EAST LANSING, MI. – The Scarlet Knights took a tough loss on the road to the Michigan State Spartans 70-57 on Thursday night.

RU out-rebounded Michigan State 42 to 24 and had a season-high 18 offensive rebounds. Junior center Clifford Omoruyi led the way with his seventh double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 boards.

Senior guard Paul Mulcahy notched 12 points on 5-for-8 from the field. The Bayonne, N.J. native had four assists and passed Anthony Farmer for sixth all-time in career assists at RU.

Fifth-year wing Caleb McConnell scored 11 points, and added six rebounds and four steals. McConnell moved past Geo Baker for fourth all-time at RU in the category.

Senior guard Cam Spencer had eight points, seven rounds and three steals,

Rutgers started off the game on a 14-5 run, but the Spartans combated with a run of their own to cut it to a 16-14 RU lead 10 minutes in. RU shot 2-for-17 from long distance in the game. The Scarlet Knights' 18 offensive rebounds matched their season-high and was their most in a Big Ten game since collecting 20 against Wisconsin on Jan. 15, 2021. 

RU returns to action on Tuesday night at Jersey Mike's Arena as the team hosts the Nittany Lions of Penn State at 6:30 PM.
 
Postgame Quotes

Head coach Steve Pikiell
 
Opening Statement
 
"Give Michigan State a ton of credit. Coach Tom Izzo does a great job, and they really shot the ball extremely well. I really thought we could defend them. Their transition hurt us and we got some good looks too. You have got to make a few on the road, you got to play better than that on the road to beat a Hall of Fame coach with the fan base here and tough place to play. I liked our effort, we outrebounded them, and we got a season high 18 offensive rebounds. We did some good things, beat them at the free throw line, and we got more points there. You're not going to be able to stand that on the road, in this league, but credit to Michigan State. They play hard. They're good. They're well coached and their guys got it going tonight."
 
On the Rutgers shooting tonight vs. Michigan State:
 
"You could always give the other team tremendous credit, but you know Cam (Spencer) whose been shooting the ball at a high level, and I thought he got good looks. I thought we got some good looks. They made it tough for us too at times and, we really had to attack the glass as a secondary way to score. Again, when you're on the road, you give up those kinds of points. They shot the ball, I mean, I don't know if they've shot the ball better from three this season. They made threes and we didn't. I love my team. They're tough, they play hard. We need a couple of days here and then we got an unbelievably tough home game against Penn State. So, it doesn't get any easier in this league, that's for sure."
 
On what went wrong:
 
"The ball went in, it's a game of runs, we expect them to run, they really got us in transition, and to tie the game back up. That's how these games go. We had a run to begin the game. They had the next run. I really liked the fact we got into halftime, within a couple of possessions, but just we're never able to get over the hill here and you know, it's good team." 
 
On outrebounding Michigan State:
 
"I mean, not the way we shot the ball. But yes, that was a key for us, the backboards, and getting to the free throw line. I thought we did that but giving up that percentage from three and then not being able to, generate any of that for ourselves, really hurt us but they did a great job. They really did share the ball and they got open looks, and they made them when they got them."
 
"They got him in a lot of ways. They got them deep, they made some at the end of the shot clock. Hogarth had a couple of bombs. They got some in transition. They got a lot of guys that are capable of making shots and they made them tonight. What happens when you do that you're usually a happy coach. I'm sure coach is happy tonight." 
              
On the play of Dean Reiber and Antwone Woolfolk behind Clifford Omoruyi at center:
 
"First I'd like to have Cliff (Omoruyi) on the floor as many minutes as I can, obviously had another double-double tonight. He's a problem in there, block shots, does a lot of things for us. So those other guys don't have a lot of opportunity. But you know, (Antwone Woolfolk) is physical. Dean (Reiber) can shoot the ball. I'm very confident in those guys. Luckily for us, Cliff hasn't been in foul trouble, but those guys are very capable, both, and really help us."
 
On the success of Rutgers since Coach Pikiell took over the program:
 
"I have great assistant coaches Brandon Knight, Karl Hobbs, T.J. Thompson. Those guys do a great job. We just continue to just plug away. When I took over the job, we were in 14th place, and that's where we were, and that's a real hard league to move up the board on. I got some guys that took on the challenge. They took on a challenge of coming to a program that hadn't been to the NCAA tournament and they wanted to be a part of that. Paul Mulcahy, Caleb McConnell, Cliff, those guys they continue to take on challenges. This league is full of challenges, everywhere you turn, you have teams that are elite, well coached, and great fan bases. We just keep plugging away. We try to make sure our kids are all graduating at a great university. We got a brand-new practice facility, and I got great assistant coaches, keep that things rolling, and kids get better that come in our program. I'm proud of that, but it's the work that they do that makes them get better."
 


On how hard it is to win in the Big Ten Conference:
 
"It is just the gauntlet of teams, travel, different styles, and coaches. You have got to be tough and you got to be resilient. We say to our guys you got to get back up off the mat. This is a league that, you don't just stand in the center of the ring and win fights all the time. You got to get knocked down and get back up. It's one thing I think we've done a pretty good job of, and if you don't do that in this league, it can be a humbling league. We have to keep getting back up, keep getting back up and get ready for the obstacle."
 
On preparing for Tuesday's game:

"You can't spend a lot of time in a league like this. Penn State is excellent, and they probably have one of the best players in the whole country. We'll learn from it. This group has been good. They've learned, they're coachable. It's a great group. It really is. We'll learn from it, and we'll see them again in a couple of weeks, it doesn't get any easier. We'll see him in Madison Square Garden. We'll learn from it. We'll move on and we got another obstacle in front of from Penn State.
 
On the challenge of playing at Michigan State:
 
"I know every time we come here, no matter what my team is, that Coach Izzo is always going to have his guys ready. So, you must play great, you know, I don't know Jerry, if that's the case, we got to you know, I think we get a little respect and that's kind of nice, but, you know, you got to continue to earn in a league like this every week. Every time you play every 40 minutes. Men continue to play you know, through 40 minutes to prepare and all the different things staying healthy all the things you need to do."