Scarlet Knights ride upset into Pete

It’s been a mystifying season thus far for Rutgers men’s basketball.

After dropping its… It’s been a mystifying season thus far for Rutgers men’s basketball.

After dropping its first five conference games by double-digits, Rutgers (9-11, 1-6 Big East) fought hard and competed for 40 minutes at DePaul last Saturday, only to blow a 15-point halftime lead and lose their sixth straight conference game.

The loss to DePaul marked the first time since the 2000-01 season that Rutgers started conference play with six straight defeats. However, they played hard, and it might have been a sign of progress.

Then against No. 18 Villanova on Wednesday night, Rutgers did two things it had previously been unable to accomplish. The Scarlet Knights didn’t just win their first conference game, but for the first time this season the Scarlet Knights showed that they were capable of finishing a conference game strong, as they outscored Villanova, 40-36, in the second half on their way to an 80-68 upset.

It was a big victory for Rutgers, and while head coach Fred Hill recognizes it was just one win, he hopes the upset will help his team’s psyche heading into this Saturday’s 6 p.m. matchup with Pitt at the Petersen Events Center, where Pitt is nearly unbeatable.

“You want to get rewarded for the hard work you put in, but it is just a win,” Hill said. “But we needed a win to feel good about everything we’ve been doing. We’ve been making progress and getting better.”

Furthermore, the win over Villanova marked the first time Rutgers has beaten a ranked opponent in more than two years.

It was also two years ago when Pitt (16-3, 4-2 Big East) and Rutgers last squared off. The teams didn’t meet at all last year because the Big East schedule didn’t require every team to face one another.

Like the Scarlet Knights, the Panthers also rebounded on Wednesday night, beating St. Johns, 81-57, at Madison Square Garden after losing at Cincinnati last Saturday.

But Pitt coach Jamie Dixon knows one win won’t fix his team’s problems.

“We are nowhere near where we need to be, and we know that,” Dixon said after the St. John’s game.

It appears Sam Young is exactly where he wants to be.

Young continued his campaign to be the league’s most improved player, not to mention its MVP, with a 26-point effort against St John’s. It was the eighth time this year that Young has scored 20 or more points, raising his scoring average to 18.6 points per game – good for third in the Big East, only .3 points per game behind conference leader Luke Harangody of Notre Dame. Young averaged only 7.2 points per game all of last year.

Dixon attributed Young’s success against St. John’s to Pitt’s scheme.

“We had good spacing on his drives, and that was key,” Dixon said. “When we get that, we have to take advantage of it. He got within the framework of what we were trying to do.”

Ronald Ramon, too, continued his steady play in running the Panthers offense. Ramon scored 16 points and added five assists in front of a hometown crowd, as Pitt improved to 5-2 with Ramon running its offense.

If the Scarlet Knights can contain Young, Ramon has proven to be a viable secondary scoring option.

If both players perform well, Rutgers will have a hard time keeping up with the high-scoring Panthers.

Rutgers is not privileged with a lot of scoring depth, and its 63 points per game ranks worst among all0 Big East teams. That is to be expected when a team shoots just 39 percent from the field, including only 30 percent from behind the 3-point line. Rutgers did, however, improve its shooting against Villanova, going 24 of 48 from the field.

Its ability to knock down shots will determine Rutgers’ aptitude to hang with the more experienced Panthers.

The Scarlet Knights will look for J.R. Inman to spark their stagnate offense. At 14.2 points per game, Inman is the team’s leading scorer.

Inman has major offensive potential, but sometimes he gets lost on the floor for extended periods of time. Inman, 6-foot-9, must look for his shot, be aggressive and put the ball on the floor in order for Rutgers to have any chance against Pitt.

Although they do have decent size in their starting five, the Scarlet Knights rely heavily on guard play to generate offense. Against Villanova, Rutgers only received 19 points from its frontcourt. They do, however, have a four-star recruit in sophomore center Hamady N’Diaye.

N’Diaye doesn’t feature a polished offensive game, but at 6-foot-11 he does pose a legitimate shot-blocking presence. N’Diaye’s 59 blocks is second in the conference to only Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet.