Recap: Michigan men's basketball embarrassed, blown out in 30-point loss at Rutgers
The Michigan Wolverines hit another disappointing low this season, getting run off the court in an 82-52 loss to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Thursday night in Piscataway. The loss is the team’s sixth in a row and 21st in its last 26 games since starting the season 3-0.
It was the first game back in the lineup for point guard Dug McDaniel, who had a team-high 13 points.
Michigan was never in the game, trailing 14-1 right out of the gate and heading into the locker room down 41-26. The lead was as high as 32 points in the second half in favor of Rutgers.
Michigan is now 8-21 (3-15 in Big Ten) play on the season. It heads to Ohio State on Sunday for a rivalry tilt with the Buckeyes before closing out the regular season on March 10 at home against Nebraska.
First half
Rutgers roared out of the gates in this one, starting the game on a 14-1 run at the 16:18 mark. McDaniel stopped the run with a three-pointer at the 15:58 mark, narrowing the Rutgers lead to 14-4. Jeremiah Williams hit a shot in the paint that put the early Scarlet Knight lead up to 16-4 at the under-16 media timeout, followed by a fast break layup at 15:03 to push the deficit to 18-4.
Will Tschetter hit a layup for the Wolverines, followed by a Terrance Williams II free throw to pull within 18-7 at 13:38. Clifford Omoruyi pushed the lead to 20-7 after a dunk followed by a Tarris Reed layup (20-9, 12:37). Rutgers used a 4-0 spurt from there to extend its command to 24-9 with 11:41 to go in the half.
Tschetter hit a three-pointer at 11:06 to get U-M into the double digits on the night, answered by a layup at the other end by Rutgers. Tschetter followed it up with a layup of his own, cutting Rutgers’ lead to 26-14 with 10:08 remaining. The Scarlet Knights added four points on a pair of layups to push the lead to 30-14 with 9:13 left on the clock. Reed stopped the brief run with a dunk, bringing the score to 30-16 (8:22).
Rutgers already had complete control, but put its foot on the gas late in the first half, going on an 11-0 run to push its lopsided lead to 41-16 with 5:28 to go. McDaniel killed the run with a three-pointer, bringing the score to 41-19 by the time the under-4 media timeout came (3:13). The Wolverines would score the next seven points to end the half, cutting the Rutgers lead to 41-26 heading into the locker room.
Second half
Terrance Williams II got the scoring started with a jumper to start the half, but it would be as close as Michigan would be the rest of the way. Rutgers followed it with a 9-0 run, pushing their lead to 50-28 with 17:26 remaining. Reed cut into the lead with a layup and-one free throw make at 16:58, but Rutgers rattled off a 6-0 scoring run with 14:38 to go.
Williams hit a three, which was answered by Rutgers to keep the lead at 25 points at 59-34. The teams would trade baskets over the next few possessions with a Rutgers three-pointer pushing the lead to 64-38 with 8:57 to go. A quick 4-0 burst from the Wolverines on free throws from Burnett and Tschetter cut the Rutgers lead down to 64-42.
Rutgers hit a pair of free throws, followed by a Burnett three-pointer. Omoruyi dunked, answered by a 3-0 run by Michigan. Rutgers went on a 12-0 run, pushing the lead to a game-high 32 points in favor of the Scarlet Knights at 80-48 with 1:53 to go.
Michigan got four points on the board on a pair of George Washington III free throws and a Cooper Smith layup. Rutgers had one more basket in them and won 82-52.
Michigan at Rutgers final box score
