It wasn't pretty early on, but Rutgers Basketball has opened their 2021-22 season with a victory, defeating the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in overtime by a final score of 73-70.
You can chalk this one up to first game jitters, but the offense was bad all game long, especially from deep as the team shot 27-of-72 (37.5%) from the field and 1-of-13 (7.7%) from beyond the arc today. Luckily for the fanbase's sanity, the Scarlet Knights came alive (sort of) in extra time, as they went on to outscore Lehigh 10-7 in the final five minutes. Other notable contributors on the offensive end included Ron Harper Jr. (14pts, 8rebs, 4stls, 2blks) and Cliff Omoruyi (16pts, 9rebs).
Now on the flip side it's tough to judge the defense based off of one game, but it is definitely not a good look to let Lehigh, a team that was projected to finish last in their conference shoot over 50% from the field in the first half. However, the Scarlet Knights defense did turn it around in the second half by holding the Mountain Hawks to only 27 points on 39% from the field in the second. That defensive trend also continued into overtime as they only allowed seven points to the Mountain Hawks in the final five mins.
RHOOPS PLAY OF THE GAME: Cliff Omoruyi posts up the Lehigh defender, missed the first attempt, grabs the improbable rebound and slams it home.
UP NEXT: Rutgers will welcome Merrimack to town for a Saturday afternoon matchup inside of Jersey Mike's Arena. Tipoff is set for 2pm EST and the game can be streamed on BTN Plus.
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