PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Senior forward Jonathan Mitchell (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) had another productive game, shooting 10-of-15 and four-of-seven from behind the arc, to score a game-high 24 points in a 69-64 Rutgers (13-12, 4-9) loss to Seton Hall (11-14, 5-8) Saturday evening at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. The Scarlet Knights led early in both halves, but could not overcome the steady shooting of the Pirates, who made 50 percent (25-50) of their field goal attempts.
Twenty-two of Mitchell’s points were recorded in the second half. He supplemented his performance with a team-high seven rebounds.
Forward Gilvydas Biruta (Jonava, Lithuania) also turned in a strong performance for the home squad. The freshman shot six-of-nine from the field and a perfect six-for-six from the charity stripe to score 18 points, his top tally in a BIG EAST game thus far.
Fellow rookie Austin Carroll (Bedford, Mass.) made his presence felt as well, scoring a career-high eight points in 11 minutes of action.
The game featured eight lead changes and three ties. The Scarlet Knights jumped out to an early 11-5 lead before an eight point SHU run quieted the sellout crowd of 8,057. The teams battled in close proximity before a five point spurt provided the visitors a 29-21 advantage with just over five minutes to play before the break. Seton Hall entered the locker room at the midpoint with a 34-27 lead.
The Scarlet Knights exited the locker room with purpose, scoring the initial eight points of the second half to take a 35-34 edge. Unfortunately for the Scarlet faithful, it would be the final advantage of the evening for the Scarlet Knights. With less than five minutes remaining, Rutgers battled to within one point on two occasions but would get no closer.
Seton Hall made eight of nine free throws with less than two minutes to play to ensure the win. Five were credited to Jeremy Hazell, who finished with a team-high 19 points.
Rutgers shot 43.4 percent (23-53) and 42.1 percent (8-19) from behind the arc. Senior guard James Beatty (Wilmington, N.C.) aided the effort with a career-high tying eight assists.
The Scarlet Knights return to the hardwood next Saturday (Feb. 19) for a 4 p.m. tip-off at No. 12/13 Syracuse. The game will be televised live on MSG in the New York market and on WPVI-TV 6 in the Philadelphia market.
Postgame Notes
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With 18 points, six assists and four rebounds, Seton Hall’s Jordan Theodore was the recipient of the Joe Calabrese Rutgers-Seton Hall Game MVP Award. The MVP Award honors the memory of long-time New Jersey sports writer Joe Calabrese, who covered college athletics for many years for the Newark Star Ledger, Trenton Times and Bridgewater Courier News.
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Rutgers moves to 25-34 all-time against Seton Hall, including 15-14 in Piscataway.
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Jonathan Mitchell notched 24 points, seven rebounds for RU. It marked the seventh time in the last 10 games Mitchell has tallied 20-plus.
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The forward has scored 20-plus in 11 career games. The senior poured in 22 in the second half.
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It marked the 42ndtime in his career, 19thtime this season that Mitchell scored in double-digits. It was the 17thtime in the last 20 contests Mitchell has posted 10-plus.
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Mitchell has paced RU in rebounding 10 times this season.
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Gilvydas Biruta posted double-figures for the 13thtime this season and the first since at Seton Hall on Jan. 22 with 18 points.
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Austin Carroll set a new career high with eight points and two three point field goals made.
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James Beatty tied his career high with eight assists. It was a season high and the third time this season the senior has dished out five-plus helpers.
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Beatty also tallied four steals – the seventh time this season the guard has tallied three-plus thefts.
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Mitchell and Biruta combined for 42 of the Scarlet Knights’ 64 points, including the final 21.
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For just the fifth time all season – and the first since the win over Providence – Rutgers went to the line more times than its opponent during the first half. For the game, RU moves to 5-0 when taking more free throws than its opponent.
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Mike Rice went with the starting lineup of James Beatty, Mike Coburn, Dane Miller, Jonathan Mitchell and Gilvydas Biruta for the 23rdtime this season.
