Richard Pitino knows if the Gophers want to reach their goals of becoming an NCAA tournament team this season, they need Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy to perform consistently like two of the best players in the Big Ten.
Murphy and Coffey weren't aggressive enough at times in Minnesota's first home loss to Maryland earlier in the week, but they came with a different mentality Saturday.
Coffey scored 29 points and Murphy had 15 points and 14 rebounds in an 88-70 victory against Rutgers in front of 10,837 at Williams Arena.
"We need that," Pitino said. "I told both Murphy and Amir, 'both of you guys, let's go.' They need to be very, very assertive. Murph needs to be confident getting to the foul line, because he's really good at that. Amir is playing like one of the better players in the league right now."
Coffey had 21 points in the second half on 7-for-8 shooting from both the field and on free throws for the Gophers (13-3, 3-2), who bounced back after an 82-67 loss Tuesday against Maryland.
Murphy, who is Minnesota's career rebounding leader, surpassed former Michigan State star Draymond Green for fourth on the Big Ten's all-time rebounding list. Murphy's mark of 1,104 is the best since Ohio State's Herb Williams had 1,111 from 1978-81.
"I think our guys showed great energy and great poise," Murphy said. "No matter what happened down the stretch, if they made a couple shots, we were able to answer back."
The Gophers used a 14-1 run in the second half to pull away from the Scarlet Knights (8-7, 1-4), who were coming off an upset over No. 16 Ohio State on Thursday.