PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers men's basketball team played a start-to-finish game on both sides of the ball to come out on top over the Clemson Tigers on Tuesday night on ESPN 2 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at Jersey Mike's Arena.
The Scarlet Knights held a lead over the Tigers for over 95 percent of the game and forward
Ron Harper Jr. led the way with a season-high 23 points to give RU the 74-64 victory.
"These guys played their hearts out," Head Coach
Steve Pikiell said. "We're down Geo (Baker), one of our most experienced guys. These guys really stepped it up today. I thought everyone that checked in the game really helped us."
It marked the second-ever win over Clemson in the Challenge and third-straight win over the Tigers, including last season's NCAA Tournament victory.
RU has won two consecutive games in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, having also defeated Syracuse last season (79-69 on 12/8/20).
Below are five takeaways from the victory to push Rutgers to (4-3) on the season:
1. Ron Harper Jr. was on fire
Harper Jr. had himself quite the game on Tuesday.
The small forward scored his season-high of 23 points and added nine rebounds, just one board shy of his fifth double-double of the season.
Ron had a clutch stretch in the second half where he knocked down consecutive three-pointers, the second one giving RU a seven-point lead with under ten minutes remaining.
"It felt good man." Harper Jr. said. "These guys just kept finding me and they kept trusting me. When Paul flips that thing back I know I got to make it and Caleb was doing the same. They put me in positions to score."
Harper Jr. shot 8-for-13 from the field. He added three assists, a block and a steal.
Gallery: (11-30-2021) Men's Basketball versus Clemson
2. Caleb McConnell was rolling early
Senior guard
Caleb McConnell had a season-high 16 points in Tuesday's game.
McConnell said after the game that hitting his first two field goal attempts early really helped his confidence.
"It's definitely just a deep breathe seeing those shots go in," McConnell said. "It definitely gave me a little extra kick going into this game."
McConnell was coming off of a performance on Saturday at UMass where he had career-highs in both steals (six) and rebounds (nine). The senior looks to bring it all together in the games ahead. McConnell added six rebounds and a pair of assists on Tuesday night.
"Caleb and I have a great relationship," Pikiell said. "I never worried about his shooting. Seasons are long. He's made a lot of shots for us. He's defended well. He had Nick Honor today. The other day, he had six steals and nine assists. A lot is made of the ball going in the basket. I understand that. But he's a good shooter and a good player and he's made a ton of big shots for us. It comes your way, sometimes you're a hitter and you're in like a bad groove. And all sudden you get five-for-five. I have a ton of faith in him. The way he defends you know, he helps us in so many other ways. It was nice it was nice to see it go in for him."
3. Guarding the perimeter
When Pikiell opened his press conference, he credited his assistant coach
Brandin Knight for the way he scouted Clemson during the quick turnaround after Saturday's game. Knight and Pikiell stressed defense of the perimeter in this matchup against the Tigers who excelled at shooting the long ball.
Clemson entered the game third nationally in three point shooting, at a clip of 44.1 percent (64-for-145).
Rutgers limited the Tigers to their worst percentage of the year from behind the arc, finishing at 22 percent in the game.
The Tigers leading-scorer Nick Honor was held down from three point range (1-5) and as a whole (2-9) thanks to the defense of McConnell.
"All their guards are shooting well over 45% from three-point land," Pikiell said. "I thought we were locked in. Our guys are figuring it out a little bit. College basketball is tough. We were in a stance, we were active. I liked our substitution patterns. And we made some timely baskets too. Down the stretch, we made some stops. We've come up short in a couple of one possession games. And we did it today against good basketball team. Clemson will win a lot of games."
4. Paul Mulcahy the floor general
Paul Mulcahy tied his career-high on Tuesday with seven assists. Mulcahy has taken over as the floor general on offense with
Geo Baker missing the past two games due to injury.
The junior from Bayonne showed off another all-around performance and added seven rebounds and five assists. Mulcahy had just one turnover in the game.
5. Early lead
The Scarlet Knights grabbed the lead early and really never looked back.
The Tigers only held the lead for one minute and 49 seconds in the game. UMass held a lead for less than 30 seconds in the defeat on Saturday, so RU has been played most of the last two matchups out in front.
On Tuesday, the Scarlet Knights were able to finish off the game thanks to an early 13-3 run to end the first half and some red hot shooting from all involved in the second half.
Center Cliff Omoruyi added 11 points and nine rebounds and had an and-one dunk to seal the victory late in the second half.
Aundre Hyatt was solid off the bench with a season-high of 11 points.
Longtime NBA player and New Jersey high school start Tim Thomas in the building
Up Next
The Tigers will head to Illinois to take on center Kofi Cockburn and the Fighting Illini on Friday at 7 p.m. for their first Big Ten conference matchup of the season.
Key quotes from the head coach
On the team:
"My team gets better every day. We're a good basketball team. Sometimes it doesn't happen in the first minute of the season. But these guys work hard. I'm proud of these guys. They come in every single day and they get after it. We'll figure out how to make ourselves better. We've been in one possession games, three games that didn't come out our way. I'm excited about these guys. I'll say it again. I'm excited about these guys. We will get
Geo Baker back. Our young guys will keep getting better. Cliff, Ralph and Andre. We will continue to improve as a team this year. It's a long season.
On Jalen Miller making his season debut:
"Awesome. There was some talk of him red-shirting, but to his credit he came in and said 'coach, I can help.' It was him, every day 'coach I know I can help'. Especially now with Geo out for who knows how long. He came in and gave us a great lift. He can really pressure the ball and do some good things. You saw him do some really good things today, so I'm really happy with it."
On the atmosphere:
"The fans are awesome. The band, the students section, the cheerleaders. It was great. It makes a huge difference. I know the Clemson guys thought it was an awesome environment. And that's what we need. We need that. That's been an advantage for us. They weren't here all last year. Our guys didn't like playing in quiet. It was a really, really great environment. I appreciate them all very much.They decided to be here to support this team and we needed that. I'm very thankful to Rutgers Nation and they should be really happy about the effort that these guys put forward.
