PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The Rutgers men's basketball team came ready to play on Saturday afternoon.
The Scarlet Knights (7-4, 1-1 Big Ten) ended their two-game skid with a win against Wake Forest (8-4, 0-1 ACC), 81-57 in front of a sold out crowd of 8,000.
The Scarlet Knights earned their first-ever win against the Demon Deacons. RU's shooting percentage (58.5 percent) is the highest against a Power 5 opponent in the Steve Pikiell-era dating back to 2016.
"A lot of good things," Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said. "I'm proud of these guys, it hasn't been easy. They played great basketball against a team that is well-coached. We're locked in."
After RU's previous two losses coming by a combined three points, Rutgers came out scoring 11 of the game's first 15 points. The Scarlet Knights shot 59% (17-of-29) from the field in the first half, helping them take a 10-point lead into the locker room.
A 12-0 run highlighted the game's first 20 minutes for Rutgers. At the half's 8:18 mark, freshman Derek Simpson connected on a three-pointer, followed by a fastbreak dunk from grad wing Caleb McConnell, electrifying the crowd in Jersey Mike's Arena.
The full-team effort helped Rutgers score 43 points in the first half, as many as they scored in their entire last outing.
Rutgers continued their hot shooting in the second half. A dunk from junior Cliff Omoruyi and a three-pointer from senior Cam Spencer opened the half's scoring, and a quick 7-0 Rutgers run helped the Scarlet Knights to a 20-point advantage with 16:12 to play.
Despite the Demon Deacons continuing to hang around, the Scarlet Knights never conceded their lead, eventually sealing a win with an 11-0 run that lasted over five minutes towards the end of the game.
The Scarlet Knights went on the defeat the Demon Deacons by 24, their largest margin of victory since a 15-point win over Indiana on December 3.
Rutgers featured a balanced scoring attack, as nine different Scarlet Knights scored in the win. Five players scored in double digits in the victory (McConnell, Omoruyi, Spencer, Hyatt, Mulcahy) The team finished the day shooting 58.5% (31-of-53), their best shooting performance so far this season.
Spencer led the way with 15 points, shooting a perfect 5-5 from the field and 2-2 from three-point range. Omoruyi and McConnell also found themselves in double figures, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Wake Forest felt the presence of Omoruyi down low as Rutgers dominated the paint the entirety of the game. The Scarlet Knights out-rebounded Wake Forest 32-25 and collected 28 more points in the paint (44-16).
"Cliff does a lot of things for us," Pikiell said. "He's unique. I thought he had really good real estate there, those are some big bodies down there. I thought we did a good job of getting him the basketball too, but he kept a lot of balls alive."
RU was (13-15) on layups and (5-5) on dunks in the game. The Scarlet Knights racked up 20 fastbreak points, had 32 rebounds and eight offensive rebounds. Rutgers has 21 points off the bench and 44 of the points came in the paint.
On top of their strong offensive outing, the Scarlet Knights' defense was as good as ever. Rutgers collected 14 steals, tied for the second most in a game this season. Senior Paul Mulcahy and McConnell collected three steals apiece. The Rutgers defense also added four blocks, two coming from McConnell.
McConnell held fifth-year guard Tyree Appleby to 10 points on the day and zero points in the second half.
The Scarlet Knights have just two games remaining in the final 14 days of 2023. Rutgers hosts Bucknell (Friday, Dec. 23, 5 p.m, BTN) and Coppin State (Friday, Dec. 30, 8 p.m., BTN) prior to resuming Big Ten play on January 2 at Purdue.
Gallery: (12-17-2022) Men's Basketball Faces Wake Forest
Rutgers Postgame Notes
The victory for Rutgers represented:
- A 7-1 home record this season
- A 21-4 home record over the past two seasons
- A 49-9 record at home over the past four seasons
- A 1-1 record in the all-time series against Wake Forest
- Steve Pikiell's 105th win at Rutgers, tying Donald White for the fifth most victories at RU of any head coach in program history. He trails just Tom Young (239 wins), Frank Hill (223 wins), Bob Wenzel (128 wins) and Bill Foster (120 wins).
Notables
- Rutgers shot 58.5 percent from the field, its highest percentage since shooting 59.3 percent versus Niagara on Nov. 10, 2019
- Rutgers had 14-plus steals for the third time this season. Prior to this season, RU had at least 14 steals in a game just once in the previous four seasons.
- Rutgers had five players in double-figure scoring for the second time this season.
- Caleb McConnell now has 160 steals, passing Rick Dadika for 8th all-time at RU.
- Cam Spencer reached 15-plus point for the seventh time in his 11-game Rutgers career.
- Wake Forest entered the game averaging 76.7 points per game. Rutgers held them to a season-low of 57 points.
Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell
Opening Statement:
"Thanks, guys for coming. Great crowd, I want to thank the crowd. They were loud, they were awesome today. We needed it. I want to thank these guys, it's been a tough week. It's finals, papers are due, all kinds of stuff. All kinds of obstacles this week but, much respect, I think Wake Forest is terrific. (Tyree) Appleby's one of the best guards in the country. I got my man (Caleb McConnell) here, and the whole team did an awesome job. I mean, holding him to no points in the second half and five shot attempts. The kid had 33 at Wisconsin in a win, he's as good a player as there is. I just thought we had a good game plan, and these guys executed it. We shared the ball. A lot of good things, and I'm proud of these guys. You know, it hasn't been easy. They played great basketball against a team that is well-coached. He's done a great job with that program and they got a lot of scorers. I mean, they scored 105 points in a game this year. They can really score. We're locked in, a good group, and thankful for the crowd, thankful that you guys came."
