PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball (11-6, 7-6) defeated Minnesota (11-7, 4-5), 76-72, on Thursday night at the RAC. The Scarlet Knights have now won four consecutive Big Ten games, their longest winning streak in league play since it joined the conference in 2014-15.
"That was an old-fashioned grinder," head coach
Steve Pikiell said. "I'm proud of our team for getting our fourth straight league win."
In a game that featured 22 lead changes,
Geo Baker drilled a go-ahead, step-back jumper to give RU a 73-72 advantage with 1:01 left to play.
Ron Harper Jr. then netted three free throws down the stretch to secure the home win over the Golden Gophers.
Baker finished with a team-high 16 points, while
Myles Johnson (14) and
Caleb McConnell (14) joined in double figures. Johnson registered his fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with three blocks and two steals.
RU opened the game with an 11-2 scoring run in the first six minutes of play, but Minnesota would fight back to make it a back-and-forth contest for the remainder of the night. The Golden Gophers took their first lead at 23-21 and entered halftime with a 37-35 advantage.
Both teams would trade buckets out of the locker room, as Rutgers trailed by as much as six in the second half. But the Scarlet Knights never faltered, as a pull-up three-pointer from McConnell with a hand in his face made it 71-70 in favor of Rutgers with 1:38 to play, Minnesota would quickly regain the lead, but Baker's jumper on the following possession would prove to be the final lead change of the night.
Rutgers finished the game on a 10-2 run, making eight-of-nine shots to finish the game. Rutgers closed out the game at the free-throw line, making 13-of-15 at the free throw line in the second half.
"Every single day we're trying to make a new piece of history,"
Geo Baker said. "Those last couple of posessions, we dug deep."
Next up for the Scarlet Knights is a road game next Wednesday. The Scarlet Knights will play at No. 8 Iowa at 7 p.m. on BTN.
- The win represented Rutgers' fourth straight win over a Big Ten conference foe. That is the first time since joining the Big Ten that Rutgers won four straight conference games.
- The last time that Rutgers won four straight league games was in 2003-04, when RU defeated St. John's, Villanova, Notre Dame and Miami in BIG EAST play.
- Rutgers' fifth victory over Minnesota, the most wins over any Big Ten team since joining the Big Ten.
- Rutgers now has victories in four of the past five meetings with the Gophers.
- Steve Pikiell's 75th win as head coach at Rutgers.
- Rutgers picked up their 7th league win of the season. The Scarlet Knights have now posted at least seven conference victories in 3 consecutive campaigns for the first time since 1989-91 when they did it as an Atlantic 10 member.
- Rutgers shot 53.1 percent from the field, its best this season in a Big Ten game.
- Rutgers got off to another good start, opening the game on an 11-2 run. In the opening 10 minutes of the past four games, Rutgers has combined to lead by a 82-43 margin.
- Myles Johnson scored in double-figures for the seventh time this season and third time in the past five games.
- Johnson had his fifth double-double of the season.
- He tied his season-high with 14 points.
- Caleb McConnell scored in double-figures for the second time this year (previously: 12 vs. Ohio State).
- Geo Baker scored in double-figures for the seventh time this season, fourth straight game and 65th time in his career.
- Geo moved past Doug Patton and Jamal Phillips and into sole possesion of 23rd place all-time at Rutgers in scoring.
Gallery: (2-4-2021) Men's Basketball Defeats Minnesota
Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell
Opening Statement: "Great game today, tip of the hat, I knew how good Minnesota was. They have been ranked for a long time, they have one of the best guards in the league and a big guy that blocked shots and a group around them that are very good. I knew today would be a real difficult basketball game, but Coach (Richard) Pitino does a really good job with these guys. I knew they would challenge us in every way, but proud of our guys, old fashioned grinder. We grinded it out at the end. I think we went on a 10-2 run to finish out the game. Our defensive stops were just terrific and it's another game where we outrebounded our opponent, which has been a struggle for us at times. We got to the free-throw line more than they did, that's been a struggle too. Just proud, grinded it out and to get our fourth straight win in this league, but you can enjoy it for a few minutes and then play in Iowa. The best team in the country coming up on the road, so enjoy it for a day."
