NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Rutgers forward Wally Judge was a perfect 9-for-9 from the field leading the Scarlet Knights to a comfortable 76-57 win in the opening round of the Big East tournament on Tuesday.
Myles Mack hit a three-pointer as time expired in the first half to give Rutgers a 32-31 lead heading and they would not trail for the remainder of the game.
“I thought we prepared well but Mack’s three at the end of the half..was a big basket for them,” said DePaul head coach Oliver Purnell on the key aspects of the loss that ended his teams’ season.
Rutgers shot an impressive 61.1% from the field during the game, with a steady dose of baskets in each half of the contest.
Judge’s 9-for-9 performance tied a Big East tournament record for accuracy. Boston College’s Craig Smith in 2005 and Ricky Wright of Villanova in 2001 were both 9 of 9 in conference tournament games.
Rutgers coach Mike Rice was fully in support of Judge’s performance after his perfect performance from the field.
“Wally and the whole team, no matter what happened this year continued to work,” said Rice. “It allowed him to have a record setting night like this.”
Cleveland Melvin led DePaul in scoring with 25 points, but the Blue Demons ended their season losing 16 of their last 17 games – with the lone win coming against this Rutgers team.
Oliver Purnell made it clear that he thought his team let the game slip away following Rutgers 16-6 run to open the second half.
“I thought they made six or maybe eight of their first eight shots in the second half,” said Purnell. “That was one of, if not the key parts of the game. That set a tone and I think in our mind we thought we were down further than we really were.”
DePaul was also a measly 3-18 from the three-point line in the contest. This contributed to the Blue Demons lowest point total (57) in their last 10 games.
Neither team led by more than five points in the first half, as they were seemingly going basket-for-basket.
DePaul cut the lead to eight points after a layup by Cleveland Melvin, but that was the closest they would get for the remainder of the game.
DePaul ends the year with only two wins in the Big East, while Rutgers advances to face the No. 6 seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Wednesday at 9 p.m.
