PISCATAWAY - Caleb McConnell had his first career double-double to help Rutgers (14-4, 5-2) improve to 13-0 at home with a 64-56 defeat of Minnesota (10-8, 4-4) Sunday afternoon at a sold-out RAC. The win provided Steve Pikiell his 250th career head-coaching victory and elevated the Scarlet Knights to three games over .500 in conference play for the first time since 1998-99.

"This team sacrifices, they play together," said Pikiell. "They play the right way and they were rewarded today against a good Minnesota team."

Rutgers limited the Gophers to 35.8 percent (19-of-53) shooting and out-rebounded the visitors 45-35, which included 20 offensive boards for the Scarlet Knights.

"We grinded in the first half," said Pikiell. "These guys stuck their noses in there and got some huge put-backs. Some second shots and it's everybody. Everybody chipped in when you look at that column. That's how we need to rebound."

Montez Mathis, Ron Harper Jr. and Jacob Young all scored 11 points, with McConnell contributing 10, along with a career-best 12 rebounds. Myles Johnson added 10 boards, as he and McConnell both grabbed seven off the offensive glass.

The Scarlet Knights found themselves in an unusual position early, trailing 10-2. Boosted by Mathis, who scored RU's initial 11 points, the home squad responded with an 11-0 run and would never trail again. Rutgers built its advantage to as much as 10 points before entering the locker room at the midpoint with a 34-25 lead.

Courtesy of solid interior play, which enabled a 34-12 scoring advantage in the paint, the Scarlet Knights maintained their advantage out of the break. The visitors would not go away quietly, however. The Gophers reduced their deficit to seven on three occasions with less than nine minutes remaining.

A Geo Baker 3-pointer off an in-bounds pass as the shot clock expired returned the final seven-point lead to double-digits and the Scarlet Knights remained strong down the stretch to secure their eighth victory in nine games.

As the final buzzer sounded, the Scarlet Knights had committed a season-low seven turnovers, enabling a 16-2 scoring advantage for RU in points-off-turnovers.

"They're older," said Pikiell when asked about the team's development. "These guys were young. Now these guys have been there. I think it's very important. I think this venue has helped a great deal too. It's loud and it makes it very difficult for the other team."

Rutgers returns to action Wednesday evening at No. 24 Iowa. The contest will tip-off at on BTN at 9 p.m. (ET) with Jeff Levering and Stephen Bardo on the call.

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POSTGAME NOTES 

• The win provided Steve Pikiell the 250th victory of his head coaching career and evened his Rutgers record (58-58).
• The Scarlet Knights improve to 13-0 at the RAC, their best on-campus start in program history.
• Rutgers is three games over .500 in conference play for the first time since beginning the 1998-99 Big East season with a 9-5 record.
• Rutgers' 13-0 home record is the second best of any team in the nation, and the best among Power 5 schools (Santa Clara 15-0)
• Today's sellout marked the third straight at the venue for the first time since 2004-05.
• Rutgers has won of eight of its last nine games, including four of five conference games for the first time since the 2009-10 Big East season.
• Rutgers' 14-4 record is its best start to a season since beginning the 1982-83 campaign with a 20-4 mark.
• The Scarlet Knights committed seven turnovers, their fewest since also committing seven against Michigan State at the RAC on Nov. 30, 2018. It tied for their second fewest turnovers ever against a Big Ten team. 
• Rutgers has out-rebounded its opponent in 15 of 18 games this season.
• Caleb McConnell registered his first career double-double with a career-high 12 rebounds. He scored in double figures for the seventh time this season an 12th time in his career.
• Montez Mathis scored in double figures for the fifth time this season and the 18th time in his career.
• Ron Harper Jr. scored in double figures for the 11th time this season and 21st time in his career.
• Jacob Young scored in double digits for the seventh time this season and the 16th time in his career.
• Paul Mulcahy collected a career-high nine rebounds in 18 minutes of action.
• Rutgers held Minnesota to 56 points, its second lowest output of the year and 17.7 points below its season average.
• Minnesota scored 25 first half points, it lowest in an opening half this season.
• Minnesota holds an 8-4 advantage in the all-time series, but Rutgers has won three of the last four match-ups.
• Today was the annual Letterwinners Day, with introductions taking place at halftime.

