Rutgers Men’s Hoops Suffer Another Tough Loss in Big Ten Play

Try as hard as they could, Rutgers couldn't slow down No. 14 ranked Illinois in a 86-63 defeat in Champaign, Illinois on Sunday afternoon, dropping the scarlet Knights to 10-8 on the year and 2-5 in Big Ten Conference play.

Rutgers trimmed the deficit to five points, before Illinois went on a 30-11 run in the second half to walk away with the victory.

"We clawed back in, missed way too many layups, and had problems on the backboards, we didn't use all 40 minutes on the road to the best of our ability today," Head Coach Steve Pikiell said afterwards.

Clifford Omoruyi had a huge day offensively, leading all scorers with 22 points on 10-of-19 shooting. He was one rebound shy of another double-double for Rutgers.

Aundre Hyatt (11 points) and Noah Fernandes (10 points) were also in double-figures for the Scarlet Knights.

The Illini proved to be too much to handle, as five Illinois players finished in double-figures. Justin Harmon led the way with 18 points off the bench for Illinois. Quincy Guerrier led all Illini starters with 15 points.

The loss opened up a tough stretch for Rutgers against ranked opponents. Next Sunday the Scarlet Knights face perhaps one of the best teams in the country in No. 2 ranked Purdue at Jersey Mike's Arena. Tip-off will be at 1 p.m.