12/30/2020 basketball Edit

Made 3-pointers, free throws made the difference for Rutgers on Tuesday

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

When it comes to simple math, three is more than two and one is more than none.

Missing a few vital pieces including leading scorer Ron Harper Jr., No. 14 Rutgers men’s basketball defeated Purdue, 81-76, on Tuesday night at the RAC in Piscataway and the Scarlet Knights did so by doing two things they normally don’t do or haven’t done in recent years.

Aside from various players stepping up (more on that in another article), Rutgers (7-1, 3-1) made its 3-point shots and free throws.

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Rutgers went 11-for-21 (52.4%) from behind the arc. The 11 makes tied the most its had in a Big Ten contest, tying the mark it had against Iowa on March 2, 2019.

On the season as a team, the Scarlet Knights are shooting 39% after shooting at a 31% clip a year ago.

"We've improved a lot and credit to our guys,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said. “They've been in the gym and it's nice having Geo (Baker) back, another guy who can shoot the ball from deep, but Jacob Young has been in the gym, Paul (Mulcahy) has been in the gym, Montez (Mathis) has been in the gym, Dean (Reiber) can shoot the ball too so I'm looking forward to him adding to that, Oskar (Palmquist) is a really good shooter. I thought we got really good looks. I thought our guys were in range in rhythm. I thought our guys did a good job finding the open man. The way they defend, they (Purdue) kind of crowd the lane, so they give you those opportunities and we took advantage of it and they went in so it's always a good day when they're going in."

Mathis, who scored a game-high 25 points, went a perfect 5-for-5 from deep. Both were career-highs. Mulcahy also made three triples while Palmquist, Young, and Baker all made one trey each.

“I feel like I put a lot of work in on my 3-point shot every day. I just put the work in,” Mathis said. “I just feel confident with myself with makes or misses, and as long as I'm putting on work and I could live with the results.”

“We've seen him put in the work every day before practice, after practice. You see us kicking it out to him and we expect the ball to go in when he shoots it,” Baker said. “I feel like our whole team worked really hard in the offseason and now you're seeing the results.”

Like Mathis, Mulcahy has put in the work on his long range shots and has improved his percentage from 33 to 39 so far.

“Yeah, I've been working on it a lot,” Mulcahy said. “I saw Tez come back and he was really shooting it a ton and I shot with him. It's just building confidence and I'm confident in my shot and the guys get me open shots”

From the foul line, Rutgers, which is still last in the conference at 62.4% went 14-of-17 against the Boilermakers, showing that being productive from the stripe is possible.

“We made free throws tonight. We make free throws. I feel very confident in our guys,” Pikiell said. “They’re good foul shooters. They spend a lot of time working on it. We've made a lot of them down the stretch in close games. I'm very confident in these guys and they continue to work on it. Having Geo back is really good. Keep in mind Ron is a real good foul shooter too and Caleb McConnell may be our best fall shooter as a program so we're down a couple guys that could really shoot free throws, but we stepped up and made our one-and-one's them and made big plays. Myles (Johnson), too which is a good sign for us. Especially in this league, games are going to be close.”

Young went 6-for-6, Baker converted all four of his attempts, and Johnson and Reiber each made one. Baker made two and Young made four in the game’s final 33 seconds.

“I think we have a really confident team so I think that was always there, but we showed really good veteran leadership. I stepped up, J.Y. stepped up, a lot of guys stepped up and made free throws today,” Baker said. “That's what great teams do and that's gonna lead to more wins down the road.”