Rutgers basketball falls at Miami as offense struggles without Mulcahy
The task was steep Wednesday: Could the Rutgers basketball team beat a quality opponent on the road without injured point guard Paul Mulcahy?
The answer: No.
Good defense and aggressive rebounding wasn't enough as the Scarlet Knights squandered an 11-point second-half lead and fell to Miami 68-61 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. For Rutgers (5-2), junior center Cliff Omoruyi notched 16 points and nine rebounds but Miami ended the contest on a 7-0 run as the steadying absence of Mulcahy, who missed a fourth straight game with a shoulder injury, was painfully obvious.
“When his arm feels better he’ll be back on the floor, but right now that’s not where it is," Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. "He’s got to practice full-contact before he can do anything (in a game). He hasn’t done that yet."
Miami (7-1) came in ranked 44th by the analytics website Kenpom.com. Junior guard Isaiah Wong, who was born in Piscataway and raised in South Brunswick, paced the Canes with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting and handed out four assists.
The Scarlet Knights are now 0-2 in road/neutral games and won't have another chance to win one out of conference -- a potential drag on their NET. The program hasn't won a notable road or neutral-site game out of conference since 2018 at Miami.
This is the 23rd and final year of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and Rutgers finished 4-5 in the showcase. The Scarlet Knights went 1-2 against Miami, 2-0 against Clemson and also beat Syracuse.
3 THOUGHTS
1. Much asked of McConnell
In just his second game back after missing six weeks with a knee injury, Caleb McConnell was served a gargantuan task. The fifth-year guard ran the offense the majority of the time, defended Wong and hit the glass hard. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, five turnovers, two steals and a block in 35 minutes. It was a laudable effort, but he couldn't beat a good team by himself.
Without Mulcahy orchestrating the pick-and-roll, there was no one deft enough to feed Omoruyi down the stretch; the big man didn't take a shot over the final nine minutes as Miami fronted him and collapsed on him.
2. Board-mongering not enough
Miami is undersized, and Rutgers took advantage on the glass, posting sizable edges in overall rebounds (plus-10), offensive boards (19-8) and second-chance points (15-8). That second-chance disparity could have been even greater, but Rutgers struggled to finish around the rim. A more athletic Miami squad won the battle of wills in the end, posting a 15-2 edge in fast-break points and scoring 16 points off of 15 Rutgers turnovers.
3. Depth hurt
With Big Ten favorite Indiana coming to Piscataway for Saturday's much-anticipated conference opener, this result was a reminder of how much Rutgers leans on its "big three" upperclassmen. The Scarlet Knights need more offensively from junior guard Cam Spencer (3 points, 1-for-10 shooting) and more production from the bench in order to beat a good team while shorthanded.
3 QUOTES
Pikiell on the difference in the game: “They converted out turnovers to layups. When you play a team that talented….we talked a lot about turnovers, we had some timely ones and we had our opportunities too. We had some good looks.
Pikiell on McConnell's effort: “Caleb now is really getting into the swing of things. We needed him obviously, and he’ll get better too with the more games that he plays here after six weeks off...The guy had six weeks off, so incredible. Six weeks off and to play the way he played and to play as hard has he played after six weeks off, not many people can do that.”
On the positives he saw: "We did a lot of good things. Outrebounded them. Held our own (on defense), kept them in front of us and they’ve got tremendous drivers...It’s a one-possession game with a minute-and-a-half left, if you told me that on the road against a good Miami team, we were right where we needed to be...We were just a couple of plays short, but our effort was top-shelf."
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball falls at Miami as offense struggles without Mulcahy
