Rutgers Basketball: Indiana 72 Rutgers 64

This was one of those games where you chalk it up as "Good job, good effort."  At least on paper.

Rutgers did everything it could to try and win this game, and at the same time did everything possible to lose it.

Junior Etou finally woke up in conference play, and along with Greg Lewis, and both used their size to pace Rutgers in the first half.  Lewis had 10 and Etou had 8.  Rutgers trailed by 2 at halftime.  The Hoosiers adjust to take Etou and Lewis out of the game, and Myles Mack took over, scoring 12 points quickly to start the second half.

Mack was amazing with 24 points and 8 assists.  He needs to be remembered as a great Scarlet Knight during a turbulent era.

And with about 12 minutes left, Bishop Daniels dunked the ball to push Rutgers lead to six.

But that's when it started to fall apart for the Scarlet Knights.  Rutgers couldn't hold on to the ball in key situations, and the Hoosiers made them pay.  There were several mental errors on the part of Daniels and Kadeem Jack, including missed assignments on defense, and a killer move by Daniels with Rutgers down 4.  Rutgers had the ball and seemed to be in good position to run a set and get a good shot.  But Daniels decided to dribble along the baseline, and stepped out of bounds, unforced.

That did it for Rutgers.

Basically, this game comes down to depth and talent.  Indiana has it and Rutgers doesn't.  Indiana had the killer instinct tonight, and Rutgers just made too many mistakes.

The Scarlet Knights travel to Illinois on Tuesday night.