Rutgers Men’s Basketball Falls Short at Minnesota
MINNESOTA 68 – RUTGERS 65 Unable to slow down Minnesota’s Payton Willis, the Scarlet Knights suffered a 68-65 setback to Minnesota in a critical BIG 10 conference match-up between two…
Geo Baker (0) of the Rutgers Men’s Basketball Team dribbles against Maine, December 30, 2021. Rutgers Athletics.
MINNESOTA 68 - RUTGERS 65
Unable to slow down Minnesota's Payton Willis, the Scarlet Knights suffered a 68-65 setback to Minnesota in a critical BIG 10 conference match-up between two teams who are well on their way to the conference tournament.
Willis dropped 32 points and was 8-for-13 from three-point range in Minnesota's 68-65 win.
“He’s been really good all year long,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said of Willis. “He just made some really difficult shots, he really did. To his credit, I thought we did as good a job guarding him at times as we could. ... We got to play our defense. We can’t give up 54 percent field goal percentage in any game, especially on the road.”
Luke Lowe was also a handful for the Scarlet Knights, posting 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field (3-of-5 from beyond the arc). Overall Minnesota shot 54 percent from the floor.
As for Rutgers, Geo Baker had a huge afternoon, knocking down seven three-pointers on 14 shots. He finished with 25 points as he tried to keep the Scarlet Knights right in the mix all afternoon. Ron Harper Jr. had a rough day, shooting 5-of-11 from the floor for 12 points.
Rutgers (11-7) is 5-3 in the Big 10 this season. They look to get back on track, Tuesday night when they host Maryland at Jersey Mike's Arena.
