Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Marquette Downs Rutgers at the RAC; Amaker, Harvard Upset No. 24 Boston College
Mike Rosario and Rutgers fought hard against No. 18 Marquette, but the Scarlet Knights dropped their third straight Big East contest and fourth straight overall.
Rosario, the freshman out of St. Anthony in Jersey City, scored 16 of his team-high 22 points in the second half before fouling out in the final seconds of an 81-76 loss.
“It’s just very difficult to dig yourself a hole like that,” said Rutgers coach Fred Hill, whose team was down 21 points. “It takes so much energy and there’s no margin for error. I’m very, very proud of the kids and the way they battled and the way they kept coming and the things that they did. But it’s very difficult to put yourself in a 21 point hole and think you’re going to come back and ultimately overtake a really good team to win the game.”
Rutgers (9-7, 0-3) entered the game having lost to the No. 1 (North Carolina), 2 (UConn) and 3 (Pitt) teams in the nation in an unprecedented seven-day span.
But nine Big East teams are ranked in the Top 25, so every night can present a major obstacle.
Behind a game-high 23 points from Wesley Matthews, 16 from Jerel McNeal and 15 from Dominic James, Marquette improved to 14-2 overall, 3-0 in the Big East. The Golden Eagles made 17 of 24 free throws, while Rutgers shot 8 of 11 from the stripe. Rutgers outrebounded Marquette 35-22.
Rosario drove the lane and put up an off-balance runner with 37 seconds left to cut the lead to 73-71.
“He’s really, really good, and a very a talented player,” Marquette coach BUzz Williams said of Rosario. “He shot 24 shots and I think that he was 0-for-6 at halftime from three point land. I guess we guarded him well in the first half and didn’t guard him well enough in the second half.”
Lazar Hayward then made two foul shots to extend the Golden Eagles’ lead to 75-71 with 34.2 seconds remaining.
Rosario, showing his youth and intense desire to win, then fired a long, long 3-pointer from the block ‘R’ near midcourt that was off the mark. On the sideline, Hill then threw up his hands in frustration but later put his arm around Rosario on the sideline.
McNeal made two free throws to push the lead to 77-71.
Rosario followed his own miss and scored on an off-balance shot off the glass for a 77-73 Marquette advantage, but then fouled out with 8.4 seconds left.
McNeal added two more foul shots for a 79-73 lead.
Corey Chandler (19 points, 7 rebounds) hit a 3 for Rutgers to cut it to 79-76, but Hayward hit two free throws for an 81-76 score.
Senior JR Inman finished withnine points, giving him 1,002 for his career. He became the 36th Scarlet Knight to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Rutgers must face another ranked team on Saturday night at the RAC when Jonny Flynn and No. 11 Syracuse come to town.
Syracuse downed DePaul 85-68 behind 17 points and 5-of-10 3-point shooting from Andy Rautins. Paul Harris and Arinze Onuaku added 14 points apiece. Rautins and Eric Devendorf went a combined 8-of-13 from 3.
Earl Clark had 22 and 9 and Edgar Sosa added 12 points as No. 23 Louisville won at South Florida 71-57.
Providence beat Cincinnati 87-79 behind 18 points from Weyinmi Efejuku and 15 from Sharaud Curry.Mike Williams and Deonta Vaughn tallied 20 apiece for Cincy.
HARVARD 82, BOSTON COLLEGE 70How about Tommy Amaker’s Harvard club upsetting Boston College just days after BC toppled then-No. 1 North Carolina?
Jeremy Lyn tallied 27 points, 8 assists and 6 steals as the Crimson stunned BC, 82-70.
It was Harvard’s first ever win over a ranked team, the Crimson’s first win over BC since the 1998-99 season and it was the Ivy League’s first win over an ACC team since Yale beat Clemson in 2002.
“We recognize that they went through some incredibly emotional ride with a great win over the No. 1 team in the country,” Amaker told ESPN. “And we told our kids that we just wanted to play our brand of basketball, very similar to what Al Skinner mentioned that he wanted his club to do down in Chapel Hill.
“We wanted to see if we can do what we’re capable of doing, which is defend, box out, spread the floor, be unselfish and have some fun. And that’s been the identity of our ball club.”
Boston College star Tyrese Rice, who had 25 against UNC,shot just 4-of-10 for 14 points.
“To be very honest, they didn’t play as well as they’re capable of,” Amaker said. “I’m sure it was a letdown, the emotion of the previous game. And then Tyrese didn’t play his normal game in terms of how productive he has been. So we were a little bit lucky…but we understand that we were fairly lucky as well.”
What does this mean for Harvard’s program?
“We’re hopeful that we can build on this win,” Amaker said. “We’re hopeful that we can take this and use it in the proper way and not get too excited or too giddy about anything….We open up at Dartmouth on Saturday but we’re hopeful that we can use this in the proper way to get better.”
