INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Rutgers men's basketball started its postseason journey on a winning note, taking down No. 10 seed Indiana by a final score of 61-50in its opening game at the Big Ten Tournament. The victory for the seven-seeded Scarlet Knights was the team's fourth ever Big Ten Tournament victory, and third win over Indiana this season.
Myles Johnson (10 points, 13 rebounds) and
Ron Harper Jr. (13 points, 11 rebounds) each had a double-double.
Jacob Young (13 points) and
Paul Mulcahy (10 points) each joined them in double-figures.
The Scarlet Knights defense was elite, holding IU to 18 points in the second half. The Scarlet Knights closed out the game with a phenomenal effort, holding Indiana without a field goal in the final 9:50 of the game, finishing on a 14-2 run.
"Indiana is a really good team, I have a ton of respect for the program," head coach
Steve Pikiell said. They came out and took it to us. We stayed the course. Proud of our guys. We really passed the ball. We all rebounded. And we made some plays down the stretch. We got a double-double from Ron and Myles. Geo had seven assists, one turnover.
Jacob Young does a little bit of everything for us on the floor.
Paul Mulcahy, how about those big threes that he hit?
Caleb McConnell always gives us everything. Cliff was outstanding, his 10 minutes were really good. Montez was in foul trouble, but I thought everyone, everyone did a great job. To hold a team to 18 points in the second half like we did is a really good defensive effort."
Indiana took the early lead out of the gates, going up by double-digits at the under-eight media timeout of the opening half. Then, the Scarlet Knights finished the first half with a ferocious response. After shooting just 4-17 to open the game, RU made nine of its final 12 shots in the half, using a 16-6 run to take a 33-32 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Rutgers extended their lead to 41-36, but IU answered with an 8-0 run. The Scarlet Knights withstood that run, and battling against the local team, answered with one of their own. Back-to-back three-pointers from the corner for sophomore
Paul Mulcahy, playing in his first collegiate postseason game, gave RU a 55-48 lead with five minutes to play, as RU used a 8-0 run while holding Indiana scoreless for six-plus minutes. RU closed out the Hoosiers from there.
Next up for the Scarlet Knights is a Friday matchup against second-seeded Illinois. That Quarterfinal matchup will take place at 6:30 p.m. and be televised on Big Ten Network.
Postgame Notes
WITH THE WIN
- Rutgers improved its all-time record at the Big Ten Tournament to 4-5 since joining the league for the 2014-15 season.
- Rutgers is 4-3 at the Big Ten Tournament under head coach Steve Pikiell.
- The No. 7 seeded Hoosiers are the second highest seeded team that RU has beaten at the Big Ten Tournament. RU's highest seeded team defeated was also Indiana, a win over the then-sixth seeded Hoosiers in the 2018 Big Ten Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
- The victory was the third win of the season over Indiana after previously earning a home-and-home sweep of the Hoosiers during regular season play. The last time that RU defeated a team three times in one season was in the 2013-14 campaign, when Rutgers earned three victories over USF.
- The victory was RU's 11th win over a Big Ten foe this year, matching last season's total number of Big Ten wins (no conference tournament played).
- Rutgers has won six of the past seven meetings against Indiana.
- The six wins over IU tie for the most for RU over any BIg Ten foe since joining the league.
- Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell is now 6-2 against the Hoosiers under head coach Archie Miller.
- Rutgers is now 2-0 against the Hoosiers in meetings at the Big Ten Tournament.
- Rutgers becomes just the fourth team to defeat Indiana three times in one season, joining Michigan State (78-79), PSU (08-09) and Wisconsin (16-17).
- Rutgers improved to 12-1 on the season when out-rebounding the opponent.
- The Scarlet Knights surpassed numerous Big Ten Tournament single-game program records in the win over the Hoosiers. The team set records in rebounds (Johnson, 13), assists (Baker, 7) and blocks (Johnson, 3).
- It was the second time this season RU held a conference foe to 50 points or less, the first time doing that multiple times in a season since 2005-06 in the Big East. It was the fewest points RU ever allowed in a Big Ten Tournament game.
INDIVIDUALS
Geo Baker
- Moved past Keith Hughes for 19th place on RU's all-time scoring list.
- Moved past Kelvin Troy for sole possession of eighth place all-time at RU in steals
Myles Johnson
- After finishing the regular season second in blocks, Johnson had a team-high three rejections.
- Has 63 blocks on the season, ranking 17th all-time in Rutgers history.
- Posted his team-leading 8th double-double this season.
Paul Mulcahy
- Scored in double-figures for the third time this season, second time in Big Ten play, and first time since Dec. 29 against Purdue
Jacob Young
- Young posted his team-leading 21st game scoring in double-figures, and his eight consecutive game with double-digit points
