PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Scarlet Knights fell just one basket short on Sunday night in the 73^rd Garden State Hardwood Classic. Seton Hall defeated RU 45-43 in a hard-fought defensive game. The Scarlet Knights are now 6-4 on the season through 10 games.

The game was low scoring in the early going. After the contest was even at 12-12, Seton Hall established a 19-12 lead after 14 minutes of action. Rutgers' bigs sparked a RU response, with four straight points from Cliff Omoruyi and then an Antwone Woolfork layup keying a run to tie the game at 19-19.

A corner three-pointer from Aundre Hyatt capped the run with a 10-0 overall spurt for a 22-19 lead. At halftime, the home team held a 26-22 lead, finishing the frame on a 14-3 run over the final five minutes.

The teams continued to battle tightly throughout the second half. A key three-pointer from Caleb McConnell put RU ahead 38-34, but SHU answered back to take a 40-38 lead.

The game continued to be tight down the stretch, evening at 43-43 as the contest went under two minutes remaining.

Seton Hall took a 45-43 lead on a KC Ndefo layup. Rutgers failed to convert at the opposite end, but then Caleb McConnell had a key block defensively. RU had the ball down two points in the waning seconds but failed to convert multiple attempts at the game-tying basket.

Rutgers made just three of its final seven shots over the final 14 minutes of game action. It marked just the first win for Seton Hall in the series coming at Piscataway since 2015. KC Ndefo earned the Joe Calabrese MVP for Seton Hall.

Paul Mulcahy moved past Corey Sanders for 9^th place all-time at Rutgers in career assists, now with 334 for his career. Rutgers held Seton Hall's leading scorer entering the day, Tyrese Samuel (12.0 ppg) to zero points. Aundre Hyatt had a team-high nine points for RU, tying his career-high with three three-pointers.

Up next, RU will host ACC opponent Wake Forest on Saturday at noon at Jersey Mike's Arena.


 

Postgame Quotes

Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell
 
Opening Statement:
"First, thank you guys for being here. I want to thank our fans for coming out and doing a great job. We didn't deserve to win today. Credit to Seton Hall, they played harder. You know, we talked about keys to the game before the game – ball reversals and not turning the ball over. Obviously, we didn't do that, we have got to play with much more energy. And that's on me, but credit Seton Hall and how they played. We still had chances to win the game. You have to deserve to win in basketball and we didn't deserve to win tonight. And that's on me."
 
On rivalry games:
"I always throw the records out because you know, Seton Hall is good. He's a good coach. They got good players. They do a really good job of stealing the ball, and that was a huge key for us. Obviously, to not turn the ball over. These rivalry games, ever since I've been here, they've been a couple of points here and there, you know, no matter what the records were of either team. So you know, the rivalry, you got to come and bring it. They brought it and they deserved to win."
 
On end-of-game shooting:
"Obviously, (I'm) most disappointed in the 19 turnovers. I thought, you know, we really gave up points because of our turnovers. We could have won this game 40 to 38. Some nights, the ball's not going. I thought we got some good looks, even at the end a couple decent looks to tie the game back up. The ball wasn't going in. We didn't play with the right energy that we needed to in a game like this. I don't know if it's from the other night or a little bit, but, this group has been great. We had maybe our best practice of the season yesterday. So I was confident coming in. We just didn't play that way, foul trouble early, the game was kind of choppy and it didn't bode well for us. We certainly didn't make shots when we had the opportunities to."
 
On shots around the rim and layups:
"Yeah, I mean, I know that's a big stat in the stat world. We just have to finish, we have to embrace the contact, we have to do a better job. Obviously, in today's game, you just need a couple of those to kind of go. They would have kind of changed things, (and) we're spending a lot of time in practice. But we need to make threes. We can't turn the ball over like this, and we're not a big turnover team. We're actually pretty good with the basketball. Seton Hall, one player had six steals, (Kadary) Richmond did. I mean just popping up in the middle, they had great length there. They have really good athleticism, they're anticipators and we just didn't do a great job of handling their length."
 
On KC Ndefo potentially stepping out of bounds:
"Yeah, I didn't see, and the ref said he didn't. I'll have to watch the film."
 
