MBB Falls to Indiana
Feb 22 | Men's Basketball
Coach Jordan Postgame Press Conference
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -Junior forward Greg Lewis scored a career-high 13 points and secured eight rebounds, but it was not enough, as Rutgers (10-18, 2-13) fell to Indiana (19-9, 9-6), 84-54, Sunday night at the RAC. The Scarlet Knights forced 13 IU turnovers before a crowd of 7,402.
Lewis made 5-of-10 field goal attempts to lead RU in scoring for the first time in his career.
Indiana shot 53.4 percent (31-of-58) and out-rebounded Rutgers, 45-32, to secure the win. The Scarlet Knights produced a 37.0 percent field goal mark (20-for-54) in the decision.
Senior guard Myles Mack joined Lewis in double figures with 10 points while draining two three-pointers. Mack also dished out four assists.
After two early three-pointers from Indiana, Rutgers found its first lead at the 16:39 mark, as Lewis put back a two-handed dunk off of a Mack missed layup. The slam made it 7-6 in favor of the Scarlet Knights.
RU's biggest advantage of the half came courtesy of Mack, who converted a coast-to-coast layup with 15:16 remaining in the opening stanza to put Rutgers up 11-8. From there, both teams continued to trade baskets before Indiana produced a 9-0 scoring run to take a 23-16 lead at the 8:06 mark.
Indiana would go up by as much as 12 points in the first half, but Rutgers consistently attacked the basket. Junior guard Bishop Daniels found freshman guard Mike Williams for a running layup with 3:30 left before halftime, cutting the Hoosiers' lead to five.
IU entered the locker room with a 40-30 lead after Lewis converted another put-back, this time to beat the halftime buzzer.
The Scarlet Knights were pesky on defense before the midpoint, causing nine Hoosier turnovers with five steals. Mack and Daniels each had two takeaways by the midpoint.
Indiana produced another 9-0 scoring run to start the second half, but senior forward Kadeem Jack scored four straight points to slow down the Hoosiers. His reverse layup along the baseline made it a 49-34 contest at the 16:36 mark.
Indiana would control the scoring down the stretch to hold on for the victory. Guards James Blackmon Jr. and Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell each had 17 points, while forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea and guard Nick Zeisloft each scored 13 points.
The Scarlet Knights return to the hardwood on Thursday (Feb. 26), when they travel to Purdue. Tipoff is set for 9:00 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.
POST-GAME NOTES
- Greg Lewis scored a career-high 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
- It marked the first time in his career that Lewis has led the team in scoring.
- Lewis also had eight rebounds, and led the team in rebounding for the third time this season (fourth career).
- Myles Mack scored 10 points to register double digits for the 20th time this season and 83rd time in his career. He moves into eighth place on Rutgers' career scoring leaderboard with 1,614 points, passing Eric Riggins.
- Freshman Jake Dadika scored his first career point.
- Rutgers had the advantage in points-off-turnovers, 16-15, and fast break points, 8-6.
- Rutgers falls to 0-3 all-time against Indiana.
POST-GAME QUOTES
Rutgers Head Coach Eddie Jordan
Opening Statement : "[Indiana] is a very good team. They're always in attack. For the most part, we got back on defense and protected the rim. And those are the two things we have to do; get back in the paint and stop the ball. The third thing we had to do was match up and we didn't do that well. We got the first two parts of it right, but you have to match up. They play small, they drive and kick and we just didn't sit down and contain the dribble during that scoring spurt in the second half. They got the separation and kept going. They're good, they're skilled and we just couldn't get a handle on them."
On the team's fight: "There's a lot of fight left…If it seems like there isn't a lot of fight, it's just that we aren't good enough right now to guard certain things. Whether it's a three-point shooter from NBA range, when we fly out on a guy and he makes it, that doesn't tell me there isn't enough fight. Good teams take advantage of a team that's not doing well. It doesn't mean you don't have enough fight, it means sometimes you're not good enough. We have plenty of fight, so that's not an issue for me."
On not playing freshman forward D.J. Foreman until the second half: "I was trying to get my forwards going. Myles has a bad wrist and hadn't shot the ball for two days. I spoke to Kadeem before the game and told him we needed a really good game out of him and we wanted him to get going. I wanted Junior to get going. They came in with three guards, they played small, so we had to match up with their lineup. That's why I played Kadeem at the five position and played three guards."
On the biggest difference between this meeting and the first meeting with Indiana: "At Indiana, we made shots against their zone. Junior made some shots, made some three's and made good cuts to the basket. So when you have that, it juices you up and energizes you. Tonight they guarded us fairly well. They had some sort of defense, a small and a big at forward, and we didn't take advantage of, but we saw it before the game. But they made shots and we didn't. Out there [at Indiana], we made shots, hung in and made plays. We didn't make plays here."
On the play of Greg Lewis (career-high 13 points, eight rebounds): "He's going to be a leader for us on the floor. He doesn't speak that much. I'm glad that he has stayed with us. Nothing bothers him. He always competes, helps his teammates and gets better every day. He's here early and late working on his game, so he is on the top of the list for what I want from this team and players. That's the sort of person [I'm looking for], Greg Lewis."
Indiana Head Coach Tom Crean
Opening statement: "First thing - I'm proud of the way our guys responded the last few days to get ready for this game after knowing we didn't play nearly the way we wanted to play Thursday night against Purdue. But every game matters and that we had to turn back around and be better. I thought they were. Our resolve over the last few days at practice and film sessions was really strong. We certainly didn't over-practice. I would say over the last three days we have probably been live on the court maybe three hours. It wasn't a matter of going long and overdoing it, it was a matter of going really hard and really fast, really sound and getting ourselves ready to play. I thought that they did.
"We settled in in the first half and did a nice job. I think our guys were disappointed we left a couple points on the table, especially at the end when we didn't get the offensive rebound. We then gave up the offensive rebound (tip-in). I like how they are starting to hold each other accountable to details of the game - two-hand rebounds, seeing the next pass, getting to the right spot. That's key. If we can continue to build on that, we will get better. The second half start for us was really good. We changed defenses because we were concerned about Myles Mack. We have a ton of respect for him and were concerned he was going to try to take over the game. We wanted to make sure we didn't give him any free looks. We made some plays, got some shots and it started to work for us.
"We have a lot of respect for Rutgers. I have a ton of respect for Eddie (Jordan). He has coached so many games and so many great players and teams. It is just a matter of time here. I don't think it is a matter of if. It is going to be a matter of when. They have good pieces in there and hope everyone over there keeps listening to him. He has helped a lot of people that have made a lot of money in the game of basketball - they listened to him and got better for it. Everybody comes to college, most want to be able to get to the NBA, but all want to have a career in something. I think he does a great job of trying to hold people accountable and make them better. And this was a great environment to play in. I'm glad we had some fans, but this was a great, great environment to play in. I'm proud of our team and our road gets no easier going into a hot Northwestern team's gym on Wednesday. We appreciate this win, we appreciate the way we played and had some great performances from a lot of different guys."
