PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers men's basketball earned its first ranked win of the season and 50th all-time in a 82-73 thriller over No. 23 Illinois Wednesday evening.

The Scarlet Knights started out strong, leading 23-6 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half, but Illinois crawled back to cut the deficit to eight. Rutgers took a 37-29 advantage into the break. 

Freshman Dylan Harper was excellent in his return to action - he finished with 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Harper had not played since Jan. 25 against Michigan State due to injury.

Fellow five-star Ace Bailey scored two of his 18 points to open up the second half on a backdoor slam from Harper. Bailey notched his seventh career double-double with 11 rebounds and added three blocks.

Rutgers led for 33 minutes throughout the contest including by as many as 17, but Illinois kept chipping away and took a 55-52 lead with 10 minutes left. Fifth-year PJ Hayes and captain Zach Martini responded with back-to-back threes to regain the lead. 

Captain Jeremiah Williams had a strong performance after being limited in the previous game with an illness. He posted 13 points including 7-for-8 from the free-throw line. 

Rutgers shot 28-for-34 (82 percent) from the charity stripe overall, Illinois 13-for-19. Harper was 11-for-12 at the line including big makes down the stretch.

RU's defense forced 13 turnovers and converted 18 points off those cough-ups. RU scored 24 points on fast-breaks.

The Scarlet Knights improve to 12-11 (5-7 in conference play) while Illinois falls to 15-8 (7-6).

Rutgers looks to carry its momentum into College Park to face No. 18 Maryland on Sunday, Feb. 9 - tipping off at noon on Big Ten Network.

Dylan Harper

• Had his 12th game of 20+ points on the season and his second since Dec. 21
• Had his first game of 25+ points since scoring 37 against Alabama on Nov. 27
• Had a career-high four steals
• His 11 made free throws was third most ever by a RU player in a Big Ten game
• Became just the seventh freshman since 2010 with at least 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals and a block in a game
  • Was the first freshman overall to do so since Duke's Zion Williamson (Jan. 8, 2019 at Wake Forest)
  • Was the first Big Ten freshman to do so in the past 15 years

Ace Bailey

• Had his seventh double-double of the season (18 points, 11 rebounds)
• Is now 4th on RU's single-season freshman scoring list, passing Quincy Douby's freshman year. He's behind only Mike Rosario, Phil Sellers and Corey Sanders

Dylan Grant

• Had a career-high seven rebounds

Jeremiah Williams

• Scored 13 points, his most since posting 20 vs. Texas A&M on November 30

Team

• Four of Rutgers five leading scorers in the game were true freshmen (Harper – 28, Bailey – 18, Sommerville – 7, Grant – 5, combining for 58 of the team's 82 points (71%)
• Rutgers' five true freshmen (Bailey – 11, Grant – 7, Harper – 6, Sommerville – 4, Dortch – 2) had 30 of the team's 40 rebounds (75%)
• Rutgers (28-of-34 at the free throw line) made its most free throws in a Big Ten game this season
• It was tied for the second most free throws made in a Big Ten game ever by the program, and the most in a Big Ten regulation game
• Illinois' 29 points in the first half were the second fewest points in a first half by an opponent this season and the fewest since Wagner scored 19 in first half of the season opener.
• Illinois' shooting 30.3% from the field was the second lowest by a RU opponent in the first half this season (only Monmouth, 29.4% in the season's third game)
• Illinois' leading scorer Kasparas Jakucionis was held to single digits for just the fifth time this season and his third lowest output overall with just five points

With The Win
- First ranked win of the season
- 50th ranked win lifetime
- 17th ranked win under head coach Steve Pikiell
- Fifth all-time win over Illinois, with 4 wins in the past 8 games