For the first time since 1988, the Lafayette Leopards have defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights by a final score of 53-51.
The Scarlet Knights offense was abysmal tonight as the team shot 28.6% from the field and 15.4% from three. The Scarlet Knights couldn't get anything going as their top two scorers, Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr., combined for 16 total points on 5-of-21 shooting on the night. The lone bright spot for the Rutgers offense was big man Cliff Omoruyi who dominated the Leopards down low posting a team high 14 points on just 5-of-7 shooting.
Now let's talk about the other side of the court, the defense. As bad as the offense was, the defense was worse. There were times where it seemed like guys were lazy, lacked effort or just flat out were miscommunicating which translated to open buckets for Lafayette, thus keeping them in the game for too long and eventually giving up the game winning bucket with just seconds left to go. Below you can see a quick clip of that lack of defense.
So far this season every Rutgers Basketball game has been extremely ugly and this is very concerning considering each of the team's home opponents this season rank 237th or worse per the KenPom rankings currently. Something is going to have to change soon or this could be an ugly year for the Scarlet Knights.
RHOOPS PLAY OF THE GAME: Paul Mulcahy sees a wide open Cliff Omoruyi on the block and throws it up then big Cliff slams it down for the AND-1 alley oop!
UP NEXT: Rutgers will head up North for their second away matchup of the season as they will take on the UMass Minutemen Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is set for at 2 p.m. (ET) and the game can be streamed on Peacock.
