Rutgers drops regular-season finale to Northwestern 65-53
The hard times keep coming for Rutgers Basketball as it dropped its regular-season finale to Northwestern 65-53 and enters the Big Ten tournament with more questions than answers.
Although Rutgers was able to make it a 27-24 game early in the second half, that was as close as it could get as Northwestern followed it up with an 11-2 run to take a 12-point lead with 13:07 remaining in the game. From there, the Wildcats were able to sniff out any type of Scarlet Knights' momentum en route to their 12-point victory.
As a team, Rutgers finished the game shooting 36 percent from the field and 2-17 from the 3-point line. Cliff Omoruyi led the way with 14 points and six rebounds while Derek Simpson added 12 points. The Scarlet Knights were also outrebounded by Northwestern 40-34.
Brooks Barnhizer pioneered the scoring for the Wildcats with 16 points on 7-12 shooting while Boo Buie netted 14 points and Ty Berry had 12 points and seven rebounds. Northwestern shot 45 percent from the floor and 7-23 from three.
Rutgers also had a tough time from the free-throw line as it went 11-21 and turned the ball over 16 times.
After Rutgers jumped out to a 10-3 lead, Northwestern used a 22-5 run to take a 10-point lead with 1:46 left in the first half. However, the Scarlet Knights responded with a 6-0 run of its own capped off with a buzzer-beating layup from Omoruyi to make it a 25-21 game at halftime.
It was a rough first half for both sides offensively as Rutgers and Northwestern both went on six-plus minute scoring droughts. The Scarlet Knights finished the half shooting 33 percent from the field while the Wildcats shot 34 percent.
Cam Spencer led Rutgers with six points on 2-3 shooting while Barnhizer captained Northwestern with eight points on 4-7 shooting.
RHoops Play of the Day: Cliff Omoruyi lays the hammer down off a feed from Cam Spencer to bring Rutgers within 10 points.
Rutgers will return to action on Thursday when it faces Michigan in the second round of the Big Ten tournament at noon (ET) on BTN.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel