PISCATAWAY – Eugene Omoruyi shot 7-of-11 off the bench to score a career-high 19 points to help Rutgers (4-0) to a 64-39 victory over Coppin State (0-5) Sunday afternoon at the RAC. The Scarlet Knights limited the Eagles to 29.1 percent (16-of-55) shooting to improve to 12-0 in non-conference home games under head coach Steve Pikiell.

"It's not a tape that I'm going to send off to the Basketball Hall of Fame, but we grinded out a win," said Pikiell. "Eugene came off the bench and gave us tremendous minutes. I think you can see his improvement."

Omoruyi, who also played a career-high 25 minutes and grabbed a career-best tying eight rebounds, was joined in double figures by Corey Sanders (13), Geo Baker (11) and Deshawn Freeman (10). Baker was 5-of-10 from the field, while Freeman deposited 4-of-9 shots.

"You know what I love, I think we have seven starters," said Pikiell. "Eugene certainly makes a case for it. But I like the fact that every game there's different people. Think about our season so far, Mike (Williams) one time, Geo, Eugene, Corey, Deshawn, Issa (Thiam)…We've had good performances from a lot of guys."

The Scarlet Knights accumulated 52 rebounds to establish a 15-2 advantage in second chance points and out-score the visitors 36-14 in the paint. Coppin State attempted just one free throw.

"It is tough, but we are being battled tested," said Coppin State head coach Juan Dixon. "We are playing against some of the best teams in the country. We are at a disadvantage sometimes with our size and missing some bigs with injuries. But our guys are fighting every possession and learning."

Both teams struggled to find their shots in the opening 20 minutes. Coppin State held an 11-7 lead, before a 19-2 run by the Scarlet Knights turned the contest in the home squad's favor for the remainder. RU entered the locker room at the midpoint with a 28-22 advantage.

After the break, Rutgers built its advantage to as much as 25 points on two occasions, including the 64-39 final.

The Eagles were the third opponent that Rutgers has limited to under 40 points this season. The last time RU held three or more teams to under 40 points in the same season was 1945-46 (Haverford, Franklin & Marshall, Panzer, Camp Kilmer).

The Scarlet Knights return to the hardwood on Tuesday to host Bryant in a 7 p.m. tip-off at the RAC. It will mark the second meeting with the Bulldogs, following a 67-37 RU victory at the RAC on Dec. 20, 2008. The game will be streamed live via the web on BTN Plus.

Single game tickets are available online or by calling the Rutgers Ticket Office at 1-866-445-GORU. Fans also have the opportunity flex ticket plans, which enable them to select any four games from the home schedule to create their own package. Flex ticket plans are $140 for 200 level center tickets, $120 for 200 level wing tickets, and $60 for 300 level tickets.

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Postgame Notes

• Rutgers is now 12-0 in non-conference home games under head coach Steve Pikiell.
• Rutgers has held three teams under 40 points this season. The last time Rutgers held three or more teams to under 40 points in the same season was 1945-46 (Haverford, Franklin & Marshall, Panzer, Camp Kilmer).
• Eugene Omoruyi set a new career high in points (19), minutes (25), and tied a career-high with eight rebounds. It marked his first time leading the team in scoring. 
• Deshawn Freeman had his 28^th career double digit scoring game (10 points).
• Corey Sanders had his 47^th career double digit scoring game (13). 
• The bench and the starting five both combined to score 32 points. 
• Freshman Mamadou Doucoure shared the team-high with eight rebounds in just 15 minutes of action.
• Rutgers had four players score in double-figures for the third time in four games.

 
Postgame Quotes
Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell

Opening Statement: "It's not a tape that I'm going to send off to the basketball hall of fame, but we grinded out a win. Eugene (Omoruyi) came off the bench and gave us tremendous minutes. I think you can see his improvement. I'm excited about it, and I'm excited about Issa's (Thiam) improvement. I'm excited about his, to have Geo (Baker) here. We didn't make any shots today, it was one of those nights. But we still figured out a way to win the basketball game. We have one day to prepare for the next one, so not a lot of time."

On preaching defense and them only attempting one foul shot: "Tremendous, because we've really improved a lot. In our first three scrimmages and exhibitions, we fouled, so we've done a good job. They are the second best free throw shooting team in the nation, as of right now, so they're really shooting the ball well from the foul line. That was one of our keys. I thought we did a decent job of that, obviously one trip and were getting better at defending without fouling. That's been one of our emphasis and we weren't good at it early on. I'm happy for that."

On getting good looks: "I never worry about it. Now I'll watch the tape, obviously, you can't get a better shot than a free throw and then we got layups. We got open threes. Mike has been shooting the ball well, so I thought he got good looks and I think all these guys can really shoot the ball. I'll look at the tape again, make sure we're getting good looks. We're going to have a night where everyone's goes in and you'll say we're a good shooting team. Tonight we didn't have them go in, and we still had to figure out a way to win the game. We talked about it a lot defense and rebounding and not fouling, keeping them off the free throw line and we kind of did those things."

On Eugene's performance off the bench: "You know what I love, I think we have seven starters. Eugene certainly makes a case for it. But I like the fact that every game there's different people. Think about our season so far, Mike one time, Geo, Eugene, Corey (Sanders), Deshawn (Freeman), Issa. We've had a lot of guys come here into the (post-game interview) room. So we've had good performances from a lot of guys and we needed Eugene's versatility. He's our most athletic player. He brings a lot of different things and today he rebounded, he scored points, and did a little bit of everything. He deserves a little bit of a rest, so I'm going to give him the next like 12 hours off and then we're going to get ready for Bryant."

Coppin State Head Coach Juan Dixon

On team's effort playing three games in four days: "It was unbelievable effort. We are proud of our guys. We don't want them to hold their heads down. The score doesn't indicate what type of game it was. We fought hard on the defensive end. You can only sustain it for so long without the ball going in the hoop. We're confident as a staff and a team than we're going to make shots moving forward and that we are going to have some success."
 
On playing on the road: "It is tough, but we are being battled tested. We are playing against some of the best teams in the country. We are at a disadvantage sometimes with our size, missing some bigs with injuries. But our guys are fighting every possession and learning. We've traveled so much the last few days and for them to come out this afternoon with a quick turnaround and give that type of effort, that's what it takes. We are building culture. We are going to be alright moving forward."
 
On rebounds: "(Rutgers) is a big team and has a ton of bigs. That's what they do. We're proud that we were able to play solid defense and contest shots. We have to be detailed when it comes to boxing out, and just fighting with those bigger teams. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game and came up a little short."