PISCATAWAY – Caleb McConnell was 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to help No. 25/25 Rutgers (16-5, 7-3) hold off a persistent Purdue (11-10, 5-5) team by a 70-63 score Tuesday evening at a sold-out RAC. One of four Scarlet Knights in double figures, McConnell was a perfect 12-of-12 at the charity stripe to score 16 points, as RU improved its nation's-best home record to 15-0.

"We had to play hard the whole game," said Pikiell. "Everyone chipped in, playing nine guys double-figure minutes. We needed everybody, every fan to help us. I thought we got back to Rutgers basketball, which is playing defense and being tough."

Akwasi Yeboah, Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. all contributed 10 points to join McConnell in double digits. Their efforts helped produce 25 made free throws, RU's most this season and second-most ever in a Big Ten game.

Winners of four of their last five league contests, the Scarlet Knights made nine of their initial 13 shots to take a 24-13 lead before a record fifth-straight sell-out crowd at the RAC. RU, which led for 37 of the game's 40 minutes, tweaked the twine with consistency prior to the break to enter the locker room at the midpoint with a 39-27 advantage.

The Scarlet Knights maintained their momentum to begin the second half and established a 17-point, 44-27 lead. The Boilermakers, however, would not go quietly. After being out-rebounded by the home squad in the initial 20 minutes, Purdue was plus-11 on the glass in the second half.

Boosted by its paint scoring and second-chance points, the Boilermakers reduced its deficit to three points on three occasions. With a raucous crowd behind them, the Scarlet Knights bent, but did not break, earning their first victory over Purdue since joining the Big Ten Conference.

"It's a journey," said Pikiell. "Like I say to these guys all the time, 'embrace the moment'. I thought Geo (Baker) had his best practice yesterday. I think practice is so important. When they do that, I think they came out with a great mindset."



Rutgers returns to action on Big Ten Super Saturday at Madison Square Garden. After wrestling squares-off with Michigan at 1 p.m., the Scarlet Knights meet the Wolverines in a 4:30 p.m. tip-off on the hardwood. The contest will be televised on BTN with Kevin Kugler and Andy Katz on the call.

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POSTGAME NOTES

• Rutgers' 15-0 home record is best among all D-I programs. The 15-0 mark ties the Boilermakers home record at Mackey Arena last season, which was the Big Ten's best in 2018-19.
• The win provides RU 16 wins, its most season victories since 2005-06 (19-14).
• The Scarlet Knights are four games over .500 in conference play for the first time since the 1998-99 Big East campaign (9-5).
• Tonight's capacity crowd marked the fifth straight sell-out at the RAC, a record for the 8,000-seat venue.
• Rutgers has seven Big Ten wins this season, tying last season's mark for the program's most Big Ten Conference victories in a season.
• Purdue entered the contest with the Big Ten's best scoring defense at 60.0 points per game. Rutgers' scored 70 points, topping that average by 10 and tying for the second most points scored against the Boilermakers in a regulation game this season. 
• The victory was Rutgers' first win over Purdue as a Big Ten Conference member.
• Rutgers has six conference home wins, its most since also earning six (6-2) in 2003-04 Big East play.
• Rutgers made a season-high 25 free throws, its second-most ever in a Big Ten game.
• Purdue's Hunter (10.2 ppg), Haarms (10.2 ppg) and Stefanovic (9.7) were Purdue's second through fourth leading scorers entering the game. Rutgers held them to 7, 4 and 0 points, respectively.
• Akwasi Yeboah scored in double figures for the 11th time this season and 81st time in his career.
• Geo Baker scored in double digits for the ninth time this season and 51st time in his career. It marked his first game in double figures since returning from a thumb injury.
• Baker recorded his 275th career assist, tying Tom Brown for 19th place all-time at Rutgers with 275. 
• Ron Harper Jr. scored in double figures for the 13th time this season and 23rd time in his career.
• Caleb McConnell reached double-figures for the ninth time this year and 14th time in his career.
• McConnell made a career-high 12 free throws, tying Ron Harper Jr.'s mark earlier this season for most ever for a RU player in a Big Ten game.

