Rutgers Basketball earns third straight win, defeating Lehigh 84-72
It wasn’t the prettiest of games for Rutgers Basketball, as Lehigh kept it close throughout the majority of the first half and even had the game within two points a little over halfway through the second half. However the Scarlet Knights pulled away for a 84-72 victory.
Similar to Monday night’s matchup versus Maine, Rutgers was up seven points at half and ended up winning by 12 points in the end.
With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the top takeaways from tonight’s game.
Dylan Grant’s hot start continues
Just four days removed from his first ever double-double, Grant’s hot streak on the hardwood continued as he scored a career high 28-points on the night versus the Mountain Hawks. He finished the night shooting 9-of-15 from the field, 9-of-10 from the charity stripe and snagged four rebounds. Overall one heck of a night for Dylan Grant, as he was a big reason why the Scarlet Knights walked away victorious in this one.
Ogbole’s Double-Double
It’s no secret that there’s been some heat on big man Emmanuel Ogbole early on in the season, especially after going 0-of-5 in game one and having some more struggles in game two versus Maine.
However Ogbole stepped up big time on Friday night, finishing with a career high 16 points and a career high 13 rebounds to go along with his two assists and a block versus Lehigh. This was easily Ogbole’s best performance of his collegiate career and one that he will look to build off of, especially with some tough games in Las Vegas coming up in just 10 days.
Three-Point Struggles Return
Now it wasn’t all pretty for Rutgers tonight, as the three-point shooting struggles from last season returned.
On the year, the Scarlet Knights were shooting 39.1% from three after two games, however they couldn’t buy a bucket from beyond the arc versus Lehigh. Rutgers finished the day shooting 3-of-13 (23.1%) from the three-point line and not a single player on the court today made more than one, with four players not making a single attempt. It would be one thing if they were clean looks and just not going in, but there were a lot of off balanced and contested threes in this one that just didn’t make sense.
This happened previously with last year’s Rutgers team, as they finished the season shooting 32.9% from three and that was with two top five NBA Draft picks on the roster. This could be a bit of a concern for the Scarlet Knights down the line as the competition gets harder, especially with today’s game becoming so heavily reliant on average to above average three-point shooting.
Up next
Rutgers Basketball will be back in action on Friday, November 18th, as they host the American Eagles in the fourth leg of a five-game homestand to open the season.
That game will tip off at 6:30 pm, and will be streamed on the Big Ten Network.
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