PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Scarlet Knights were trailing by eight points with 3:48 left on the clock in a rocking Jersey Mike's Arena.
A 10-0 run fueled by a stretch of perfect play on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball gave the men's basketball team their first back-to-back victories against ranked opponents since January of 2008, when RU defeated No. 18 Villanova (Jan. 23) and No. 13 Pittsburgh (Jan. 26).
In a game that featured 16 lead changes, Rutgers defense stood strong in the final four minutes where the Buckeyes did not score a point and made just one of their last 12 field goals.
With 2:28 on the clock, Ohio State's Malaki Branham had a wide open dunk in transition and forward
Caleb McConnell made the block of the year for the Scarlet Knights to keep RU within striking distance.
Following a big shot from the game's leading-scorer guard
Geo Baker, the Scarlet Knights defense forced a shot clock violation on the other end that sent Jersey Mike's Arena into a frenzy with 1:27 remaining and RU trailing 64-62.
Baker delivered a perfect pass to center
Clifford Omoruyi who slammed it home to tie the game with 1:13 left on the clock. After another stop on the defensive end, Baker would draw a foul and sink a pair of free throws to give RU the lead with 18 seconds left. Forward
Ron Harper Jr. had one of his career-high three blocks with 3.2 seconds remaining and the Scarlet Knights defense stood strong to secure the victory.
"I think all of the plays down the stretch were important down the stretch, they got the shot clock violation that I think the crowd really helped us with there," head coach
Steve Pikiell said. "I told our guys, we can do those things. We've done it before. We just had to buckle down defensively against a really good team. We figured out a way, we willed it. A couple blocked shots down the stretch and we figured out a way to win against a really good opponent in a league that, I mean, the scores in this league are unbelievable. It comes down to one possession for everybody."
Rutgers improved to 3-1 this season against ranked teams, with victories over No. 1 Purdue, No. 13 Michigan State and No. 16 Ohio State. RU is 3-0 against ranked Big Ten teams, with the next four games coming against ranked Big Ten foes.
RU improves to 12-2 at Jersey Mike's Arena this season and 40-7 at home during the last three seasons. Pikiell beat his 11th-ranked team in six seasons with the Scarlet Knights.
The Scarlet Knights won the fourth-ever game against Ohio State in 14 meetings and it's first win over the Buckeyes since Jan. 9, 2018.
"We were down the same against Purdue, that what this league is," Pikiell said. "We've got to keep fighting and obviously we were connected. We have to make big plays both offensively and defensively. We have some toughness. I keep telling you that I like this team, we practice the right way, guys prepare the right way. The guys were playing at high levels, you have to in this league. The whole league should be ranked to be quite honest."
Gallery: (2-9-2022) Men's Basketball Defeats No. 16 Ohio St
An old-fashioned Geo Baker type of night
Baker a game-high 25 points, tying for his second-highest output this season. Baker had 27 in the last second loss to Minnesota. Baker was (9-14) from the field, sunk all four of his free throws, had six assists and a pair of blocks.
He played a team-high 38 minutes and added three rebounds. The "Big Shot Maker" made three-pointers early and patented step back jumpers late to give RU every boost needed throughout the game. Baker had zero turnovers.
"That was an old-fashioned Geo night," Pikiell said. "25 points, and down the stretch he was confident. The fact that he had zero turnovers is a huge stat. We had to guard people today too. And when we had to we were able to get it done."
Baker made his way past RU legend Roy Hinson for 11
th place all-time at RU in points.
Caleb McConnell, DPOY
Caleb McConnell continues to make his case for Defensive Player of the Year.
McConnell had four steals for the second-straight game. That makes four steals in back-to-back games against ranked opponents. Harper Jr. and RU teammates described his block over Branham at the end of the game as "Lebron James in Game 5-like".
"I told Caleb I knew he was going to get it," Baker said. "We were both running after it and I gave him a little shove to help. I have seen Caleb do that a bunch of times so I wasn't really surprised."
Pikiell echoed Baker's thoughts and recognized the team's defense as a whole.
"He embraces the challenge," Pikiell said. :He blocks shots and is a huge part of what we do. Every guy keeps improving. Paul also has become a really versatile defender. Geo has it going to, he can stop and guard people. Ron sat down and guarded E.J. Liddell which is a tough offensive player to guard."
Big Cliff doesn't miss
Omoruyi continued his dominance in the paint on Wednesday night.
Big Cliff did not miss a shot. Omoruyi was (6-6) from the field and has made his last 12 field goal attempts overall in the last two games. Omoruyi played 33 minutes added five rebounds and two blocks in the victory.
Stay hot Paul Mulcahy
Paul Mulcahy has had himself a great week.
He scored in double-figures for the fourth straight game and it was the first time in his career that he scored 10-plus points in four straight games in his career. Prior to this season, he had never scored in double-figures in four games total in either his freshman or sophomore season.
In his last four games, Mulcahy has averaged 17.0 points and 6.8 assists.
RU will look to keep the ranked-victory streak going against Wisconsin on the road on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
"We play one game at a time," Pikiell said. "We learned from the stuff in the past, it's helped us move forward. Every team goes through it. We had injuries, COVID, and all those kinds of things. But, this team is getting better. Every year, our teams get better. The other teams are pretty good too. People don't understand the depth of this league, it's like no other. Just look at our scores every night. Defense is getting better, we're becoming more consistent."