POSTGAME QUOTES 

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell

Opening Statement: "Good win. Great environment. I have a ton of respect. Purdue is as good a program as there is in our conference. Well-coached and they got really good players. The best defensive team in the league. The best offensive rebounding team in the league. We had to play hard the whole game. Everyone chipped in, playing nine guys double-figure minutes. We needed everybody, every fan to help us. I thought we got back to Rutgers basketball, which is playing defense and being tough. These guys earned a day off tomorrow."

On beating Purdue for first time in the Big Ten: "They had beaten us handily too. They have been very good since I arrived in this league. (Matt Painter) does a great job, has consistently been very good. And they defend, just like you saw today and they're tough. It's a step for us. We were picked 12th and they were picked 4th in the league. It's another step for us and especially here at home, it's nice to get a win."

On 24-9 advantage in fast-break points: "Any time we can get out in transition and get some points -- it all comes from our defense. When we stop them, we get out in transition. That's always a bonus. Our defense today, I liked it, it was Rutgers defense and that was the main thing for us."

On holding on after 17-point lead became 3-point lead late: "No lead matters. These teams are really good, they make plays, it's a game of runs. I love the way we finished the game from the foul line. I won't be getting e-mails tomorrow about free throw shooting. That's a good thing for me and I look forward to that. These guys made good plays down the stretch. You have to do that in this league. Every game is like that. You see it every time you turn on the Big Ten Network."

On effect of Kobe Bryant's death on Ron Harper Jr. and team: "Any time something like that happens, it's just awful. I have a 13-year-old son, he loves Kobe too. What he means to a lot of people. These guys grow up idolizing Kobe Bryant and Ron had a personal connection to him. It's just tough. It makes you appreciate life and all the people that you love. You're not promised anything. I think all the guys took it hard. We wore that shirt today and when these guys grew up -- that was their guy. It was a tough week -- a tough week for everybody. But it makes you think about a lot of things and that's not a bad thing sometimes."

On first-half sequence capped by Ron Harper Jr. alley-oop: "When this team is connected like they were today from the start. They played together, the crowd too. They shared the game. Everyone is so important to us. Our numbers are so valuable. We've had seven leading scorers in the last nine games. Seven different players. Everyone is so important -- you saw that in that one possession: The block, the dive (by) Caleb, everyone's a part of it and that's how you win. These guys have done a good job enjoying their teammates' success, which doesn't happen a lot anymore. It doesn't happen at the high school level, the college level. They're rooting for each other. I think that's really important, especially in this day and age."

On support from fan base and students: "Since I got here they've been great. They've been coming. They're loud. The students have been great. They're all very important. In the league, every team has a huge home-court advantage because they all have venues like that and we now have that. It's been great. These guys are young and they like playing in front of their peers, season ticket holders and people like that. This was loud and it helps us a great deal, so we're very thankful."

On team's progress: "It's a journey. Like I say to these guys all the time, 'embrace the moment'. I thought Geo (Baker) had his best practice yesterday that he's had. I think practice is so important. When they do that, I think they came out with a great mindset. It's our fourth game in nine days. Prep is hard. They've got school now, a lot of distractions. We're trying to keep them focused on one game at a time. Just focus on what's important and that's stopping Purdue and that's sharing the game. When they're locked in, they're pretty good at the game plan and I think we practiced that way yesterday with a great practice and it shows up today."

On preparation for Michigan on Saturday: "Four games in nine days is hard and we travel too. We need some extra time too to prepare for the next game. We haven't beaten Michigan and they've beaten us pretty handily too. We've got another tough task. We've got the third-toughest schedule in the country. I'm very thankful to the schedule makers. Third in the country. That's nice of them. Down the stretch, nothing gets easier in this league. We got to continue to push through all these obstacles and hopefully these guys stay focused."

