The knock on Rutgers for years (ever?) was it hasn't been able to win away from its home court in Jersey Mike's Arena.
The Scarlet Knights have struggled in road/neutral venues against league foes since joining the Big Ten Conference in 2014-15.
But, they went 4-6 last year, is 2-1 so far this season. The one loss last month at Ohio State was controversial to say the least. Rutgers lost two non-conference games away from home to Temple and Miami earlier in the season, but the team wasn't at full strength for those contests.
Rutgers' latest victory came Wednesday night against Northwestern, 65-62, at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. Rutgers scored the game's final seven points.
“We had some injuries in the beginning of the season when we went on the road," Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said. "This group has been really good.
"Northwestern is good and the environment here is unbelievable. I knew this team would be like this, they’re so great defensively and they have a very good coach. He’s got them playing at a high level so it was tough, but a good win."
Life in the Big Ten is never easy, yet Pikiell and his crew have been able to navigate the waters so far. The Scarlet Knights are 12-5, 4-2 within the league, and 2-3 on road/neutral courts this season but 2-1 with a full roster available.
“It’s Big Ten Basketball so one possession games happen all the time," Pikiell said. "My guys were tough, they stayed the course, and remained poised."
A big reason why Rutgers has two road wins already is conference play is late game heroics by Cam Spencer. The transfer from Loyola-Maryland has come up extremely clutch just a few games into his Big Ten journey.
Spencer drilled a 3-pointer to down then-No. 1 Purdue last week, and he made another triple with 14 seconds to go against Northwester after the Wildcats took a lead on a bank three. Paul Mulcahy got the assist on Spencer's shot in both instances.
“All credit to Paul," Spencer said in his post game interview with BTN. "(Northwestern) helped a bit too much on Cliff (Omoruyi who was rolling to the rim), and Paul was able to find me. I just shot it with confidence.”
Spencer, who also drained two foul shots moments later, netted a season-high 23 points with a career=high six 3-pointers. He has scored in double figures in five of the six Big Ten games. He is 19-of-33 (63%) in is last five games from behind the arc and is 40-of-83 (48.2%) from deep on the season so far. Spencer is 35-for-36 from the free-throw line as well.
"We made some big plays down the stretch," Pikiell said to BTN. "Cam teed it up, and then to have him on the line there, he’s a great free throw shooter. He’s a worker, he’s in the gym. He does a lot of things for us. Everyone has to chip in, it’s a team game. I’m really happy with the team tonight. Great college basketball game. We had enough in the tank on the road to get a well-earned win against a really good basketball team."
In his press conference, Pikiell added the fact that Spencer is an effective all-around player, too.
"He's has been great since day one, there’s never a doubt with him," Pikiell said. "The minute he stepped foot on campus he was ready to go, so he’s been great. He leads the league in steals, 3:1 assist to turnover ratio, and a really good defender, tough as nails, does a lot of great things for us."
While Spencer made the go-ahead buckets, Rutgers ended the game on a 7-0 run. It got stops and it got rebounds to be able to give itself a chance. The Scarlet Knights led for over 34 of the 40 minutes.
"The plays that lead up to that are more important than that, like the rebound Cliff got, and Andre (Hyatt's) big three, but we spaced the floor out and put the ball in Paul’s hands, and he makes really good decisions," Pikiell said. "It could have gone anywhere and I'm really confident in all of my players. Whoever is open is ready to go”.
The Big Ten grind for Rutgers continues on Sunday afternoon at 2:15 p.m. in Piscataway as it hosts Ohio State in a much anticipated rematch. The Scarlet Knights will looking to send the Buckeyes back to Columbus with a loss after OSU won last time the two teams met in December.
Notice Pikiell did not foul up three points Tuesday against Northwestern.
“This is a new year," Pikiell said. "We lost some games early in the season on the road this year we didn’t have our complete roster but you have to be really good when you go on the road in this league. Everyone has a huge home court advantage and I told our guys to enjoy the road win for five minutes but we have Ohio State, one of the best teams in the country coming to town so we will get focused on that."
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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