Rutgers basketball drop Heartbreaker on Michigan Buzzer-Bater

A stop.

Rutgers basketball needed a stop to record its biggest victory of the season and put the Big Ten in opinion that the scarlet Knights finally in good health could beat anyone in the League on any court.

But the defense was the Achilles heel all season for this group, and he failed them on the final sequence of Michigan on Thursday.

Wolverines goalkeeper Nimari Burnett pierced a 3-point open to the buzzer to sink Rutgers 84-82, launching from 27 feet after lateral enthusiasm while the first year goalkeeper Dylan Harper was late on the fence.

Consequently, Rutgers (14-15 in total, 7-11 Big Ten) was denied his first sequence of victories of three games in the league after having led 15^th-Mancé du Michigan (22-6, 14-3) by up to 13 points.

“Just F — ING devastated for our guys F -ING,” said Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell, during his post-match radio interview. “Played so strong F – ING all the time. Excuse my tongue.

It was the first time in the mandate of nine years of Pikiell that he has cossy during an interview. The typically uniform coach rarely shows emotions or even a lot of personality while addressing the media immediately after the games, winner or lose. But he didn’t stop there.

“Some calls (on) stretching, I thought there were trips (on Michigan),” he said. “I couldn’t stop, but couldn’t be more proud of these guys. Come in this place and play the toe with them all the time, and you lose on this game?

The Rutgers Radio team, Jerry Recco and Austin Johnson, was so amazed by Pikielll’s comments that they had not asked any questions once he started talking.

“This league is just a monster,” continued Pikiell. “Did everything we could to win the match. I can’t defend the line of fault. Just frustrating when you play so hard and play as well and play it together, you want big things to happen for these guys – and lose how incredible.”

Native of Detroit, Tyson Acuff (16 points), made two free throws with 12 seconds to do to put Rutgers in advance 82-81, but Michigan had the last laugh. Inhabilctory on the right side in half of Rutgers with 3.6 seconds to play, the Wolverines obtained the ball to attack Danny Wolf, who dribbled through a double team at the top of the arc and whipped by switching to Burnett, a 41% 3 -point shooter on the season.

Harper, trying to decide to help on Wolf, frozen for a fateful moment while Burnett obtained the ball with the space. As Harper died on him, the winning shot of the match was absent.

3 thoughts

1. A vision, then a nightmare

Pikiell never wanted his team to be Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey and anyone. The idea was that Tyson Acuff and Zach Martini were third cycle to spread the ground with shots, and for the return guards Jeremiah Williams and Jamichael Davis – with a full season worked in the Pikiell system – to be disruptive wingers. You saw this come together during an explosion in the first half of 57 points, the most points that Rutgers scored in half since the decrease of 60 on division 2 Stillman in 2013.

But after having drawn 67% of the land in the first half, Rutgers returned on average in the last 20 minutes. This is when you need your defense, and the Scarlet Knights are simply not good for this purpose.

Michigan scored 48 points in the paint, and Pikiell’s only tactical error was the food of the Emmanuel Ogbole force nine crucial minutes when the big guy seemed too rusty for this kind of role in his second return match of a knee injury.

2. Big Ten Whistle

The whistle at home Big Ten was in full effect. No other league official promotes the host to such a measure. When you look at the Big East, it has nothing to do with the home kitchen that takes place throughout the Big Ten every season.

Michigan has exceeded Rutgers 32-18 of the free throw line, outclassing them 21-13 there. Rutgers was whistled for 23 faults compared to Michigan 15. Remember, however: it works in both directions. On Sunday, the Scarlet Knights exceeded USC 28-14 of the band and won by 10.

It’s just the way the league officials drive. It’s stupid, but that’s what they do.

3. Big Ten tournament, Large -scale thought

Rutgers could use one more victory to guarantee a place in the Big Ten tournament, although the Scarlet Knights remain in good position with many equality breaks.

Big, photo, assuming that Rutgers does it: pushing Michigan to the brink of Ann Arbor is a sign that the Scarlet Knights will be difficult in the Big Ten tournament. This is the first time that Rutgers has marked more than 80 points in three consecutive conference games since 1991 (against Penn State, Umass and Duquesne in the Atlantic-10). The key is now for Pikiell, its staff and its captains to recover this carpet group after a punch for the ages.

Here are the lower half of the Big Ten ranking. The last three teams will not qualify for the Big Ten tournament at 15 teams.

Ohio State 8-10 (has an equality break on rutgers)

Nebraska 7-10 (Rutgers has an equality break)

Rutgers 7-11

Iowa 6-11 (has an equality break on rutgers)

Minnesota 6-11 (Rutgers visit on March 9)

Northwestern 6-11 (Rutgers has an equality break)

USC 6-11 (Rutgers has a break in equality)

Penn State 5-13

Washington 4-13

3 quotes

Steve Pikiell’s post-match radio interview:

“Just F — ING devastated for our guys F -ing. Played so strong F – ING all the time. Excuse my tongue.

“Some calls (on) stretching – I thought there were trips (on Michigan. I couldn’t stop, but I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. Enter this place and play the toe with them all the time and you lose on this piece?”

“This league is just a monster. Did everything we could to win the match. I cannot defend the line of fault. Just frustrating when you play so hard and play as well and play it together, you want great things to happen for these guys – and lose how incredible. “”

Jerry Carino has covered the sports scene of New Jersey since 1996 and the beat of university basketball since 2003. Contact it to jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball drop Heartbreaker on Michigan Buzzer-Bater