LINCOLN, Neb. – Myles Johnson and Ron Harper Jr. both had double-doubles to help Rutgers (11-3, 2-1) to a 79-62 win over Nebraska (6-8, 1-2) Friday evening at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Caleb McConnell was 8-of-8 from the field to score 20 points, as the Scarlet Knights led by as much as 22 points en route to their largest margin of victory in a Big Ten road game.

"They're a dangerous basketball team, and we haven't played well here in the past either," said Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell. "I'm just pleased with our 40-minute effort. Getting a road win in this league is really tough to do."

Rutgers enforced its will often and early, out-rebounding the Huskers 48-31 and out-scoring its host 52-24 in the paint. The Scarlet Knights shot 54 percent (34-of-63), while limiting Nebraska to 31 percent (20-of-63) from the field.

Led by McConnell's season-high 22, four players scored in double figures for RU. Johnson had a career-best tying 18 points, Jacob Young 16 and Harper Jr. contributed 11. Johnson, who was 9-of-13 from the field, supplemented his effort with a career-high tying 14 boards. Harper Jr. cleaned the glass on 10 occasions.

"We like to really share the game, see our box score, and see that a lot of guys get shots up," said Pikiell. "We wanted to attack and share the game, and that's what we did, and we did a good job."

Harper Jr. canned two early triples as RU jumped-out early. Sparked by its 15,024 fans, Nebraska answered to take a 15-10 lead, but RU responded with an 18-1 run to re-gain control, 28-16. In that stretch, RU made seven of eight shots while forcing 11 straight Nebraska misses.

McConnell hit a jumper at the buzzer, and RU extended its lead to 13, 41-28, at the midpoint. RU shot 54 percent and held Nebraska to a 27 percent mark from the field in the first half.

After the break, the Scarlet Knights picked up where they left off and continued to build their lead. A 6-0 spurt pushed the advantage to its largest at 22 points and RU finished-off its victory in convincing fashion.

Rutgers resumes its Big Ten schedule on Tuesday against No. 21 Penn State at the RAC. The contest will tip-off at 7 p.m. on BTN with Brandon Gaudin and Bob Wenzel calling the action. Tickets are still available for the much-anticipated matchup.

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POSTGAME NOTES 

• The 17-point win marked Rutgers' largest margin of victory in a Big Ten road game.
• It was RU's largest margin of victory on the road since a 62-39 win at Pitt on Jan. 11, 2012.
• The 2-1 Big Ten record signals RU's fourth time with a 2-1 mark in conference play since joining the Big East in 1995-96.
• The win was Rutgers first at Pinnacle Bank Arena after three losses by an average of 16.0 points.
• Myles Johnson scored a career-high tying 18 points and grabbed a career-best tying 14 rebounds to earn his fourth double-double of the season and the eighth of his career. Johnson scored in double-digits for the sixth time this season and 12th time in his career.
• Ron Harper Jr. scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second career double-double, both this season. He reached double-figures in scoring for the ninth time this season and 19th time in his career.
• It marked the first time Rutgers has ever had two players with double-doubles in a Big Ten game.
• Caleb McConnell scored a season-high 20 points, reaching double-figures for the fifth time this season and 10th time in his career. It was his second career game reaching the 20-point plateau.
• He tied his career-highs for field goals made (8) and assists (5) in a career-high 34 minutes. 
• Jacob Young scored in double-figures for the fourth time this season and 13th time in his career.
• The Scarlet Knights used a starting lineup of Caleb McConnell, Montez Mathis, Ron Harper Jr., Akwasi Yeboah and Myles Johnson for the first time this year. 
• Rutgers remains undefeated this season when shooting a better percentage than its opponent (9-0).
• Rutgers has out-rebounded its opponent in 13 of 14 games this season.
• Rutgers shot 54 percent, its best percentage ever in a Big Ten road game. 

