Rutgers basketball stops red-hot Penn State in Big Ten home opener

Posted by Admin December 11, 2024 Basketball

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PISCATAWAY – A young college basketball team, no matter how talented, has to learn how to win.

Rutgers took a big step forward in that regard Tuesday.

The Scarlet Knights opened a big lead and then held on to edge red-hot Penn State 80-76 in their Big Ten home opener. This was as close to a must-win as you’ll see in mid-December because it was their last chance at picking up an elusive Quad 1 victory before the calendar turns to 2025.

“Winning is something you have to learn; you can’t just come into college and do it,” said junior guard Jordan Derkack, who did plenty of it during his first two years at Merrimack. “These guys are learning fast.”

The Scarlet Knights (6-4 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) got 24 points, 12 rebounds and five assists from freshman sensation Dylan Harper, the Don Bosco Prep graduate who continues to play like an All-American. Fellow freshman Ace Bailey turned in 15 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks in his most complete game yet.

Harper said three straight losses, including Saturday’s shellacking at Ohio State, got everyone’s attention.

“The last two practices, it was about competing and playing hard,” he said. “It was physical man, people going for rebounds with elbows, everything.”

Penn State (8-2, 1-1) opened league action with a stunning 81-70 handling of No. 8 Purdue at home and came into Tuesday at No. 18 in the NCAA’s NET ranking. This was the Nittany Lions’ first road game. They were led by 20 points and six assists from senior forward Zach Hicks a Camden Catholic High School alum.

Penn State came to Piscataway leading the Big Ten in scoring at 90.1 points per game, a figure that ranked fourth nationally behind only Kentucky (92.6), Samford (90.5) and Gonzaga (90.2). Postgrad guard Ace Baldwin (15.1 ppg, 8.1 apg).

Rutgers picked a good time for its best defensive half of the season, holding the Nittany Lions to 33 points on 36 percent shooting over the first 20 minutes. The Scarlet Knights also crushed them on the glass over the course of the contest, going plus-14 overall, plus-6 on the offensive glass and racking up a 22-8 advantage in second-chance points.

“We weren’t tough enough,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said of the disparity on the glass. “It’s one thing for them to get a rebound, you can reset your defense – you don’t like that, but you can live with it. But they had four tip-ins. You can’t defend those.”

Penn State leads the all-time series, 45-38 but Rutgers has won four of the past five. The Scarlet Knights are now 6-1 in their last seven Big Ten home openers.

5 TAKEAWAYS

1. RU needs this version of Ace Bailey

There was a key sign early on: Bailey wrestled a defensive rebound away from two Penn State defenders. That’s the kind of energy Rutgers needs from its 6-foot-10 unicorn, and it was present from tip to buzzer.

This team needs Bailey to use his prodigious tools to rebound and defend more than it needs him lighting up the scoreboard.

“He figured out he was 6-10 for the first time today,” Derkack said with a laugh. “In all seriousness, Pikes has been on us (to rebound better). It’s crazy because we have some really good rebounders. I don’t know what the problem was there, but it’s all coming together. You’d better get us now, because we’ve got a good group of guys who can all rebound.”

This was a mature performance all the way around for Bailey. He took good shots – mostly at the rim or beyond the arc – and played inside enough to dominate the glass. He also turned in his best defensive game, showing promise as a rim protector.

“He showed it all today,” Harper said.

2. Offensive adjustments

Pikiell clearly instructed his charges to stop taking long 2-pointers, and they mostly heeded the order. In the first half, 28 of Rutgers’ 33 field-goal attempts were layups or 3-pointers.

It helped that the Scarlet Knights spaced the floor as well as they have all season and worked to find the open man. That made good use of 3-point specialist PJ Hayes, who got four open looks in the first half alone and drilled two of them.

One sequence was particularly telling: Jordan Derkack pushed the ball to the top of the key, drew defenders and whipped a pass left to an open Tyson Acuff. Acuff corralled it just inside the arc, pump-faked his defender out of the way and then stepped behind the line and drilled his triple.

We all knew Rutgers could score, but this was high-efficiency scoring instead of relying on Dylan Harper to blow past defenders on every possession or on Ace Bailey to make tough fadeaway shots. It will pay off in the long run.

3. Lineup change worked

As he often does after a loss, Pikiell altered the starting five. He inserted sophomore Jamichael Davis for junior Jordan Derkack at guard and assigned Davis to come out of the gate defending Baldwin.

The change proved effective. Baldwin started slow and never really got untracked, logging eight points on 3-of-14 shooting. Rutgers leapt to a 13-9 lead before the first subs came on near the 13-minute mark. Davis played within himself on the offensive end, sharing the ball nicely, and helped push the pace. And Derkack filled his super-sub role with nine points and three assists.

“(Pikiell) is trying to win and if that means I’ve got to come off the bench, if it means I play 40 minutes, if it means I play zero minutes, I trust him,” Derkack said. “That’s why I decided to come here. I’m locked into whatever he wants to do.”

4. Big-time crowd

It had been 20 long days since Rutgers played at home, the longest such stretch during Steve Pikiell’s tenure.

Responding to the magnitude of the moment, fans rose to the occasion. The place was full to the rafters, 8,000 strong, and the students stood the entire game. They were nearly as loud for stops as for made buckets, which is important because this squad needs the positive reinforcement on that end.

As we’ve seen throughout the Big Ten in the early going – any team with March aspirations must defend home court. Rutgers did that with a big assist from its fans.

“Great college atmosphere.” Rhoades said. “We have some guys who haven’t played in the Big Ten on the road yet, you can tell them until you’re blue I face but until you experience that…”

As a postscript: It’s highly unlikely Pikiell ever will schedule this kind of a gap between home games again.

5. The needle rests

This game was vital because Rutgers’ next change to move the needle in terms of resume doesn’t come until a Jan. 2 trip to Indiana.

That doesn’t mean Saturday’s Garden State Hardwood Classic (3 p.m., Fox) against struggling Seton Hall (5-5) is unimportant. The rivalry has been full of surprises – the road team pulled of a stunner in each of the past two seasons, and the Scarlet Knights cannot afford a metrics-damaging loss. But beating Seton Hall, Princeton and Columbia won’t carry weight in March.

This win probably will.

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