PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers (13-17, 5-12) battled back from a 19-point first half deficit to get within one on two occasions in the second half, but would get no closer in a 77-71 loss to Villanova (12-17, 5-12) Thursday evening at the RAC. Junior wing Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) shot five-of-eight to score a team-best 16 points with nine rebounds in the hard-fought defeat.

The RU freshmen guard trio of Myles Mack (Paterson, N.J.), Eli Carter (Paterson, N.J.) and Jerome Seagears (Silver Spring, Md.) combined to score 40 points.  Mack posted 15 points, while Carter contributed 14. Seagears had 11 points and seven assists without a turnover.

Trailing 50-32 with 19 minutes to play, Rutgers charged back with a 12-0 run, capped by a Miller dunk with 16:52 on the clock. The home squad continued to battle and further reduced the margin to a single point, 52-51, on a Seagears three-pointer with 12 minutes to go. A minute later, RU was within one once again, 54-53, after a pair of Seagears free throws.

Unfortunately for the Scarlet faithful, the dramatic comeback would fall short. RU had possession down by three, 72-69, with 30 seconds on the clock but turned the ball over. Villanova deposited six of its seven free throw attempts in the final minute to seal the victory.

The Wildcats came out on fire to begin the game, making their initial nine field goal attempts. The visitors entered the locker room at the midpoint with a 48-32 advantage after shooting a sizzling 69.2 percent (18-26), including a staggering 80 percent (8-10) mark from behind the arc, in the opening 20 minutes.

The Scarlet Knights out-scored Villanova 34-24 in the paint and established a 17-7 advantage in second chance points.

Rutgers returns to the hardwood Saturday for an 8 p.m. tip-off at the RAC versus St. John’s.  The game will be televised live on MSG and via the web at WatchESPN.com. In a pre-game ceremony, the Scarlet Knights will recognize senior guards Mike Kuhn (Oceanport, N.J.) and Charlie Rigoglioso (Wayne, N.J.).

POST GAME NOTES

• The loss drops RU to 9-27 all-time against VU. The Scarlet Knights move to 7-14 at home and 5-15 in BIG EAST regular season play against the Wildcats.
• The .692 (18-of-26) shooting by Villanova marked the best for a RU opponent in the first half since Jan. 31, 2007 when West Virginia shot .700 (14-of-20) over the first 20 minutes. The Wildcats hit their first nine shots from the field
• An opponent hit 10 threes for the third time this season and first since Illinois State. Villanova hit eight-of-10 threes in the first half.
• Eli Carter scored 10-plus for the third-straight game and 23rd this season with 14 points.
• Jerome Seagears posted his 10th double-figure output this season – and third-straight – with 11 points.
• Seagears bested his career high for the second-straight game with seven assists. The freshman did not have a turnover. Over the last two games, Seagears is maintaining a 6.5 assist to turnover ratio.
• Miller posted double-digits for the 11th time this season and fourth time in the last five games with 16 points. When Miller scores 10-plus, the Scarlet Knights fall to 7-4.  
• It marked the fourth time Miller has paced RU in scoring and second-straight.
• Miller paced the team in rebounding for the third-straight contest and 14th of the season.
• Myles Mack scored in double-figures for the first time since at Providence (Feb. 1) with 15 points. The freshman has posted 10-plus points 14 times this season.
• The Scarlet Knights to 9-5 when three players or more scored in double-figures and 6-4 when four-or-more post 10-plus. It marked the third-straight game and fourth time in BIG EAST play four-or-more players have scored in double-digits. 
• For the second-straight game, Rutgers scored 70-plus points. RU drops to 6-2 when scoring 70-or-more points.
• Rutgers went with the starting lineup of Mack, Carter, Seagears, Biruta and Miller for the fourth-straight game.   
• The Scarlet Knights drop to 0-9 when attempting more three pointers than its opponent.
• The 20 turnovers marked the most for a RU opponent since Connecticut (Jan. 7) and the fifth time the Scarlet Knights have forced their opponents into 20-plus miscues this season.

POST GAME QUOTES

Rutgers Head Coach Mike Rice

Opening statement: “The reason for the first half was our preparation. It was hard to get their head out of the clouds. Having won only one game in the last 30 days, you would think they would be hungry for another one. We played like our preparation - not good enough, lackadaisical. We came out that way in the first half. The second half we came out with some energy, got out of our own way, played for one another.”

On intensity: “It was the least amount of effort I’ve seen our team play in a long time. Just simply do your job on that possession, whatever it may be. It was a poor job of doing the little things. There was no intensity or energy.”

On Villanova defense: “They switched to zone and we shot four straight threes. We were attacking the basket. We were making things happen and attacking. We settled for three-point shots. When you’re not nailing the three point shots, it deflates you. We settled, plain and simple, we settled.”

On Mack driving to the basket down three: “No, I wanted him to go in the lane, but I also wanted him to jump stop and kick out to two wide open guys. Again, they are going to learn from their mistakes. That’s a tough one. You have Yarou on you and I wanted him to attack his feet. I’m yelling, ‘Attack his feet!’ But you just have to learn in the BIG EAST, there’s going to be someone else. There are a lot of good coaches. I guess we have to learn from that. That particular play when they have somebody step up that hard, Mike Poole and somebody else was wide open on the weak side.

On Jerome Seagears’ development: “Developing. Just simply wanting to penetrate, not leaving his feet to pass - all the little things that he is doing. He has a purpose to his energy and his play. So yes, I congratulate him on a great second half but losers only play one half. That’s what we are right now, we are losers. You lost a game in your own building, a game you have to win. If you understand anything, you have to win this game.

On the learning process: “Apparently yes (this loss is part of the losing process), and I hate it.”

 

Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright

On handling the pressure: “We have an inexperienced group, they just haven’t been through these things together. Our experienced groups know that this is another 20 minutes of basketball, but this group has to learn. Tonight is a step in learning it. This is the first time that we have had everyone together in about three weeks and we didn’t even get to all practice together. It felt good to have everyone out there. I feel good about what these guys can do.”

On taking out Cheek in the first half: “He had two fouls in the first and I think that hurt his momentum. I think he got a little anxious in the second half, but I think that he played good defense in the second half to help us. He was hot. He had two fouls and we had a big lead, if he had two fouls and that game was close, I probably would have left him in.”

On having more big men to use: “It’s different. Rutgers comes out and starts pressing us in the second half and we have (Mouphtaou) Yarou in the three-spot, sometimes we handle it well (and) sometimes we don’t. We did not handle it well early and we moved Yarou to the four, which helps but that’s still a pretty big team. We’re getting used to that. We haven’t had big guys like this before.”

On making the first nine shots: “You never know (if the shots are going to fall). I did say to them at half time, we were up 16, I said we are up 16 because we are shooting out of our minds right now. But we played good enough defense to be up 33-32 or 34-32. We have to go out there and make shots in the second half, no, we go to go out there and play defense. I thought we had one of our better defensive efforts.”