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 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.
