Rutgers basketball got a huge win for their NCAA Tournament hopes, the Scarlet Knights piecing together perhaps their best half of the season on Thursday in a 62-50 win over Michigan in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.
It was a win that could well solidify Rutgers, the ninth seed in the conference tournament, as an NCAA Tournament team.
Michigan held a 28-25 lead at halftime but Rutgers went to another level in the second half, limiting the Wolverines to a 1-for-17 shooting start to the second half. In the entire second half, Michigan made just four baskets.
The defensive effort did not go unnoticed by Juwan Howard. The Michigan head coach cited that the defensive tenacity shown by Rutgers in the second half of his team’s loss is a hallmark of the program under head coach Steve Pikiell.
“Rutgers is one of the best defensive teams in the Big Ten and also as well as in the country. One of the things that they’re missing obviously is one of their players – a key player (Mawot Mag),” Howard told reporters after the game.
“But then overall, you know, you have to give Steve and his staff a lot of credit on how they have fought through adversity just like we have. And he’s also been a great leader, you know, to his team and his coaching staff. One of their biggest strengths that they lay their hat on is playing with effort and playing with toughness. And so that’s one of the things that we’ve always emphasized when we gameplan versus them is that you’re gonna get a team that’s going to play hard, every possession.
“And that’s led by Cliff (Omoruyi), their starting center. Their team feeds off his energy and as you can see in the second half, he was very active out there contesting shots, blocking shots, his presence in the middle affected us.”
Omoruyi finished with six points but had eight rebounds and three blocks.
Michigan shot just 34.8 percent from the floor in Thursday’s loss. They were outrebounded by Rutgers 37-30 and turned the ball over 14 times (Rutgers had nine turnovers.
They scored just 22 points in the second half including a 12-0 run by Rutgers midway through the second half.
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Rutgers now faces No. 1 Purdue on Friday at noon.
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