PISCATAWAY -- Rutgers returned from its two-game West Coast trip with a 95-85 victory over USC Sunday evening in front of its 77th straight sellout crowd.
Five-star Ace Bailey got the scoring started five seconds after the jump, finishing a Jeremiah Williams lob-pass from the Jersey Mike's logo.
Five-star Dylan Harper scored 16 of his game-high 25 points in the first half as Rutgers took a 44-39 lead into the break. Harper drilled four of RU's nine three-pointers and finished one assist shy of his second career double-double. He also tallied six of RU's 10 steals.
Freshman Lathan Sommerville opened up the second half with back-to-back buckets en route to his eighth double-figure game. Bryce Dortch posted a career-high nine points on perfect shooting including a big putback slam that gave Rutgers a 12-point advantage with under eight minutes remaining.
Captain Zach Martini scored five points and corralled five rebounds in 11 minutes of action while grad student Tyson Acuff added 10 points himself.
Sophomore Jamichael Davis iced the game with six consecutive made free throws and finished a team-high +14 on the floor.
The Scarlet Knights led for 26 minutes throughout the contest and by as many as 17 while shooting 56 percent overall. RU shot 26-for-28 from the free throw line and accumulated 37 points from its bench.
USC's Desmond Claude was excellent for the Trojans, scoring 30 of the team's 85 points.
Rutgers improves to 14-14 (7-10 in conference play) while USC falls to 14-13 (6-10). The Scarlet Knights hit the road for their next two games, starting with No. 12 Michigan on Feb. 27 at 9 pm in Ann Arbor.
"Dylan Harper dominated the basketball game," USC head coach Eric Musselman said. "He's going to be a lottery pick. When you look at the game and have a freshman have those stats, you aren't going to win that game. I thought we did about as good a job as any team could do on Ace Bailey, and I thought Dylan Harper did whatever he wanted to do."
Postgame Notes
Dylan Harper
- Had a career-high six steals
- Had nine assists, his second most this season (most in a Big Ten game)
- Had 25+ points for the fifth time this season
- Became just the third freshman since 2005 to have at least 25 points, 9 assists and six steals in a game (joining West Virginia's Jordan McCabe in 2019 and Cincinnati's Deonta Vaugh in 2006)
- Was the first player nationwide to do so this season regardless of class
- Harper's six steals tied Rutgers' record for steals in a Big Ten game (Caleb McConnell, 6 vs. Wisconsin, Feb. 12, 2022)
- Harper's 9 assists were tied for fifth most by a RU player in a Big Ten game
Rutgers Team
Bryce Dortch
- Had a career-high nine points and tied his career-high with two blocks
Jamichael Davis
- Matched RU's free throw % record with a perfect 8-of-8
Emmanuel Ogbole
- Saw his first game action since suffering an injury on January 20 at Penn State
Gallery: (2-23-2025) MBB Takes on USC
Postgame Quotes
Rutgers Head Coach
Steve Pikiell
Opening Statement : "This was our 77th sell out in a row. If you told me that a few years back, I would never believe it. I'm thankful for all the people that worked to make it a sell out too, we have great fans, we got season ticket holders, students who are awesome. I was afraid of them offensively, as you guys could see. We didn't do a great job on that end of the floor, but we did enough. We played with great energy.
These guys are getting better and so we just keep plugging away one game at a time, and it's nice to be home. Now we're on the road in Michigan, one of the best teams in the league that we are playing for the second time."
On sharing the ball: "Dylan too, when he gets nine assists and they played them a different way.
It's one of the hard parts of our league, we don't play teams twice. You can make adjustments the second time. But we only play teams once so every game is a little bit different. How they attack us, I thought we did a really good job of sharing the ball at the end. As well as getting the ball to the right people. I thought Lathan Somerville in the second half after foul trouble really managed his way around. Bryce was awesome today, he gave us great energy and J-Mike always does what he does. We made a ton of free throws too down the stretch, so sharing the ball, making free throws, makes your life a little bit easier."
On the importance of free throw shooting: "When you have
Jamichael Davis go 8 for 8 down the stretch really never let him get an opportunity to come back. It's very important and we're a good foul shooting group.
We've spent a lot of time on it. They take a lot of pride in it, and we're much better on the road too, so to be at home and be well at home. And we have not shot the ball well from home on the freethrow line. Tonight to be able to do that was great."
On Bryce Dortch: "He's been high energy, he's a high energy guy and I'm just thankful that he was able to come in these last five, six games and really help us.
He's helped us in a lot of different ways. Today he got it going with his offense, too, but blocked a couple shots, grabbed a couple rebounds, we needed it. We were in foul trouble up front and it was nice to have Emmanuel back. He obviously hasn't practiced. Rhythm and all those things are hard for a big guy who hasn't really been on the floor much. I hope to get him back and give us another dimension too up front. Bryce was great today, a big help."
