1/20/2022 basketball Edit

Inside Rutgers' victory over Iowa on the hardwood

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

Rutgers won a 48-46 slobberknocker on Wednesday night against Iowa. It was a much-needed Quad 1 win for the Scarlet Knights, who are 11-6 overall on the season and 5-2 in Big Ten play.

"A great college basketball game. Iowa is really good, a very talented team with the leading scorer in the country. Old fashioned, defensive game," Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said. "The guys willed us to a win. Great defense from start to finish. I thought we had some makeable shots but we just couldn't seem to find the bottom of the net on some of those possessions. But we figured out a way to win. And you know, that's life here in this league. Just figure out a way to win."

How did they do it? Read more and find out.

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Before we talk about the excellent job Rutgers did on the defensive end, we first have to bring up Iowa's numbers coming into the game.

Iowa was averaging 86.2 points per game and was the third-most efficient offense in the country at 1.176. The Hawkeyes were shooting 47.8 percent overall from the floor including 34.7% on 3-pointers. Iowa was also shooting 76.8% from the free-throw line.

Iowa shot just 27.9% from the floor (17-for-61) and 22.2% on 3-pointers (6-for-27). The Hawkeyes also made only 6-of-11 foul shots (54.5%). They were held 40 points below their scoring average. The 46 total points was Iowa's lowest since netting 45 in a 65-45 loss to Wisconsin in March of 2019. The overall shot percentage was the lowest Iowa has shot in a game against Rutgers.

Iowa went long stretches without making a field goal received zero points from its bench. The Hawkeyes made just four shots in the final 17 minutes of the game, and scored just 19 points in the second half, their lowest in any frame this season.

The Scarlet Knights played team defense and were locked in. Rutgers kept Iowa out of transition, and when Iowa did get out an run, the Scarlet Knights' defense got back and stopped the ball.

Rutgers forced many shot clock violations in the second half and posted 10 blocks and seven steals. Iowa committed 10 turnovers, which isn't that many, but home team cashed them in for eight points.

After the win, Rutgers moved up No. 29 in adjusted defensive efficiency per KenPom.

"We blocked shots," Pikiell said. "These guys did a fantastic job with the gameplan. And playing an elite that runs and they get to the free throw line, real proud of them. Just found a way to get stops and really as good a defensive effort as I've seen. The home crowd too was just tremendous. That effort was pretty good. We need to take care of the ball better. But we have more in the tank too defensively. A great effort against a team that can really score. I told the team in timeouts, a real old-fashioned grinder. Cliff made great rebounds in traffic. We made the plays when we had too."

Cliff Omoruyi posted 14 rebounds, three blocks, and two steals, Geo Baker had three blocks and a steal, Caleb McConnell notched a steal and had a pair of blocks, and Ron Harper Jr. had a block and a steal. Dean Reiber was active in his seen minutes with a block and a steal.

Rutgers' length caused some trouble for Iowa, who also missed its share of open looks. Omoruyi and Mulcahy suffered from some cramps in the game from pure effort, but were able to continue.

On the backboards, Rutgers outrebounded Iowa as well 49-38 including 26-15 in the second half when Iowa had just one offensive rebound.

The Scarlet Knights didn't shoot well themselves (31%) and were 7-of-22 on layups, but converted 10-of-13 free throws. Harper Jr. made a pair of foul shots with 1.9 seconds left to put Rutgers up by two.

Keegan Murray, college basketball's leading scorer, was held to 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting. He missed the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Looking ahead, the next four games for Rutgers is against the bottom four teams in the Big Ten standings. Rutgers travels (maybe) to Minnesota on Saturday before playing Maryland at home next Tuesday. The Scarlet Knights then have an away games at Nebraska on Jan. 29 and against Northwestern on Feb. 1 before the gauntlet that is the rest of the league in February.

Rutgers is 5-2 in league play for the second time in three years. The Scarlet Knights are 10-1 at home this season and 28-2 the last 30 home games with fans allowed.