Rutgers always finds a way to make a game competitive. Whether it is tight games against top-10 teams like Georgetown and Florida or nail-biters against Princeton and Illinois State, not even head coach Mike Rice knows which team will show up on a given night.
For the Scarlet Knights tonight against 14th place DePaul, they put up one of their worst performances of the season.
Blowing an 11-point lead, Rutgers lost 69-64 to a team that averages just one conference win per season since joining the Big East.
“Their mentality has to change,” said head coach Mike Rice. “We have to listen better. I have to find a better way of getting through to them. We have no flow on offense.”
Rutgers had multiple chances to steal the game after its second-half implosion, but failed to come through. With 45 seconds left, freshman guard Myles Mack missed a three-pointer that could have stolen the lead and Elijah Carter followed it up with a turnover on the next possession to seal their fate.
“We struggled with getting in our own way a lot of the night,” Rice said. “...But still, you’re up 11 points, DePaul never went away. Our guys were surprised apparently when DePaul came back and continued to play hard ... When they made a couple of shots, it’s like our guys got sad and kind of just wanted to go away.”
In the loss, Mack tied a career high with 22 points, but could not hit the three that would have put Rutgers ahead. Freshman Jerome Seagears contributed 14 points and sophomore Gilvydas Biruta scored nine and had seven rebounds.
“There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves,” Biruta said. “We just have to get better.”
The Rutgers (11-10, 3-5) puts the dreams of a “left side” finish in major jeopardy with just five home games left on the schedule. The Scarlet Knights host Cincinnati Saturday seeking a rebound.
“I’m just stumped right now,” said freshman forward Derrick Randall. “Everything is just crazy right now. We’re a great team, we just have to put all the pieces together.”