Rutgers drops heartbreaker to No. 14 Iowa
PISCATAWAY » It would be hard to blame Rutgers fans if they felt more than a little bit cheated after the No. 14 ranked men’s basketball program lost its big, nationally-televised showdown against No. 10 Iowa, 77-75, on Saturday afternoon. By the officials? No.
While there was a large free-throw discrepancy – the Scarlet Knights went to the charity stripe just 12 times compared to the Hawkeyes 23 trips – that Rutgers made just four of their attempts while Iowa cashed in 18 of theirs was one of the differences in what head coach Steve Pikiell accurately called a “one possession” ballgame.
“I knew this would be a really difficult game; they’re well-coached, they’re ranked for a reason,” he said. “(Iowa center Luka) Garza was a problem, he goes 9-for-11 (shooting from the floor) and does a really good job. But our guys played hard and did a really good job, too. We just came up one possession short against a really good opponent, but that is life in a league like this that we play in.”
Those are, of course, all facts, a refreshing statement from a coach just minutes removed from an incredibly difficult, conference-momentum changing loss to not use any of the possible builtin excuses within reach.
The easiest of all? Having essentially lost the incredible home-court advantage that the RAC provides with its raucous fans. Saturday’s highly-anticipated Big Ten matchup would have easily produced a standing-room only crowd, and it’s hard not to think what might have been if the game’s seemingly countless momentum swings had been able to be amplified by a group that would have been far more animated than the hundreds of cardboard cutouts who replaced them.
“Every game’s going to be different with a packed gym,” said senior guard Geo Baker. “But, basketball’s fun, and when we’re in the swing of things and in the game, we’re just thinking about basketball and we’re not thinking about all that. But obviously, we miss the fans. We
wish we could have the ‘real RAC’ here. But, it is what it is.”
Pikiell echoed similar sentiments as part of a larger answer about the recent passing of long-time team supporter Kathy McAdam.
“I miss everybody at the games, it’s just a different kind of environment,” he said.
But, while it’s hard to say if the “real RAC” would have made the difference in what ultimately was a one-possession game, it ultimately didn’t. It never could have, not in today’s current environment.
Easy as it as to daydream about the foundation of the court shaking after Ron Harper, Jr.’s late-game offensive rebound and putback slam that gave the Scarlet Knights a late lead that they ultimately couldn’t hold on to, the real culprit for a loss that drops Rutgers to 7-2 on the season heading into yet another huge conference game against Michigan State was a continuation of poor freethrow shooting that’s plagued them all season long.
They entered Saturday’s game with a conference-worst .624 conversion rate from the free-throw line, and actually
lowered that with a dismal 4-for-12 (.333) showing against Iowa. In a game in which the defense managed to hold the Hawkeyes to a whopping 18 points under their season average, that ended up being the difference.
“Wins and losses happen, but what we took away from today is that we’ve got to make foul shots,” Harper said. “We shot, I think 4-for-12 from the foul line, and that’s just unacceptable. You’re not going to win a lot of basketball games like that, so it’s on everyone in the locker room to get better.”
It isn’t hard to figure out what Pikiell, who made winning the battle at the charity stripe a big point of emphasis to his team heading into this game, will be having his players work on before they fly out to play the Spartans.
“It was one of our huge keys, to win the free-throw line battle, and obviously we didn’t,” he said. “They do a lot of things well too; they shoot threes, they make free throws, they offensive rebound. We did a lot of good things in a lot of different areas, but we certainly didn’t win the battle of the free throw line, and that was a big key to us going into the game.”