PISCATAWAY - Rutgers (13-4, 4-2) led by as much as 17 points and limited Indiana (13-3, 3-3) to 31.7 percent (19-of-60) shooting to earn a 59-50 win over the Hoosiers Wednesday evening at the RAC.
Akwasi Yeboah scored 14 points and
Geo Baker returned from injury to provide key minutes as the Scarlet Knights improved to 12-0 at home, while moving into a tie for second place in the Big Ten Conference standings.
"We had to defend without fouling against some really good, elite front court players," said Pikiell. "We were locked into the game plan. Everyone jumped in and did their thing. It was great. We were connected."
Yeboah was 5-of-7 from the field while also grabbing a team-best seven boards. He was joined in double figures by
Caleb McConnell, who shot 4-of-6 to contribute 10 points. The efforts were supplemented by a Rutgers bench that out-scored the visitors 17-2.
The Scarlet Knights fed off the sold-out crowd early and often. The home squad deposited five of its first six shots to jump-out to a 12-0 lead. A resilient Indiana responded to the challenge. Trailing 19-12 after a
Jacob Young jumper, the Hoosiers utilized a 10-2 run to push ahead 22-21.
Ten of the first half's final 12 points belonged to the Scarlet Knights, who entered the locker room at the midpoint with a 31-24 lead.
"We took a good punch," said Pikiell. "We responded well and then we took another punch and we stayed in the ring. Guys are getting better at responding to runs from other teams."
The Hoosiers began the second half 0-of-8 from the field and the Scarlet Knights pushed ahead. Facing a stifling defense, the visitors were unable to get closer than seven points after the break.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Scarlet Knights had limited Indiana to its season low in points (50), field goal percentage (31.7), 3-point FG% (10.5), field goals (19), 3-point FGs (2), assists (6) and blocks (2).
"We've been traveling in this league for a while and every place is so hard to play," said Pikiell. "Now the RAC is just like those places and it's a great advantage for us. I'm very thankful."
Rutgers returns to action Sunday at the RAC to host Minnesota in a p.m. tip-off. Limited tickets are available for the contest, which will be televised on BTN with Cory Provus and Shon Morris on the call.
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RUTGERS POSTGAME NOTES
- Rutgers is undefeated at home (12-0) and when scoring 15 or more fast break points (8-0).
- Rutgers opened the game with a 12-0 run, marking the third time this season Rutgers has started a contest with a double-digit shutout advantage after a 17-0 start versus Lafayette and a 14-0 beginning against No. 22 Seton Hall.
- Rutgers' 13-4 record is its best start to a season since beginning the 1982-83 campaign with a 20-4 mark.
- The Scarlet Knights limited Indiana to its season low in points (50), field goal percentage (31.7), 3-point FG% (10.5), field goals (19), 3-point FGs (2), assists (6) and blocks (2).
- Indiana entered leading the nation in FTAs per game (27.3) and free throws per game (18.6), falling well below that mark with a 10-of-12 showing at the charity stripe tonight.
- Rutgers limited leading scorer, Trayce Jackson-Davis (14.6) to a season-low four points.
- The Hoosiers' 50 points was the second fewest for an RU opponent in a Big Ten game, following the 50-46 defeat of Penn State at the RAC on Jan. 3, 2014.
- Akwasi Yeboah scored in double digits for the eighth time this season and 78th time in his career.
- Caleb McConnell scored in double figures for the sixth time this season an 11th time in his career.
- With two steals, Geo Baker now has 111 for his career, tying Jerome Coleman and Mike Dabney for 20th all-time at Rutgers.
- Indiana holds a 7-3 advantage in the series, but Rutgers has won three of the last four matchups, including two straight at the RAC.
Gallery: (1/15/2020) Men's Basketball Defeats Indiana
POSTGAME QUOTES
Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell
Opening Statement: "Great environment again. I'm thankful to our fans who came out and make this a tough place. I have a ton of respect obviously for Indiana -- their program, coach (Archie Miller), the players. Good team win. Everyone chipped in today. (I) got my three captains up here. Great leadership. The last couple of days haven't been easy. they really stepped up in practice. Came back with a great approach after the Illinois game. I'm just very thankful. Great team win today."
On team's defense: "When our guys are connected, the voices today -- I could see it in the huddle. They were locked in. Coach (Karl) Hobbs and Coach (Brandin) Knight do a great job preparing. We couldn't defend the free throw line the other night against Illinois. We kept these guys -- they lead the country in free throw attempts -- kept them off the free throw line. We had to defend without fouling against some really good, elite front court players. We were locked into the game plan. Everyone jumped in and did their thing. It was great. We were connected."
