PISCATAWAY – Rutgers (12-10, 2-7) drew to within two points on multiple occasions in the final minutes, but was unable to complete the comeback in a 60-54 loss to Nebraska (15-8, 6-4) Wednesday evening at the RAC. The Scarlet Knights grabbed 20 offensive rebounds in a game that featured five ties and 11 lead changes.

"I thought we fought," said Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell. "I thought we really played hard. I thought our game plan was good. We just needed a couple timely baskets on a few possessions. We turned it over a couple plays down the stretch. But, we had chances against a team that is playing as good as anybody in our league."

Deshawn Freeman had 10 points and 10 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double. He was joined in double figures by Corey Sanders (14 points) and Geo Baker (10 points). Baker was 2-of-4 from behind the arc, but the rest of the roster was unable to tweak the twine from long range.

The Scarlet Knights established a 42-38 advantage on the glass and limited Nebraska to a 39.6 field goal percentage (21-of-53). As a result, RU outscored the visitors 30-24 in the paint and benefited from a 14-11 edge in second chance points. Despite besting the visitors in virtually every specialty scoring category, including 14-1 in bench points, Rutgers was unable to overcome its 33.8 percent (22-of-65) shooting

"We've got to score." Said Pikiell. "We're not the greatest scoring team to begin with. But when we have our nights, and we're making shots, we can beat anybody. Our defense keeps us in all these games and we're going to win a few of them, too. That is what we've got to do. When we have those nights where we're making all of our free throws and threes, then it makes it a little bit easier for the coach."

The game was balanced in the early going and was tied 16-16 at the third media timeout. Rutgers went in front, 22-19, via a Shaquille Doorson dunk, but the visitors countered with a 6-0 run, before heading into the locker room at the midpoint with a 27-25 edge.

After the break, a 10-0 run by the visitors enabled a 41-32 lead that they would not relinquish. The Scarlet Knight were able to reduce their deficit to two points, but would get no closer. The Cornhuskers made their free throws down the stretch to ensure their eighth victory in their last 11 games.

"We were right in this game against a team that's playing as well as anybody," said Pikiell. "I've got to give Nebraska credit. They're playing great basketball. We were two possessions short tonight."

Rutgers returns to the hardwood at Penn State on Saturday. The contest will tip-off at 4 p.m. on BTN.
 
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Postgame Notes

• Deshawn Freeman (10 points/10 rebounds) recorded a double-double in back-to-back Big Ten games for the second time in his career after scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds at Michigan on Sunday. Last season, he has 19 and 13 at Iowa (Jan. 8, 2017) and 12 and 15 versus Northwestern (Jan. 12, 2017).
• It was Freeman's seventh double-double of the year and 17^th of his career, while generating his 18^th double-digit scoring performance of the season, and 42^nd of his career.
• With 14 points, Corey Sanders moved up two spots to 24^th place all-time in career scoring at Rutgers with 1,166 points, surpassing Bob Greacen (1966-69) and tied with Tom Savage (1987-91). It was the 17^th double-figure point game of his season, and 61^st of his career.
• With a steal, Sanders moved into a tie for 12^th all-time in Rutgers career steals with Craig Carter (1987-91) at 123.
• Geo Baker scored in double-figures for the 15^th time during his rookie season and made multiple three-point field goals for the seventh time this year, and third time in the last four games.
• The first half featured five tie scores and seven lead changes. By game's end, the lead changed hands 11 times, but Nebraska owned 26 minutes of lead time compared to Rutgers' six.
• Eugene Omoruyi drew two charges to bring his season total to 18.
• Rutgers committed fewer turnovers than their opponent for the 18^th time this season out of 22 games, but drop to 11-7 in those contests.
• The Cornhuskers were held to under 70 points for just the ninth time in 23 contests, yet improve to 3-6 scoring under 70 this season.
• RU won the battle down low with a 42-38 edge in rebounding and 30-24 advantage in the paint. Despite those margins, Rutgers fell to 8-3 when out-rebounding a foe and 10-4 when scoring more paint points than an opponent.
• Nebraska improves to 6-3 in the all-time series dating back to 1999, and 2-2 at the RAC.

Post-Game Quotes

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell

Opening Statement: "Great crowd tonight. I always appreciate it. Everyone came out, it was loud. It was a good college basketball game. Nebraska is good, as you saw, and they were a couple possessions better than us tonight. But, twenty offensive rebounds, I thought we fought. I thought we really played hard. I thought our game plan was good. We just needed a couple timely baskets on a few possessions. We turned it over a couple plays down the stretch. But, we had chances against a team that is playing as good as anybody in our league.

On tonight's shooting: "If Issa (Thiam) gets 10 looks like that; he got them against Iowa. You know, I thought he got good looks and got to the rim. Free throws, obviously, we don't have a huge margin. No Mike Williams. So, our bench is a little thin. You know, timely rebounds at the end, timely charge. We need a break on a call here and there down the stretch, too. We were right in this game against a team that's playing as well as anybody. I've got to give Nebraska credit. They're playing great basketball. We were two possessions short tonight."