On Defending Marcus Carr: "You've got to play team defense against Marcus Carr, so everyone was attached. Jacob (Young) did a great job in the first half, Montez (Mathis), Caleb (McConnell) and then our bigs had to do a great job. So, it was really team defense, we switched a lot. Ron (Harper Jr.) had to sit down and guard him at times and how about the plays that all those guys made defensively down the stretch? Big rebounds by Ron, Geo (Baker) makes big plays, Caleb hits the three, Paul (Mulcahy) does all the things that don't show up in the box score and then Myles Johnson. Our bench gives us a good lift, Cliff (Omoruyi) was good, Montez gives us a good lift, Jacob does what he does, so pleased with everybody. But down the stretch, Marcus Carr is a really good player, and you have to do a really good job on him, and I know he got 18 points, I know he had 7 assists, but I thought he had to really work for those and team defense, that's how you corral a guy like him."
On Geo Baker: "He was confident too. Made big free-throws and he got the big rebound to kind of ice it there at the end, but he had a little foul trouble he had to play through today, some obstacles, but he made some big plays and thankful for that down the stretch especially and made some tough ones and got a few looks for other people. So, I'm real pleased, Geo does a great job, and I couldn't take him out of the game other than the foul trouble today because he was locked in."
On Team Winning Down The Stretch: "Proud of the way we're defending now and rebounding. We didn't get caught up, we made free throws in the second half to kind of wrap things up so good teams do those things, you've got to get big stops and we did when we had too, we got fouled and made free-throws, and we executed down the stretch with the possessions that we needed to execute on. So, overall, just really happy. Went through a lot during the course of the game, hard fought game. Our guys really deserve a couple days off here. Try to get recharged and then head to one of the toughest places in the league to play in Iowa."
On Rebounding: "We're doing a much better job of putting bodies to bodies and we've made a huge emphasis of it. Our guys have taken on the challenge. I think Myles does a great job, Cliff does a great job too even though he got one rebound tonight, but he boxes out, he's a big body, helps us a great deal, but I think everyone's real conscious of it, and I know down the stretch, everyone wanted a piece of a rebound down the stretch and Ron went up and got that one. That was a huge rebound to secure at the end."
Minnesota Head Coach Richard Pitino
On the plan late in the game: "We ran a play that's won us a lot of games, and you know we just didn't get the right shot that we needed to. But it's been good in the past, wasn't good there. You've got to give the defense credit. But I thought for 37 and a half minutes we were terrific."
On shot selection: "I thought, again like I said, I thought we were terrific for 37 minutes all around. And then for the last two and a half minutes, we had some turnovers, we had some poor shots. They made some big plays too, you got to give them credit. (Geo) Baker made some tough shots down the stretch. But at the end of the day, I really liked us for about 95 percent of the game. I thought our shot selection was good and our offensive rebounding was terrific as well."
On Marcus Carr: "I thought he was terrific, just took what was given to him. You know, just made some big plays, really tried to will us to victory. Again like I said, I thought they just made one or two more plays than we did."
On rebounding from the start of game: "We started rebounding. We started defensive rebounding and getting them off the offensive glass. We were physical, we were really tough on the offensive glass as well. Brandon (Johnson) and Liam (Robbins) were a great presence there. Marcus came back to the defensive rebound with six rebounds. So a lot of really good things. I mean, it's disappointing that we lost, but obviously, Michigan was only three games ago, but that was about as good of basketball for a lot of the games we've played."
On Both Gach: "I thought he was terrific. Loose balls, a couple times dove to the floor. That hustle was great a couple of times and driving to the basket was really good. So I liked it. I mean, he just keeps working. He's a great kid and today was his birthday. I know he would've liked to get the win, but he really helped us put us in position for the win."
On Tre' Williams and Both Gach: "We had to change it up a little bit. It's not like your starting quarterback where they can't all play. I mean Both is starting to get his confidence back, which is great. He's ready to go off the bench, especially the second half to go make some big plays and Tre' did some good things as well. He made a three, had a couple of rebounds. It's a team game, you can sub and go to the bench. I thought the bench was good today."
On Jamal Mashburn, Jr.: "Well, he played 23 minutes. That's a lot for a freshman in a tough game. I thought he was terrific obviously the first half. He's going to be a really good player, he really is. They've got big, big size. Their guards are big and they're going to post you up, so tried to get him in and out a little bit. But I thought he was terrific."
On postgame feeling in the locker room: "I think they're positive, I think they're together. I think they saw we were really good for about 37 minutes and then we just had some turnovers, they made some plays, took a bad shot. But we're growing. Obviously we've had seven losses, six have not looked like that. Good fight from our guys. I mean we scrapped today. We're going to get ours if we continue to scrap."
