Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs Iowa Hawkeyes Match Player Stats On Mar 02, 2019

Ron Harper Jr. scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the first half Saturday as Rutgers spoiled Iowa's Senior Day with an 86-72 Big Ten win in Iowa City.

Issa Thiam came off the bench to score 13 for the Scarlet Knights (14-14, 7-11), who prior to this season had never won more than three conference games since joining the Big Ten five seasons ago. Caleb McConnell added 11 points and Montez Mathis had 10.

Four players reached double figures for the No. 22 Hawkeyes (21-8, 10-8), led by Nicholas Baer -- their only senior -- with 17 points. Tyler Cook added 16, Jordan Bohannon tallied 15 and Luka Garza contributed 10.

Rutgers led by as many as 21 points late in the second half and held Iowa without a field goal for more than 10 minutes in one stretch. The Scarlet Knights went 11 of 23 from 3-point range and held the Hawkeyes to 35.7 percent shooting.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery sat out the first of his two-game suspension imposed by athletic director Gary Barta for a profanity-laced tirade at an official following a 90-70 loss Tuesday night at Ohio State. Assistant coach Andrew Francis ran the team in McCaffery's place.

Rutgers came into the game not having hit more than seven 3-pointers in each of its last 16 games, but used the arc to take charge in the first half. Harper kick-started a 20-8 run with a 3-ball, while McConnell added another and Harper netted a third for a 28-17 lead at the 6:59 mark.

Iowa pulled within 30-25 on a 3-pointer by Baer with 3:28 left, but Thiam went on a personal 9-2 run, all from the 3-point line, to up the margin to 39-27 within the final minute. The Hawkeyes were able to slice the deficit to 39-30 when Bohannon drilled a 3-ball with 10 seconds remaining.

The Scarlet Knights went 7 of 15 from the 3-point line in the half and also flashed crisp ball movement, drawing assists on 10 of their 14 buckets.

--Field Level Media