Rutgers basketball can't finish comeback at Ohio State | 3 thoughts, 3 quotes
There was no revenge and no valuable victory for Rutgers basketball.
The Scarlet Knights put up a fight on the road against Ohio State to make it a close game after trailing by 17 points, but they ultimately fell 76-72 to the Buckeyes at Value City Arena.
It’s an arena that hasn’t been kind to the Scarlet Knights, who have now lost all eight games they’ve played at Ohio State.
Rutgers last season suffered a damaging, controversial loss there that included a call by the officials that the Big Ten later admitted was incorrect – it cost the Scarlet Knights badly in a one-point defeat.
Steve Pikiell’s team needs quality wins to improve its NCAA Tournament standing – a win over the Buckeyes would’ve been a Quad 1 win.
But the Scarlet Knights couldn’t get it done.
Rutgers shot 40.3 percent from the field and was just 6-of-24 from beyond the perimeter.
Ohio State, meanwhile, was 11-of-24 from deep (9-of-15 in the first half).
Rutgers started the game well offensively with Noah Fernandes and Derek Simpson carrying the load – they combined for 21 of the Scarlet Knights’ 32 first-half points.
But the Scarlet Knights went cold, missing 13 of their final 18 shots of the opening half. The Buckeyes took advantage behind a blistering shooting performance, building a 13-point lead at the break.
Jamison Battle, a Minnesota transfer who hit 6 three-pointers to lead the Golden Gophers past Rutgers last March in a loss that killed the Scarlet Knights’ March Madness hopes, had 17 points in the first half and shot 5-of-7 from deep.
The second half was a battle until the end.
Rutgers stiffened up defensively, with Austin Williams coming off the bench and doing a nice job guarding Battle, who only had five second-half points and was 1-of-2 from three in the final 20 minutes.
Roddy Gayle Jr. drained a three with just more than a minute left to make it a six-point game but Fernandes responded on the other end with a triple of his own.
Simpson, who was stellar, drained a three with 15 seconds left to cut Ohio State’s lead to two.
But Roddy Gayle made a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to seal the win for the Buckeyes.
Fernandes finished with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting for Rutgers, while Mawot Mag had 11 points and Aundre Hyatt had nine.
Thornton led the Buckeyes with 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting (2-of-6 from the perimeter).
3 THOUGHTS
1. Tough night for Cliff Omoruyi
Omoruyi couldn’t do enough offensively and he also got banged up a few times.
Omoruyi finished with just seven points on 2-of-6 shooting with seven rebounds and two blocks.
The Scarlet Knights center appeared to twist his ankle midway through the first half and had to leave the game before ultimately returning. Then in the second half, he got hit in the neck by Ohio State’s Zed Key while fighting for a rebound. The officials reviewed it but ultimately ruled it wasn’t intentional.
Still, Rutgers needs to get Omoruyi more involved in the offense. He’s simply too good of a player to finish with the line he had Wednesday night.
2. Credit Rutgers for making it a close game, but first half needed to be better
The Big Ten gauntlet is brutal for any team, and the Scarlet Knights got a good reminder of that against Ohio State.
Rutgers can’t afford the type of stretches it had in the first half Wednesday when it struggled to score and defend the three-point line. It can't afford to fall behind by double-digits before halftime, especially on the road.
But the Scarlet Knights did enough against a good team to give themselves a chance late.
They’ll need to do a lot more of that going forward.
2. Derek Simpson played great
The sophomore guard played well on both ends of the floor. Along with Fernandes, he provided a big portion of Rutgers’ scoring in the first half.
Simpson finished with a team-high 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting (2-of-5 from three) with eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
3 QUOTES
From Steve Pikiell’s postgame radio interview:
On the first half and fighting late: “We really got back in the game. They made some unbelievable shots, tip of the hat to them, in the first half. I watched some clips at halftime and we played pretty well on the defensive end but they were (shooting) at an unbelievable clip. I just said, if we just hang in there – we outrebounded a really good team, they’re a Top 25 team, they will be in the Top 25 next week – and we just fought. We just fought. I love how we were connected. We’ve got to keep getting better. I think we showed some signs tonight.
On Austin Williams’ defense: “They were making some unbelievable threes. Tip of the hat, Austin Williams came in in the second half and did a really good. (Bruce) Thornton was getting in the lane and just using his size and strength over our guards. Austin stayed ready. This is what this team has to be, guys that just stayed ready.”
On Derek Simpson’s performance: “Derek’s really good. We need him to be aggressive like that, especially the way they played defense. Every team plays different defensively and what they gave up tonight was him getting aggressive and downhill and in the lane. He can finish those plays, too. He’s a good finisher and he’s a good midrange guy. Some games prior hasn’t had that kind of luck. We have a lot of faith in Derek.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers basketball: Takeaways from loss at Ohio State