On preparing team for playing at Madison Square Garden: "I'm trying to enjoy today. We'll start talking about that tomorrow. These guys will be excited to play at the Garden, I'm very confident of that. The Garden's a special place. As everybody knows, it'll be a fun venue and we're playing a really good basketball team, a team that arguably the last few years has been the best program in our league. National Championship games, Final Fours. We'll have to be prepared. They'll be excited about the venue and hopefully we'll play well."

Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter
 
On building off the game: "Yeah, you hope so because you don't get rewarded for having a good fight. We keep putting ourselves into a hole. It's one thing being down in half, but when you have 11 turnovers. You know, you have to play better. You're going to use a lot of energy and things just obviously on the road will go against you at times. You've got to be able to overcome some of that. And if you're trying to fight, you're down 13, 14 points and overcome and just the normal part of living on the road, it just gets to be too much. Even though we had some opportunities to knock down a couple shots there at the end to tie the game, at least once. But yeah, you just try to grab the silver lining and try to win the next one. We've got a very competitive league and obviously Rutgers is a good team."
 
On first-half turnovers: "There was a lot of different things, whether it was on the interior or our perimeter guys, so it's not just one thing. We were just careless with the ball. With that being said, they're a good defensive team and so you got to give them credit also."
 
On fastbreak points against: "Turnovers. They're going to get the ball out in transition a lot when you turn the ball over 11 times. I mean you take long shots, sometime guys take long shots, they get long rebounds and they use that and get aggressive. But give them credit, they forced us into 11 turnovers (in the first half). You got to go back and just evaluate it. Sometimes it's hard to see at the other end, the details of things, especially the ball goes away from you. We just got to be better. They were good in that first half, and that one run where they just seemed like they were getting everything in transition, probably wasn't that way. But as a coach, it just seemed that way. At halftime, you sit there and they were up 12 and they scored 14 points in transition, you scored zero. The game is too hard, the game is too hard if you can't get points on the offensive glass or you can't get points in transition or you can't get to the free throw line. We don't go to the free throw line very much, and they're just stealing points from us. We're fouling too much, we got to do a better job of not fouling."
 
On differences with Rutgers: "They have more experience. I think the guys that are playing, even (Akwasi) Yeboah, he has a lot of experience playing before then the rest of the guys outside of (Jacob) Young, they are guys that have played for (Steve Pikiell). Just being in a program, Steve Pikiell is a program guy. You can see the defense and the toughness and the rebounding from UConn. You can see the guys that they have up there. It's a difficult place to play. They're difficult team to play against. But they've got good athleticism, they got people that can shoot you guys and have interchangeable pieces. They got quickness, they got size. That's what you want, you want a little bit of everything. More than anything, they play hard and they're tough. So when shots don't go for them, they still got a chance to win games. That's what you want to be able to do."
 
On guards: "After I watch the tape, you'll be able to see it. But you have to give those guys credit. They played well. But our guards had too many turnovers, but everybody. You can't have 18 turnovers and expect to win against a good team, even though the game got close. You just can't in hindsight look at that stat to say like, we're 6-for-22 from three and we turned the ball over 18 times and think you're going to be a good team on the road. We've got to be better."
 
On playing at The RAC: "It's difficult to play everywhere in this league. So, in 15 years, I don't want to play anywhere. I want to play at Mackey arena every game. The guy I played for, Gene Keady, used to talk about it that if you expect to win on the road, you got the 10 points better. And this is definitely a place like that. You got to be 10 points better than them to have a chance to beat them at the buzzer. Now the fans are great, they're right on top of you. But they've got to cheer a product. (Steve Pikiell's) worked and they've got a good product, they have good players. You can have the best fans in the world, if you don't have good players, it doesn't matter. He's done a good job of getting some guys in here with some grit and toughness. And they've got a chance not to just get to the tournament, but a chance to win games in the tournament. I think they're going to be a real tough out in the NCAA Tournament."