Rutgers Gets Second Top 25 Win, Beating UCONN
Added by Jonathan Chen on January 9, 2012.
Rutgers upset another rank team Saturday night at the RAC and proved to be a team not to be messed with. The Scarlet Knights took down #8 UConn 67-60, making this their second win over a ranked team this season.
Freshman Eli Carter led the team with 19 points as he continues to be the Knight’s go-to man whenever in trouble. Despite fouling out, he made six of his shots and three coming being behind the arc. His dynamic duo, Myles Mack also turned up big by hitting clutch free throws at the end of the game allowing him to collect 14 of his total points. Yet, it turned out to be the 20 turnovers that Rutgers forced that allowed the gap to widen. Shabazz Napier’s four costly turnovers allowed the Knights to put their game against West Virginia behind them and focus on Jim Calhoun’s National Championship team.
In the end, Rutgers created 19 points off of their mistakes. With this playing a factor, Rutgers eventually found a way to even stop UConn star, Jeremy Lamb, holding him to 4-9 from the field and 0-4 from arc to create only eight total UConn points.
Rutgers eventually found a way to foul out Lamb, which created another huge boost for Mike Rice’s team. It was their 39-30 second half that captivated another huge win for the team, but most importantly a Big East Conference win.
Once again, Guard Eli Carter is taking on the role of an all-star. He has proved doubters that Rutgers is a team to reckon with. It is not just the typical Calipari’s Kentucky or Coach K’s Duke Team that is to be talked about on ESPN. Mike Rice’s team deserves more respect from fans around the world and certainly has high hopes of making it to March Madness this upcoming March. With high-hopes of forward Kadeem Jack returning to the lineup any time soon, Mike Rice’s young freshmen roster is ready to battle against top #25 teams. There are still some spots, such as ball positioning, that Rice has to go over with the team but this Scarlet Knights team is definitely creating a buzz atRutgers.
Rutgers travels to Pittsburgh to take on Ashton Gibb’s team on Wednesday, January 11 at 7:00 P.M.
