The Rutgers men’s basketball team defeated Rider 81-53 in their home opener due to a strong second half that sunk their opponents.
The Broncs would draw first blood with a three-pointer as the Scarlet Knights’
offense started slowly in the first half. Rutgers would take the lead soon after, but would struggle early to extend their lead. Rider would draw within two points a few times, their last time coming with 4:53 left to go in the first half. From then on, Rutgers would outscore Rider 59-33, en route to a 28-point victory.
Transfer guard Tariq Francis would lead the way for the Knights, scoring 20 points on 6/10 field goal shooting, 4/5 free throw shooting, and 4/8 from beyond the arc.
Dylan Grant and Jamichael Davis also had standout performances, as Grant had 17 points and seven rebounds, and Davis had 15 points and six rebounds.
Rutgers’ shooting was good in general on the day, as the Knights would hit 25 out of 64 attempts from the field, good for a field goal percentage of 39.1%, and 10 out of 27 from three, good for a percentage of 37%.
Another area where the Knights performed well was the turnover battle. Rutgers forced the Broncs to double their own turnovers, as they took the ball away 14 times and had it taken from them seven times. The Knights would score 18 points off these turnovers, while surrendering eight points on their own turnovers.
Other areas where Rutgers dominated Rider include assists, steals, and blocks. The Knights would pile up 12 assists, eight steals, and five blocks against the Broncs, who had four assists, four steals, and one block.
One area where Rider would prove to be nearly equal to Rutgers was points scored in the paint. The Knights scored 28 points in the paint, while the Broncs scored 26. They will need to improve here to compete in Big Ten play. Rebounds are another area where they will have to show improvement, as they only had one more rebound than Rider.
Rutgers will be back in action at home against Maine on Monday, November 10th. Tip-off for that game is set for 6:30.
