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PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Steve Pikiell led Rutgers (4-0) to a 78-65 win over Niagara (0-4) Sunday afternoon at the RAC to become the first RU men's basketball coach to begin his tenure with four victories. The Scarlet Knights established a commanding 42-3 advantage in bench points to ensure their best start since the 2000-01 season (5-0).

"I'm just proud of the team," said Pikiell. "They've accepted roles. It's such an important part of being a good basketball team. Having guys ready to play. I didn't love the energy out of our starting lineup today. We brought in Nigel (Johnson) and Mike (Williams) and they gave us tremendous minutes. Candido (Sa) gave us good minutes. And then, in the second half, having Eugene (Omoruyi), another guy ready to play, was awesome. So, it bodes well. It gives us options."

Redshirt junior Nigel Johnson was 9-of-14 off the bench to post a career-high tying 20 points, while also dishing-out five assists. Junior Mike Williams also produced double-figures in a reserve role, adding 12 points.

In addition to the disparity in bench points, Rutgers out-scored the Purple Eagles 34-14 in the paint. Graduate center C.J. Gettys grabbed a game-best eight rebounds and had three blocks, while junior big man Candido Sa registered four blocks in 13 minutes.

The opening half was tightly contested, featuring three ties and one lead change, as the visitors proved a threat behind the arc. Consecutive three-pointer by Williams, however, capped an 8-2 burst to elevate the home squad's lead to double digits (33-23) at the final media timeout.

Niagara closed in the final minutes of the frame and the Scarlet Knights entered the locker room at the midpoint with a 35-30 advantage.

After the break, the persistent Purple Eagles grabbed momentum. A triple by Marvin Prochet capped a 10-2 run and the visitors led, 42-41 with just under 15 minutes to play.

Johnson and the Scarlet Knights responded to the challenge, going on a 16-0 run to ensure the game's conclusion. Eugene Omoruyi had six points and four rebounds in 13 minutes as RU built its lead to 19 in the eventual 13-point victory.

Rutgers limited Niagara to 30.5 percent (18-of-59) shooting, the lowest field goal percentage for an opponent thus far this season.

RU returns to the hardwood versus North Texas this Wednesday at the RAC. The contest will tip-off at 7 p.m. ET on BTN Plus.

Postgame Notes

• Rutgers has started 4-0 under first-year head coach Steve Pikiell. He is the first RU head men's basketball coach to begin his tenure 4-0.
• RU's 4-0 record marks its best start to a season since beginning the 2000-01 campaign 5-0.
• The last time Rutgers had 11 or more blocks was Feb. 12 2013, when it also issued 11 in a 57-55 win over Seton Hall at the RAC.
• Nigel Johnson tied his career high with 20 points, his most points in a Scarlet Knight uniform. He previously had 20 points against Kansas (2/23/15) while playing at Kansas State.
• Mike Williams had 12 points, his 28^th career game in double figure scoring.
• Coming off the bench, Johnson and Williams have scored in double figures in three of four games.
• Candido Sa had four blocks in 13 minutes of action.
• Issa Thiam was a career-best 3-of-6 from behind the arc for nine points.
• Rutgers established a 42-3 advantage in bench points and is 145-51 on the season in the category.
• RU had a 34-14 advantage in points in the paint, and has now outscored opponents 146-90 this season.
• The Scarlet Knights out-rebounded the Purple Eagles 47-32. The Scarlet Knights have had a rebounding advantage of at least 13 in every game this season. Last season, RU only had a rebounding margin of at least +13 twice.
• Rutgers evened the all-time series with Niagara at 1-1. The last time RU played NU, today's BTN analyst Bob Wenzel scored 14 points at Madison Square Garden in a loss to the Calvin Murphy-led Purple Eagles.

Postgame Quotes

R utgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell:

Opening Statement:

"Thank you for coming. It was kind of an interesting game today. Love it. Two new guys up here for the press conference. That's six or eight different guys we've had. That's good and bodes well for our team. Eugene did well today. Obviously Nigel came in and has been one of the most productive players in the country off the bench. We did a good job on the backboards and obviously we have to improve in a lot of different areas. But it's a win."

On the play of the bench: "I'm just proud of the team. They've accepted roles. It's such an important part of being a good basketball team. Having guys ready to play. I didn't love the energy out of our starting lineup today. Brought Nigel and Mike and they gave us tremendous minutes. Candido gave us good minutes. And then in the second half, having Eugene, another guy ready to play, he was awesome. So, it bodes well. It gives us options. The way they were blowing the whistle tonight, there's a lot of foul problems, too. So it's good to have a deep bench. These guys embrace it, they've been really good in their roles and it's made us a good team."

On how important starters are: "I've never been a starter guy. I like the finishers and that's important to me. But everyone's ready and the way I coach, you have to be ready. I have a lot of faith in my guys. During the course of a long season, there's a lot of things that come up. Corey in the locker room at the end of today, just a lot of things come up. Those guys have to be ready and it's helped us in practice. Nigel pushes Corey every day and it's helped us a great deal. Eugene's pushed John every day. It's really helped us have more competitive practices."

On the demeanor of his team: "As a team, we have to stop refereeing the game. Corey and everyone has to play basketball. We're not refs."

On the play of Eugene Omoruyi: "At halftime, I said 'we need toughness and we need energy', so the first words that came out of my mouth was that we were going to play Eugene. Fortunately, he got in and brought that exactly for the team. He gave us a great second half defensively. He's a stat stuffer there. He was exactly what we needed. Again, I didn't like the energy of our starters and the energy we were playing with. We needed to get that off our bench and he and Nigel brought that."

Niagara Head Coach Chris Casey:

On Rutgers' run in the second half to pull away: "We have some guys that are learning Division I basketball, we have some guys that are getting experience, and we have to learn to play 40 minutes and be disciplined for 40 minutes. I thought we did some things out of character during that stretch, and they also did some things to cause us to go out of character during that stretch. But I thought our guys competed extremely hard, I thought we did some very good things in the game, and we've got to use this to build on, move forward onto the next game."

On the performance of game-high scorer Matt Scott:"If you're around this young man every day, you just watch how he's blossoming. It's fun to watch. He's blossoming as a player, as a person, as a student, and there's no secret to what he's doing. His work ethic is off the charts and he gets rewarded for that because he works so hard every day. I'm proud of him, I'm proud of how far he's come since he's been here, and he's still got a lot more room to grow, too."

On returning home after long road stretch to start the season:"It's good to be in our gym, it always is. We're in a stretch unfortunately in our first part of the season where we're on the road for 10 or 13 games and that's and extremely difficult stretch, especially when you've got some guys that are learning Division I basketball. But that's what it is, and that's the schedule, so we've got to play the schedule. It's going to be very nice to get home on Monday for practice and go play on Wednesday. I'm excited to go play Wednesday. We have to build on this. We've gotten better each game. We haven't gotten the results in the win-loss column, but we've gotten better each game and I think that's going to show on Wednesday."