PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers men's basketball (12-9, 8-9) fell to Maryland (14-10, 8-9 ) by a final score of 68-59 on Sunday afternoon at The RAC. Jacob Young led the Scarlet Knights with a game-high 19 points. Geo Baker also contributed 12 points and eight rebounds. 

Myles Johnson got Rutgers off to a good start with the first four points of the game, and Rutgers held a 12-8 lead in the early going. The home team opened 6-of-9 from the floor. However, Maryland used a 12-2 run down the back half of the frame to counter and expand their lead to double-digits for the first time. At halftime, the Terps held a 28-20 lead. 

In the second half, Maryland started on a 12-6 run, with Rutgers calling timeout trailing 40-26. Down as much as 15, RU countered with a 11-2 run punctuated by a Clifford Omoruyi slam dunk. However, Rutgers could not maintain the momentum and the Terps held on. 

Next up for the Scarlet Knights is their final home game of the season. Rutgers will host Indiana on Wednesday at 8 p.m. for Senior Night. The game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network with Kevin Kugler and Stephen Bardo on the call. 

Postgame Notes
- Jacob Young reached double-figures in scoring for the team-leading 17th time this season. He has scored in double-digits in all but four games this season. 
- Geo Baker scored in double-figures for the ninth time this season and sixth time in the past eight games. 
- Baker moved past Larry Gordon for 22nd place on Rutgers' all-time scoring leader board. 
- Baker tied Jerome Coleman for 7th place all-time at Rutgers in made three-point field goals. 
- Baker tied his career-high in rebounds.

Postgame Press Conference 


 

Postgame Quotes

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell
 
Opening Statement: "Didn't like the way we played today. I'm going to congratulate Maryland, they played better than we did. I didn't like our offense and our defense and it's on coach Pikiell. I didn't have them where they needed to be today and it's 100% on me and we have two days to get this thing right and we will."
 
On The Game: "Our defense was not good today; our offense was not good. They got to the free throw line, they (Maryland) shot 46% from the floor, so there was nothing that we did well today. Again, that's on me. We turned the ball over three times against Michigan. Today, 15 (turnovers). Coach (Mark) Turgeon does a great job and they've been playing really well. We didn't play the way we needed to play in this kind of league to have a chance today and it was both ends of the ball. It was rebounding, it was everything and again that's on me. We just have to play better. This is a really good league at all areas and again we have two days to get ready for a really good Indiana team and we got to play better than that. In the league like this, you're not gonna beat teams like Maryland."
 
On Team Body Language: "If you were at the Michigan game, they played with unbelievable emotion and they played with tremendous passion. We didn't win that game, but they've played all year long with great passion and pride and they will again. Today, I don't know if we looked tired, we just didn't play Rutgers basketball and that's something that's on me."
 
On NCAA Tournament Pressure: "As a coaching staff, we try to just play one game, we don't really get caught up, but I know everyone else does. I think there are 100 bracketologists, so I'm not naïve to that stuff. It's talked about every five seconds, but we try to go one game at a time if we play well and then we move on to the next game. That's what we've tried to do and be focused with this group and we're having a good year, we just got to finish some things off. I have a lot of confidence in these guys and a lot of confidence in my staff too. Today we'll move on and Maryland and coach Turgeon got to get some credit too. They came in here and they needed a win and they played better than we did."
 
On Poor Shot Selection: "It's never a part of our game plan, we want to drive it and we want to get to the free throw line and when we do those things, we are a better basketball team, but we got some good looks too. We need to make a few of them, and I have confidence that our guys can. They just weren't today, and Maryland did a good job of staying in front of us and doing a good job of keeping us out of the lane."
 
On Ron Harper Jr's Struggles: "I tell Ron all the time put your phone down, don't listen to all that stuff. He knows he's a really good player, I have a lot of faith in Ron, he's a really good player. I want him to get to the free throw line and I want him to rebound. Those are the two things we talk about the most, but I can't control what everyone else talks about. I know Ron well and Ron is going to continue to be a really good basketball player for us. Ron does a lot of things for us and it's not just shooting. That's one of them, but Ron will bounce back and Ron's a good player."

On Potential Lineup Changes: "We've been playing good basketball; I love my guys. I like the guys on the bench. I trust all of them. If those opportunities come, I will, but I also trust the guys that I play. They're good, I have a lot of faith in all of them and we'll continue to grind. That's what we do and we'll continue to do that in the best league in the country."

Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon

Opening Statement:
"What a great win for us. I have nothing but respect for [Coach] Steve [Pikiell] and his program; he's a great coach. Credit to our players for playing with unbelievable toughness, especially on defense from start to the two minute mark. I'm really proud of our group to control it how we did on defense, and with the motion on offense. That's how we'll need to play to be successful."

On Darryl's Shoulder:
"It didn't come all the way out. The term I heard was, "to the edge" and they popped it back in both times. The first time he was strong and in no pain, the second time was still no pain, but we weren't going to play him again. He was begging us to put him back in. He'll see a specialist tomorrow and we'll determine where to go from there."

Darryl's play in the game:
"We started him on Harper, then Young got going, so we pushed him over. Young wasn't scoring anymore. He's special like that guarding guards. We were struggling. Young was controlling the game with his defense before Daryl got the three-point play and another layup in transition to put us up 11. We needed that bucket to pull away again. We go through droughts, but the defense and offense was good enough to be up six even going through a drought. We knew they were going to make  run on us. They are a heck of a team."

Embracing defensive identity:
"We're a whole different team. We have embraced it. We were good defensively, but not good enough offensively to win at every place. We're working on it, the same drills every day, the guys have bought into it. The guys knew they would need that to win this game. We took advantage of our matchups on the other end. Took a while to figure out the best way to coach this team, but they bought in. Practices have been better. I'm happy for the guys. We could have quit a lot this year, but these guys kept battling, so every time we win I'm just happy for the players."

Last eight days:
"We won four games in two months, then win four games in eight games, it changes everything. We beat a really, really good team that's been playing well, in their building, and they were ready for us. It's the maturation of our team. After the Penn State loss, 50 points, it was devastating. It didn't look good. We couldn't get an open shot. We met and decided we had to make some changes, we got a little better each game. They are totally dedicated to what they have to do to be successful." 

Emotions on seeing the progress:
"Father in law's birthday today, so I knew we were going to win today. He was up in heaven letting Maryland win. My wife texted this morning about John, and we miss him. I didn't know we could turn it around like this. We're getting more and more confident. I told them after OSU game, the thought for the week, 'the best is yet to come, but you have to believe it.' I still think there are better days to come." 

Forcing 15 turnovers with 20 points off turnovers: 
"Our defense has gotten so much better. We are long in a way, even though we are short. We got a lot of deflections. Our double teams are better and our rotations are better. We have to fly around, then scoring off the turnovers is a big step for us. Hopefully free throws will be the next step for us." 

On first half possession with defensive communication forcing a shot clock violation: 
"Darryl was holding guys accountable. He was trying to get guys in position. There was no spring, summer or fall, so this is the maturation process. Our guys are dialed in to the rotations. We know how we have to play. It's called Maryland defense. If we keep playing with this toughness that we played with today, better days will be ahead for this team."