CHICAGO, Ill. – The Scarlet Knights pulled off the victory they needed at the United Center on Thursday.
Rutgers held Michigan to just one field goal in the first 18 minutes of the second half to secure the 62-50 win in the second rounds of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament against No. 8 seeded Michigan.
The 50 points allowed by the Rutgers defense is a school record for the best defensive performance by RU ever in a Big Ten Tournament game.
Rutgers limited Michigan to 19 percent shooting. Senior guard
Cam Spencer scored 18 points, and freshman guard
Derek Simpson added 13 for the 9th-seeded Scarlet Knights.
Simpson started his fourth game of the season replacing forward
Aundre Hyatt in the starting lineup.
Fifth-year wing
Caleb McConnell collected three steals and is now three away from tying Eddie Jordan for first on Rutgers all-time list.
A key 9-to-1 run to start the second half put the Scarlet Knights up 34-29. Another 12-0 Rutgers run finished off with a Simpson fast break layup gave the Scarlet Knights their largest lead of the night to bring the score to 52-39.
Up next Rutgers will take on the No. 1 seeded Purdue Boilermakers at noon on the Big Ten Network.
Postgame Notes
• With the victory, Rutgers improves to 5-7 in the Big Ten Tournament. The Scarlet Knights enter the 2023 Big Ten Tournament as a #9 seed for the first time in program history.
• Rutgers advances to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals for the second consecutive season and the third time since joining the Big Ten Conference in 2015 (the Scarlet Knights earned a double-bye as the #4 seed last year and made the quarterfinals as the #14 seed in 2018 in New York City).
• The win is Rutgers' second in the all-time series with the Wolverines that spans 18 games. • The Scarlet Knights' own the Big Ten's best scoring defense and held Michigan to a season-low 50 points.
• Rutgers recorded double-digit steals (10) for the 11th time this season and second consecutive game. Prior to last Sunday's matchup with Northwestern, the Scarlet Knights had posted double-digit steals in just one of their previous 14 games (10 steals vs. Minnesota on Feb. 1).
Postgame Quotes
THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Head Coach Steve Pikiell along with Derek Simpson, Cam Spencer, Caleb McConnell, and Clifford Omoruyi.
STEVE PIKIELL: I appreciate you guys being here, obviously. I want to thank our fans for traveling and coming out. They helped us a great deal. It's also
Jalen Miller's birthday today, so good birthday present for Jalen. Just proud of our team. They've been awesome to coach all year. Michigan's terrific. Hunter Dickinson is a problem for everybody. Their guards are super talented. He's a really good coach. You know, to come in here and be locked in and hold them to, I think, four field goals in the second half goes to show you what these guys are made of. Caleb hasn't been practicing, and to give us the minutes he did today, and Jett Howard has been scoring a ton of points. To outrebound a team like this too, just goes to show you what these guys are made of. Great team win. Cliff blocked shots. Caleb doing his thing. Derek, Cam making big shots, two down the stretch. Our defense was terrific.
Q. You guys have been in this position before where you've needed a win and gotten a win. What is it about the character of this team that allows that to happen?
CALEB McCONNELL: Just a good old Rutgers grind-you-down win. This is the type of games we win. Definitely when our backs are against the wall, like I said last week, I feel like that's kind of when we play at our best. Somehow we just end up winning these ugly games. Sometimes it may not be pretty, but we just end up coming out with the W. That's just what we do. I just want to thank my team for sure just for grinding this one out and onto the next.
Q. Along those lines, did you guys consider this game, I don't know if it is officially, like we have to win this game, but was that your mentality going into it?
CALEB McCONNELL: Definitely. It's March. When March comes around, it's time to do all the little things to survive and advance. I feel like that's what we did. You've got to continue to do all those little things, and 40 minutes gets you 40 minutes.
Q. Derek, you obviously got the start. What did it mean for you to get that responsibility, and how do you think you did? For any of your teammates, what did you think of how Derek played?
DEREK SIMPSON: It meant a lot. They all gave me confidence, all the coaches gave me confidence. They told me, go in there, play with your speed, and get everybody open and create for others. I feel like I did that today. Shout out to my guys for making all the shots, and we played great defense. So yeah.
CAM SPENCER: I thought he was great. He does a great job getting in the paint and getting downhill for us out of some of those pick-and-rolls. To step up in a big game like this was huge for us. So we have all the confidence in the world for him, and he stepped up big time today.
Q. Cliff, for you and maybe Caleb too, the best compliment that an opposing coach gave out all season long was Matt Painter of Purdue where he said, if he had to go to war, he was going to stop in New Jersey and pick you guys up. You get another shot at them tomorrow, and you have beaten them twice as a Number 1. Cliff, how much are you looking forward to that today and battling them? Caleb, if you want to weigh in too, please.
CLIFFORD OMORUYI: Just like a team effort. Last time we beat them as a team. Like my guys did, like deflect the passes. Just have to keep them out the paint. In order to get this W, we have to play as a team. We're going to do that tomorrow.
CALEB McCONNELL: Yes, sir. Matt Painter is a great coach, great team right now, and they also have things rolling. I feel like we're going to come up with a great game plan, same thing we did last time. We just stick to the game plan, and I feel like we'll do a great job.
Q. Spilled the beans on BTN about Coach Pikiell smashing his phone and it's made the rounds on social media. If you could describe what happened, any of you guys, and what the message was from that moment?
CALEB McCONNELL: Coach Pikiell, he hates the cell phones. He wants us to throw them away. If you have any cell phones in here, I advise you not to pull them out around him because he might smash yours. No, Pikiell, he just wants us to focus. The cell phones have been really big in mental issues and things like that. He just wants us to stay positive. When you're doing bad, everyone wants to bash you. Everyone wants to kick you while you're down. But as soon as you are doing good and you win a game, now all of a sudden you're the best team in America. So you just have to stay focused. You just wants us to all be connected and stay focused and not worry about what other people are saying.
Q. Cam, you hit that three with probably six, seven minutes left. You kind of looked like you had some swagger going down the floor. What was going through your mind there?
CAM SPENCER: It felt good. Honestly I was going a little crazy and then remembered to thank Derek for a good pass. He got me open there. He got downhill and just kind of called for the ball and was able to knock it down. My thought was just get a stop now.
Q. Caleb, Woolfolk obviously gave you guys big minutes in the first half. What have you seen from him this year and what did it mean for him to do that in this type of game?
CALEB McCONNELL: It's just a matter of time. Woolfolk, Derek, a couple other guys, they've been having great practices. They've been showing up every day and just getting better and working hard. It's about time that it kind of simulates to the game. Woolfolk has been great for us, great energy. Backing up Cliff is not easy. He's only a freshman, and he's playing against Dickinson and all these big -- all these other big guys that have been in the league for a while, and he's doing a great job. So as long as he just keeps getting better, he's going to be great for us.
Gallery: (3-9-2023) Rutgers Takes on Michigan in BTT
