It was a tough one at Jersey Mike's Arena as Rutgers Basketball had its five-game winning streak snapped following a 76-65 loss to Iowa.
Here are three thoughts after the game....
Digging themselves into a hole
While scoring 65 points might be enough to beat some teams in the Big Ten, Iowa (10-6, 2-3 Big Ten) is not one of them. Finishing the game shooting 45 percent from the field and 12-27 from three, the Hawkeyes pose a matchup problem for Rutgers (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) considering how well they can shoot the ball. Iowa had three players record double figures as Payton Sandfort led the way with 22 points while Kris Murray posted 17 points and seven rebounds and Filip Rebraca had 16 points and 12 rebounds.
"I told these guys at halftime we’ve got to play Rutgers basketball," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "We kind of plugged away in the second half but when it got close they made some really timely plays. Your defense has to be outstanding when you’re down 18. You have no margin for error and they are too good of a basketball team to do that."
Rutgers did not help itself either as it fell behind by 18 points early in the second half and spent the rest of the way trying to play catch-up. Although the Scarlet Knights used a 14-1 run to make it a 55-50 game with 8:46 to play, it was not enough as Iowa countered every Rutgers run with another backbreaking shot.
A rough game for Paul Mulcahy
Coming off a stellar set of games against Purdue and Maryland, Paul Mulcahy fell back to earth a bit as he finished with seven points, shooting 2-10 from the field. Mulcahy also had a tough time getting anything going in the other aspects of his game as he was limited to just one assist and three rebounds.
"We missed a lot of layups and timely baskets but they got off to a good start," Pikiell said. "They're a really good passing team. There's not one guy on their roster that has a negative assist-to-turnover ratio."
Although it can be chalked up to a bad game, it is evident that for Rutgers to reach its full potential it needs Mulcahy to be firing on all cylinders. Cam Spencer led the way for the Scarlet Knights with 13 points, shooting 4-10 from the field and 3-6 from three to go along with five rebounds.
Turning the page
Although there are a couple of "what ifs" that can be attached to this game, Rutgers will need to turn the page quickly as it travels to Welsh-Ryan Arena to take on a feisty Northwestern squad that is coming off a big 84-83 win against No. 15 Indiana.
"Today we didn't shoot the ball the way we have but I trust all my guys that when they get good threes they're going to make them," Pikiell added. "Some days they don't go in and I say to guys all the time it's impossible to play in this league and think shots are going to go in every time."
As the Scarlet Knights' crushing loss to Ohio State showed, there is no time for hangovers, especially in the Big Ten. If the Scarlet Knights want to prove to be one of the top teams in the conference, it will need to shake off losses like this quickly and not let them snowball into something even worse.
Rutgers will return to action on Wednesday when it takes on Northwestern at 9 p.m. (ET) on BTN.
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