Rutgers’ Defense Powers Knights Past Iowa
Rutgers (11-6, 5-2) notched another Big 10 victory, this time relying strictly on defense as they held of the Iowa Hawkeyes 48-46 at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
While Ron Harper led the team in scoring with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, Rutgers shot only 31 percent from the field, and were a paltry 2-of-13 from beyond the arc (0-for-6 in the second half).
So it was up to Rutgers defensive prowess in order to pull out a victory against one of the highest scoring teams in the BIG 10. Entering Wednesday night’s action, Iowa was averaging 87 points per game, by far and away the highest scoring team in the Big 10 conference this season.
Rutgers held them to just 46 points. That is the second lowest number scored against Rutgers in a Big 10 Conference game, ever!
Iowa shot only 28 percent from the floor, including shooting 7-for-27 in the second half. Iowa connected on only six three-pointers the entire night. Keegan Murray and Patrick McCaffery were also held in check, with Murray hitting on only 5-of-14 shots for 13 points, and McCaffery, 4-of-12 for 11 points.
Geo (block) Baker!
— Rutgers On BTN (@RutgersOnBTN) January 20, 2022
CC: @Geo_Baker_1 // @RutgersMBB pic.twitter.com/C6nO9Ph0wm
“A great college basketball game,” head coach Steve Pikiell said. “Iowa is really good, a very talented team with the leading scorer in the country. Old fashioned, defensive game. The guys willed us to a win. Great defense from start to finish. I thought we had some makeable shots but we just couldn’t seem to find the bottom of the net on some of those possessions. But we figured out a way to win. And you know, that’s life here in this league. Just figure out a way to win.
“We blocked shots,” Pikiell continued. “These guys did a fantastic job with the gameplan. And playing an elite that runs and they get to the free throw line, real proud of them. Just found a way to get stops and really as good a defensive effort as I’ve seen. The home crowd too was just tremendous. That effort was pretty good. We need to take care of the ball better. But we have more in the tank too defensively. A great effort against a team that can really score. I told the team in timeouts, a real old-fashioned grinder. Cliff made great rebounds in traffic. We made the plays when we had too.”
Rutgers will visit Minnesota on Saturday afternoon at noon. Catch the game right here on Fox Sports New Jersey!
