Rutgers showed up on Valentine’s Day wearing a Halloween costume.
For one half and then some Tuesday night, the Big Ten team ranking last in 3-point shooting percentage but first in rebounding played an unrecognizable style: Dangerous from behind the arc and outmatched on the glass.
But Rutgers wasn’t able to sustain the scoring pace with No. 16 Purdue, falling 74-55 on the road as All-American candidate Caleb Swanigan registered his nation-leading 22nd double-double of the season.
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The Scarlet Knights (13-14, 2-12) slipped under .500 for the first time all season by being on the wrong end of a 45-28 rebounding edge. The Boilermakers were plus-13 on the boards in the first half, taking full advantage of the frontcourt size that makes them arguably the worst matchup on Rutgers’ schedule.
On his postgame radio interview with broadcaster Jerry Recco, Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said rebounding has “been one of the things we could count on night in and night out — obviously didn’t do that tonight.”
Trailing 33-26 at halftime despite shooting 6-of-11 from 3 and getting 14 points from Nigel Johnson, Rutgers cut its deficit to six, 45-39, with less than 13 minutes remaining.
But Purdue, which leads the Big Ten in 3-point shooting and ranks fifth in rebounding, scored nine of the next 11 points and continued to pour it on. By the time the clock ticked inside four minutes, Purdue had opened up a 21-point lead.
Just as Wisconsin center Ethan Haap ate up Rutgers a few weeks ago at Madison Square Garden and Seton Hall center Angel Delgado did in the non-conference finale, Purdue center Isaac Haas had his way on the inside against a rotation of bigs. He finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, with 16 and five, respectively, coming during the second half.
“We have a couple of big guys, too,” Pikiell said, “but he made those guys all look small today.”
Swanigan finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds, helping the Boilermakers (21-5, 10-3) to a 42-18 scoring advantage in the paint.
Though usually a poor free-throw shooting team to the degree that it has cost wins, Rutgers didn’t even attempt a free throw until until the final three minutes of the game. The Scarlet Knights scored just one point — on three attempts — at the stripe.
On the other hand, Haas was 6-of-10 at the line on his own.
Johnson netted a career-high 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting off the bench, while Corey Sanders struggled to the tune of seven points on 3-of-14. Deshawn Freeman had 12 points and five rebounds, including a rare 3 in the first half when the deep shots were falling.
Rutgers finished 8-of-20 behind the arc, setting a season-best for treys in a conference game.
“He was in the zone,” PIkiell said of Johnson, “and we needed every one of those.”
Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.
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