On tempo of game: "We always want to get up and down, we really do. We turned the ball over a little bit, a little bit sloppy at times. I want to get up and down. But the other team doesn't always allow you to do that. We picked our spots to get up and down and then we had to execute. A great exclamation point too on the play down the stretch by Geo. We got some things to clean up and I think this team can get a lot better."
On Geo Baker returning from injury: "He's a captain, he's a veteran guy. He went to the doctors, the doctor said he was good and then I asked him if he was good. With shoot around, he said he was good. When the doctor says it and he says it, then that's when I find out. I wasn't planning on having him, but it was a really nice bonus."
On Geo Baker and bench's play: "He's good and he's a leader. I think we play with some pretty good emotion. Having him come off the bench -- Jacob Young, Paul Mulcahy, Shaq (Carter). Our bench really helped. Great lift for us."
On Indiana Coach Archie Miller complimenting team: "Coach Miller does a great job. It's nice to hear. We got a long way to go. That's my reaction."
On bouncing back after Indiana took 22-21 lead in first half: "This league is all about taking punches. 12 teams in the top 35 (of NCAA NET Ranking). It's a gauntlet. We took a good punch. We knew they would. We responded well and then we took another punch and we stayed in the ring. Guys are getting better at responding to runs from other teams. It's a good feeling but again, guys all chipped in and guys were locked in."
On Akwasi Yeboah: "I like when he rebounds, first and foremost. He got some bully baskets and shot the ball well. Made a real timely basket when we needed one. He gives us maturity, he gives us a lot of different things. Today you saw a little bit of everything."
On environment at the RAC: "It's loud. I love the RAC. I think the environment's great. I love that our students -- even though they're not back in school yet -- came out. I appreciate that. The Riot Squad, our band is awesome, the cheerleaders. It all helps us a great deal. These guys feed off that. We've been traveling in this league for a while and every place is so hard to play. Now the RAC is just like those places and it's a great advantage for us. I'm very thankful. A lot of marketing, a lot of people doing a lot of things to make sure that happens. I think they enjoy watching this team play too so I like that."
On 12-0 start at home and expectations: "I'm just gonna tell you. We got Minnesota who's really good -- on Sunday. I know you guys want me to say something else. We're picked 12th in the league and we're trying to beat Minnesota. When you start looking down the road -- You guys can write about that. It's great and I appreciate that you do. I appreciate the enthusiasm. These guys know how i feel about that stuff. We got a lot of basketball left. A lot of road games, a lot of home games. We gotta continue to be focused on just that."
On reflecting on team's progress this season: "This is not time to do that. We gotta just get better. Be well-prepared. We got two days to prepare for a good Minnesota team. There will be time for that at some point in time."
On Geo Baker's dunk: "I loved it. Whoo. He said his legs felt good, I guess. A couple days off, coach (David VanDyke) has been driving him hard. He has that. We're excited about his growth. He didn't have that as a freshman. He's just getting better and better in a lot of areas. I think all of these guys have gotten better and better. Excited to go to the rim on a little bit of a mission. It's a good thing. Timely, too."
On talking about being picked 12th in the league: Every drill. Yea. That's where were picked. Gotta try to work hard to move up in this league. Every team is great. We better stay that way. We've never been anything (higher than) picked 12th. We've been picked 14th. Those are the only places we've been picked. Hopefully our guys understand that and we've gotta continue to climb in the best league in the country."
Rutgers Guard Geo Baker
On returning to the floor: "It felt really good just to get back out there with my guys. I've been itching to play the last three games, in the wins and the loss. I'm just happy to be back."
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
Opening statement: "Well, tough game. Rutgers deserves a lot of credit. They play extremely hard and that's why they're one of the best teams in the league. They really are. They're impressive with their effort level and especially in here. They get this place charged up. It's a difficult game. And we didn't handle the environment early. Thought we did a really good job of responding. And then late in the first half, turnovers. (We) let that, you know, that feeling kind of come back in at halftime. Starting the second half and then a little bit midway through the second half, you have to be able to cash in the ones that you can. We had some point-blank shots and those got to go down. You got to get to the foul line, which we didn't. And throughout the course of the game, I thought our guys really continued to stay with it. They played hard. And climbed their way back into it, but you have 16 turnovers on the road. It's a huge problem tonight. It's a big problem moving forward. Our team's got to do a better job of taking care of the ball, especially in tough situations where you can control it. There's some sped-up turnovers out there. And again, Rutgers probably had as much to do with it as anything. But like I said, give them credit, our guys will bounce back. We've got to learn from it. On the road right now in this league is brutal and every game that you play feels like this. You got another opportunity on Saturday. We got to regroup, focus and just lock in and move on to the next one."
