PISCATAWAY – This was a major opportunity for Rutgers at a time it badly needed it.
A ranked opponent in Purdue, at home, with the Scarlet Knights desperately searching for signature victories to salvage a season that’s quickly gone off the rails.
In other years, Steve Pikiell’s team might’ve been able to take advantage, summon every ounce of energy and grit and toughness and fight to emerge with a win.
Not this year. Not this team.
Rutgers committed too many turnovers early, its defense lacked all game long and its questionable offense was exposed yet again in a 68-50 loss to the No. 19 Boilermakers Thursday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
The Scarlet Knights have now lost three in a row and four of their last five.
Boos rained down on the court when Purdue took a 16-point lead with four minutes left, prompting many fans to streak for the exits.
Ace Bailey led Rutgers with 17 points, while Tyson Acuff had 10 off the bench.
The Scarlet Knights’ shot just 32.7 percent from the field and went 7-of-23 from long distance.
Braden Smith and Trey Renn-Kaufman each had 16 points for Purdue (Smith also had 14 assists).
Jersey Mike’s Arena hasn’t been an easy place to play for Purdue in recent years – Matt Painter’s team entered Thursday a loser of three of the previous four meetings these teams have had here.
Rutgers had won five of the previous nine meetings overall.
Purdue didn’t even play all that well Thursday night – the Boilermakers shot a paltry 4-of-24 from the three-point line.
This game was there for Rutgers until Purdue broke it open in the closing minutes. The Scarlet Knights just couldn’t get enough stops or make enough plays for that to matter.
The first half ended with Purdue holding a 33-24 lead, but that advantage could’ve been much larger had the Boilermakers shot better than 2-of-13 from three-point range.
Rutgers didn’t help itself with 12 first-half turnovers that led to nine points for Purdue.
It was a pretty sloppy, underwhelming half of basketball from the Scarlet Knights, who shot just 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) before the break.
Things didn’t get much better from that point on.
Five takeaways
1. Dylan Harper looks better, though not 100 percent
The star freshman has been battling the flu, which limited badly in Monday’s loss to Wisconsin, but Harper looked closer to full strength against Purdue.
Certainly not all the way back, but better – Pikiell said after the team’s loss to the Badgers that Harper had a “bad strand” of the flu. It showed.
Against the Boilermakers, Harper finished with six points on 2-of-9 shooting (0-of-3 from the perimeter) with six rebounds and three assists.
Harper made a big play in the first half, getting a block and a layup in transition that sliced Rutgers’ deficit to six points.
2. Starting lineup change
Pikiell made a change that many fans have been clamoring for, inserting freshman center Lathan Sommerville into the starting five in place of Emmanuel Ogbole.
On this night, at least, the move didn’t make too much of a difference.
Sommerville finished with two points and three rebounds in 21 minutes, and struggled at times on defense. Ogbole had four points and five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
This also brings us to our next takeaway…
3. Purdue’s points in the paint
The Boilermakers hammered Rutgers around the basket, finishing with 38 points in the paint (Rutgers had 20).
That’s been a major issue for the Scarlet Knights all season.
It’s not getting any better.
4. Quiet atmosphere at Jersey Mike’s Arena
The raucous environment inside the RAC has given the Scarlet Knights one of the best homecourt advantages in recent seasons, but that energy was largely missing Thursday night – despite the practically sold-out crowd.
It was pretty quiet from the opening tip and mostly through the first half, a stark change from typical games here.
There were times where the crowd popped – especially about seven minutes into the second half when Bailey knocked down a three that cut Rutgers’ deficit to six, then again just more than a minute later when Tyson Acuff hit a triple that made it a five-point game.
But for the most part, that energy didn’t last.
5. What it means and up next
It mostly means Rutgers needs to beat UCLA (6:30 p.m., FS1) on Monday at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
The Scarlet Knights are now 0-6 against Quad 1 opponents. Their NCAA Tournament resume is largely in tatters.
The Bruins have struggled lately, suffering losses to Nebraska and Michigan. Coach Mick Cronin ripped his team after Tuesday’s loss to the Wolverines, calling his players “soft” and essentially questioning their levels of desire.
UCLA plays at Maryland on Friday before making traveling up to New Jersey.
Still, at this point, even beating the Bruins may not be enough for Rutgers.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers basketball: Takeaways from blowout loss to Purdue