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Austin Johnson was the first sub off the bench for the 20thtime this season.
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Of the nine players that saw action, six had at least two points with five players notching four-plus.
POST GAME QUOTES
Head coach Mike Rice
Opening Statement:
“Defensive possession, offensive possession – it wasn’t a very good flow either way. A lot of the game, I didn’t recognize the team that was out on the floor to be honest with you. We just made some of the same mistakes we made the first week of practice. Offensively, I thought we held the ball too long. We tried to make too quick of a play. They were the more discipline team on offense. (We made) bad decisions of defense, whether it was no help, undisciplined. It was a very poor performance. Whether it is a hangover from a great victory on Wednesday night or Seton Hall just coming in with more discipline and determination than Rutgers, I’m not sure.”
On if he sensed there would be an intensity issue:
“I had no idea. To finally get people to say nice things about you and this is how you respond. It’s very disappointing as far as that goes. (We) built a little bit of momentum and just didn’t have any fight. (We) didn’t have much fight at all.”
On Austin Carroll:
“He is coming in from his surgery and he is still a little bit of a liability defensively. But he had such a poise about him offensively that I wanted to try to go offense/defense, especially with Dane (Miller) struggling as he did tonight. I’m glad to see him and Gilvydas (Biruta do well) and J-Mitch (Jonathan Mitchell) finally woke up in the second half and he gave us some good offense, good effort.”
On defense:
“The last two possessions, they weren’t supposed to switch. It was supposed to be a hard hedge and fight over. Our help side defense disappeared the last six minutes of the game. We just started hugging our men. Again, they hit some tough shots – some percentage shots that I wanted them to take, especially in the first half. Credit them. They came out undermanned and very determined. But then, we started getting out of what we do. We probably should have jumped into zone one of those possessions. That was a mistake by me.”
On Dane Miller offensively:
“If you watched the Villanova tape, this has been (happening) the last two games. Again, he is back to pulling up from the free throw line when no one is stopping him. He’s not taking a shot, he’s taking a low-percentage shot. When he doesn’t get it, it’s starting to snow ball with him. It started in the first half. He had a nice two on one break and instead of going to the rim and dunking it, he moved the ball and tried for a lay-up and then they came down (the other way). That is what happened all night. We had a fast break opportunity, didn’t finish it, they came down the other way and finished it.”
Seton Hall Head Coach Kevin Willard
On the play of Jordan Theodore:
“Jordan played terrific, he was under control, he did everything that we needed him to do all game long. We brought him off the bench because of after the UConn game we thought that he might have had a concusion. He was not able to practice until this past Thursday. We put Eniel Polynice in there and he played really well with the unit so we just kept it the same way, and kept it consistent.
On the tightness of the Seton Hall rotation:
“I like playing a lot of guys, it wears the other guys down. The only thing good about having a short rotation now is that it’s February.”
On the Seton Hall offensive play selection:
“We knew that they were going to switch “pick and rolls” and Jonathan Mitchell to whom I think is playing as good as anybody in the BIG EAST now, and Gilvydas Biruta who I think is having an unbelievable first year. We thought that we had a better match up with Jordan going “one on one” so we spaced the court and let Jordan go to work.”
On Jeremy Hazell getting his 2000thcareer point:
“It’s well deserved He’s been the heart and soul of this program for the last four year . The young man has gone through a lot both physically and emotionally. To get 2000 points in three and half years is amazing.”
On closing out Rutgers:
“It was good to see because we have struggled when teams make runs on us. I thought did a much better job of getting the ball inside. At least getting into Herb Pope so that we can go inside to out. Even though Herb didn’t have great numbers I felt that he was effective with getting Rutgers to collapse around him. “
On how big it was to have Herb Pope come back into the game:
“It was big, I mean you saw what happened during the UConn game when he came out. We went from being up eleven to being down one quick. I don’t have to tell everyone how tough that kid is.”
