NEW YORK – The ingredients were there for Rutgers to pull off a major, potentially season-shifting upset.
Madison Square Garden. A packed crowd full of Scarlet Knights fans. A national television audience. A ranked opponent in No. 8 Michigan State.
All of it would’ve made for a memorable victory.
But the Scarlet Knights couldn’t get it done.
Steve Pikiell’s team started strong but ultimately couldn’t keep up with the Spartans in an 81-74 loss on Saturday at The Garden as Michigan State extended its winning streak to 12 games.
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A victory for Rutgers would’ve given it a signature victory at a time it badly needs it. Instead the Scarlet Knights’ NCAA Tournament hopes continue to get dimmer as losses continue to pile up.
Another issue hampering Rutgers: Dylan Harper’s health. The point guard, who suffered a sprained ankle against Penn State on Monday, played just 13 minutes, including just two in the second half.
“I’m proud of our guys’ effort,” Pikiell said. “We are banged up right now.”
Michigan State, which shot 48.2 percent, took a 10-point lead with just under 11 minutes to go and mostly maintained a double-digit lead until the final minutes.
Rutgers shot a paltry 33.8 percent from the field and went 9-of-30 from beyond the arc.
Jordan Derkack led the Scarlet Knights with 26 points.
“He’s not as good as harper because harper stirs the drink,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. “But he did a hell of a job.”
Ace Bailey had a tough shooting performance, finishing with 18 points on 4-of-17 shooting (2-of-5 from the perimeter). He did go 8-of-8 from the free-throw line and grabbed nine rebounds.
Rutgers got off to a great start, playing with high energy and forcing turnovers in the early minutes to jump out to a 10-3 lead.
But Michigan State then reeled off a 16-1 run to take control of the game – but only briefly. The Scarlet Knights climbed back and a three-point play by Derkack, who had big minutes off the bench, converted a three-point play to tie the game at 28 with just less than two minutes to go in the first half.
Rutgers ultimately went into the break trailing 35-32.
Michigan State, which isn’t a good shooting team, took 12 three-point attempts before the break and hit just three of them.
That changed in the second half as the Spartans limited their attempts from long distance and started driving the basket more frequently.
Michigan State, which entered the game ranked No. 7 nationally with a plus-9.7 rebounding margin, won the battle on the boards 44-34.
Pikiell expressed confidence in his team’s outlook, especially if it can get healthier.
“We’re close,” Pikiell said.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
1. Dylan Harper doesn’t start, but plays
Rutgers’ star freshman point guard wasn’t on the court much against Michigan state because of that bad ankle.
Harper, who also recently battled a bad strain of the flu that cost him time, didn’t start before entering the game about six minutes into the first half.
“He did everything possible to get back for this game,” Pikiell said. “I was proud of him to give it a try, he’s been gritty and tough for us. Just going to take a little bit more time. …I honestly didn’t think he was going to play.”
Regardless, Harper finished with six points on 2-of-4 shooting.
Rutgers’ chances in this game were already slim – but without a healthy Harper, they were practically nonexistent.
“That was a hell of an advantage for us not having him in there,” Izzo said.
2. Michigan State’s points in the paint
The Spartans finished with 42 points inside. Rutgers had 26.
The Scarlet Knights have been weak inside defensively all season, but this disparity was striking.
And the situation’s not going to get any better anytime soon with center Emmanuel Ogbole out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
3. Jordan Derkack’s performance off the bench
This was also a big opportunity for Jordan Derkack and the Colonia native took advantage.
“Playing at MSG today was really cool for me,” Derkack said. “It was a great experience.”
He went 7-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-6 from long range. Derkack also went 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Making his performance more impressive was that Derkack didn’t practice Friday because of a hip injury, Pikiell said.
“I worked with our trainers yesterday and this morning to get as healthy as I could for the game,” Derkack said.
Derkack went 3-of-4 from the field, including two three-pointers, with two rebounds and one assist in eight minutes before the break. His three-point play tied the game at 28.
Derkack’s production helped keep Rutgers in the game and give the Scarlet Knights a chance heading into the second half.
He continued to play well. But he didn’t have enough help.
4. Great atmosphere at The Garden
More than 14,000 tickets had been sold for this game by the time this week arrived, and the expectation was that it could climb past 16,000 – that turned out to be the case by a significant margin.
The official attendance was 17,480.
“Playing in front of 17,000 Rutgers fans, it was dope,” Bailey said. “They gave us life toward the end.”
It was a packed MSG crowd, with red in the stands far outweighing any green. And the energy from the crowd was strong from the start.
While MSG may not provide the type of homecourt environment the compact confines of Jersey Mike’s Arena provide, playing at The World’s Most Famous Arena is still beneficial for the Scarlet Knights, especially to showcase their future lottery picks Harper and Bailey.
This was about as good an atmosphere as Rutgers and its fans could’ve hoped for.
“That was a hell of a crowd out there for a college basketball game,” Izzo said. “Everybody deserves a little credit for that. …I give Rutgers people credit. That was red from a lot of areas and it was a pretty good basketball game.”
5. Up next
Rutgers will hit the road again for the third time in its last four games when it plays against Northwestern Wednesday in Evanston (9 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network). The Wildcats, who play No. 17 Illinois Sunday, are 12-7 overall and 3-5 in conference, including a nine-point win over Indiana on Wednesday.
