Nigel Johnson scored 21 points and made all eight free throws to lead Rutgers to a 66-57 over Ohio State Wednesday night in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Rutgers (15-17) now has won back-to-back games after a six-game skid. Now in its third season in the Big Ten, it's the first time the Scarlet Knights have won consecutive conference games.

DeShawn Freeman scored 21 points and hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to lead Rutgers past Illinois 62-59 on Saturday.

Freeman hit the game-winner from the wing, before flinging Tracy Abram's missed 3-point attempt into the student section.

D.J. Wilson scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, three other Wolverines scored in double figures, and Michigan beat Rutgers 68-64 on Wednesday.

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored 14 points, Derrick Walton Jr. had 13 and Zak Irvin added 16 for Michigan (18-10, 8-7 Big Ten), which made 10 of 31 from behind the arc to Rutgers' 6 of 16.

Kam Williams had 23 points and Trevor Thompson added 15 points and 13 rebounds as Ohio State beat Rutgers 70-64 on Wednesday night.

Williams hit a 3-pointer and a subsequent foul shot to break a 62-62 tie at 1:05 after Rutgers had overcame a 12-point deficit. After Ohio State's Jae-Sean Tate missed a pair of foul shots, Rutgers' Deshawn Freeman tipped in a rebound to cut the lead to two, but the Scarlet Knights ran out of time.

Corey Sanders scored 25 points, with six rebounds, four assists, and three steals to lead Rutgers past Penn State 70-68 on Saturday for the Scarlet Knights' first-ever Big Ten road win.

Rutgers, which has just five wins in the Big Ten since joining in 2014-15, was 0-23 on the road in conference play. The last conference win was in 2014 against South Florida, an American Athletic Conference member.

Ethan Happ scored seven of his career-high 32 points in overtime and No. 15 Wisconsin overcame offensive struggles to beat Rutgers 61-54 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

Happ was the only player for the Badgers (18-3, 7-1 Big Ten) to shoot above 50 percent (12 for 18) and the team finished at 33.3 percent for the game (20 for 60) including 3 for 23 from 3-point range.

Corey Sanders scored 25 points, including the game-winner with one second left, to lead Rutgers past Nebraska 65-64 on Saturday for first-year coach Steve Pikiell's first Big Ten win.

Rutgers assistant defensive backs coach Aaron Henry will leave the program to become a position coach at North Carolina State, NJ.com's Keith Sargeant reports.

Henry played under NC State's Dave Doeren at Wisconsin from 2007 to 2011 when Doeren was the Badgers' defensive coordinator.

Henry spent one season with the Scarlet Knights, working with the team's safeties under head coach Chris Ash. He earned $140,000 as the lowest paid member among Rutgers' nine assisants.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- James Blackmon Jr. scored 16 points and OG Anunoby had 11 points and seven steals Sunday to lead Indiana past Rutgers 76-57.

It was the Hoosiers (12-6, 2-3 Big Ten) second win in six games.

Corey Sanders scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half and C.J. Gettys added 12 points and seven rebounds for Rutgers (11-8, 0-6), which has lost seven straight overall and five in a row to Indiana.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Miles Bridges had six points and six rebounds in a 17-minute return from an ankle injury and Eron Harris scored 24 points, helping Michigan State beat Rutgers 93-65 Wednesday night.

The Spartans (11-5, 3-0 Big Ten) have won four straight.

The Scarlet Knights (11-5, 0-3) have lost four in a row.

Nigel Hayes scored 20 points, Zak Showalter added 18 and No. 14 Wisconsin used an active start on the defensive end to build an early lead and defeat Rutgers 72-52 on Tuesday night.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Angel Delgado had 19 points and 16 rebounds and Khadeen Carrington scored 20 points to lead Seton Hall to a 72-61 victory over cross-state rival Rutgers on Friday night at the Prudential Center.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- Unlike past seasons when Rutgers figured out ways to lose, the Scarlet Knights are doing the opposite this year.

"We're figuring out ways to win games," said coach Steve Pikiell after Rutgers took an 82-69 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday night. "Each team we've played has presented a different challenge and we've been able to respond and take care of the game."

Mike Williams sank two free throws with three seconds left and Rutgers held off Stony Brook 71-66 Saturday night, scoring its last 10 points from the line.

As much as Chris Ash wants to move forward quickly after a 2-10 season first season as Rutgers' football coach, he knows that he has to spend time looking back, especially at the lowlights.

"It's not what anybody wants. I'm not satisfied with that," Ash said Wednesday. "We'll evaluate the overall big picture of the offense; special teams have not been very good. We'll assess all aspects of the process and identify ways to do better."

The Scarlet Knights allowed an average of nearly 38 points a game. They were outgained in total yardage by an average of 168 yards. There were 21 fumbles - 12 lost - and the revolving door at the quarterback position was squeezed with 34 sacks, totaling nearly the length of a football field. They finished on a nine-game losing streak, failing to win a contest in the Big Ten Conference.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) Freshman Dewan Huell had 14 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes and the Miami Hurricanes scored 17 consecutive points in the second half Wednesday to beat previously undefeated Rutgers in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, 73-61.

