Only one perfect record was going to survive.
Rutgers entered Wednesday night’s matchup with Michigan in Piscataway hoping to extend its 17-0 record at home and secure the program’s first win ever against the Wolverines, but it wasn’t to be.
The crowd at the Rutgers Athletic Center was deafening and the score differential never exceeded nine points, but Michigan prevailed with a 60-52 victory in front of Rutgers’ eighth-straight home sellout crowd.
The Wolverines, who stole a win in the teams’ first meeting at Madison Square Garden earlier this month, are now 13-0 versus the Scarlet Knights.
“Great college basketball game,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said after the loss. “I’m thankful to our fans for coming out, doing a great job making it a great place to play. We have to start a new streak now at the RAC.”
Pikiell tipped his hat to Michigan and star point guard Zavier Simpson, who joined the 1,000-point club with a 16-point night, going 6-for-10 from the field and 2-for-3 from behind the arc.
Michigan, winners of six of its past seven games, pulled out the win despite missing 6-foot-7 forward Isaiah Livers, who was sidelined with a lower-leg injury suffered against Indiana on Sunday.
“We’re pissed, upset, angry,” Yeboah said of ending the winning streak at home. “But we have the next-play mentality. We’re going to get back to practice, get back to work and get ready to start a new win streak.”
Geo Baker led the Scarlet Knights with a team-high 16 points, going 7-for-16 from the field with two steals. Akwasi Yeboah chipped in 10 points with five rebounds, while Ron Harper Jr. added 11 points.
Despite a slow start by Michigan, which didn’t score until nearly three minutes into the game, Rutgers only could manage a 4-0 lead. But the Scarlet Knights kept it close throughout the first half as the Wolverines’ largest lead was never more than eight points.
With 48 seconds left in the half, Shaq Carter bodied his way inside for a swift lay-in to tie the score at 28. Baker then cashed in with a long 3 as the buzzer sounded to cap a 5-0 run as Rutgers headed to the locker room with a 31-28 lead.
The Scarlet Knights opened the second half with a 6-0 run. But Michigan answered with a 10-2 run of its own. A 3-pointer at 9:14 from Michigan’s David Dejulius gave the Wolverines a 45-41 lead, and they never looked back.
Carter made one of his two free throws at 8:48 before Michigan’s Franz Wagner sunk both his shots from the foul line to push the Wolverines’ lead to 47-42. Yeboah answered with a layup on the other end but Wagner put up a 3 at 6:16 to extend Michigan’s lead 50-44.
A pair of free throws for each team made it a six-point game, but Michigan continued its success from the 3-point line as Eli Brooks made the Wolverines’ sixth and final 3 of the night at 3:25. The Scarlet Knights missed all four of their 3-point attempts after that and went 3-for-6 from the field for the remainder of the game.
“We just weren’t making shots, honestly,” Yeboah said. “I felt like our defense kept us in the game but we just weren’t able to put the ball in the hole and that hurts.”