Rutgers basketball suffers shocking meltdown at Minnesota; NCAA hopes in peril?

Even by Rutgers basketball’s historically painful standards, Thursday’s loss at Minnesota ranks among the most infamous.

Up 10 points on the Big Ten’s last-place team with 1:15 remaining, with a third straight NCAA Tournament berth nearly locked up, the Scarlet Knights suffered an epic collapse in all phases.

Minnesota's 3-pointer at the buzzer sent them to a shocking 75-74 defeat that will have implications on Selection Sunday.

Rutgers (18-12 overall, 10-9 Big Ten) led this game through 39 minutes and 59.9 seconds, until Jamison Battle's 3-pointer fell through the net as the buzzer sounded. The Gophers (8-20, 2-17) seemed as stunned as everyone else at the final result.

“Very disappointed in our defense," Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. "They got open. Battle (20 points) had one of those nights for them. He was a main focus (in prep). We just didn’t finish the game. We missed free throws, we didn’t get big stops.”

Leading by six points with 25 seconds left, Rutgers yielded a Battle 3-pointer, then Scarlet Knights' point guard Paul Mulcahy threw the ball away against pressure, then Minnesota put back a missed 3-pointer to pull within one. After Rutgers failed to inbound the ball to ace free-throw shooter Cam Spencer, Caleb McConnell was fouled and made one of two free throws. Then Minnesota brought the ball up the court unmolested, with Spencer leaving his feet on a shot fake by Battle, who calmly drilled the game-winner.

In short: poor defense, a turnover, a blown box-out, a missed free throw and then more poor defense. The Scarlet Knights did everything wrong down the stretch.

The implosion, probably the program's worst and most damaging since a 2004 gut-punch at Virginia Tech cost Gary Waters' squad an NCAA Tournament berth, came five days after Rutgers rallied from 19 down in the second half to win at Penn State -- the Scarlet Knights' biggest comeback since 1996.

3 THOUGHTS

1. Defensive collapse

Rutgers' inability to defend the 3-point line, a deepening weakness in one of the nation's top defenses, got exploited to the hilt. Minnesota, which came into the night ranked 13th in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting at a lowly .313, shot a sizzling 11-of-24 (.458) from the arc. On the night the Gophers shot six points above their average from the field (.481) and scored 13 points more than their average per game.

Rutgers made other mistakes, but the defense is what lost this game. And the perimeter defense has been trending downward for two months, even before stopper Mawot Mag was lost for the season with a knee injury.

The nail in the coffin was Rutgers' inability to stop the ball from freely advancing to the 3-point line on Minnesota's final possession -- a massive mental and coaching error reminiscent of last year's last-second loss at UMass.

2. Cliff Omoruyi's effort wasted

The junior center dominated Minnesota to the tune of 23 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. It hasn’t always been obvious this winter, but this was a reminder that he’s Rutgers’ best player, its most difficult matchup, and everything hums better when he’s a focal point. Of course, the better teams are not going to let the 6-foot-11 Roselle Catholic grad to post them into oblivion, and everything in this game is matchup dependent. But early-possession touches for Omoruyi and an inside-out mindset seems like the best path for an offense doesn’t generally light it up.

But the offense couldn't handle Minnesota's late-game curve ball. Rutgers' veterans wilted against the full-court trap and Pikiell didn't help the situation one way he could have -- by alleviating some of Paul Mulcahy's duties as the senior continues to struggle. It's hard to fathom why freshman Derek Simpson, fresh off his dynamite performance at Penn State, logged just 13 minutes while Mulcahy played 35. And Simpson was on the bench at crunch time, when he probably should have been on the court.

3. Huge stakes in finale

Rutgers now has an urgent mission in Sunday’s regular-season finale at home against Northwestern (20-10, 11-8) at 7:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network). The Scarlet Knights threw away a chance to earn a top-four finish in the Big Ten standings, which comes with a double-bye in the conference tournament, but that's small potatoes. By taking their fourth Quad 3 loss of the season, their NCAA Tournament hopes are on the rocks. Sunday is looking like a must-win.

“At the end of the year they decide who goes to the tournament; they don’t do it after every game," Pikiell said. "I know everyone talks about it after every game. We’ve done a lot of good things…We have 10 wins in the league, we have 18 wins overall. I’m not worried about (the resume). Everyone else can talk about it; we’ve got to get ready for Northwestern.”

Although Northwestern has dropped three straight, the Wildcats are still a Quad 2 opponent and would be a quality win. Remember, the selection committee barely considered conference tournament results in recent years. It's Sunday or never for Rutgers. It’s also Senior Night, and McConnell, Mulcahy, Aundre Hyatt, Oskar Palmquist and walk-on Andrew Fulin will be recognized in a pregame ceremony. Needless to say, emotions will be running high at Jersey Mike's Arena.

Rutgers football:It's a big weekend for recruiting. Here are key players visiting campus

3 QUOTES

1-Steve Pikiell on mishandling the press late: “Aundre (Hyatt) had the ball; I don’t know why he turned around and threw the ball backwards (on the next-to-last possession). We just didn’t handle that well."

2-Pikell on whether his veterans are suffering mental fatigue: “I think so. This was our toughest stretch since I’ve been here. Six games away from Jersey Mike’s out of eight…Guys have been tired and we lost Mawot in the middle of this thing, another veteran guy. Those are good players, I trust them at the end of games to make good decisions, and they’ve made a lot of good decisions this year. We’ve won a lot of close games. Today it didn’t go our way. You’ve got to deserve to win and you’ve got to finish the game, and we didn’t.”

3-Pikiell on turning the page: “This is how it is in this league. You’d better get ready for the next game. We’ve got to bounce back. Penn State bounced back the other day. We’ve got to do the same thing…We’ve got to get ready for Senior Night. I want everybody to show up. They’ve done a lot for our program. We’re at 18 wins right now and that’s what we had last year with Geo (Baker) and Ron (Harper). I hope everyone shows up and appreciates what these guys have done. I know today is a tough day; it’s an awful day for me. But you’ve got to move forward quickly. We’ve got to get off the mat.”

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 suffers shocking meltdown at Minnesota