Men's Basketball Edged Late at No. 8 Michigan State

Thursday, March 5

East Lansing, Mich.

8 PM

Rutgers University

12-18,5-14Big Ten

Michigan State

25-5,15-4Big Ten

Rutgers

Michigan St.

Men's Basketball Edged Late at No. 8 Michigan State

Mar 05 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

RU turns 19-point deficit to a one possession game in waning seconds at MSU

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Playing on the road against a top-10 foe on their Senior Night, Rutgers men's basketball battled throughout, ultimately falling 91-87 to No. 8/8 Michigan State at the Breslin Center. The Scarlet Knights used a late charge to turn a 19-point deficit late in the second half into a one possession game in the final seconds.

Rutgers never relented against the Spartans, despite trailing by 18 with 5:00 to play. Despite that deficit, RU then went on a 30-14 run to get the game back within two points, including a 16-5 stretch in the final minutes to pressure the Spartans late. The visitors made their nine shots over the final 2:36 after shooting 39% over the first 37 minutes of the contest.

Tariq Francis led RU with 25 points and five assists. He shot 8-of-17 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point distance and was 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Francis is at 90.8% for the year from the free throw line (139-of-153), currently the third best percentage in a season for a RU player.

Center Emmanuel Ogbole had 13 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes of action against MSU. It was the most points Ogbole has ever scored in a Big Ten game, his second career league game with 10+ points.

Lino Mark had 14 points, shooting 6-of-11 from the field. He added four assists. Fellow freshman Kaden Powers joined him in double-figure scoring with 11 points, stroking three three-pointers.

Rutgers' 87 points matched the most that the team scored in regulation this season. The Scarlet Knights played Michigan State twice this season and were within one possession in the final seconds of regulation both times, with the Spartans winning the game in Jersey Mike's Arena in overtime.

Gallery: (3-5-2026) MBB at Michigan State

Rutgers will return home and have a short turnaround for the final regular season game. RU will host Penn State on Sunday at Jersey Mike's Arena. It will be a noon tipoff on BTN. Following that will be the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago. Pending final standings, RU will start action at the Big Ten Tournament on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

The game against Penn State will be Senior Day. Pregame, RU will honor Emmanuel Ogbole. In addition, five senior managers will be honored: Jack Reicheg (a Sport Management major from Princeton, NJ), RIchard Wu (a Packaging Engineering major from Woodbridge, NJ), Andrew Taffe (a Sport Management major from New City, NY), Tim Ziemba (a Supply Chain Management major from Mount Laurel, NJ) and Hailen Arp (a Sport Management major from Highland Park, NJ).