The 6-foot-11 Huell scored in double figures for the fifth time this season and had a couple of baskets worthy of video replays.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) Ty Johnson ran for 168 yards, Teldrick Morgan returned a punt 83 yards for a score and Maryland finally became bowl eligible by beating Rutgers 31-13 Saturday.

After losing four straight by a combined 191-49 score, the Terrapins (6-6, 3-6 Big Ten) took the lead for good in the opening minute and cruised to the finish.

The door to a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game is wide open for Penn State and what was unthinkable just weeks ago -- a shot at the four-team College Football Playoff -- is within reach. The question now is: Can the injury-riddle Nittany Lions (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten) limp through it?

No. 9 Penn State, ranked eighth in this week's College Football Playoff poll, is expected to play without its top three offensive tackles when it travels to Piscataway, N.J., to play Rutgers (2-8, 0-7) on Saturday.

Mike Williams had 14 points and nine rebounds as Rutgers improved to 3-0 with a 66-59 win over DePaul Thursday in Rosemont, Ill. Deshawn Williams had nine points and nine rebounds for Rutgers, which outrebounded DePaul, 48-30.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Tyler O'Connor threw three touchdown passes in the first half, and Michigan State snapped its seven-game losing streak with a 49-0 rout of Rutgers on Saturday in what was a matchup of the last two teams in the Big Ten without a conference win.

Now Rutgers (2-8, 0-7) is alone at the bottom of the league after the Spartans (3-7, 1-6) raced out to a 35-0 halftime lead. LJ Scott ran for 103 of his 122 yards in the first half, and Demetrious Cox returned an interception for a touchdown.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Mike Williams scored 17 points as Rutgers beat Division II Molloy 86-57 on Friday night to give Steve Pikiell his first win as Scarlet Knights head coach.

It was the largest margin of victory for a head coach in their Rutgers debut.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- For Rutgers, this scenario is a disappointment.

For Michigan State, it was unimaginable.

The Scarlet Knights and Spartans will meet in East Lansing on Saturday in a matchup between the only two winless teams in Big Ten play. Michigan State, which went to the national semifinals last season, has lost seven games in a row - yet is still favored by about two touchdowns. That's how badly this season has gone for Rutgers.

Chris Ash, in his first season as coach at Rutgers, was somewhat dismissive of the idea that the two teams are that similar.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- Devine Redding gave Indiana the lead with a 34-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and caught Richard Lagow's third touchdown pass of the game in the fourth as the error-prone Hoosiers rallied for a 33-27 win over Rutgers Saturday.

Lagow was 28 of 40 for 394 yards. He hit Ricky Jones for a 36-yard score and started the second-half rally for Indiana (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) with a 40-yard TD toss to Camion Patrick.

Zander Diamont added a 59-yard touchdown run for Indiana, which turned it over four times, missed three field goals and two extra points.

Giovanni Rescigno beat the odds to become Rutgers' starting quarterback.

When spring practice opened under first-year coach Chris Ash, Rescigno was third behind incumbent Chris Laviano and Hayden Rettig, who started the season opener last year and was the backup the rest of the way. The addition of TCU transfer Zach Allen and highly touted freshman Tylin Oden in the summer beefed up the competition.

Oden was viewed as the quarterback of the future given his dual-threat ability in offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer's power-spread offense.

Emmitt Carpenter's 28-yard field goal with 10 seconds left helped Minnesota survive for a 34-32 victory against Rutgers on Saturday. Rodney Smith had a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and ran for 111 yards and a touchdown for the Golden Gophers (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten). Mitch Leidner returned after missing one game with a concussion and was 11-of-18 passing for 156 yards and an interception. Rutgers cornerback Damon Hayes intercepted Leidner and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown with just over six minutes left in the third quarter, but Scarlet Knights kicker David Bongaura couldn't tie the game when he missed the PAT.

After opening the Big Ten season on a two-game skid, Minnesota found a way to right itself with a backup quarterback.Rutgers is hoping for similar results this week.Coach Chris Ash has elevated Gio Rescigno to starter for the remainder of the season, hoping that his solid play in the second half against Illinois last week can help the Scarlet Knights (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) get that elusive first conference victory.

Gio Rescigno will start at quarterback for Rutgers on Saturday against Minnesota, head coach Chris Ash said, according to Ryan Dunleavy of NJ.com.

Rescigno replaces Chris Laviano, who had made 18 consecutive starts.

"Gio has quietly just worked and worked and worked," Ash said, adding that the decision to use Rescigno as the starter isn't a result of "blaming" Laviano.

