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Well that was ugly. After breaking a four-game skid with a 23-point victory against Houston on Saturday, Rutgers laid one of the biggest goose eggs in recent memory Tuesday night in Memphis. The Tigers built an astonishingly quick lead that reached 35 points by halftime. The Scarlet Knights began the game hitting only one of their first nine shots, and finished with a 25% shooting percentage.
Anyway you want to look at it, Memphis simply outplayed Rutgers. The Tigers outscored the Knights inside the paint 44-28 and also went 12-19 from beyond the arc. Rutgers meanwhile shot 26% from 3-point range and 41% overall. Kadeem Jack was the only Rutgers player to score in double figures, and he only managed 12 points. With surprising SMU pulling off the upset against the Tigers on February 1, Memphis was most likely going to take out their frustrations on the next opponent, but a performance this dominant was still surprising.
There just isn't anything to really take away from this game going forward. After hitting a bright spot against Houston this past weekend, Rutgers now sits at 3-7 in the AAC and 9-14 overall. Eddie Jordan's squad has now lost five of six, and they have SMU, Louisville, and Memphis once again in the next four games. A road game at USF is a must win or else Rutgers could be looking at losing nine of ten games. A couple upsets, however, and Rutgers could hold down the sixth spot late in the season.
