TRENTON, N.J. – The Rutgers men's basketball team was defeated by Princeton, 68-61 at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, N.J. in the Jersey Jam on Monday night.

Senior center Clifford Omoruyi led the Scarlet Knights with 12 points, seven rebounds, four blocks, and a steal in 27 minutes. Omoruyi shot (6-10) from the field.

Grad student guard Noah Fernandes added ten points and three assists in 26 minutes. Sophomore forward Antwone Woolfolk had ten points and four rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Woolfolk made five of his six attempts from the field.

In the opening half, Princeton raced out to a 13-4 lead before the first media timeout.  Rutgers responded with a 14-4 scoring run of their own run ignited by tough defense, holding Princeton to zero points over nearly four minutes. A pair of three-pointers, and six points by Woolfolk including back-to-back slams gave RU an 18-16 lead with 10:02 remaining in the first half.

The Tigers took a 32-28 lead into the half. The opening 20 minutes saw five lead changes and five ties.

In the second stanza, the Scarlet Knights and Tigers continued to battle on both ends for the first ten minutes of the second half. The Tigers produced a 12-2 scoring stretch that gave them their largest lead of 57-47 with 7:03 to play.

The Scarlet Knights leaned on veterans to generate momentum following a slam by Omoruyi, a three-ball by grad Austin Williams, and Fernandes made three free throws to cut the Tigers' lead to 61-55 at the final media timeout.

In the final minutes, Princeton halted an RU comeback.
 


Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Coach Steve Pikiell
 
Opening Statement:
 
"We need to have our guys more ready out the gate. It was 12-to-4 to start the game. We can't start off a game like that. I felt like our team was fighting though. We fought back. We were a couple of possessions short. We had to finish close to the basket. I think we missed 17 layups, and that's not a recipe to win a game. Princeton did a great job. I want to thank our fans who came down. I appreciated that very much. Princeton did better than us today, and as a coach I have to do a much better job at getting us started off the gate. They did a couple of flare actions that we weren't as prepared for. We probably could have used one more veteran defender against a good basketball team like that, but they're an NCAA tournament team without a doubt in my mind. They had a great year last year, so congratulations to Princeton." 
 
On what the new players gained from their first regular season matchup

"It's a hard thing to do to not have a lot of prep for this game. You can watch last year's tape, but this is a very different team from last year. I told my guys you have to be prepared for anything and they did change up a lot of stuff that they did last year. They were always in deep drop coverages with their fives and they changed that up considerably. My prep wasn't as good, but you have to be prepared on the fly, especially in these early games with no film. I like our team, and our team will be good, but you have to figure it out a bit. We needed a couple more pieces back, but we were able to fight against a quality team. I watched Matt Allocco a ton and I really liked him, but seeing him live doesn't do him justice. He's really strong, and physical, and he made a few more plays than us down the stretch. I think we have a lot to gain from this game on a neutral site. We have to be ready wherever the game is thrown up, and when you're playing quality teams, especially an NCAA tournament team like this off the bat, it'll prepare us for the next one down the road."
 
On what Coach Pikiell contributes the inside game struggles to: 
 
"They did a really good job with offensive rebounding. They really space you out and really know basketball. They take threes and layups, and they can grab long rebounds off the rim. They can track the ball and after a three-point shot they found a way to put bodies on bodies. Then with us not finishing inside layups, I credit them defensively. We have to outrebound a team like that and ensure less possessions. They burned a lot of the clock with their possessions and you can learn a lot. We gave a lot of guys minutes and this is a very tough game for young guys. But there are for sure better days for us."
 
On giving bench players extensive minutes:
 
"When we start down, we need a spark from the bench. I really like the depth of this team and we get a lot of good stuff from the guys on this bench. I was looking at our plus-minuses too and there were a lot of difficult matchups. We're going to play a lot of guys, uptempo and continue to use our bench. Hopefully it grows too as the season goes on."
 
On the team's backcourt play: 
 
"Obviously the numbers weren't great, but again I have to put these guys in better situations, and we have to make better decisions finishing at the rim. If we made more layups, our numbers would look a lot different. Again, as I've said before, these early games are all on the coaching staff. We have to be prepared for everything and we weren't. Hopefully moving forward we'll get the tapes of different teams and it will be easier to make game adjustments."
 
On defending Princeton's Caden Pierce:
 
"He's very physical and smart. I loved watching the film from him last year. He does a very good job at using his body and leverage at the rim. He's a really good player and will continue to be an all-league player. A tip of the hat to them as they do a great job recruiting."
 
On dividing minutes between Derek Simpson and Jamichael Davis:
 
"Jamichael Davis has been great on the defensive end and I thought our defense needed some speed and impression. Derek [Simpson] plays a lot and I want to rotate all of our guys. Austin [Williams] was the best matchup for Allocco and it was important for us to play him too. Every game you will see a different guy and I really like this group. [Antonio] Chol didn't get in this game and I told him he's going to have games where he makes a huge impact. It's early in the season and we still need to figure it out a bit. We just tried to ride the guy that we thought was better on defense."
 
On Antwone Woolfolk's play:
 
"This was exactly how he was playing in practice. He's a matchup problem, but now he is presented with a tough task running around the court. I would like to have him and Cliff (Omoruyi) on the court at the same time, but they were chasing guys around. Today was a little different than the traditional Big Ten lineups. But he's getting better and better. I'm really pleased with his progress and I have to get him more minutes."
 
On how Princeton defended Clifford Omoruyi:
 
"I think that Cliff (Omoruyi) got some really good looks, but they came with double teams, and that's what they showed on tape. Cliff will have to get used to different styles from different defenders, but he still had his opportunities. It's on me to make sure he's finishing and taking care of business because he's so talented."
 
On the continuation of the Princeton and Rutgers rivalry:

"I'd love to see it continue. I think we have played every team in the state of New Jersey. I think Monmouth is the only team we haven't played. I'm looking forward to playing them at some time."

On Noah Fernandes' play:
 
"Noah had some tough assignments on defense. He was guarding Blake Peters who could really shoot. Zach Martini was able to step out too, which made things really difficult, so Noah had to guard a lot of different guys. Noah will be very good. We need him to talk some more and be more verbal, but I really like our backcourt. We have different guys who can be different pieces, we just have to blend it together."
 
On Mawot Mag's health:
 
"Mawot (Mag) will tell people when he's ready. He's been practicing, so it's on him. He will only play when he's 100 percent. I don't know when that is."
 
On Gavin Griffith's play:
 
"Gavin (Griffiths) is going to be really good. He had a really tough game with some tough matchups. He's in the gym a lot, and today he was able to learn a lot. He's going to be a really good player."
 
Game Notes

• Senior forward Oskar Palmquist notched eight points and snatched a career-high three steals.
• In his first collegiate appearance, freshman Jamichael Davis scored four points and snagged seven rebounds in a team-high 29 minutes.
• RU forced 12 turnovers which resulted in 15 points.
• The Scarlet Knights reserves outscored Princeton's bench, 29-4.
• 40 of Rutgers' 60 points came in the paint.
• RU had the edge in points in transition, 11-0.
• Rutgers posted 14 assists on 25 made field goals.
• The Scarlet Knights fall to 8-1 in season openers under head coach Steve Pikiell.
• Tonight's matchup was the 121^st all-time meeting, RU has won 11 out of the last 16 meetings with Princeton dating back to 2000.

Up Next

Rutgers opens a six-game home stand at Jersey Mike's Arena taking on the Boston University Terriers on Friday, November 10. The game will be streamed on BTN + and tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.