PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Scarlet Knights took a tough loss on Senior Day.

After heading into halftime down a basket (30-28) RU was outscored 43-23 in the second half to surrender a 73-51 loss to Ohio State at Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday.

The Scarlet Knights shot just 27 percent from the field (15-55) and 22 percent from three-point range (4-18) in the defeat.

Rutgers was led by two double-digit scorers in grad forward Aundre Hyatt (11 points) and senior center Clifford Omoruyi (10 points). Grad guard Noah Fernandes, freshman guard Jamichael Davis, and redshirt junior guard Jeremiah Williams all pitched in with six points apiece. Sophomore center Emmauel Ogbole added seven points in a career-high effort off the bench.

The game recognized RU's seniors in a pregame ceremony. The Scarlet Knights had eight student-athletes who walked in the ceremony: Cliff Omoruyi, Aundre Hyatt, Mawot Mag, Oskar Palmquist, Noah Fernandes, Austin Williams, Aiden Terry and Zach Hayn.

Up next RU heads to Minneapolis to play in the No. 13 vs. No. 12 seeded game in the Big Ten Tournament opening round at the Target Center.
   
Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Steve Pikiell
 
Opening Statement:
 
"I want to thank the fans. They came out all year and they were here all day. Obviously, this wasn't how I wanted our senior day to go. Missing shots hurt our energy, and Clifford (Omoruyi) fouled out early into the game. This wasn't how I wanted this to go but I want to thank everyone who stayed, the fans make this place special. This senior year class was amazing, and I am thankful for all of the time these guys spent with us. They have been great representatives of the university and have been awesome students. Today wasn't a great moment but I'm proud of them. This loss is on me, I didn't have them ready. With five seniors starting I thought we would get off to a better start, but we fought back. Ohio State plays well and I want to congratulate them."
 
On the team's mindset for the Big Ten Tournament:
 
"This has been a very difficult year with injuries, but the great part of this upcoming tournament is that a whole different season is starting in a few days. If you get yourself in the right frame of mind, good things can happen for us. Everyone is about to be zero and zero when this tournament happens."
 
On the team's lack of confidence:
 
"In the first half, I did think we had good looks. Our energy changed in the second half. It's perplexing to me how we shoot so well at the free throw line on the road and at home we can't make the free throws. That hurt us down the stretch and when you are not scoring you need to capitalize on those free throws. Ohio State made them, and they banged in their threes."
 
On concern regarding player mentality:
 
"No matter what time of the year it is, I'm always concerned about their minds. Always. This is no different. All year long I'm concerned about their minds. I'm concerned when we win. I'm concerned when we lose. These guys have more distractions now than I ever had growing up. More opinions and more about everything. I always think where their minds are is important. This has been a good group when we get their minds in the right place. It's not easy with 15/17 guys but that's always a constant challenge for a coach."


 
On Ohio State:
 
"They're a real physical basketball team. They make it hard. They get you out of your sets. I did think we got looks. We got layups but we didn't finish at the rim. We had a lot of shots get blocked. When we're not scoring you need to get to the free throw line, and we didn't capitalize at the free throw line either. We fought through it in the first half. We got through it. The game was reasonable at halftime. We were right where we wanted to be. Just couldn't stay the course in the second half."
 
On getting on the road for the  Big Ten Tournament:
 
"It is a new season for everybody, and it doesn't matter where you have to play well. I know Ohio State went last year and played well in the Big Ten tournament. Another opportunity and that's the great part of these tournaments, you can go on a run. We've done it before. We've done it at Madison Square Garden a few years back. We have a new opportunity, and we'll get right back to practice. We don't have a lot of time to prepare but we will be familiar with whoever we play, and these guys have the right mindset. We need to keep Cliff out of foul trouble. That's not where we want to be. But we have an opportunity. I've been on those teams that haven't had a great year but then had a great weekend and that's what we are trying to do."
 
On Senior Day and graduating eniors:
 
"Aundre (Aundre Hyatt) had the opportunity to leave last year, and he stayed with us, I solely appreciate him for doing that. Cliff's (Clifford Omoruyi) recruiting journey started when he was a freshman. With the path he's on, he's going to be a top-20 scorer in school history. He also achieved the dean's list for just about any semester. It's sad when they have to go. There aren't going to be any more four-year guys, that isn't where this program is headed. The fact that they stayed and continued to do what they do for our university, today didn't go well but these guys represent us in every way, and couldn't be more thankful. I appreciate you asking about them because it is their program."
 
On Oskar Palmquist: 
 
"I'm very thankful for Oskar, he came in five years ago. In my 32 years of coaching, he's been the best teammate and the best guy that a coach could depend on. When I put him in a game, I could always count on him. He comes to practice every day with the right mindset. He's going to play basketball for a long time because he's a winner. He's another dean's list student. He plays through injuries, and led us to a great year. It's been a great five years." 
 
On roster turnover:
 
"I've learned a lot of lessons from it, you got to change the timeline of guys making decisions, and myself. We can't have guys in June, July, and August deciding because it is hard to replace people. The great part is we have an awesome class coming in, and we need to because we're losing an awesome class."

On the fight this team has: 
 
"They were connected in the hurdles, and they never got discouraged. I'm proud of when we show minutes of that this year. We haven't been consistent and that's on me as a coach. There are some games, as you know, that are not as excited about our fight as others. But you know, these guys have done that for four years. Cliff and Oscars for five years and Aundre's whole time here. And the one thing I have a lot of faith in these guys is that they'll be ready to play when we head out to that tournament I have."
 
On shooting droughts throughout the season: 
 
"We're not the only ones that have done that. Every team goes on those kind of droughts. Free throws are puzzling to me because that could have helped us a ton this year. And I think these guys are a good free throw shooting team and I know that. But shots go in some games, and we look like the Lakers. Then when we played Wisconsin here at home, everything went great. And then other games you don't, but you still have to figure out a way to win games, no matter what. The consistency hasn't been there." 
 
On Ohio State: 
 
"They're playing great, Coach Diebler has done a fantastic job. Holtman, I thought, was a fantastic coach too and had fantastic players. Those guys can play. (Bruce) Thornton's really good. And I mean (Jameson) Battle can shoot the ball as well as anybody. He Had a really good roster and he's done a really good job."