PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Freshman wing Dane Miller (Henrietta, N.Y.) shot 10-of-19 to score a career-high tying 26 points, but it was not enough as Rutgers (9-9, 0-6), fell to No. 4 Villanova (17-1, 6-0) by a 94-68 score Wednesday evening at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Senior center Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal) scored 12 points and had five blocks, while junior guard James Beatty (Wilmington, N.C.) added 10 points, to supplement the Scarlet Knights’ offense.
Trailing by as many as many as 32 points in the second half, Rutgers continued to battle. The Scarlet Knights reduced its deficit to 16 points (70-54) with 6:30 to play, but would get no closer.
Villanova out-rebounded RU by a 52-28 margin and established a 44-10 advantage in bench points to ensure its eighth consecutive win.
The game was played at a quick tempo early. After jumping-out to a 4-3 lead, the visitors regained the advantage before a Beatty layup brought Rutgers within one (7-6) with 16:07 remaining before the break. The Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run, before scoring 20 of the first half’s final 27 points to take a 47-25 advantage into the locker room at the midpoint.
Despite Miller’s best efforts after the break, the Scarlet Knights were unable to reduce Villanova’s lead to single digits. Miller scored 22 points and grabbed all eight of his rebounds in the final 20 minutes.
The Wildcats were led in the scoring column by freshman Dominic Cheek, who scored 17 points, including 15 in the second half. Corey Stokes contributed 16 points and Corey Fisher added 15 for the visitors.
Rutgers returns to the hardwood Saturday (Jan. 23) afternoon for a 12 noon tip-off at No. 12/14 Georgetown in Washington, D.C. The game will be televised live on SNY.
POSTGAME NOTES
- At least three Scarlet Knights scored in double digits for the third straight game and the 13th time this season with Dane Miller (26), Hamady Ndiaye (12) and James Beatty (10) all posting 10-plus.
- Rutgers started Beatty, Miller, Jonathan Mitchell, Ndiaye and Mike Rosario for the third straight game. Mitchell has started all 18 games this season.
- Miller’s 26 points ties a career high he set against Providence on Jan. 9. It marks the sixth time this season he has scored in double digits.
- Miller’s 36 minutes played is a career-high.
- Ndiaye’s 12 points gives him nine double-digit scoring efforts for the season and 12 for his career.
- Ndiaye’s five blocks marks the 17th contest this season, and 51st time in his career, that he has swatted three or more blocks. Ndiaye’s 86 blocks this season is the sixth best single season mark in school history.
- Miller’s six assists marks a career high. His previous career-best was four helpers against Princeton on Dec. 3, 2009.
- Coburn’s five assists marks the eighth time this season, and 11th time in his career, that he has dished-out five or more helpers.
- Austin Johnson’s 22 minutes played and two steals were both career highs.
Rutgers Head Coach Fred Hill
On the first half:
“I think from now on, we are going to play the second half first and the first half second and see what happens. It seems to be a trend with this team. I wish I had an answer for it. When you look at the numbers, we let them get us on the glass, which is something that we talked about that we couldn’t do. It is something that we’re not very good at. We keep working at it, trying to get better. We turned the ball over too much in the first half. I think we had eight turnovers, and you wind up with 13 for the game. That is the difference in being able to score in the second half – if you’re not turning it over and you are getting pretty good shots. We actually shot a better percentage in the first half, but we turned the ball over and gave up offensive rebounds, and that is the difference in the game. They shot, in the first half, 51 percent. You miss, get a rebound, you get a stick back – that’s 50 percent. Obviously that is something that hurt us and we gave up 23 (offensive rebounds) for the game. I think we had five off missed free throws, which is totally inexcusable. A couple times, we did a great job blocking out, the ball hit the ground, and no one went after it. We just have to keep working on that part of the game. I think we got better with the basketball and were able to score in the second half. I changed the starting lineup three games ago to try to get us off to better starts and we have to come up with an answer to get off to better starts.”
On leaving Mike Rosario on the bench in the second half:
“We were playing well. He comes out, and usually gets a two or three minute blow and then we usually get him back in. But during that stretch, I thought we made a great run…We were playing good. JB (James Beatty) and Mike Coburn were doing a very, very good job and we just went with the guys that were giving us the energy and the effort and playing good basketball at that time.”
On team morale:
“It is always a difficult situation when you don’t get rewarded. I told the team yesterday. It is spirited practices, very competitive, great attitude and for whatever reason, it is not translating to the game, especially in the first half. I wish I had an answer for that. I don’t, but we have to keep trying to figure it out. This is a group of great guys. We have some youthful exuberance in Dane Miller. We have a guy that is coming along with James Beatty. I have got competitors in Mike Coburn and Jonathan Mitchell. We have a guy that is probably the most energetic, passionate player in the country in Hamady (Ndiaye). Right now, Mike (Rosario) is struggling and when he is struggling, you struggle because he is one of our leading scorers. I think the other guys are doing a good job of stepping up. We’re not quite there yet. You look at a team that is so deep and versatile, like Villanova. I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I am going to venture to say that that is probably as good of a defensive job on Scottie Reynolds as anyone has done all year long. But, Corey Fisher steps up and gets 15, Corey Stokes gets 16, Dominic Cheek has 17 in 17 minutes. They go to other weapons. They find the weak spot in your defense. That is what makes them so difficult to guard and other guys are able to step up and make plays. If I had a vote today, I would vote Scottie Reynolds as Player of the Year - all the film I have seen and all the big plays he has made.”
Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright
Game thoughts:
“That was a good performance by us tonight. It’s not easy to come in here, in this place and play like that. I think that it shows the maturity of our Jersey guys. We came in here two years ago and the jersey guys were all hyped up about being back in Jersey and playing, that they forgot we were playing against a good team. I think that we really came in here tonight and kept our focus on playing for Villanova.”
“We played well and I was very pleased. We might have put together our best 40 minutes. Rutgers got that little run when Dane Miller was hitting threes and they could have been right in it, but again I think that we just really played well.”
On the play of Scottie Reynolds:
“They soft blitzed Scottie and didn’t leave or help off of him. Every time he got it they had two guys kind of funnel him. Again this was another impressive performance by him, he’s not coming in trying to score thirty, he knows what they’re doing and he reverses the ball and the other guys made plays.”
