PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers men's basketball (7-5, 3-5) dropped a tight game against No. 9/9 Wisconsin (11-3, 5-2), 60-54, on Friday night at the RAC. Rutgers held a lead with eight minutes to play against the top-10 foe, but the Badgers used a late run down the stretch to secure the road win in Piscataway.

The Scarlet Knights' defense stepped up in the contest, holding Wisconsin to 35 percent shooting. RU dominated on the glass, holding a 50-35 advantage on rebounds and outscoing the visitors 42-18 in the paint as well as 13-4 in second chance points. 

Jacob Young led all scorers with 19 points, while Myles Johnson pitched in 12 rebounds and nine points for the Scarlet Knights in the loss. 

After Rutgers scored the first four points of the game, Wisconsin countered with a 13-0 run to take a double-digit lead midway through the first half. Despite But RU chipped into the Badgers' lead, as it closed out the final six minutes with its own 14-6 scoring run. Young hit a layup with 22 seconds left in the half as Wisconsin took a 33-32 advantage into the locker room. 

A layup from Geo Baker off the feed from Johnson gave RU its latest lead at 44-42 with just over eight minutes to play, but the Badgers answered with a layup to tie and scored the next 10 points to leave the RAC with the win.

The Scarlet Knights' next two games will come on the road. Rutgers is at Penn State on Thursday, and then Indiana on Sunday. 
 

POSTGAME NOTES

• Jacob Young scored in double-digits for the 11th straight game. 
• Clifford Omoruyi saw his first game action since Dec. 20, returning after missing five games with a knee injury.
  • With his return, it marked the first game this season where the Scarlet Knights had every scholarship player healthy and active.
• Following the contest against the Badgers, Rutgers has now played five of the top six teams in the Big Ten, marking six of their eight conference games.
• Myles Johnson has reached double-digit rebounds in five of the past nine games. 
  • Johnson tied his career-high with three steals.
• Rutgers held the Badgers to 60 points, their second lowest output of the season. 
• Rutgers' 50 rebounds was a season-high and their second most ever in a Big Ten regulation game. 
• Rutgers had 20 offensive rebounds, a season-high. 
• Rutgers held the Badgers to 35 percent from the floor and 24 percent from three-point distance. RU held the Badgers to a season low in three-point percentage and were the only team this season to hold Wisconsin under 40 percent from the field and under 30 percent from three.
   

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

 

POSTGAME QUOTES

 

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell

Opening Statement: "Good college basketball game today, Wisconsin's good, we didn't make shots. I did love how we played defense; they are one of the most efficient offenses teams in the country. We finally got back to rebounding the way we want to rebound, but the ball did not fall in today. I thought we had some good looks too, I'll watch the film, but that is the (2020) league champs, they're one of the most experienced teams in the country. It's another game where the foul line becomes a huge thing for us, but I like that Rutgers team today. I thought we were tough, and I thought defensively and physically, and I thought our guys were connected. If we keep on that path, we're going to be fine."

On Ron Harper Jr.: "Ron's a good player. He's just getting guarded; he did a lot of things too for us today. He had to defend multiple guys on the perimeter and Ron is a good player, so I expect Ron to bounce back. Want him to get to the free-throw line a little bit more, I think that would help us a great deal, but Ron's a good player. Ron approached practice; we had a great week of practice leading into this game. I thought we had a good game plan, you know the ball just didn't go in and I thought we got good looks and I thought a lot of good looks, but it's got to go in too when you play a team like this because the margin of winning and losing against a Wisconsin isn't a lot."

On Free Throw Attempts: "Wisconsin goes a good job; they don't foul anybody so that's kind of one of their things and we've got to get the ball inside. I think having Clifford Omoruyi back today helped us a little bit. He's not in that kind of shape yet, but he certainly did, but we can get the ball inside more. I thought we drove it too and I thought we got fouled on a few possessions, but we got to make free throws, too. When we do get there 2-7, missed a few one and ones too is not good enough."

