Disastrous performance by Scarlet Knights in loss to Nebraska

(ScarletKnights.com)

On a night the Rutgers men’s basketball team honored the 1976 Final Four team, the Scarlet Knights had a lot to play for. They faced an opponent in Nebraska that was winless in the Big Ten, the same as the Knights. The game was supposed to be close, and Rutgers was expected to fight to the finish against Nebraska.

Except nothing went the way it was supposed to for the Knights.

The Cornhuskers got out to a strong start, and never lost control in a 90-56 drubbing of the Knights.
Even though both teams entered tonight’s contest on a three-game losing streak, the final score does not show how overmatched Rutgers was tonight.

Nebraska never trailed in the game, and jumped out to a quick 17-4 lead that the Knights could never dig itself out of.

It seemed that the Cornhuskers could not miss tonight, while Rutgers could not buy a field goal.
The Cornhuskers outshot the Knights from the field by a wide margin, shooting 57 percent compared to the 33 percent by Rutgers.

The Knights had a number of season lows tonight, as they made only two three-point field goals while totaling eight assists.

The eight total assists Rutgers had characterized how poorly the offense was tonight.

Freshman phenom Corey Sanders had one of his worst games of the season, shooting 2-12 from the field for only nine points, while also committing three turnovers.

The backcourt tandem of Sanders and senior guard Bishop Daniels combined to shoot 5-25 from the field, a total that does not equate to efficient offense in any sense.

The Cornhuskers took full advantage of the Knights’ injury-riddled frontcourt as well, outrebounding Rutgers 43-25.

It is clear that nothing went well for the Knights tonight.

Yet it was a historically bad loss for Rutgers, as the road win by Nebraska was its largest margin of victory since 1920.

Rutgers will be searching for answers, and are desperately awaiting some frontcourt reinforcements.

Next up for the Knights is Ohio State this Wednesday.