POSTGAME QUOTES

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell

Opening Statement: "Great environment. I have tremendous respect for Coach Hoiberg. That's a dangerous basketball team. And we hadn't played well here. I'm pleased with our 40 minute effort today. To get a road win in this league is really tough to do. I'm pleased with that against a really good basketball team.

On playing without Geo Baker: "I'm proud of all of our guys.  We found out at the last minute that Geo wasn't going to play. Caleb McConnell stepped up. Paul Mulcahy, Jacob Young, all those guys stepped up. You have to do a little bit more. It's hard to replace a guy like Geo. He's worked tremendously hard and is having a great season. These are the obstacles that you to go through on the journey of the season. We play a lot of guys. These guys have played a lot of minutes and they had to play even more today. Obviously, Caleb stepped up, Myles Johnson stepped up, Ron Harper with a double-double, we had really good efforts from everybody."

On getting the ball to Myles Johnson and the bigs: "That's always a game plan for us. Ron got some baskets in front too. Akwasi got some baskets in front. We like to really share the game. A lot of guys get a lot of shots up. We wanted to attack and share the game, and that's what we did. We didn't a good job offensive rebounding wise, they hurt us all night with that. We've been a really good rebounding team but struggled with that tonight. We share the game, that's what we do, and I'm glad those guys produced when they got the ball."

On winning on the road: "I think this whole league, no one had been winning on the road to start out the season. The league is a monster. Great coaches, great teams. Venues that are packed. The most difficult thing to do in college basketball is win on the road. And tonight we started four sophomores. Not exactly an old team. Good road win today at a real tough place."

Rutgers guard Caleb McConnell

"Losing one of our leaders due to an injury, I knew I needed to step up tonight. I had to control the pace of the game and the team, make sure the team got good shots. We just had to slow the game down, share the ball, and get it inside. We took good shots. Defensively, we packed the paint in and stopped the ball. We keyed in on Cam Mack and stopping him, being sure to play team defense. It's always fun when the ball is moving and we're sharing the game and that leads to a win. It's always good when you win on the road, especially in the best league in the country."

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg

On the physicality of Rutgers
"Give them credit. They're the most physical team we've played to this point. We talked a lot about that leading into this one and how important it was to try to keep them out of the paint as much as possible, and they got in there way too often. They make five threes a game and they hit five tonight, two early and three spread out over the rest of the game. Too often, defensively, we allowed them to get into the paint where we either had to help with the big or they were spraying it out and driving us out on long closeouts. Once they shot it, whether they made it or not, we had no chance of getting it off the glass, just too big and too physical. When we go out there with a defensive mindset and a defensive mentality, we have a chance to win, and when we don't, we don't give ourselves a chance. We have to find a way to correct it, get more consistent, on that end of the floor. It's on me that we're not more consistent right now and that starts tomorrow."
 
On Rutgers' 18-1 run in the first half
"Well we didn't make shots tonight, that's something that happens. It happened against Purdue, and in that game we kept guarding and had our best defensive stretch of the season. Tonight, we got off to a good start, obviously. We were hitting shots and getting out in transition. We were moving the ball and then when the ball stopped going in the hoop. I thought we were chasing down rebounds and got away from being solid on the defensive end. That allowed them to break us down on gambles late in the shot clock. We have to stay solid, take it one possession at a time when we dig ourselves a hole like we did. This is about coming back tomorrow and getting our guys and minds right because we have a heck of a game coming up on Tuesday. We have three days to get better."
 
On Nebraska's effort
"It'll be interesting to see how it looks on film. I don't know if it's strictly an effort thing as opposed to just getting out of character when we got in that hole and they went on the big run on us. A lot of it is just staying in front of the ball. It's tough to defend when you're giving up blowbys. It just opens up so many things when they're getting to the rim whether they're converting or not. The most offensively rebounded shot is the layup and we gave up too many paint touches today. We have to get back tomorrow and make corrections."