Rutgers Falls 76-60 at Louisville

Saturday, February 6

Louisville, KY

4:00 PM

Rutgers University

Louisville

Feb 06 | Men's Basketball

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Redshirt junior forward Jonathan Mitchell (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) scored 17 points, had a career-high seven assists and added seven rebounds to lead four Rutgers (11-12, 2-9) players in double figures in a hard fought, 76-60, loss to Louisville (15-8, 6-4) Saturday afternoon before 19,775-fans at Freedom Hall. Trailing by 17 points in the opening half, the Scarlet Knights battled back to within four points after the break but would get no closer.

Dane Miller (Henrietta, N.Y.) scored 17 points, while Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) added 13 and Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal) 10 to spark RU.  The starting five for the Scarlet Knights all played 31-plus minutes, with Rosario and Mitchell logging the entire 40.

The Scarlet Knights managed 10 more shots than their hosts, but Louisville connected on a higher percentage. The Cardinals made 54 percent (27-50) of their attempts from the field, while Rutgers had 38.3 percent (23-60) fall through the cylinder.

“We just couldn’t knock a big shot down when we needed it,” said Rutgers head coach Fred Hill. “It was 45-40, we get an offensive foul called, and it kind of changed the momentum. We get a couple of free looks, and couldn’t get over the hump. You have to give them credit, they come after you...I had to play guys 40 minutes, 37 minutes, 33 minutes, and 31 minutes…They have so many bodies they can just keep throwing at you and they wore us down.”

Louisville jumped-out to a 15-5 lead and extended its advantage to 17 points (34-17) with 7:32 remaining before halftime. Rutgers responded with an 8-2 run before Louisville hit a three-pointer to take a 39-25 lead with 5:07 on the clock. A 7-2 Rutgers burst, capped by a Mitchell three-pointer, reduced the deficit to single digits. Louisville made the final basket of the opening half to take a 43-32 advantage into the locker room at the midpoint.

The Scarlet Knights scored eight of the second half’s initial 10 points to trail 45-40 with 18:50 on the clock. A Rosario three-pointer brought RU to within four points (47-43), before the home squad went on a 7-0 run. A persistent Rutgers squad kept fighting in the hostile environment and trailed by seven points (63-56) with 7:15 to play, but Louisville continued to hit clutch shots. The Cardinals scored eight of the contest’s final 10 points to produce the 76-60 final score.

Rutgers returns to the hardwood Tuesday (Feb. 9) evening to host Caldwell in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at the RAC. The contest is fan appreciation night, as fans will be admitted free of charge.

POST-GAME NOTES

Jonathan Mitchell (40) and Dane Miller (37) played career-high minutes, while Mike Rosario tied his career-high with 40 minutes.
Mitchell dished-out a career-best seven assists. His previous career-high was four on two occasions.
Miller had a career-high four steals. He also made a career-best six free throws and tied his career-high in free throw attempts (eight).
Louisville attempted 50 field goals, the fewest shots for a Rutgers opponent this season and the fewest for an RU foe since USF took just 47 shots on March 7, 2009.
Hamady Ndiaye had seven rebounds to increase his career-total to 603, moving him past Hal Corizi (1949-52, 599) for 21^st place on the Rutgers all-time boards chart.
Rosario’s 13 points marked his 20^th double-digit scoring game of the season and the 48^th of his Rutgers career.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Rutgers Head Coach Fred Hill

 “I thought we did what we wanted to do. They made shots, but you talk about their pressure – it might be the best in the country. They turn people over; we have 10 turnovers for the game. One of them is on the charge; it’s not against the press. We handled it extremely well. I think it really came down to we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well and they did. We turned them over; we didn’t let them get a ton of offensive rebounds. They’re the best in the Big East. They only had nine. I think they’re averaging over 16 a game. We limited our turnovers to 10, we had nine steals. We just couldn’t knock a big shot down when we needed it. It was 45-40, we get an offensive foul called, and it kind of changed the momentum. We get a couple of free looks, and couldn’t get over the hump. You have to give them credit, they come after you. I thought the real difference what that they wore us down. Constant pressure wears you down, but they took the press off in the second half. We were going through it and attacking it, getting easy baskets. In the second half, they took it off. I had to play guys 40 minutes, 37 minutes, 33 minutes, and 31 minutes. You look at their minutes and they just wear you down. They have so many bodies they can just keep throwing at you and they wore us down.”

 “I think the Big East is very difficult. The road is always difficult; again this isn’t a typical 16 point loss. It was 45-40 – it’s a shot here and a shot there. You’ve got to foul a little at the end; you’ve got to press and gamble to get a layup and one. This is one of those games where you’re in the game right until the end battling on the road. I think it’s a step forward for our guys on the road, because in some games it’s been over before it started. Again, 17 down, we never quit and we cut it to 11 at the half – and really we had the ball for the last shot. These are the little things – experience – we’re setting up a three-point shot for Mike Rosario. There’s no way you should turn the ball over in the zone – it’s just a little ball reversal, we get a little casual, we turn the ball over. Instead of a nine point game at half, it turns into 11 – maybe if we execute and get Mike a shot and he buries a three, it’s a six point game. It was a good game. We need to learn from it and get a little bit better.”