WASHINGTON — Plagued all season by the inability to close out games, 14th-seeded Rutgers overcame a rough shooting performance to beat 11th-seeded Ohio State 66-57 Wednesday night in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
Nigel Johnson scored 21 points on 5 of 11 shooting and made all eight free throws to lead the Scarlet Knights (15-17), who have now won back-to-back games after a six-game skid. Now in its third season in the Big Ten, it’s the first time Rutgers has won consecutive conference games.
Despite shooting 37.1 percent — and 30.4 from 3-point territory and going about 3 ½ minutes without a point in the second half — Rutgers also won its first Big Ten Tournament game after being bounced as the No. 14 seed the past two tries.
Rutgers outrebounded Ohio State 47-31 to overcome its shooting woes.
Jae’Sean Tate scored 18 points for 11th-seed Ohio State (17-15), which will miss the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Buckeyes did not make a field goal in the final 5:43.
Coming in, Rutgers had already doubled its win total under first-year coach Steve Pikiell after going 7-25 in the final season with Eddie Jordan. As Pikiell had hoped, it learned from a close loss to Ohio State on Feb. 8 and put enough together to win a tight game.
Big picture
Rutgers: Progress has been slow under Pikiell, but he hoped his team’s best basketball was still ahead. That’s still possible with Rutgers still alive and trying to build something from the ground up.
Ohio State: It’s reflection time in Columbus after another disappointing season. It’s the first time in coach Thad Matta’s career that he hasn’t reached 20 victories in a season, including his previous 12 at Ohio State, three at Xavier and one at Butler.
Matta matters
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith released a statement earlier Wednesday that said the school is sticking with Matta, the most successful coach in Buckeyes history.
Smith said in the statement: “While we are not currently where we aspire to be with our performance on the court, Thad understands better than anyone that component has to improve. I am confident in his leadership to return the program to the winning ways that we have all enjoyed during his 13-year tenure.”
Up next
Rutgers: Faces sixth-seeded Northwestern in the late game Thursday night for the chance to play Maryland in the quarterfinals Friday. Rutgers lost both meetings this season with Northwestern, which is NCAA Tournament-bound for the first time in school history.
Penn State 76,
Nebraska 67, OT
WASHINGTON — With his cousin rapper Flavor Flav cheering loudly from the third row, Shep Garner scored seven of Penn State’s 16 points in overtime, leading the Nittany Lions to a victory in the opening game of the first Big Ten Tournament to be held in the nation’s capital.
Penn State (15-17) never trailed and ended a five-game losing streak. The 13th-seeded Nittany Lions advanced to face Michigan State in the second round following today’s noon game between Michigan and Illinois. Evan Taylor led 12th-seeded Nebraska (12-19) with 15 points.
Michigan plane
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A plane carrying the Michigan men’s basketball team slid off a runway during an aborted takeoff Wednesday, causing extensive damage to the aircraft and forcing passengers to exit through emergency doors onto wings and slides at Willow Run Airport.
The 109 passengers and seven crew members didn’t suffer injuries, according to the Wayne County Airport Authority, which said the airport in Ypsilanti about 15 miles from campus was closed. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the accident, according to Wayne County Airport Authority spokesman Brian Lassaline.
School officials were working on an alternate travel arrangement as of 7 p.m., roughly 17 hours before the team was scheduled to tip off against Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament today in Washington, D.C.
Team spokesman Tom Wywrot said the takeoff “was aborted” on a day marked by high winds and “after strong braking,” the plane slid off the runway and “sustained extensive damage.”
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