PISCATAWAY, N.J. - It was a tough night in Piscataway for the Scarlet Knights men's basketball team.

RU shot 38.3 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from the free throw line and scored 45 points in the 58-45 loss to the Michigan Wolverines on Thursday night.

Senior guard Cam Spencer led the way with 11 points. Senior guard Paul Mulcahy scored nine points and added six assists. Mulcahy now sits in sole possession of fourth place on the all-time assists list at Rutgers.

Junior center Clifford Omoruyi had his 12th double-double of the season with ten points and ten rebounds. Fifth-year guard/forward Caleb McConnell returned to action after missing last week's game against Wisconsin (back) and scored seven points, had five rebounds and added a pair of steals. 

Michigan had three players in double digits in freshman Dug McDaniel (16 points), senior center Hunter Dickinson (13 points) and guard Kobe Bufkin (14 points).

Rutgers will hit the road to take on Penn State on Sunday at 6:30 PM at the Bryce Jordan Center.



Postgame Quotes
 
Opening Statement:
"Thank you, guys, for being here. I want to really thank our fans for a spectacular place. It was rocking. We didn't play well enough to win in this league, to beat a good Michigan team. He's (Juwan Howard) a good coach, they have got good players. (You) can't shoot 5-for-16 from the foul line, and turn the ball over or create timely turnovers. We didn't play our best basketball. They certainly deserved to win. Juwan Howard does a great job, and I want to congratulate them. Our crowd was fantastic. I appreciate you guys being here. We have got to play better, and we got to have short memories here moving on to the next obstacle."
 
On a lot of missed free throws affecting offensive confidence: 
"Well, I mean obviously, (we) left a lot on the table. We've been pretty solid shooting the ball from the free throw line. It's kind of an unusual night, especially here at home. We've been shooting the ball well here at home. Every time I thought we started getting a little momentum, it was either a missed free throw or turnover, and that obviously didn't help us. In a game like this, you need those kinds of points. They've been very good defensively. I thought us defensively tonight too was good, except for our turnovers on offense. You can't defend in transition like that. They got a lot of steals, and they got to the basket. Obviously, those things really hurt us."
 
On fourth loss in the last five games and concern for the direction of the season:
"You always bring up all these positives. I appreciate that. We've gone through losing streaks before. I want to remind you that we've lost five in a row back when we won 20 (games), and we lost three in a row last year a couple of times if I'm not mistaken. This is a really good league, and we're not the only team that's going through that. We got a couple of injuries that we're dealing with. Mawot (Mag) had surgery today. He's doing well. Caleb (McConnell) didn't practice this week and I'm thankful that he came back. We're a good basketball team. Every year we're in these places, and it's all good."
 
On what went wrong tonight
"We had missed opportunities. A couple steals, our turnovers, free throws, that kind of thing. It's a game of runs. We came out of the blocks pretty good and then they kind of got a run on us. We kept fighting back and forth. We just could never get going. The minute we got some momentum, Oskar (Palmquist) hits a shot and then we turn the ball over and they go down and lay it in. It was those kinds of things. We just never could get back into it. I give credit. That's a pretty good team. They have a lot of really good players. They have lots of good size. Hunter Dickinson is a problem around the basket, not just for us, but everybody in the league. Their guards are good. A couple of them are on the draft board. We got to play better than we did today. Paul (Mulcahy) knows that, and the guys know that. We're a tough team, we're resilient and we'll figure it out." 
 
On Michigan steals:
"They go down, they get some easy baskets. I thought when they had to, go up against our man-and-man defense, we were pretty good. But, you can't defend transition like that."
 
On the offensive identity of the this team:
We have our times where we struggle, but, certainly we've been a pretty good free throw shooting team. We've scored enough points to win basketball games, you have to make some shots in these kinds of games. I wish we were better. I wish we made our threes today. I wish we made some free throws today. We've also put up 80 points in games and we've put up 75 points. We shot high percentages in games, too. The kind of season you must get those ups and downs. Today was one of those nights.
 
On second half struggles
"We turned it over and we really struggled. Then when we did get good looks, we didn't capitalize on them. That's obviously what happened. We've got to continue to get better at those and you're going to have days like that. You're going to have minutes. I still say to our guys all the time that we usually put up plenty of points to win basketball games. If we held them, if we didn't turn the ball over as many times as we did, and give them free points, we could have made this game a little more interesting."
 
On fan frustration and message to the fans:
"Listen, I love the fans. So it's great. They have their opinions and I love it. We've got a lot of assistant coaches now. It's good. Paul's made this program a program that people want to come and watch. I'm proud of our guys. These guys fight and scrap. It wasn't the outcome that any of us wanted today, but we were up playing a really good Michigan team too. I want to remind them we have one more home game and Caleb (McConnell's) last home game. Paul will walk too, along with Oskar. Come back and stay with Rutgers basketball. You've been great all year. We want to make sure that they continue to be great."
 
On Michigan State and challenges with scheduling:
"It's difficult. First, send prayers out to Michigan State. The tragedy that they're dealing with. But it's really hard at this time of year. We have NCAA mandatory days off, travel days, you have a lot of things that factor into changing games at this time of the year. I know they're looking for a lot of different solutions, a lot of different places. It's just really hard. It's really hard."
 
On upcoming game against Penn State:
"I told the team afterwards they've been down this road before. Paul certainly has and so have all the guys. We've got to go on the road and beat a really good Penn State team. It's just like any other game in this league that's competitive, challenging and has good coaches. You have to play well. We'll get right back to work tomorrow."
 
On Caleb McConnell returning to play:
"He said before the game that he could go. He hadn't done anything. It's a credit to him. He's tough. The back isn't where he wants it to be or anybody does, but he wanted to tough through the game today. He didn't practice this week. I'm hoping he feels okay now afterwards."