PISCATAWAY, N.J. — This time, Rutgers punched back.
Three days after they never responded after a sluggish drought in an ugly blowout loss at Syracuse, the Scarlet Knights overcame adversity — much of it self-created — for an impressive 67-62 victory over No. 24 Pittsburgh at the RAC yesterday.
With a 15-point lead whittled down to two late in the second half, Rutgers answered by cutting down on its turnovers, clamping down on the defensive end and making enough plays to pick up its first Big East victory of the year.
“The body language, the resolve, the toughness — yeah, I said the word toughness — we had that,” said Rutgers coach Mike Rice, who picked up his first win after serving a three-game suspension and watched his team outrebound Pitt, 36-24. “When it was time to make a tough shot, we did that.“We stayed with it. Guys were great in the huddle, communicating, protecting each other, and that’s a step forward for this team.”
After quite possibly its best half of the young season, in which Rutgers (10-3, 1-1) shot 57 percent from the field and made seemingly every shot it put up in building what a commanding 39-25 lead, the Scarlet Knights went ice cold.
They scored just six points over the first 12:12 of the second half, committing eight turnovers in that unsightly period.
But with the lead down to two after Pittsburgh (12-2, 0-2) forward Durand Johnson banked in a 3-pointer with 4:21 left, Rutgers provided the answer Rice had been looking for in Syracuse. Dane Miller grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic, and found Jerome Seagears with a hard-to-believe, behind-the-head, no-look pass for a layup.
Initially, Miller planned to shoot after corralling the carom, but Pittsburgh 7-footer Steven Adams was there waiting for the block.
“Only way I could get it to him is if I threw it one way and looked the other way. It was a regular play for me,” joked Miller, one of two Rutgers seniors.
“I was surprised the ball touched my hands,” Seagears said.
The play ignited an 8-2 run, which included Eli Carter following with a floater in the lane and two free throws apiece from Miller and Carter to seal the victory.
Carter, the sharpshooting sophomore coming off the bench for breaking a “minor team rule” according to Rice, scored a game-high 23 points, including 14 in a red-hot first half, a performance that could make him Rutgers’ permanent sixth man.
“He certainly brings a punch to us,” Rice said. “In that 17, 16, 15 minute-mark, guys [are] starting to get tired, the opposing team is starting to get a little winded, and he comes in and does what he does.”
Rutgers received big contributions from virtually its entire roster. Mike Poole hit two big jump shots when the Scarlet Knights were mired in their second-half drought. Seagears, a sophomore point guard starting in place of Carter, delivered a solid performance, with seven points, six assists and just two turnovers, Miller added nine points, six rebounds, four clutch free throws late and Mack had a scintillating first half en route to 11 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists.
“We play together, play great defense, the sky’s the limit,” Miller said. “We can make a lot of noise in this conference.”