Rutgers is rolling.
The Scarlet Knights men's basketball team defeated No. 12-ranked Illinois on Wednesday, 70-59, in front of 8,236 fans inside Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway.
The win improved Rutgers' record to 16-9 overall, 10-5 in Big Ten Conference play, and 13-2 at home.
During Rutgers' four-game winning streak, all the wins have come against ranked teams which is a first in program history. In fact, that has never been done before in NCAA history by an unranked team.
Rutgers has topped five ranked teams this season which is the most its gotten all-time as well. The victory also marked the Scarlet Knights' third-straight over the Illini in Piscataway and second time when Illinois was ranked.
The Scarlet Knights led by as many as 23 points in the second half.
“All the credit in the world to Rutgers. That was that was something my team hasn’t seen in a long time and that was just absolutely to get punched in the face. We had no answer, no life, no fight," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "I don't know if I've even had a team with no fight. My key going into the game, was Rutgers has played harder than every single opponent they played in this winning streak that they beat. It's not rocket science. It's not great execution. It's not (Paul) Mulcahy posting everybody up his guard spots. It doesn't have anything to do with any of that. It's they are playing harder than every opponent that they played."
Rutgers has topped Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan State as well during this streak. The Scarlet Knights have a come a long way since losing to the likes of Lafayette at the beginning of the season and even just a couple of weeks after. Illinois defeated Rutgers in December 86-51 in Champaign, too.
"When you go back and you think that that's the same team that lost Lafayette, no offense to Lafayette, but give a lot of credit to Steve Pikiell and the leadership of that team," Underwood continued. "And I thought Cliff Omoruyi was outstanding. I thought he was in control of the game from the center spot. Blocking shots, rebounding the basketball and then his ability to catch lobs and scoring was terrific. We were never in it and didn't play very well. And you're not going to win games when you miss your first 13 threes. I thought most of them were good shots. But when you don't have the energy and the desire to want to work to win, the ball will never go in. And that happened to us tonight."
Rutgers has steadily seen its NET ranking get lower and lower for the better during the last two weeks. It entered the night at 81st. As of this writing, Rutgers is 68th per KenPom.
“Sure, they are. This is the best league in the country," Underwood said when asked if Rutgers is an NCAA Tournament team. "Go find another league in the country like this. Top to bottom, this league is phenomenal. That's a team that is capable of making a really good run. They're not a great shooting team. But beyond that, right now, they're just playing harder than 90% of the competition that I've seen on film. They're just playing their ass off.”
Rutgers shot 47% for the game (28-for-59) scored 14 points in transition, 40 in the paint, and notched nine teals and two blocks.
But the biggest stat was rebounding. Rutgers out-rebounded the top rebounding team in the conference and one of the best overall in the nation 46-28.
“I thought we'd match the fight," Underwood said. "We didn't match the fight until the last five minutes of the game. Now, just next game. We can't worry about this. We got good players. It's February and you see that a lot in February and teams get an edge and they get a burning desire to play and compete. Rutgers is their backs against the wall fighting for their NCAA tournament life. And sure enough, here they go. So the game is so mental, and it's so much about physical effort. If you don't pay hard, the game will never find you.”
Geo Baker, Ron Harper Jr., Caleb McConnell, and Mulcahy have played in their share of games at Rutgers. Omoruyi has also gone through a season as a semi-starter. Underwood believes the experience has helped Rutgers get back on track and find itself as of late.
“There's a lot of games by that group," Underwood said. "That's a team that for whatever reason, in the past year, even though Steve Pikiell is one of the best coaches in the country, they couldn’t win on the road, but they always played great at home and now this team's got experience. They've been through all that and they get a little bit of confidence and move forward and it is a good basketball team. There's no substituting experience. Talent is the most overrated thing in the country. You get you get talent and experience? Man, you're cooking with gas there.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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