Coach Pikiell on defense and setting the game's tone from the beginning:
"Well, we had 14 steals. I think that's a season high, these guys have been great. I think we moved up to number three in the country with our defense and you saw it, I mean, he's (Caleb McConnell) the defensive player of the year. Paul (Mulcahy) the job he did, the steals. Mawot (Mag) does an awesome job. Cliff (Omoruyi) was patrolling the paint. Great minutes from Derek (Simpson), great minutes from Wolf (Antwone Woolfolk). You know, really a team effort on both ends of the floor. Aundre Hyatt rebounded the ball at a high, high level, so it took everybody. But our defense has been good all year. Our offense today – I think that's the highest field goal percentage we've had. We shared the ball, we've got to take care of our turnovers a little bit. If we dropped those down to where we need to be, it really would have been a really, really good game on both sides of the ball. I just encourage you to see that just the way guys play offensively especially. I just like the way we pass the ball and everyone did what they do. In this group – we've been good. We've had a few games where we haven't been locked in on that end of the floor the way we probably need to. But we're figuring things out. This a good group. It was a great win today against the team that will be in the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Pikiell on what RU can be better with going forward
"Take care of the ball. That's one of those things. We're a really good group, 11 (turnovers per game) should be the number, and we just got to cut down on some of that, but we're figuring things out. I love Cam Spencer today, (he) got us off to a great start in the second half. He had good minutes and he was in foul trouble. I love the fact that he played through foul trouble and just came back ready in the second half to give us great minutes. This is a good group and when they're connected like that on both ends of the floor, we're a good basketball team. But turnovers would be the one thing and do a better job with."
Coach Pikiell on if the loss against Ohio State had an impact on today's game
"You play well and you deserve to win, and when you struggle in some areas – you're playing good teams, too. I think these guys learn a lot from those games and what could have been. I don't reflect, and I try to tell my team, sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you get a good whistle, sometimes you don't. Just stick to your cores. You know, this is a good group. And they showed today. Obviously I've got three great captains. Two of them are right here right now. And when they play like that – and they were so connected today – we could beat anybody. So, when you have those kinds of nights, you've got to appreciate them."
Coach Pikiell on early runs
"I'll send that message every single game. Sometimes the other team has something to say about that. You want to make every shot when you begin, but you've also got to play with the lead and you've got to play when you're behind. Sometimes you don't get off to 7-2 starts, you get off to 2-7 starts and you've still got to fight back. So, it's a lot of ebb and flow in a basketball game, and it's a game of runs. We were on some runs, then they were on some runs and you've just got to keep withstanding the runs and they happen at different times of the game. But you'd like to get off to a good start you know, obviously at home here, we got the crowd involved early and I thought that was important."
Coach Pikiell on Cliff's play
"Cliff does a lot of things. He's unique. I thought he got really good real estate there, those are some big bodies down there. I thought we did a good job of getting him the basketball, too. But he kept a lot of balls alive. I was stunned (He) only had nine rebounds. I've really got to watch the tape because he seems to be grabbing big rebounds above everybody. If you asked me, I thought 13 was the number that he had for this game. It says nine here, but I thought he was all over the place. I thought he had a really good approach."
Coach Pikiell on Derek Simpson and Aundre Hyatt
"Yeah, (they were) really good coming off the bench and when Cam was in foul trouble, Derek got extra minutes. Derek keeps growing and Aundre has done a really good job. And Andre is a starter – had been (a starter) – accepted his (new) role, it's tough sometimes, guys like to start and he was like 'Coach, I'm good. I know I can help.' You can tell – six rebounds today. He stuck his nose in there and got up and obviously scored points. Made some huge baskets for us. Those two guys, real key guys, coming off the bench, giving us great minutes and having to play through other people's foul trouble. You know, (it's a) big bonus for us."
Coach Pikiell on Cam Spencer playing well
"He's shooting the ball at a high level. Yeah, he's good, (the) guy works at it. Paul got him some really good opportunities, but Cam – (I've) got a ton of faith (in him). And when he tees it up, we're good."
Caleb McConnell on guarding Tyree Appleby
"I mean, it was all part of the game plan, really, especially a guard like that, man. He's been giving guys – he's been giving teams a lot of problems. Especially getting downhill and making shots and really just running the whole team and throwing cross-court passes. The kid is good and he's probably one of the best guards in the country. He kind of controls that team. So I really just want to just take him out of his game and really just kind of frustrate him and just smother him. I feel like as a team, we did an awesome job. Our bigs – I want to salute to my bigs, because my bigs did an awesome job on every ball screen coverage. They were up to touch, we were doubling them and just getting the ball out his hands. He's an awesome guard, they've got an awesome coach and their play style is really good and it fits him. Just coming in, I just really just wanted to frustrate him. That's it."
Wake Forest Head Coach Steve Forbes
Opening Statement
"Congrats to Rutgers they have a really good basketball team, I thought physically they overwhelmed us especially in the first half. We have to learn how to get stronger with the ball, and we knew when we came in here we couldn't allow any pick sixes, and we couldn't let them in the paint. Our play in the paint was horrendous, but outside the paint was key. We had a lot more turnovers than we should have had, though. We can't play the game that way but credit to them. We did a solid job keeping them off the glass, but I think they have a great balance on offense, they have some really big wings, not everyone is one size. So good job to Rutgers".
On Damari Monsanto's return from injury
"The way Damari played was phenomenal, he had a good week at practice. He didn't look like his best but he did what he could do. I trust when he can score off the catch, and I thought he did a really good job"
On facing Rutgers tough defense
"I think it's both [strategizing for Rutgers and them having an elite system], they play great in the ways they score off turnovers, but we also have to be stronger with the ball. I'll go back and see how many of those they actually forced. They got a tough team not saying that I don't. They made it tough every possession we had to try to score. I knew coming in here that we couldn't just score on the first attack offensively.