On matchup between KC Ndefo and Cliff:
"Obviously, he as a shot blocker is unique, the way he plays. Cliff again, early foul trouble. Took him out of the rhythm of the game. I put him back in with the two and he was able to score some points with us, but we never got into a rhythm offensively because of our turnovers. But again, he's a tough matchup. He's kind of unique in how he plays. He's strong, he's quick and he did a good job in that matchup."
 
On if he was caught off guard by Seton Hall's physicality
"I don't think we were caught off guard. I actually think we were very well-prepared for this game. And you know, our guys knew how athletic they were. And they have good size, especially those wings spots. We just didn't do a great job of reversing the ball and running our sets. And the game did get choppy and you know, you're never in a rhythm when you're turning it over every other time down the court. We have a lot of respect for them. And (Tyrese) Samuel is good and that definitely obviously, (Al-Amir) Dawes is a guy we've played against before at Clemson and we knew what kind of player he was. (Kadary) Richmond, he's got some shake through his game and have a ton of respect for him. Tray Jackson and the guys they bring off the bench, (Dre) Davis (is) talented, talented guys.
 
On turning page after Ohio State game:
"We tried – and in this league and with the kind of schedule that we play, you got to turn the page quickly. Like I said, I thought we had our best practice yesterday. Usually, how we practice (is how) we kind of play and that didn't show today. It was a distraction. But there's a lot of distractions during the course of the season. And you know, we just kind of tried to move on from that, but it was a quick turnaround, obviously to this game. I don't like to make any excuses, but maybe it played a role in us not playing that way but you know, that's not an excuse."
 
On Seton Hall going from 0 to 8 offensive rebounds in second half:
"I thought we had some excellent defensive stops and we just couldn't grab that basketball and get a hold of it and they took advantage of it. They made a couple of big shots off of what I would consider some of our great defensive possessions, but we just weren't able to corral it. One time, two guys went up and knocked it out of each other's hands, and then they got it back. There were big plays, down the stretch. It's a 2-point game, so every one of those matters, and we didn't do a good job in the second half of corralling those and getting those second shot attempts."
 
On preventing Ohio State game from becoming an issue:
"This is the league if you can't prevent it, you've got to play basketball. We play well most of the season here so it's going to be good for us. We got a couple guys banged up so, you know (we need to) get a little healthy. Obviously, you've got to get better and we can't perform like that. You can't turn the ball over 19 times. You know, you've got to finish around the basket. And this is a good team, the same team that beat Indiana, who's a pretty good team. And this is a team that has played really well all season long. We'll regroup and you know, we'll get back to work and we'll improve on some of those things that we haven't done well."
 
Seton Hall Head Coach Shaheen Holloway
 
On team's defense against Rutgers 
"First off, I want to give Coach Pikell and Rutgers credit. Team played hard and competed.  Very well-coached. I told my guys I thought this would be something like this. I thought it would be a slug fest. We start to understand who we are on the defensive end. Getting everybody back was key for us. Good win for us, we're closer to where we want to be and where we want to go."
 
On If this was his team's best defensive performance
"I think you know I thought we played with a sense of urgency the whole game. I thought we had a couple of mental lapses in the first half. Last, I think 10 minutes. For the most part. We had two solid days of practice with the whole team finally. We're old, got a bunch of juniors and seniors. So I think these guys came in and I'm still married to the game.  I think I tend to keep up with our defense and I think offense. Our offense was a work in progress. I hope we get there quicker sooner than later. Keep defending and it will give us a chance to get a win."
 
On the meaning of this game
"It's not about me, it's about these guys. My team, they came out with a sense of urgency, some pride. And I thought you know, KC (Ndefo) was a guy who stepped up and practiced the last few days and also stepped up today. You know, there's no way for him to play his game when he never played in it before. You know to play the way he played, to play with that sense of urgency."
 
On the physicality of the game
"I mean, we're a physical team. I mean, I got a bunch of older guys. Like we have a physical team. I thought both teams play physical.  It was a hard-fought game. And I thought I'd give both teams a lot of credit. They fought, we just happened to come up with a win." 
 
On the teams progress over the first month
"We got a long way to go. This is a good win. It's a good compliment. It's a good thing when we compete and continue to keep fighting and keep growing and keep playing together. We got a long way to go. This was a big one. I don't want to get too carried away. You got to get ready for Drexel. We just got to take this game, enjoy tonight and get ready for tomorrow."