Men’s Hoops Halted at 16/15 Ohio State

Tuesday, February 20

Columbus, OH

7 p.m.

Rutgers University

13-17, 3-14B1G

Ohio State

23-7, 14-3B1G

RUTGERS

Ohio State

Photo by: Ohio State Athletics

Feb 20 | Men's Basketball

Box Score OSU-RU PDF Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rutgers (13-17, 3-14) dropped a 79-52 decision to No. 16/15 Ohio State (23-7, 14-3) Tuesday evening at Value City Arena. Corey Sanders and Deshawn Freeman posted 12 and 11 points, respectively, to pace the Scarlet Knights in the scoring column before a crowd of 15,620 on the Buckeyes' senior night.

"We're a little beat up," said Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell. "We're down a few guys. But we played a really good Ohio State team. I think that's a special kind of team. They have senior leadership, some really good players. So I give a lot of credit to Ohio State and their staff for the way they're playing."

The Scarlet Knights, who have battled injuries throughout the conference season, were without the services of guard Geo Baker. The freshman did not make the trip due to flu-like symptoms.

Issa Thiam helped to supplement the offense in Baker's absence, scoring eight points, while grabbing a team-high six rebounds.

Ohio State shot 59 percent, including 9-of-23 (39%) from behind the arc. RU made 41 percent of its field goal attempts, and was outrebounded by a 36-25 margin.

RU opened with a 4-1 lead, but OSU's Kam Williams answered with back-to-back threes to spark a 10-0 run and an 11-4 Buckeye advantage. The home squad shot 73 percent, making 8-of-11 attempts, to open the game and used an 11-0 run to establish a 30-11 lead.

RU countered with a 12-0 burst over just 2:38, with Freeman striking from long range and Thiam contributing four points, to cut the deficit to seven (30-23).

Ohio State led 32-27 at the break, as the Scarlet Knights closed the frame with a 16-2 run over the final 5:26. Rutgers made seven of its last eight shots, holding OSU to 1-of-8 in that stretch. Sanders led the team at intermission with eight points, with RU shooting 43 percent and outrebounding the Buckeyes 17-15.

The home team opened the second half on an 18-2 run to extend their lead to 50-29, shooting 67 percent in that stretch, as RU made 1-of-10 shots. The Buckeyes would hold on from there, finishing off the victory to improve to 150-24 at home since 2009-10, the number one record nationally in that span.

"I thought were weren't good offensively, but our defense kept us around in the first half," said Pikiell. "We had a little bit of a run with our offense, but we couldn't sustain it in the second half. Our inability to score affected us on the defensive end in that half."

The Scarlet Knights return to the hardwood for their regular season finale versus Illinois at 3 p.m. on Sunday at the RAC. Prior to the game, which will be televised on BTN, Rutgers will recognize seniors Mike Williams, Deshawn Freeman, Jake Dadika and Candido Sa, as well as the senior members of the managerial staff, in a pre-game ceremony.

Tickets for Sunday's contest are available online or by calling the Rutgers Ticket Office at 1-866-445-GORU.

Follow Rutgers men's basketball on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersMBB), Twitter (www.twitter.com/RutgersMBB) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/RutgersMBB) for additional news and updates.

Postgame Notes

Corey Sanders passed Dane Miller and Steve Brown for eighth place all-time at RU with 315 assists and moved past Rob Hodgson for 17th place all-time at RU with 1,278 career points.
Sanders reached double-figure scoring for the 22nd time this season and the 66th time in his career.
Deshawn Freeman reached double-digit points for the 23rd time this season and 47th time in his career.
Jake Dadika had a career-high six points.
Shaquille Doorson and Dadika tied their career-highs with two assists.
Shaquille Doorson made his first career start.
Ohio State now leads the all-time series that dates back 1978 6-2.
Rutgers' seed for the upcoming Big Ten Championship at Madison Square Garden is still to be determined. The Scarlet Knights will play in the opening round on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at either 5:30 p.m. or approximately 8:30 p.m., seed depending.