On Offensive Struggles: "I thought we got good looks, so we shot 10% from three-point land, but I thought we got good looks. Again, I'm going to have to watch the tape, but I thought we got open ones and we got good shooters. At one point we were one of the best three-point shooting teams, so credit to Wisconsin. Their defense is good. They're one of the most efficient defensive teams in the country and they're an efficient offensive team. That is why they're such a hard team to prepare for and beat."

On the team: "We go one game at a time. I think we got better today with our defense. We got to continue to defend like that and rebound. We play in the best league in the country so you can go on losing streaks and hopefully we can go on a good winning streak too."

On the starting lineup: "We'll watch the tape. We played hard today; all those guys did. We'll get ready for the next game. We finally got a team that's healthy back on the floor and I had a full allotment of guys, which I really like. So, we'll take a look at everything and we'll try to make some adjustments here, but it doesn't get any easier in the league like this either."

On Defending Wisconsin: "They could bury some threes, but our defense today was good, and we haven't been playing defense like that. We spent a lot of time the last few days on that and again, they're very efficient, offensive team. I like the fact that we're able to keep them scoreless, but you got to take advantage of it on the other end of the floor and the ball didn't go in today. I'm going to say it again and I haven't watched the film, but I will as soon as I leave here, I thought we got good looks. As long as we keep getting good looks and we play defense like that, we'll be fine."

On Clifford Omoruyi: "Cliff's the most athletic player in the program so to not have him for the last month and not be able to play him with Myles (Johnson) and do different things that I wanted to do, so that hurt us, but it was a great lift to have him back to his high energies, a good teammate. He'll block and alter shots and those big guys are tough matchups because they can shoot threes and they can post you, but just having someone with his size and his athleticism back on the floor and he really hasn't practiced either. I look forward to getting him back into the regular reps and have another big guy that can rebound and block shots, certainly helped us on the glass. It's the first time we've out rebounded a team since he's been back, so getting him back, huge to us on that end of the floor."

Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard

Opening statement: "Obviously, extremely proud of our guys, it was a battle. I don't know if any of you guys are here, but it was the typical at the RAC rock fight, physical, tough. A lot of grit and determination exhibited tonight and really proud of our guys how we were able to learn from the other night, and a couple days of preparation. It's been a long week on the road. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight, and obviously were able to come out on top against a good team." 

On defense in the second half: "Well, we were able to keep the ball out of the paint, for the most part, and force them into some tougher shots. We were able to get a little momentum going ourselves and I think we stretched it to 10, so we're doing a better little better job. Jacob Young is so hard to handle on ball screens. They do such a good job of moving him around and obviously you got to worry about Geo Baker and (Ron) Harper (Jr.), it's an explosive team. If you give them cracks, they can really hurt you, but I thought we did a good job of trying to shrink the floor as much as possible and force them into some tougher shots, which we were able to do." 

On D'Mitrik Trice in the second half: "He did hit some big shots there as we were able to stretch out that lead out to 10. (He) was able to get in some ball screen situations, we had a couple little things we ran for him as well out of timeouts. I mean he picked the right spots. I know he had a tough assignment trying to contain Young. That was a lot, and teammates were doing a decent job. We were able to flow through the first half, other than how we finished in the last couple processions with two turnovers. He is sitting on the bench, so that didn't help us, but it was good for him to step up at the right time, which senior point guards, the good ones, tend to do that." 

On defending the paint: "They're hard to keep out of the paint. If you look at any box score, everyone has a hard time keeping them out of the paint. That's their attack point. They get it to the bigs, try to drive it with all three perimeter guys. So, you're not trying to put them at the free throw line, trying to keep them off the glass and force them into tough shots, which we were able to do a lot. And obviously contest threes. They're a handful to keep out of the paint, always have been. And like I said, Jacob Young is quick. I've seen everyone they've played try to handle them in ball screens and do everything on planet Earth to try to contain him. He's a load, so quick and so shifty, gets you spun in a lot of ways. It's hard, those guards are good."