Men’s Basketball Defeated by Miami 68-61

CORAL GABLES, Fl. – The Rutgers men’s basketball team took a tough loss on the road on Wednesday night in Coral Gables.

The Scarlet Knights took a one-point lead into halftime and had an 11-point lead with 14 minutes to play, but lost a tough one at the Watsco Center 68-61 to Miami.

“This is a learning opportunity, we’re going to be in a lot of close games when we go on the road,” head coach Steve Pikiell said. “When you play guards as elite as these guards, you’re going to make shots down the stretch. We had our chances down the stretch to win the basketball game, when you go on the road and play good teams that’s what you want. That’s what we had tonight.”

Miami had three scorers in double digits, who fueled a 35-27 second half in favor of the Hurricanes. Guard Jordan Miller led the way with 17 points, ten rebounds and three assists. Forward Norchad Omier had 17 points, nine rebounds and an assist. Guard Isiah Wong had 16 points, four assists and two steals.

“There were a couple of great plays for them, we talked about it all week, they converted our turnovers to layups,” Pikiell said. “When you play a team that talented, they were an Elite Eight team last year, we talked a lot about turnovers and we had our opportunities and looks. They were a couple points better than us so tip of the hat, they have a really experienced coach and basketball team but we did a lot of good things too. We outrebounded them and held our own in a lot of other areas that they are elite at, keeping guys in front of us, they got tremendous drivers and outscored us from the free throw line, so we have to get more free throw points than the other team”.

Jacksonville, Fl. Native Caleb McConnell led the way with 16 points and hit a game-tying three-point shot with just over a minute to play in regulation. McConnell had 20-plus family members and friends in attendance from his home state. McConnell competed in his second-straight game after returning from a knee injury which costed him six weeks of practice and the first five games of the season. McConnell started for the first time on Wednesday night.

“You saw the great things Caleb (McConnell) did and this is only his second game back, so we missed his energy and his leadership,” Pikiell said. “Just excited how this team’s developing. I know it’s not the outcome I wanted today, but I also know we were playing probably one of the most talented teams in the country. I feel really good, I know that team’s going to win a lot of games. They have great guards and a big guy that grabs every rebound.”

In true Caleb McConnell fashion, he contributed in all facets of the game and had six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals in 35 minutes.

Junior center Clifford Omoruyi came on late but tied McConnell with a team high 16 points and was a major part of the 7-0 and 12-3 run coming out of halftime. Omoruyi had a few dominating slam dunks and made a three-pointer in the second half to spur the Scarlet Knights run.

“We couldn’t get Cliff the ball early, so tip of the hat to them,” Pikiell said. “Omier is a great rebounder and a monster. He’s not going to make it easy, he has quick feet, but Cliff got very involved and got hard points. We passed the ball and got really good looks but that’s how it’s going to be. Every good team is not going to try to not get Cliff touches so we have to do a good job in finding ways in getting him the ball.”

Forward Aundre Hyatt had a career-high of three three-pointers all in the first half and finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and one steal in 34 minutes. Junior forward Mawot Mag had nine points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot in 32 minutes played. 

The Scarlet Knights were again without captain senior guard Paul Mulcahy due to a shoulder injury. Mulcahy has missed four games in a row dating back to the victory over UMass Lowell.

“Paul’s terrific, so you miss him in a lot of ways, but there’s no excuse,” Pikiell said. “We had chances, we’re good enough to win. Hopefully we’ll get them back soon. When you lose the best assist guy in the Big Ten, it’s not easy to replace him. I like the minutes, I like the guys who came off the bench, they gave us great lift. Our bench gave us a huge lift in the first half, they gave us momentum, and did a good job too in the second half. We’re just a couple plays short, that’s what we were, but our effort was top shelf. We shared the ball, we did a lot of good things. It didn’t show up in the end, but they made a few more lays than us.”

Up next, RU will host Indiana for the first Big Ten Conference matchup of the season on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.