1. Welcome back, Dylan Harper. What a stat line. 28 points, 7-15 FG overall (3-5 on threes), 11-12 FTs, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block. He put the team on his back and willed this team to a big top 25 win.
2. Rutgers is now 4-1 when Ace and Dylan are healthy, and the one loss (OSU) was before Ace settled in as a college player.
3. Timely contributions from the supporting cast. Big threes in the second half by Grant, Hayes, and Martini. 13 points (including 7-8 FTs) from JWill. 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists from JMike.
4. Rutgers really battled tonight. We went up 17 points in the first half, and we all knew Illinois was going to make it a game, and they did just that by crashing the boards in the 2nd half and finally hitting shots, taking advantage of their paint dominance and taking a 55-52 lead. But Rutgers fought back in the final 10 minutes, outscoring Illinois 30-18 to close out the game.
5. Rebounding was a struggle after the first quarter of the game. But it ended up 41-40 overall. Illinois did get 18 offensive rebounds, but guess what, we got 16. Ace with an 18-11 double double.
6. Great job at the line tonight, 28-34 for 82.4%. Won the game at the line, full stop.
7. Interesting rotation from Pike tonight. He basically didn’t play Acuff or Derkack, presumably thinking that they would not be able to keep up with the athleticism of Illinois. So mainly rotated three guards with Dylan, JWill, and JMike, with Acuff, Derkack, and Hayes getting spot minutes.
8. As I said after the NW game, this win doesn’t change our retooled goal (make the BTT and hope to finish 9th to get a single bye). We’re out of the at-large NCAA conversation (unless we win out), but this win keeps us on schedule for the BTT.
