Rutgers basketball implodes vs. Iowa as Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey struggle

Posted by author February 13, 2025 Basketball

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PISCATAWAY – It seems hard to believe, but Rutgers basketball played its best offensive half of the season Wednesday with Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey mostly on the bench, a ball-movement clinic that dissected Iowa over the first 20 minutes.

It was the second half that was the problem as the two freshmen stars drove the offense into the ground and got burned on defense in an 84-73 loss before a stunned and disgusted crowd of 7,200 at Jersey Mike’s Arena.

The Scarlet Knights (12-13 overall, 5-9 Big Ten) saw their faint NCAA Tournament at-large hopes vanish as Iowa (14-10, 5-8), playing without injured standout center Owen Freeman, snapped a three-game skid and won on the road for the first time this season.

It was a shocking turn of events. Rutgers dominated the first half, leading 42-33 at the break thanks to 12 assists on 17 buckets. With Harper and Bailey sidelined by two fouls apiece, the ball movement, spacing and screening were superb and the Scarlet Knights capitalized by drilling 8-of-14 3-pointers.

“Everybody was open,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.

Rutgers also was better on the defensive end without their two stars. In the second half, with Harper and Bailey playing 37 of a possible 40 minutes, Iowa show 59 percent from the field.

Rutgers’ subs outscored Iowa’s 32-12. The backups have taken a lot of heat this season, some deserved, but they outplayed the starters in this one.

In the end, Harper and Bailey both posted a plus/minus of minus-16, tied for the worst of the game.

That’s a stunning showing from two projected top-five picks in June’s NBA Draft.

“We were locked into those guys,” McCaffery said. “So neither of them saw a lot of daylight.”

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

1. Ace Bailey returns

After checking out of Sunday’s loss to Maryland early due to illness, Bailey was back in the starting lineup. He moved past Corey Sanders and into third place on Rutgers’ all-time freshman scoring list, behind only Mike Rosario (517 points in 2008-0) and Phil Sellers (506 points in 1972-73). He’s on pace to top the list by season’s end.

2. Harper not himself?

Though not listed on the injury report, Harper appeared a step slower than usual and played off the ball more than he typically does (he also played off the ball quite a bit while dealing with the fly and sprained ankle earlier this season). During his spells on the bench, Harper did not get out of his seat even when teammates scored. He looked exhausted.

3. Pikiell

4. A sense of doom

The building was mostly full, with the crowd going over 7,000 after some late arrivals due to the 6:30 p.m. tip. But even in the first half, with Rutgers lighting up the scoreboard, the noise level didn’t remotely approach that of last week’s win over Illinois. There seemed to be a sense of impending doom in the building, and as the final seconds ticked off the crowd showered the home team with boos.

5. West Coast road swing

Up next is the program’s first Big Ten West Coast swing against two other teams in the bottom half of the league standings: At Oregon (17-8, 6-8) Sunday (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1) and at Washington (12-11, 3-9) on Feb. 19 (10:30 p.m., Big Ten Network). Having a bicoastal conference in a sport like basketball is an absurd proposition, but such is the state of college sports.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.