Loss in Lincoln: Late rally from Rutgers men's basketball falls short on road against Nebraska
The Rutgers men's basketball team went on the road and was defeated by Nebraska 67-56 on Sunday night. The Scarlet Knights (15-14, 7-11) hung tough in the second half against the Cornhuskers (21-9, 11-8) but could not surmount a 12-point halftime deficit.
Here are three observations from Rutgers' loss.
First-half struggles
Struggling to open up games positively has been an issue for the Knights all year long, and that stayed true against Nebraska.
Rutgers' defense struggled mightily against the Cornhuskers through the first 20 minutes, which ultimately got the Knights in a 37-25 hole at halftime.
While the offense did not particularly do its part either, Rutgers came into this game boasting a top-five KenPom defense in the nation and did not look the part early. Giving up 37 points in a half is not characteristic of such a highly touted defense and would not bode well pairing with a struggling offense.
Getting dominated on the glass, the Knights grabbed just 12 total rebounds in the first half, while Nebraska corralled nine offensive boards and doubled up the former with 24 total rebounds.
Those rebounds led to buckets for the Cornhuskers, as they shot 15 of 28 from the field and 4 of 10 from three in the opening half.
Atypical rotations from Pikiell warrant solid results
Freshman guard Gavin Griffiths played big minutes in Rutgers' games against Purdue and Maryland, but in the blowout victory over Michigan, it took until the waning moments when the game was out of reach for him to check in.
Head coach Steve Pikiell said after that game that it was no slight to Griffiths, only that the guys playing ahead of him were doing well and had great weeks in practice.
Well, Griffiths must have had himself a good few days of practice because he got in the game for the first time with 6:53 to go in the first half and immediately made an impact. He drilled a three with 1:14 to go in the half and went on to play 21 minutes, scoring 10 points on the night. Fifteen of those minutes and 7 of those points came in the second half.
"(Griffiths') activity was good," Pikiell said. "Blocked some shots too, defensively was good ... He was playing with good energy, and I went with guys who had that great energy."
Sophomore forward Antwone Woolfolk was another unusual big-minute player in this game. Woolfolk played a combined 2 minutes across his last two games coming into the clash with Nebraska, including 2 minutes played against the Terrapins (15-15, 7-12) and 0 minutes against the Wolverines (8-22, 3-16).
Despite this, Woolfolk played 18 minutes and posted perhaps his best outing of the season with a near double-double at 9 points and nine rebounds.
"A tip of the hat to (Woolfolk)," Pikiell said. "I told him 'be ready' ... he gave us great minutes off the bench."
Griffiths and Woolfolk have not been major players throughout this season, but there is no telling where the Knights would have been without the duo on Sunday night.
Second-half surge falls short
Rutgers outscored the Cornhuskers by a point in the second half, but it was not enough. The Knights hovered around a 10-12 point deficit the entire way after halftime, but with 7:05 to play, they trailed by just 6 after a pair of Griffiths free throws.
This was the tightest the game would be the rest of the way, though, as Nebraska utilized its home-crowd momentum and fended off the Rutgers rally. The Cornhuskers raised the lead back to more than 10 courtesy of a Keisei Tominaga three-pointer, and never let it dip back below 10 points the rest of the way.
Redshirt junior guard Jeremiah Williams led all Knights with 14 points.
Rutgers now sits just a game above .500 and is in 12th place in the Big Ten standings. The Knights will go on the road once more to face Wisconsin on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin, before closing out the regular season at home against Ohio State on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena on Livingston campus.
"(We) played hard but not enough on the road here against a really good Nebraska team," Pikiell said.
For more updates on the Rutgers men’s basketball team, follow @TargumSports on X.
To view more of Camden Markel's work, follow @CamdenMarkel on X.
