EAST LANSING, Mich. – Rutgers (11-7, 1-4) battled back from a 12-point deficit to tie the game with possession and just seconds on the clock, but the potential game-winning shot in regulation was off the mark in a hard-fought, 76-72, overtime loss at No. 4 Michigan State (16-2, 4-1) Wednesday night. The Scarlet Knights out-rebounded the Spartans 40-36 while establishing a 36-24 scoring advantage in the paint before 14,797 fans at the Breslin Center.

"This was a great environment and a great game," said Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell. "I give Michigan State a lot of credit. They were terrific. It's a terrific program with a terrific coach. We just didn't have enough down the stretch."

Corey Sanders led all scorers with 22 points, while also contributing six rebounds and four assists. Deshawn Freeman added 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. The Scarlet Knights shot 40.3 percent in the contest, which featured six ties and four lead changes. RU limited the Spartans to 41.2 percent shooting, well below their national-best 52.5 percentage.

Nine Scarlet Knights played double-digit minutes, with four committing five personal fouls.

"We had a lot of guys foul out," said Pikiell. "We had guys play a lot of minutes. Corey is getting better, he's practicing better. His effort was tremendous. They have a lot of weapons though. They pose a lot of problems, you can't just hone in on one guy."

The Spartans 9-0 run out of the gates was snapped when Freeman threw down a dunk for RU's first points of the night. The visitors then pulled within 14-8, and after Issa Thiam stroked three-pointers on consecutive possessions, RU drew within four at 19-15.

The Scarlet Knights used a 10-3 run to get back within one possession at 22-19. The Spartans used a late scoring burst to take a 32-25 lead into the halftime locker room.

Rutgers established a 19-17 rebounding advantage in the opening half. Thiam led RU with eight points. The Spartans made five three-pointers in the opening frame for the seven-point edge.

After the break, MSU pushed its lead into double-digits at 37-27. Then the RU defense clamped down, forcing MSU into a five minute scoring drought and countering with a 6-0 run to produce a 37-33 score. That was followed by another 6-0 spurt from the visitors, concluding with a Geo Baker three-pointer that tied the game at 39-39 midway through the second half.

The Spartans pushed back, extending their lead to seven points at 53-45. Mike Williams followed with a three-point play, which sparked a 7-2 run to get the visitors within three at 55-52.

Freeman then hit a five-point stretch, making a three-pointer and two free throws to tie the game at 57-57. The Scarlet Knights took their first lead, 59-58, on a Sanders jumper. MSU added one free throw with eight seconds left in regulation to tie the game. A final shot by RU would not go down, and the hard-fought contest headed into overtime.

The extra session was back-and-forth. Rutgers wouldn't fade, as a Williams rebound and putback provided a 65-64 lead with 2:13 to play. The Scarlet Knights continually had a response. Candido Sa hit a late three-pointer, his first triple of the year, and Sanders continued to keep RU alive. The Spartans went 11-of-12 at the charity stripe in overtime, however, to ensure the win.

"They are very physical," said Pikiell. "We knew that from the first time we played them a couple weeks ago. We have tremendous respect for them. Rebounding was a huge key for us. You have to do a lot of things well against them. You have to be really locked in. I thought we played well. I liked our game plan, but it just wasn't enough."

Rutgers returns to the hardwood to host Ohio State in a 7 p.m. tip-off at the RAC on Sunday night. The game will be televised on BTN.

Single game tickets for Rutgers men's basketball home games are available online or by calling the Rutgers Ticket Office at 1-866-445-GORU. Fans also have the opportunity to purchase flex ticket plans, which enable consumers to select any four games from the home schedule to create their own package.

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Postgame Notes

• Corey Sanders led all scorers with 22 points. It was his 13th time this season and 57th time all-time scoring in double-digits. It marked the fourth time this season and 15th time in his career that he had at least 20 points.
• Sanders now has 1,109 career points. He passes Anthony Farmer, Steve Worthy and Rashod Kent on the all-time scorers leaderboard to tie John Somogyi for 29th place all-time.
• Sanders had two steals, tying Ricky shields and Mike Sherrod for 14th place all-time at RU.
• Mike Williams had 9 points, and now has 1,042 for his career. He is tied with Dane Miller for 39th place all-time at RU.
• Williams had a season-high eight rebounds.
• Michigan State entered the game leading the country with a 52.5 percent field goal mark and Rutgers held them to 41.2 percent shooting.

Postgame Quotes
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo
On Rutgers...
"Give them credit, I heard Steve Pikiell got an extension today. Much deserved. His teams play hard, they play tough, they play physical. They played with a chip on their shoulder. We had a 19-8 lead I believe, or somewhere in that area. That's when Josh got in trouble and Miles a little bit. We just didn't, we didn't respond very well. Better teams than us have had tough games, and I was hoping that we would respond a little bit better after the loss. I don't know if we were looking ahead. I don't know what we were doing. I'll save that until I look at the film. I just didn't feel like things went real well for us." 

On the physicality of the game…
"That's the most physical team we've played. And that's what I said. We're physical enough to play some teams – when we played Duke, Carolina, when we played Notre Dame. Good teams. But tonight we played a well-coached team that is as physical as the day is long. Their guards were, their bigs were. The way they went after that ball… If I was watching the game and wasn't coaching it I would've enjoyed it."

Rutgers Guard Corey Sanders
On the game...
"We try to prove every night we're capable of playing the team we're up against and I think tonight we proved that. It wasn't the result we wanted, but we played hard."