Three Thoughts on Rutgers Basketball's 66-57 win over Indiana
Despite a tough night offensively, Rutgers Basketball was able to bounce back with a 66-57 victory against Indiana at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
Here are three thoughts after the game….
Weathering the storm
After starting the game with a 7-2 lead, Rutgers fell behind by seven points following a 14-2 run from Indiana and the script seemed to be on its way to being written again. However, the Scarlet Knights were able to weather the storm (in more ways than one) and fight back to take a 30-27 lead into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating three from Derek Simpson.
“This was a great win,” head coach Steve Pikiell said. “Playing in this league is tough and we tend to go on winning and losing streaks. We're getting healthy and really figuring everything out, it was really great to be at home too.”
Although Rutgers did not have its best night shooting the ball, it picked itself up in other areas as it forced 18 turnovers, turned them into 18 points, and recorded a season-high in rebounds with 51 (19 offensive).
A big night from Austin Williams
While this season might not have gone how the scarlet faithful expected so far, Austin Williams has seemingly become a spark plug for a squad that can use it on both sides of the ball at times.
“Austin has been playing great and he's been practicing well, he really has earned the position,” Pikiell said. “You see what he can do rebounding-wise and finishing at the rim, steals and defensively too, you see what he can do against Big Ten competition.”
Williams not only tallied 10 points, but he played a key role in the 12-0 second-half run that allowed the Scarlet Knights to take control of the game and go up 51-38 with 6:32 left. Williams has also proven to be one of Rutgers’ better all-around players as he pulled down six rebounds and came up with two steals.
Hoosier Daddy (again)
With this win, Rutgers continued its dominance against Indiana as the Scarlet Knights have now won nine of the last 11 meetings and have not dropped a home game to the Hoosiers since 2018.
“I liked the defensive effort,” Pikiell said. “Our defense has been pretty solid all year but we have to finish more lay-ups, that's been an issue for us. Tonight we did a pretty good job and we made free throws down the stretch too.”
At the end of the day, neither side will likely look at this game and feel it played its best brand of basketball. However, Rutgers can take solace in the fact it not only carved out its first Big Ten win of the season, but did so against a foe it has become accustomed to over the last few years.
Rutgers will return to action on Sunday when it travels to East Lansing to take on Michigan State at noon (ET) on BTN.
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