Rutgers outslugs Illinois in clash of heavyweights, now 6-0

 

Ron Harper, Jr.’s 28 points led Rutgers from down 11 to victory over Illinois. (Photo by Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

At this rate, it almost sounds like a broken record.

Nevertheless, Rutgers just does something new every game, something more befitting than its last effort, to leave a stronger, longer-lasting impression than that which came before it. Sunday was no different.

Entertaining 13th-ranked Illinois in a clash of Big Ten powers that would have been unlikely years ago, the 19th-ranked Scarlet Knights looked far from convincing in the first half, spotting the visiting Illini an 11-point lead 12 minutes into the proceedings at the RAC. Then, after Myles Johnson entered the game, Rutgers kicked into overdrive.

Johnson’s defense against Kofi Cockburn — who still tallied 17 points and 12 rebounds — was instrumental in the Scarlet Knights holding their own and gradually chipping away. In fact, the senior forward’s putback on a missed Jacob Young dunk late in the first half helped save Rutgers’ momentum, a crucial preservation that revealed itself with each Young penetration, Montez Mathis clutch shot and Ron Harper, Jr. dagger on the way to a 91-88 victory that was telling in more ways than one.

Exactly how, you ask?

“I think we showed the nation that we don’t have any quit in us,” Harper said as his 28 points led the way for the Scarlet Knights, now 6-0 and 2-0 in Big Ten play heading into a showdown with Ohio State Wednesday in Columbus. “When adversity hits, we gotta stay together, and that’s exactly what this team does.”

“When we were down 11, we could have just laid down on our backs and just gave up. But we didn’t. We kept fighting. We stayed together, and we showed everybody we’re a bunch of fighters.”

Trailing 26-15 with just over eight minutes left before halftime, Rutgers was down only four at the intermission. Following a seesaw battle through the first several minutes out of the break, a Harper dunk that would have blown the roof off the RAC if fans were in attendance kick-started a 16-3 run that put the hosts up 12 with 6:53 remaining on the clock. Illinois would remain within earshot, but the lead never changed hands the rest of the way as the Scarlet Knights fed off their own energy to fend off Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu’s potent one-two punch.

“They bring great energy to us, and we’ve got to bring it ourselves,” Steve Pikiell said of his team’s tendency to be a unit of self-starters. “I’m thankful we have more of a veteran team than we’ve had in the past, because they’re motivated to play basketball, but those guys give us great energy and we need that.”

No further was that evident than in Paul Mulcahy. The sophomore guard was fearless and unfazed throughout the afternoon, unafraid to take on Cockburn despite a six-inch mismatch. Twice, Mulcahy denied the seven-footer with help defense and unbridled energy, hustling all over the floor to keep Rutgers on track and take the wind out of the sails of the Illini, the most notable occurrence of that happening on a free throw attempt, boxing out Da’Monte Williams and drawing a flagrant foul.

Paul Mulcahy’s defense on Kofi Cockburn was huge in Rutgers’ win over Illinois. (Photo by Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

“Shoutout to Paul Mulcahy,” Young gushed. “That boy’s a dog.”

“Paul does a lot of winning things, as you see,” Pikiell echoed. “He rebounds, he gets assists, he draws some tough defensive assignments, he’s a really good rotation guy. He gives us some direction, too, at times. Sometimes those areas don’t show up in the box score, but he’s tough and he does winning things, and you saw that today.”

Rutgers as a whole has done almost everything right this season, not allowing for any dropoff after the scintillating February and March that inspired big dreams on the banks of the old Raritan. A question entering the year was how the Scarlet Knights would handle legitimate expectations, and six games into an unprecedented season, the answer is that nothing has changed. The team simply built on what it did last year and betters it in every way possible.

“It’s what we’ve been working on since day one, trying to make this thing happen,” Young declared. “We’re just living in the moment right now.”

“We expect to be here,” Harper reaffirmed. “We hold ourselves to a high standard, and we practice at a high standard. We talk about 1-0 every day, and we’re going to keep going 1-0 every day. Every time we step between those lines, we expect to get a win. We have a dog mentality, a pack mentality, and we’re going to attack you every time we get between those lines.”