On facing Rutgers' defense: "Well, they do a great job on the ball. They really work, they pressure, they're quick. And they have length. I thought their big guys did a really good job of impacting ball screens. They put our guards in situations to get knocked back off hedges. We didn't handle that very well. And then when we did drive at times, they did a really good job crowding the floor and our outlet passes or the balls that came out resulted in nothing. You know, most of the time when you drive the ball and you're penetrating on some of these passes, you get an easy one. We didn't get many. And when we did get them, it felt like even the guys who shot them felt sped up. It didn't feel clean or in rhythm. So again, the game is dictated by the team that sets the rules. Rutgers set the rules right at the tap. We had to adjust and had to fight through it. But the game was fast on offense for us. They really worked, they pressured and their big guys did a good job of making things very difficult around the rim. We got very few easy ones. And we were 2-for-18 from three. That's not definitely not going to get it done. We have to be able to find a way to make a couple of the open ones, especially on the road. That keeps you in the game and helps you. And for the first time in a long time, 12 free throw attempts in the game. We just didn't get to the line, and probably has a lot to do with our inability on offense to run clean stuff. And then when we did get around the basket, you know, it was one of those games when you have to finish through it. We didn't, but guys played hard. Certain guys really, really kind of grinded it out and hung in there for long minutes. I thought Joey (Brunk) played really hard. I thought Justin (Smith) played really hard. Those two guys played pretty well in the game for us. Our guards didn't take care of it as well as we needed to throughout the course of the game. Just didn't get enough from the three-point line. You'll look back on it when we watch the game. Can you control what you can control? Have to take care of the ball better."
On missed three pointers: "There was some bad ones, there were probably some probably some good looks. You know, I thought Al (Durham) had a couple good looks in the first half. I thought Rob (Phinisee) may have had a couple good looks. I thought there was some rushed ones too, some panicked threes that weren't good ones. But they have a great defense. I mean, one of the things that goes unnoticed is their numbers and numbers defensively 15-17 games in are really good, elite defensive numbers. And they make threes hard because of the way that they play. You don't get easy ones or rhythm ones, especially in here. When they can dictate that sort of tempo a little bit. One thing that stood out I thought for us, we weren't able to convert in transition throughout the game. I don't know what fastbreak points mean anymore on a stat sheet, but it just felt like in transition when we were able to get some stops, and we've got quite a few, we didn't convert. We weren't able to capitalize on our break. We had some tough turnovers with numbers. And we just didn't finish around the basket a few times, which you got to do when you got numbers in transition. We got plenty of stops. I thought our defense at one point in time was doing a pretty good job of getting stops, but you know half-court offense is tough, half-court offense is tough in this league. You have to be strong with it and able to make good plays. You got to get better at that. But I thought in transition, we just had five, six times, whether it's turnover or inability to make a tough two or a basket where you got a two-on-one, kind of hurt us."
On playing the road in the Big Ten: "I mean, one, the teams that you're playing are really good teams. They're really well coached. The environments that you go in in the Big Ten are second to none. They're as hard as it's going to get. And every team is good. So it's not as if you're running into a place that's kind of like sleepwalking. Every place is charged up. And it's difficult to go on the road and win in this league. You have to really do a great job of taking care of the ball, and you're going to have to find a way to generate some points off your defense. But more importantly than anything on the road, you're going to have to find a way to stick a couple shots. I mean you got to make a couple shots on the road to deflate the run, to create some space, whatever it may be. You're going to have to find a couple shots that go down on the road or a guy just have one of those days every once in a while where he made four or five and it really helps. And I think that's difficult as well. But the Big Ten, I've said this toughest league in the country to win on the road, the venues, the styles, the coaches, the teams. And this league in particular right now, I mean you're, you're starting to see a really deep league that's playing for a lot right now."
On Geo Baker: "We prepared on the scouting report for him to be available whether he was or wasn't. Glad for Rutgers sake he's back. He's one of their best players, so obviously that really helps them. He played some tonight. I'm sure he was a little rusty. But yeah, always want to see everybody out there guys. It's not fun to see players hurt."
