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Rutgers has made sure Michigan State will never forget the first time he lost at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
The Scarlet Knights dominated Michigan State in a 67-37 end-to-end victory on Thursday, leading for all of the first seven seconds of the contest, except for the first seven seconds, en route to their first-ever win over the Spartans. The 30-point margin of victory is the biggest for Rutgers in a Big Ten game.
The Scarlet Knights (9-6, 5-6) made up for their worst outing of the season at East Lansing with a historic defensive performance at RAC. They kept Michigan State at its least effective offensive performance (.561 points per possession) of the KenPom Era (since 2002), leading to the Spartans’ second-lowest scoring of the KenPom Era.
Their very first win over the Spartans isn’t the recovery booster it would have been in the past – Michigan State is a borderline NCAA tournament team this year and has just been on a 20-day hiatus due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the schedule – but it prevents a loss of Quad 3 that would result in the resumption of Rutgers’ NCAA tournament.
Junior center Myles Johnson was instrumental in the defensive effort. His stat line – 13 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks, one steal – was as impressive as some of the highlights he threw.
Senior guard Geo Baker was equally influential with 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals.
The Scarlet Knights led out of the gate, scoring the game’s first 15 points. They hit 7 of their first 11 attempts and held the Spartans bucketless for the first six minutes of the contest.
Rutgers let the lead slip by the end of the first half, conceding a 20-9 run that saw Michigan State close the lead to 6 points at halftime, but immediately brought it down to two digits at the exit of the gate in the second period. . Rutgers dominated Michigan State 41-17 in the second half.
Rutgers returns to the field on Sunday when he faces Northwestern at Evanston in another crucial Q3 game.
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Brian Fonseca can be reached at [email protected].
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