There are tough losses, and then there are sledgehammers to your resume.
Rutgers’ 73-70 defeat at DePaul Thursday could be the latter.
The Scarlet Knights (3-1) got beat from the 3-point line down the stretch as DePaul (3-0), which came in with a Kenpom of 122, prevailed despite having just seven scholarship players. The Blue Demons were missing three rotation players.
Senior wing Ron Harper Jr. tallied 19 points and 11 rebounds to pace Rutgers before a sparse crowd at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Postgrad guard Geo Baker added 15 points and six assists.
MORE RU: The story behind a special scholarship in Joe Boylan’s name
“Disappointed we didn’t block out better and disappointed we fouled too much in a one-possession game,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said afterward. “Give them (DePaul) credit. They were very aggressive.”
This was the finale of the Gavitt Games, and the Big East ended up outclassing the Big Ten 6-2 even though the Big East’s two highest-ranked teams (Villanova and UConn) did not participate. It’s the most lopsided this series has been since it tipped off in 2015.
THREE THOUGHTS
1. Free throws a killer
A 33-6 disparity in free-throw attempts in DePaul’s favor is a stunning figure (free throws made: 18-4). Part of that was a serious home whistle and part of it was Rutgers’ lack of aggression in the first half and lack of a paint presence when starting center Cliff Omoruyi sat with foul trouble.
“It felt like Cliff never really got his feet wet, never got into a groove,” Pikiell said.
2. Center depth a problem
Rutgers got pushed around inside without Omoruyi (who finished with 10 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes). He was hit with one bad whistle, but his other fouls could have been avoided. The sophomore center must learn to do what it takes to stay on the court. Once he went out, could Pikiell have gone small? His backup bigs were getting outmuscled. If DePaul is trucking Rutgers inside, what will the trees of the Big Ten do?
3. Why this hurts
It’s a long season. Rutgers took a tough loss to St. Bonaventure early in 2019-20 and bounced back to win 20 games. But that team was trying to squeeze into the NCAA Tournament. The stated goals of this one are much higher.
Looking ahead, there are not many resume-building opportunities on the Scarlet Knights’ non-conference schedule to balance this out. And if the Big Ten is weaker than expected, as early results indicate, then losing to a DePaul squad likely to finish at or near the bottom of the Big East could have ramifications for team with such high aspirations.
“We’re going to have to play better and that’s my job,” Pikiell said.
THREE QUOTES
1. Pikiell on the foul disparity: “I told the guys after, you can’t defend the free-throw line. We obviously fouled too much, and when you’re on the road you can have that kind of disparity, I was disappointed we didn’t rebound off missed (DePaul) free throws. That really hurt us. We’ve spent a lot of time on that, but you’ve got to make up a lot of points when you put the other team to the foul line that much.”
“Fouling was a huge issue. You’ve got to do a better job of defending without fouling.”
2. Pikiell on how Omoruyi can cut down on fouling: “He’s got to mature. I thought he got a couple of loose-ball-like fouls, too. We’ve got to be real smart. He picked up his fourth when we were trying to get him out. We were waiting for that media timeout. Cliff is a worker and obviously he’ll learn a lot from film. We need him to play more minutes, especially the way he was very productive on the offensive end.”
3. Pikiell on Paul Mulcahy’s bounce-back performance (9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists): “Paul does a lot of things for us. I thought he got in the flow today. He did a good job of keeping a lot of balls alive. He gave us a tremendous effort, and we need that. We needed his maturity on the floor.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.