PISCATAWAY, N.J. – With so many Big Ten teams this season getting crushed on the road, it came as no surprise the Gophers continued that trend Sunday.
It wasn't necessarily the margin — but how his team was outplayed — that had coach Richard Pitino frustrated in a 64-56 loss at Rutgers.
The Gophers (10-8, 4-4), ranked third in the Big Ten with a plus-5.3 rebounding margin entering the game, were beaten 45-35 on the glass. They gave up 15 of Rutgers' 20 offensive boards in the first half alone.
"They absolutely manhandled us on the offensive glass," Pitino said. "You can't win on the road, home, anywhere when you give up 20 offensive rebounds. We were playing good defense. We just weren't physical enough on the glass."
Playing in front of their third consecutive sellout crowd, the Scarlet Knights (14-4, 5-2) improved to 11-0 at home after also keeping Minnesota's sophomore scoring duo of Daniel Oturu and Marcus Carr in check for most of the day.
Coming off his 27-point, nine-assist performance in Wednesday's 75-69 home victory over Penn State, Carr scored only eight points on 2-for-8 shooting, with five assists. Oturu, who finished with a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds, finally found his rhythm late in the second half. By then, it was too late for the Gophers, who are 0-6 in true road games this season.
"They were bringing two or three guys to the ball whenever I was attacking," Carr said. "That's just them as a team. That's what they like to do. They're very aggressive — and they send four guys to the glass."
Carr and Oturu were the only teammates in the Big Ten both averaging 20 points in Big Ten play. They combined for 53 points vs. Penn State but shot a combined 0-for-8 and totaled just two in the first half Sunday and trailed 34-25.
