Riding a two-game win streak, Rutgers men’s basketball took the court at noon Eastern on Saturday against the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis. After both teams started the game cold, Harun Zrno opened the scoring for the Knights with a midrange jumper, followed by one by Kaden Powers and Lino Mark to put Rutgers up 6-2.
However, Minnesota went on to score the next nine points to go up 11-6 under the twelve-minute mark, with Langston Reynolds getting to the basket a couple of times, a hook shot by Grayson
Grove, and a three-pointer by Cade Tyson. Jamichael Davis knocked down a triple from the left wing to cut the lead back to two, but Reynolds was fouled and made two more free throws to bring the Gophers up 13-9 under ten minutes in the half.
A poor pass from Reynolds led to a steal and three from Tariq Francis, but Reynolds then assisted Isaac Asuma on a three-pointer of his own, as Minnesota led 16-12. Tyson then knocked down his second three-pointer of the game to bring the Gophers’ lead back up to seven on a 6-0 run in just over a minute. Francis answered with a nice-looking pull-up as the Knights trailed 19-14 with under six minutes to play in the half.
Minnesota continued to struggle with turnovers, and Powers took advantage with a friendly roll as Rutgers cut the lead back to three, but Reynolds faked out multiple Knights defenders to get an open look at the rim. Reynolds then found a cutting Grove for a dunk. Rutgers answered with a layup by Dylan Grant, but the Gophers responded with a long two by Tyson and three by Reynolds, all generated from long rebounds.
Lino Mark answered back for Rutgers with a three-pointer to cut the lead to seven, but Minnesota maintained a ten-point lead for the rest of the half, with Asuma driving to the rim and Tyson knocking down his third three of the half. Asuma hit a three-pointer as the shot clock expired on the Gophers’ last possession of the first half to give Minnesota a 36-23 lead at halftime.
Rutgers cut the lead back to ten with a layup by Grant and three from Zrno, but early scoring from the Gophers, including an and-one opportunity by Grove, put Minnesota up 41-28 with two minutes passed in the second half. However, Bobby Durkin made three triples in quick succession, and the Gophers led 50-32 at the first media timeout under sixteen minutes in the second half.
Asuma kept the three-point barrage going to push the lead back to 18, but Mark knocked down his second three-pointer of the game to bring Rutgers back within 15. Despite a three from Francis, a layup from Mark, and a basket from Ogbole, Tyson made a couple of triples and a hook shot in the paint as the Gophers pushed the lead to 20 before Francis cut it to 18 with a midrange jumper under eight minutes to play.
Another layup from Mark cut the lead to 16, but Tyson knocked down another three as Minnesota led 69-52 with under five minutes and thirty seconds to play in the second half. Tyson continued to have the hot hand and knocked down yet another three and pushed the Gophers’ lead back to 20 points, while the Rutgers offense once again went completely anemic.
Reynolds scored on a layup as Minnesota led 74-52 at the under-four media timeout. The teams continued to trade baskets with Grove and Grant answering each other near the basket and at the free-throw line, and the Knights added some garbage-time points, but the Gophers snapped Rutgers’ win streak with a dominant home performance. The final margin was 80-61, which reflected the Minnesota lead for much of the second half.
Lino Mark led the Knights with 16 points in his best performance of the season, even knocking down three triples, which is rare for him. Dylan Grant had 15 points on 5-8 shooting, while Francis had a rough shooting night, going 4-12 but finishing with 10 points. Rutgers did not shoot particularly poorly at 44% from the field and 39% from distance, but played poor defense and were outrebounded 31-22.
The Gophers were led by a masterclass from Cade Tyson, who had 27 points and made a sizzling 7-9 threes. Bobby Durkin had 12 points on 4-7 shooting from deep, including three in a critical stretch that helped Minnesota balloon their lead to 20. Despite only playing six players for most of the game, all five starters scored in double figures, with Reynolds scoring an efficient 19, Grove adding 11 down low, and Asuma pitching in 11.
Next up for Rutgers is a home game against Washington on Tuesday evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 PM at Jersey Mike’s Arena, with coverage on Big Ten Network.
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