POSTGAME QUOTES 

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell

Opening Statement: "I'm proud of these guys -- a couple days to prepare. I love the Minnesota team. I think they're really talented and I think they're well-coached. Love the environment today. Very thankful. These guys sacrificed, they worked their tails off. They were locked in. (Montez Mathis) got us off to a great start with (Marcus) Carr. (Jacob Young) came in, Caleb came in, Myles had to wrestle with a monster in the post (Daniel Oturu). Every guy that checked into the game was huge. (Caleb with) double figures in rebounds, this guy (Young) does what he does defensively, just causes problems. Great team win. Geo comes off the bench. 'No problem, whatever you want coach.' This team sacrifices, they play together, they play the right way and they were rewarded today against a good Minnesota team."

On rebounding: "We grinded in the first half. These guys stuck their noses in there and got some huge putbacks. Some second shots and it's everybody. Everybody chipped in when you look at that column. That's how we need to rebound. (We) can't just depend on one guy. When you're playing good teams, you better be doing some things well and that's something we did well."

On defensive effort: "It's 50% of the game. Everyone always looks at points and shots and all that. It's so important and these guys have embraced it. I think we still can get even better defensively, so I'm excited about that. They inhaled the game plan in two days and they did a really good job. It's a credit to them, they've practiced that way. They've been well-prepared in film sessions.  It's their year and they're doing a great job of executing the game plan and it's a credit to them."

On defending Daniel Oturu: "I watched all the tapes, I thought we did a real good job on him and he still scored 19. He's a good player, he really has raised his level. I think right now, he's probably playing as well as any player in the country. It's tough every night, all of our guys, it's team defense, really.  All of our guys have to play a role in defending him. He's a tough guy and we got another tough guy (Luka Garza) coming up at Iowa. The amount of big guys in this league crazy, it really is. They're really, really talented.

On potential top 25 ranking: "Nope. No thoughts. We trying to go to Iowa, I think they're ranked 23rd and we gotta go on the road. I'm thankful for the fans for being here and the students when school didn't even start yet. Other than that, we were picked 12th in the league and that's where we were picked."

On reaching 250th career win today: "Good players. (I'm) blessed. Good coaches. That's it."

On overcoming early 10-2 deficit: "These guys, they were playing hard. (Minnesota) made some open threes. We just keep grinding, no matter how the games start. 17 (points) down or up (17). It's the journey of the game. You gotta love it. You gotta embrace it. They came in here and made a couple of shots and we settled right down. The defense was really good. Defense kinda locked in after that. We got back into the game quickly."

On development of players and closing out games: "They're older. These guys were young. Now these guys have been there. I think it's very important. I think this venue has helped a great deal too. It's loud and it makes it very difficult for the other team. We've added some guys, but guys have gotten better. Young guys keep getting better, which is a great sign. That's part of building the program. We have the toughest schedule left in the league so it doesn't get any easier and we gotta keep getting better."

On Caleb McConnell's first career double-double (10 points, 12 rebounds): "Love it. I love it. He likes to rebound too. I think any time, if our guys can rebound and push the ball up -- but he does a little bit of everything for us. I say this about Tez, I say this about JY and (Caleb). It's a lot things that you don't see that don't show up in the box score that they do on a daily basis. They're getting better at communicating. They rotate at the right times, they do a lot of things. They've gotten really good at those things. We have a lot of switches and they were able to sit down and guard different people. Our versatility makes us a little different and hard to guard. These guys are all versatile guys. Certainly having a double-double. and I love 12 rebounds, that's an awesome number."

Minnesota Head Coach Richard Pitino

Opening Statement: "Well, obviously we give credit to Rutgers, they absolutely manhandled us on the offensive glass. You can't win, road, home, anywhere when you give up 20 offensive rebounds. We were playing good defense; we were just not physical enough on the glass. Credit to Rutgers, it's a tough team, it's a tough environment."

On the Rutgers defense against Carr: "I mean they swarmed Marcus (Carr) on ball screens. Daniel (Oturu) needed to be more physical down low to demand the ball; he was better in the second half. Rutgers is big, they're a really big team, a physical team. They're one of the best defensive teams in the country."

On the difficulty playing on the road in the Big Ten: "Sold out crowd. Fans are bought in. Obviously, Coach Pikiell's doing a great job. I've been in a bunch of leagues with good teams, good coaches, good players, there's nothing like the home courts in this league. There's a buy in from the communities, from the campus. It's always about winning at home and seeing if you can steal some."

On changes in Rutgers over the past few years: "Pretty similar, and that's a compliment. They're big, they're very, very big. They're strong, they relish their identity, they embrace their identity, which is great to see. They treat every shot like it's a miss and they're going after every rebound."

On his message at half-time: "Pretty simple, it's not a hard message to figure out. They had 15 offensive rebounds, you won't win, you have no chance to win if you don't hit bodies. They're big, they can go over you if you don't hit them."