Rutgers University
West Virginia
Rutgers Drops 89-83 Decision To West Virginia
Jan 31 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Despite connecting on over 53 percent from the field and placing four players in double figures, including a career-high 19-points from sophomore forward Jaron Griffin, the Rutgers men's basketball team dropped an 89-83 decision to an even hotter shooting West Virginia Wednesday night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
The Scarlet Knights hit 34-of-64 (53.1 percent) from the floor, including 7-of-15 from three point range, against the Mountaineers. West Virginia was good on 65.2 percent of its field goal attempts, hitting 30-of-46 from the floor, including 14-of-21 (66.7 percent) from beyond the three-point arc.
Griffin, of Manchester, NJ, hit on 8-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-5 three-pointers, to lead the Scarlet Knights. Sophomore forward JR Inman (Pomona, N.Y.) registered 16 points, while seniors Adrian Hill (Canton, Ohio) and Marquis Webb (Paterson, N.J.) chipped in with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Hill also led all rebounders with eight caroms. The loss dropped the Scarlet Knights to 9-13 overall and 2-7 in the BIG EAST.
West Virginia (17-4, 6-3 BIG EAST) was led by freshman Da'Sean Butler and sophomore forward Joe Alexander who each scored 17 points apiece. Darris Nichols added 16 for the Mountaineers, including 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range.
The Scarlet Knights jumped out to an early 12-4 lead after a lay-up by Inman at 17:18. Rutgers held the lead until the 7:16 mark when Nichols hit a three-pointer to put the Mountaineers up by one (26-25). A Griffin three-pointer with 6:12 remaining kept RU up by one (28-27), but West Virginia responded with an 8-0 run of their own to take a 35-28 lead with 4:43 remaining in the half. Rutgers closed out the half with a 9-3 run of its own, capped by a Hill lay-up as time expired to cut WVU's lead at the half to one (38-37).
The lead changed eight times in the second half. Rutgers' biggest lead in the final stanza came after Hill threw down a dunk with 15:17 remaining to put the Scarlet Knights up by three (48-45). The Mountaineers came right back on the next possession when a Butler offensive rebound led to a three-point field goal by Jamie Smalligan to tie the game for the third and last time, 48-48.
After a jumper by sophomore guard Anthony Farmer (Millville, N.J.) put RU up 52-51 at the 13:08 mark, Nichols knocked down a three-pointer with 12:56 remaining to give the Mountaineers the lead for good at 54-52. Rutgers would get as close as one (62-61 with 8:13 showing on the clock), but an 8-2 run by the Mountaineers put them up by seven (70-63) with 6:45 remaining. Two free throws by Frank Young with 40 seconds left helped put the game away as they eventually secured the 89-83 win.
The Scarlet Knights return to action on Saturday, February 3, when they travel to Connecticut to take on the Huskies at noon at the Hartford Civic Center.
POSTGAME NOTES
WITH THE LOSS'?
With the 89-83 loss to West Virginia, the Scarlet Knights fall to 9-13 on the season and 2-7 in BIG EAST play.
SEASON-HIGHS
Rutgers did record its highest scoring output of the season against a BIG EAST team with its 83 points against the Mountaineers. The total surpassed the 74 they scored against conference rival Seton Hall on Jan. 27 and marked the most against a conference opponent since RU scored 91 against Marquette on February 12, 2006.
The 17 assists recorded by Rutgers were the most in a single game this season. The total surpassed the team's previous mark of 15, which was set against Nebraska on Dec. 2.
The Scarlet Knights also set a season-high in both field goals made and attempted. RU made 34 from the field, surpassing the previous high of 31 made field goals against St. Thomas Aquinas on Nov. 19. Rutgers also attempted 64 shots, eclipsing the 61 attempted field goals against Syracuse on Jan. 10.
Rutgers shot 89 percent from the free throw line (8-of-9), the team's highest percentage of the season. RU previously shot 84 percent against Seton Hall on Jan. 3.
CAREER NIGHT FOR GRIFFIN
Sophomore forward Jaron Griffin scored a career-high 19 points, surpassing his previous high of 16 which he set against Nebraska on Dec. 2, 2006.
Griffin also scored his 300th career point. Griffin entered tonight's game with 287 points and with 19 points against West Virginia, now has 306 for his career.
FARMER CRACKS TOP 25
Sophomore guard Anthony Farmer cracked the top 25 on RU's list of all-time assist leaders after recording a season-high six in tonight's game. Farmer now has 188 career assists to move into the 25th spot, previously held by Al Karner (1994-96), who finished his career with 186 assists. Farmer's six assists surpassed his previous season-high of five, which he set against South Carolina State on Dec. 31.
THE WEBB WATCH
Senior guard Marquis Webb finished with 11 points against the Mountaineers and now has 958 career points. Webb, currently in 39th place on RU's list of all-time career scorers, is 12 points away from the 38th spot on the list and 42 away from scoring his 1000th career point.
Rank Player Career Points
38. Phil Robinson (1963-66) 970
39. Marquis Webb (2003-present) 958
40. Mike Jones (1989-93) 943
DOUBLE FIGURES
Four Scarlet Knight players scored in double-digits in tonight's game, the ninth time in 22 games this season at least four players have done so.
FG-FGA 3FG-3FGA FT-FTA TP
Jaron Griffin 8-14 3-5 0-0 19
JR Inman 6-13 1-2 3-3 16
Adrian Hill 6-9 0-0 3-4 15
Marquis Webb 4-8 1-4 2-2 11
Fred Hill Post-Game Quotes :
"I thought we did a great job executing and I've said all along that we had one game like this earlier in the year against Nebraska. We've been getting great shots and when they go in everything looks good and everything is wonderful in the world. When they don't go in, it's a struggle, but WVU is a team that plays a unique style with the 1-3-1 match-up and you can't really make a lot of passes against their zone because they are the best in the country at getting deflections. They are big and long, and so our whole game plan was to attack of the dribble, try to go inside, then go out, and take your open shots when you have them. I thought that our kids did a terrific job of executing our game plan by attacking off the dribble, going inside out, and when they got open tonight they stepped up and made their open looks."
"It's a great night; we just weren't able to stop them from shooting the three, and shooting it effectively. They're outstanding at it, but again they came in with Frank Young as their leading scorer and best three-point shooter, and I thought that we did a great job on him tonight because he only had five shot attempts as Marquis Webb was his usual warrior-self defending him."
"Win or lose we made a big step forward mentally, and obviously it's a lot nicer to talk about it when you win like after the Seton Hall game, but the same thing today. And there's no moral victories because this hurts as much as a 40 point loss to North Carolina or going down to South Florida, but all year long all we've done is focus on coming out and working hard everyday and getting better, and I told the guys that we got better."
"We had a great practice, we had a terrific shoot around, and tonight we made progress in terms of getting better as a team, but unfortunately it didn't result in a win."
"We're going to come back and work tomorrow. We shoot the ball well in shooting drills in practice, and in practice it's a different mindset. And I think that's where we've made the steps, and when I talk about that I talk about the mental part - the confidence factor. Doing things we talk about all day, like having carryover from the practice to the game. I thought that today there was carryover from the practice to the game. Certainly, I hope that we play with more confidence when we go up to UConn on Saturday."