(Photos courtesy Rutgers, Harvard athletics)
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
Mike Rosario and Rutgers fought hard against No. 18 Marquette, but the Scarlet Knights dropped their third straight Big East contest and fourth straight overall.
Rosario, the freshman out of St. Anthony in Jersey City, scored 16 of his team-high 22 points in the second half before fouling out in the final seconds of an 81-76 loss.
“It’s just very difficult to dig yourself a hole like that,” said Rutgers coach Fred Hill, whose team was down 21 points. “It takes so much energy and there’s no margin for error. I’m very, very proud of the kids and the way they battled and the way they kept coming and the things that they did. But it’s very difficult to put yourself in a 21 point hole and think you’re going to come back and ultimately overtake a really good team to win the game.”
Rutgers (9-7, 0-3) entered the game having lost to the No. 1 (North Carolina), 2 (UConn) and 3 (Pitt) teams in the nation in an unprecedented seven-day span.
But nine Big East teams are ranked in the Top 25, so every night can present a major obstacle.
Behind a game-high 23 points from Wesley Matthews, 16 from Jerel McNeal and 15 from Dominic James, Marquette improved to 14-2 overall, 3-0 in the Big East. The Golden Eagles made 17 of 24 free throws, while Rutgers shot 8 of 11 from the stripe. Rutgers outrebounded Marquette 35-22.
Rosario drove the lane and put up an off-balance runner with 37 seconds left to cut the lead to 73-71.
“He’s really, really good, and a very a talented player,” Marquette coach BUzz Williams said of Rosario. “He shot 24 shots and I think that he was 0-for-6 at halftime from three point land. I guess we guarded him well in the first half and didn’t guard him well enough in the second half.”
Lazar Hayward then made two foul shots to extend the Golden Eagles’ lead to 75-71 with 34.2 seconds remaining.
Rosario, showing his youth and intense desire to win, then fired a long, long 3-pointer from the block ‘R’ near midcourt that was off the mark. On the sideline, Hill then threw up his hands in frustration but later put his arm around Rosario on the sideline.
McNeal made two free throws to push the lead to 77-71.
Rosario followed his own miss and scored on an off-balance shot off the glass for a 77-73 Marquette advantage, but then fouled out with 8.4 seconds left.
McNeal added two more foul shots for a 79-73 lead.
Corey Chandler (19 points, 7 rebounds) hit a 3 for Rutgers to cut it to 79-76, but Hayward hit two free throws for an 81-76 score.
Senior JR Inman finished with nine points, giving him 1,002 for his career. He became the 36th Scarlet Knight to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Rutgers must face another ranked team on Saturday night at the RAC when Jonny Flynn and No. 11 Syracuse come to town.
Syracuse downed DePaul 85-68 behind 17 points and 5-of-10 3-point shooting from Andy Rautins. Paul Harris and Arinze Onuaku added 14 points apiece. Rautins and Eric Devendorf went a combined 8-of-13 from 3.
Earl Clark had 22 and 9 and Edgar Sosa added 12 points as No. 23 Louisville won at South Florida 71-57.
Providence beat Cincinnati 87-79 behind 18 points from Weyinmi Efejuku and 15 from Sharaud Curry.
Mike Williams and Deonta Vaughn tallied 20 apiece for Cincy.
HARVARD 82, BOSTON COLLEGE 70
How about Tommy Amaker’s Harvard club upsetting Boston College just days after BC toppled then-No. 1 North Carolina?
Jeremy Lyn tallied 27 points, 8 assists and 6 steals as the Crimson stunned BC, 82-70.
It was Harvard’s first ever win over a ranked team, the Crimson’s first win over BC since the 1998-99 season and it was the Ivy League’s first win over an ACC team since Yale beat Clemson in 2002.
“We recognize that they went through some incredibly emotional ride with a great win over the No. 1 team in the country,” Amaker told ESPN. “And we told our kids that we just wanted to play our brand of basketball, very similar to what Al Skinner mentioned that he wanted his club to do down in Chapel Hill.
“We wanted to see if we can do what we’re capable of doing, which is defend, box out, spread the floor, be unselfish and have some fun. And that’s been the identity of our ball club.”
Boston College star Tyrese Rice, who had 25 against UNC, shot just 4-of-10 for 14 points.
“To be very honest, they didn’t play as well as they’re capable of,” Amaker said. “I’m sure it was a letdown, the emotion of the previous game. And then Tyrese didn’t play his normal game in terms of how productive he has been. So we were a little bit lucky…but we understand that we were fairly lucky as well.”
What does this mean for Harvard’s program?
“We’re hopeful that we can build on this win,” Amaker said. “We’re hopeful that we can take this and use it in the proper way and not get too excited or too giddy about anything….We open up at Dartmouth on Saturday but we’re hopeful that we can use this in the proper way to get better.”
(Photos courtesy Rutgers, Harvard athletics)
