Ron Harper Jr. scores 28 to lead Rutgers Hoops upset over No. 13 Illinois
It was a quality day for Rutgers basketball as they defeated thirteenth-ranked Illinois 91-88 to remain undefeated (6-0) and win their second straight Big Ten game.
Leading the way for the Scarlet Knights was Ron Harper Jr. with 28 points on nine-of-15 shooting and nailing five of his eight three point attempts.
“It was exciting but first thing’s first, business is business,” Harper Jr. said in his postgame press conference. “We expect to be here. We hold ourselves to a high standard and we practice at a high standard.”
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Tallying 35 minutes of game action, this latest performance from Harper Jr. continues his ascent amongst the top players in the nation and shows that in big situations they can go to someone else other than team captain Geo Baker.
“We talk about being 1-0 every day we’re just going to keep going,” he continued. “Beating one of the Big Ten favorites, it doesn’t mean anything to us. We don’t look at anything like that. We expect to win every time we step between those lines.”
Despite another solid performance out of the junior from Franklin Lakes, NJ, he credited Paul Mulcahy as well as the team basketball that the Scarlet Knights played with for the victory.
“Paul did a great job, Paul fought all day,” Harper Jr. said. “He was in the paint fighting for every rebound. Geo was wide open too and he should have shot it himself and then he saw me and I hit it. That’s the type of team we are. We make the extra pass and we’re a collective unit.”
Next up for the Scarlet Knights is a Wednesday afternoon matchup at 4:30 p.m. (ET) against No. 20 Ohio State at the Value City Arena on BTN.
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