2/6/2021 football Edit

Three Thoughts on Rutgers Hoops win over Minnesota

Craig Epstein

Staff Writer

For the first time since joining the Big Ten Conference, Rutgers has won four games in a row as the Scarlet Knights earned a hard-fought win over Minnesota 76-72. With the win, Rutgers improves to an overall record of 11-6 and 7-6 in the Big Ten.

Here are three thoughts after the game:

SIGN UP FOR PREMIUM FOR FREE UNTIL EASTER SUNDAY — CLICK HERE FOR MORE

GOING STREAKING

Rutgers is on a roll right now as their four-game win streak is the program’s longest since the 2003-04 season when it was a member of the Big East conference.

“I knew today would be a real difficult basketball game, but Coach [Richard] Pitino does a really good job with these guys,” Head Coach Steve Pikiell said in his postgame press conference. “I knew they would challenge us in every way but I’m proud of our guys, this was an old-fashioned grinder.”

In addition, this victory puts Rutgers a game over .500 in conference play and firmly into the upper echelon of the Big Ten standings as all of the teams ahead of them are currently ranked. With their next matchup coming against No. 8 Iowa if the Scarlet Knights are able to make it five in a row there is a good chance they will find themselves in the rankings as well.

COOL HAND CALEB

Despite coming into this season expecting to redshirt due to a back injury, Caleb McConnell’s calming presence and defensive prowess have played a pivotal role in pulling Rutgers out of their early-season slump. However, this was the Jacksonville native’s best game of the season so far as he finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and hit key shots to secure the victory.

“Our defensive stops were just terrific and it’s another game where we outrebounded our opponent which has been a struggle for us at times,” Pikiell continued. “We got to the free-throw line more than they did, that’s been a struggle too.”

Although Rutgers double-teamed Minnesota’s Marcus Carr down the stretch, McConnell was tasked with defending the Toronto native for much of the contest which is a daunting task in itself. While Carr finished the game with 18 points, the Scarlet Knights did not allow the junior guard to take over the game as they held him to just one three-pointer.

“You’ve got to play team defense against Marcus Carr so everyone was attached,” Pikiell said. “Jacob [Young] did a great job in the first half, Montez [Mathis], Caleb [McConnell], and then our bigs had to do a great job. Marcus Carr is a really good player and you have to do a really good job on him. I know he got 18 points and I know he had 7 assists but I thought he had to really work for those and team defense, that’s how you corral a guy like him.”

A QUESTIONABLE DECISION BY MINNESOTA

In what was a gritty back-and-forth game that looked like it might come down to a last-second shot, Minnesota made a peculiar decision en route to falling to 0-6 on the road. Down by three with 30 seconds left, the Golden Gophers opted to have Carr hoist a deep three despite being double-teamed rather than go for two and force the Scarlet Knights to the free-throw line.

“I’m proud of the way we’re defending now and rebounding,” Pikiell added. “We didn’t get caught up, we made free-throws in the second half to kind of wrap things up so good teams do those things. You’ve got to get big stops and we did when we had to, we got fouled and made free-throws and we executed down the stretch with the possessions that we needed to execute on.”

While Carr can hit just about any shot on the floor at any given time, most of his points came when attacking so having him take such a low-percentage shot in crunch time is a mistake Rutgers will take and run with. Combine that with the fact the Scarlet Knights rank amongst the worst in the nation when it comes to free-throws, the decision to not try and extend the game is even more baffling.

Rutgers will return to action when they travel to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take on No. 8 Iowa on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. (ET) on BTN.