axani recorded
a career-high 17 rebounds tonight. He had 14 at the end of regulation. Axani's
previous career-best of 12 was against Buffalo on Nov. 25, 2003.
SHIELDS MOVES UP SCORING CHARTS
Junior guard Ricky Shields scored 16 points
vs. Iowa State, improving his career total to 1,187 for the season, moving
him into 19th place on the Scarlet
Knights' career scoring charts. He is 26 points away of tying Larry Gordon
(1,213 from 1951-1954) for 18th all-time.
WEBB FEELS AT HOME AT THE GARDEN
Freshman Marquis Webb is averaging 14.0 ppg.
in his two career games at Madison Square Garden.
Date Opponent Points FGM-FGA 3FGM-3FGA FTM-FTA
3/10 Virginia Tech 19 4-10
3-6 8-10
3/30 Iowa State 9 3-6 0-2 3-5
Totals 28 7-16 3-8 11-15
RUTGERS TAKES LEAD AT THE HALF
After taking a 40-30 lead into the locker room
at the half, the Scarlet Knights went on to win 84-81, improving their record
to 14-3 win leading at the halftime
break.
RUTGERS IMPROVES ON CAREER-BEST THREES FOR THE SEASON
Rutgers converted seven
three pointers tonight, giving them 236 for the season. The Scarlet Knights
bested their previous career mark of 216 (1989-90) earlier
this season.
LAMIZANA MOVES INTO SECOND ON SINGLE-SEASON BLOCKS LIST
Senior forward Herve
Lamizana registered four blocked shots to give him 94 for the season, tying
James Bailey (1975-76) and Chuck Weiler (1991-92) for
second on the school's single-season list.
RU IN OVERTIME UNDER WATERS
Rutgers is 5-1 in overtime games in the three-year
Gary Waters era, including 3-0 this season.
Date Opponent Result
11/16/01 Fairleigh Dickinson W, 70-66
1/5/02 Georgetown W, 89-87
1/4/03 La Salle L, 83-75
1/13/04 Monmouth W, 78-75
2/4/04 Miami W, 72-70
3/30/04 Iowa State W, 84-81
Official Basketball Box Score
Rutgers vs Iowa State
03/30/04 7:00 p.m. at MSG
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VISITORS: Rutgers 20-12
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 LAMIZANA, Herve..... f 3-10 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 4 6 1 3 4 2 30
32 AXANI, Sean......... f 4-10 0-0 0-0 8 9 17 3 8 0 4 3 0 37
02 SHIELDS, Ricky...... g 3-13 1-6 9-11 0 0 0 4 16 5 0 0 2 41
05 DOUBY, Quincy....... g 10-19 6-12 9-11 0 1 1 1 35 1 4 0 2 41
11 WEBB, Marquis....... g 3-6 0-2 3-5 1 3 4 1 9 2 2 0 1 36
04 HILL, Adrian........ 4-4 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 3 8 0 1 0 1 17
13 WIGGAN, Juel........ 0-3 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 3 0 4 0 0 1 17
21 JOYNES, Byron....... 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 1 3 4 3
Totals.............. 27-65 7-23 23-29 14 23 37 21 84 13 17 7 9 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 27-65 41.5% Game: 41.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 7-23 30.4% Game: 30.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 23-29 79.3% Game: 79.3% 2,2
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HOME TEAM: Iowa State 20-13
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 Jackson Vroman...... f 6-11 0-0 2-4 5 15 20 4 14 2 5 1 1 43
50 Marcus Jefferson.... c 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 17
00 Jake Sullivan....... g 3-12 1-8 2-2 0 3 3 3 9 2 1 0 1 33
01 Curtis Stinson...... g 9-18 1-2 13-14 3 2 5 5 32 5 3 0 4 39
11 Will Blalock........ g 3-6 2-2 0-0 1 3 4 3 8 4 5 0 1 41
03 Joh Neal............ 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 5
22 Damion Staple....... 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 6
41 Reggie George....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
51 Jared Homan......... 7-12 0-0 1-2 4 2 6 3 15 0 4 1 1 37
54 Andrew Skoglund..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 29-64 4-13 19-26 14 28 42 26 81 13 20 2 8 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 29-64 45.3% Game: 45.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 30.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 19-26 73.1% Game: 73.1% 3
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Officials:
Technical fouls: Rutgers-None. Iowa State-None.
Attendance: 12630
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Rutgers....................... 40 44 - 84
Iowa State.................... 30 51 - 81
