1/5/2021 basketball Edit

No. 23 Michigan State tops No. 15 Rutgers in East Lansing

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

That was ugly.

The No. 15-ranked Rutgers men's basketball fell on the road at No. 23 Michigan State, 68-45 at the Breslin Center on Tuesday night in East Lansing, MI.

With the loss, Rutgers fell to 7-3 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten play. Michigan State (8-3, 2-3) is now 11-0 all-time against the Scarlet Knights.

SIGN UP FOR PREMIUM NOW AND GET 30 DAYS FREE — CLICK HERE FOR MORE!!

THE GOOD: The Scarlet Knights did a solid job defensively notching a whopping 11 steals in the opening 20 minutes as Michigan State turned the ball over 14 times. Rutgers came into the game third in the Big Ten in steals per game with 7.78....Not much else went the visitors' way

THE BAD: Free throws continue to be a problem, and it appears the fantastic shooting from the foul line against Purdue was an outlier. Rutgers missed its first seven free throws (though four of them were by Myles Johnson) and it didn't get better as it went 6-of-17 for the game....Rutgers couldn't cash in on a bevvy of MSU turnovers, though it did get better near end of the first half with back-to-back buckets off Spartan miscues. There was no reason that Rutgers should have been down at halftime given the amount of turnovers by MSU and the fact that the visitors had just five at the break....Normally Rutgers is a good rebounding team, but it was dominated on the glass, 45-25....The Scarlet Knights entered the Big Ten's top 3-point shooting team in league play, but they were 0-for-8 from long range before the half and shot just 3-of-12 after it was all said and done....MSU racked up eight blocks and never trailed...Rutgers' offense had no flow and it shot poorly all across the board...

This was a game that Rutgers can learn from.

RHOOPS PLAY OF THE GAME: Ron Harper Jr. went to work in the paint (see above)

UP NEXT: Rutgers comes back home with revenge on its mind as it faces Ohio State on Saturday, Jan. 9 at noon on BTN. Two things to watch are that Ohio State's game against Penn State on Wednesday (tomorrow) is postponed (Rutgers faces PSU after OSU) and the Rutgers women's basketball program had to postpone its game with Purdue later this week due to COVID-19 issues.

*Note: Rutgers announced before the game that freshman center Cliff Omoruyi remains out due to injury.