Rutgers avoided one of the last remaining landmines on his journey to a long-awaited appearance at the NCAA Tournament.
The Scarlet Knights defeated Northwestern solidly at the Rutgers Athletic Center on Saturday, leading the final 27 minutes of a crucial 64-50 victory.
The Wildcats (6-12, 3-11, 91st in the NCAA NET ranking) represented a potential loss for Quad 3, which would make a disastrous inclusion in the Scarlet Knights’ post-season curriculum (12-7, 8-7) .
Rutgers did not need to contemplate this nightmare scenario in what was basically a one-sided competition.
The Scarlet Knights fell into an initial 10-point hole after six minutes, but they changed the result just as quickly. Rutgers responded with a 16-5 streak to take the lead he never abandoned, which would grow to 14 points with 18 minutes remaining.
The Wildcats threatened to make it a game, cutting their deficit to three points with 12 minutes to go after holding Rutgers goalless for seven consecutive minutes. The Scarlet Knights responded with an 11-2 run in five minutes to put the game out of reach.
Center Myles Johnson opened the way for Rutgers, scoring 12 points out of 5 out of 6 shots, receiving 14 rebounds and blocking 3 shots. The Wildcats had no answer for him inside.
Junior striker Ron Harper Jr. (14 points, 10 rebounds) and senior point guard Jacob Young (15 points) also contributed. Point guard Paul Mulcahy, who played with a protective mask after breaking his nose against Iowa, finished with 8 points and two assists.
With five games remaining in the regular season, the Scarlet Knights have just one game to go: a trip to the Pinnacle Bank Arena to face Nebraska (166th on the NET, a Quad 3 game) on Sunday, February 28.
If Rutgers wins that contest and at least one of the remaining four games (@Michigan, vs. Maryland, vs. Indiana, @Minnesota), an overall NCAA Tournament offer is practically guaranteed.
Thank you for trusting us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a signature.
Brian Fonseca can be reached at [email protected].