On his message to Issa after tonight: Issa is shooting 42% from three. The other day, you saw him against Iowa. So, he can't make them all the time. We held this team in the 50s for most of the night. They're a really good offensive team. Shots are going to fall if he's taking good ones. He's a sophomore. I liked Geo's approach today, too. I thought he was locked in. Sometimes the ball doesn't go in. We haven't been the greatest shooting team in the world to begin with. So, a night like this is going to happen."

On the energy Eugene (Omoruyi) has been bringing to the team: "I think everyone plays with pretty good energy. I thought Candido (Sa) was good tonight, I thought Eugene played well. I thought guys played hard. We competed. We've got to make a few baskets here. A couple free throws would help. But, Eugene brings energy. I think all these guys play hard. We're still figuring the Mike thing out a little bit with our bench. Again, we were right in this game. It was a good and exciting game. The crowd was awesome. Student came out. I appreciate that very much. A little bit here, a little bit there on either end of the floor and maybe would've had a different outcome tonight. They made all their free throws down the stretch, too. We needed a break there, too." 

On the play beginning with Palmer's three-point attempt: "Huge. We did a good job. I think we wanted him taking threes, and not driving it. A long rebound when you take threes and we can't secure it. There were a couple guys around that ball, too. Every possession is huge. It was a one possession game."

On Eugene playing six first-half minutes being the result of match-ups: "No, no. I'm trying to move guys around. D (Deshawn Freeman) was good, got us off. He could score. Then Eugene is going to always play his kind of minutes. We moved him around to the three at the end, and you saw how tired he was."

On not capitalizing when Nebraska went seven minutes without a field goal: "It's the same thing. I would love to go on a run during that seven minutes. That's a heck of a defensive effort is what it is. But, if you're not capitalizing on it down the other end then, you know. We've got to score. We're not the greatest scoring team to begin with. But when we have our nights and we're making shots, we can beat anybody. Our defense keeps us in all these games and we're going to win a few of them, too. That is what we've got to do. When we have those nights where we're making all of our free throws and threes, then it makes it a little bit easier for the coach."

On Governor Murphy being present: "I was honored the governor came. I love when anyone comes. I'm very thankful for the crowd that comes. It was nice to have the governor in the house. I wish we could have got him a win today. But, I hope he'll be back."

On emphasizing driving to the rim: "I mean, we're trying to do that now. Again, Mike has changed us a little bit. With Eugene at the three, we're trying to kind of get the ball a little closer to the rim, and we can rebound. We had a great rebounding night – offensive rebounding. That's partly why I've got more guys around the basket. When the three is not going in, and it was one of those nights, I told the guys at halftime we're going to drive it and get it up on that rim. If we're not making threes, don't keep shooting them. We tried to take advantage of some of our size down the stretch. They play a lot of versatile, wing kind of guys. I thought Shaq (Shaquille Doorson) gave us some good minutes. I thought Candido gave us some good minutes. I thought Douc (Mamadou Doucoure) gave us some good minutes. But, they're all around-the-basket kind of guys."

Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles
 
On defending Corey Sanders: "First of all, we remembered that he torched us last time and made the game-winning play. That didn't escape us. And we're not the type of team that always accumulates causes and has revenge on the mind. But at the same time, we know how difficult it is to win here. We had a lead late last year, they came back and we turned it over a couple times. I was worried when we started turning it over in the second half that it was going to happen again. But Glynn (Watson Jr.) did a good job, Anton Gill did a good job, Evan Taylor did a good job (defensively). We tried to run different guys at him and Geo (Baker) because they're a handful. I thought we did a nice job chasing guys off the three-point line, contesting shots. We have some length inside that can help us too."
 
On deciding to attack the rim: "Towards the end of the first half. I thought we were taking too many dribble twos, and so we called a few actions to kind of get us downhill. James (Palmer Jr.) is really good at that. He was able to get the ball to the rim, and get I think he got fouled and got some hoops. James is really tough when he can get in there, get the contact and still score. And then in the second half, we had a couple actions that were draw ups. We drew up the first one where we get a dunk off (Isaiah) Roby and a dunk off a transition hoop. That's a great way to start the half confidence-wise. The guys really feed off of that."
 
On James Palmer and Issac Copeland: "Short turnaround, we were just at Ohio State grinding and come down to the last minute, and lose that game. And then grinded them back into oblivion today. They did an excellent job. James looked good at the end and so did Issac. Issac probably felt more confidence, hit a couple threes, had a couple inside scores that were strong for us. And made some really nice defensive plays on (Deshawn) Freeman. We have the length and do defend well. We held to them to 16, 17 percent from three and 34 percent from the field. That's pretty good D against anybody. I know that neither of us two teams are juggernauts offensively. I'm not going to pretend we're the Warriors. We're like the Doland Wheelers, which is my high school team. God bless."
 
On pushing the tempo: "We just need to get downhill, whether it be transition or action that got us to the rim. We know how difficult they are to score on the rim. I think we probably moved them around too much and then hung up jumpers early because we said I'd rather attack later in the possession. For young guys, attacking usually means a 17-foot jumper, coach. We just talked about making it happen, and then some good things happened. We tipped the ball out there for a few long rebounds. There really wasn't a design or a plan or a commitment to this is what we're going to do. I think it just kind of happened. But it got us confident and we were able to get the lead, keep the lead, and they may have went ahead once or tied it once, but you have to play from the lead on the road."