2/19/2021 basketball Edit

Three Thoughts on Rutgers Hoops loss versus Michigan

Craig Epstein

Staff Writer

Coming off their 64-50 win over Northwestern, Rutgers fell short of knocking off No. 3 Michigan 71-64. With the loss, the Scarlet Knights drop to an overall record of 12-8 and 8-8 in the Big Ten conference.

Here are three thoughts after the game:

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Michigan Is Just Too Good

While any loss for Rutgers is going to sting, this one should be taken with a grain of salt because right now Michigan is operating at a whole other level. There is a reason why the Wolverines are ranked third in the country and appear to be a team poised to make a deep run in March.

“We played a really good basketball team tonight,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said in his postgame press conference. “I thought we played hard, we outscored them in the second half. We have to make shots in a game like this, I thought we had the opportunities.”

While there is not much room for moral victories in college basketball, the Scarlet Knights can take solace that they outscored Michigan in the second half and covered the spread. While the goal for Rutgers is to eventually reach the level the Wolverines are at now, they are not there quite yet so this loss should not have much effect in terms of their resume.

A Shortage Of Threes

If there is any cause for concern coming out of this matchup it would be the Scarlet Knights seem to have traded in their free-throw shooting woes for three-pointers. Finishing the day shooting 3-12 from behind the arc, Rutgers’ ability to make threes has been suspect for some time now. If not for two garbage time three-pointers from Jacob Young, the Scarlet Knights would have ended with one from Ron Harper Jr. who had previously missed his last 20.

“Our defense gave us a chance but our offense just didn’t do enough,” Pikiell continued. “We fought from start to finish against arguably the best team in the country. I’m proud of our guys for continuing to fight.”

While Rutgers is not a team that prides itself on its three-point shooting ability, at some point it is going to have to become a facet of their game otherwise they will continue to struggle against quality teams. In the end, if the Scarlet Knights continue to shoot 20-25 percent from three their season will likely come to an end sooner than they would prefer.

The Road Ahead

With four games left to play in the regular season, Rutgers is now in a home stretch that will decide whether or not they will be dancing in March for the first time in 30 years. Although each of their upcoming opponents is not currently ranked, there is no such thing as an easy game in the Big Ten so the Scarlet Knights will have to perform at a high level to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“We’ll move on here quickly, we have four more huge games coming up in this league,” Pikiell said. “Every team in this league is really good so we’ll get back and start preparing for the next one.”

If Rutgers can take at least two of their next four then they will likely be able to go into the Big Ten tournament with no worries about their NCAA Tournament chances. In a season that has seen its share of highs and lows, if the Scarlet Knights can punch their ticket to March Madness then it will all have been worth it.

Rutgers will look to get back on the winning track when they return home to take on Maryland on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. (ET) on BTN.