Four in a Row! Rutgers Demolishes Nebraska to Keep Streak Alive
RUTGERS 93 – NEBRASKA 65
Rutgers men’s basketball is on fire in the month of January. The Scarlet Knights earned their fourth consecutive victory over BIG 10 rival Nebraska thanks in major part to a dominating performance by Ron Harper as Rutgers blew past the Huskers 93-65 at Jersey Mike’s Arena. The win elevates Rutgers to 9-5 on the season, and 3-1 in the BIG 10. In fact, dating back to their win over Purdue in early December, Rutgers has won three straight conference games.
Harper led the way for Rutgers with 29 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including going 3-for-6 from downtown and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/iJ3keUc1hT
— Rutgers Men’s Basketball 🏀 (@RutgersMBB) January 8, 2022
Four other Scarlett Knights were in double figures on the night including: Paul Mulcahy (10 points), Clifford Omoruyi (10 points) and bench players Aundre Hyatt (13 points) and Dean Reiber (10 points). In fact both Hyatt and Reiber were a combined 4-for-4 from beyond the arc in the route.
He's doing it all. 😵
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 8, 2022
Check out @paulmulcahy_3's move to set up his @RutgersMBB basket. pic.twitter.com/nO1awPPquN
The 93 points were the most Rutgers has scored this season, as RU also shot 58.3 percent from the floor and 55 percent from downtown. It was the fourth straight game that Rutgers has shot close to or better than 50 percent from the floor for the game.
It’s easy to forget that Rutgers got off to a sluggish start in this one, trailing for most of the first half, with Nebraska’s last and latest lead coming at 16-14 with 11:29 to go in the first half.
Then back-to-back three pointer’s by Reiber and Hyatt put Rutgers up front 20-16, and Rutgers never looked back.
Before Nebraska knew it they were witnesses to a avalance of jump shots by Rutgers. Whether it came from Caleb McConnell, Ron Harper Jr., Geo Baker or Jalen Miller, Rutgers quickly built a 36-24 lead in a matter of seven minutes from the moment they last trailed Nebraska in the first half.
As the first half came winding to a close, Harper started dominating on the glass, drawing fouls and hitting his shots at the line; four of his 10 free throws came in the final three minutes of the first half as he pushed Rutgers to a 42-28 lead with 0:40 seconds to go in the half.
In the second half, the shots kept falling for Rutgers. Geo Baker hit a monster three pointer with 17:19 to go that extended Rutgers’ lead to 49-36.
Then Harper went off, hitting three consecutive shots including two straight three-pointers to help build a 20-point lead at 57-37.
It was all Rutgers after that!
Rutgers will visit Penn State on Tuesday, January 11 at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on 93.5 FM, 1450 AM Fox Sports New Jersey.