Kendrick Foster scored two touchdowns and Darius Mosely returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown as Illinois snapped a four-game losing streak with a 24-7 victory over mistake-prone Rutgers on Saturday.Foster ran 5 yards for a touchdown and caught a 5-yard scoring pass from first-time starter Chayce Crouch in helping the Fighting Illini (2-4, 1-2 Big Ten) give coach Lovie Smith his first win since the season opener.

Midway through coach Chris Ash's first season, Rutgers is exactly where most prognosticators thought they would be.

The Scarlet Knights (2-4, 0-3) are struggling.

"You guys (the media) are the experts, and in listening to the experts after the first six games, I bet each one of you in this room would have probably put us at 2-4," Ash said. "Probably not with the types of losses that we had in the last two games."

After getting the school's largest loss in over a century, Rutgers players and coaches said their defeat to Michigan was "embarrassing" and that the team is "hurt" emotionally. 

Michigan's biggest win since 1939 came at the expense of a struggling Rutgers squad, which totaled just 39 yards, two first downs and punted the ball 16 times. The Scarlet Knights also went 0-for-17 on third-down chances. 

"It just feels like playing a video game -- we just got spanked," senior DB Anthony Cioffi said, according to NJ.com. "We played hard, though. All four quarters. I love my brothers, but not the outcome we wanted."

Rutgers' fifth-year senior linebacker Greg Jones is going to miss the rest of the season with a neck injury.

Scarlet Knights coach Chris Ash updated Jones' status Saturday, less than an hour before Rutgers was to host No. Michigan.

Jones was hurt playing against No. 2 Ohio State last weekend. He is fully recovered but has been told not play football at this time.

Box score

 J.T. Barrett broke the school record for career touchdown passes with the third of his four TD tosses Saturday, No. 2 Ohio State's stifling defense forced Rutgers to punt on each of its 10 drives and the surging Buckeyes romped to a 58-0 victory.

Barrett was 21 for 29 for 238 yards before giving way to backup Joe Burrow near the end of the third quarter. He now has 59 TD passes in 27 career games for Ohio State.

When Urban Meyer looks across the field to the other sideline on Saturday afternoon in Ohio Stadium, he'll see several familiar faces.

When the Ohio State coach watches the Rutgers defense, he'll see almost a carbon copy of the schemes that his team runs.

"It's our defense. I mean like exactly," Meyer said. "They do a very good job and their defensive line is much improved and the guys are bigger and stronger and they also stole one of our strength coaches, Kenny Parker, and it looks like it. They're very strong."

Box score

Akrum Wadley scored on 26-yard run on the play after Iowa's defense forced a turnover deep in Rutgers' territory and the Hawkeyes rebounded from their stunning loss to North Dakota State with a 14-7 victory over tougher-than-expected Rutgers on Saturday.

Safety Brandon Snyder set up the score by stripping the ball from receiver Andre Patton with just under nine minute to play to help Iowa (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) win its ninth straight regular-season conference game and its seventh straight league win on the road.

If Rutgers is going to have any chance in its Big Ten Conference opener against Iowa, it can't afford another bad start.

The Scarlet Knights fell behind Washington 24-0, trailed Howard by two touchdowns and New Mexico by 21 points - all in the first quarter.

Rutgers (2-1) was able to overcome the deficits in the last two games, but it won't be so easy if Iowa (2-1) comes ready to play on Saturday at High Point Solutions Stadium after its loss to North Dakota State, the winner of the last five FCS national titles.

Rutgers Athletic Director Pat Hobbs has released a letter to students following an incident in which he was caught drinking beer at a student tailgate. 

Hobbs, who had apologized for the incident earlier, described in the letter why the university shut down the tailgate area known as "The Alley." 

"[The Alley's] popularity exceeded everyone's expectations," Hobbs said in the letter. "Yesterday, due to concerns about our ability to ensure student safety, we made the decision that The Alley could not continue to be used as an area for student tailgating." 

Box score

Wide receiver Janarion Grant threw for a touchdown and had a go-ahead 69 yard punt return for another score as Rutgers rallied from an early 21-point deficit and defeated New Mexico 37-28 on Saturday.

Halfback Robert Martin rushed for a career-high 169 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown, and Chris Laviano threw a 75-yard scoring pass to Jawuan Harris in helping the Scarlet Knights (2-1) overcome a big deficit for the second straight week.

Rutgers may have gotten a glimpse of the quarterback of the future in its one-sided win over Howard.

Based on the inconsistent performance of starter Chris Laviano, backup Tylin Oden may see more time in the present.

Oden made his debut in the fourth quarter, following the first collegiate experience of redshirt sophomore Giovanni Rescigno, who had one rush for a 42-yard touchdown. Oden had nine rushes for 59 yards, including a run of 30 yards.

For most Big Ten Conference football teams, a step-down game is one to put in the win column.

After being blown out by now No. 8 Washington in Chris Ash's coaching debut at Rutgers, it's hard to know what to expect when the Scarlet Knights face Howard on Saturday.

Rutgers did not play well in dropping a 48-13 decision to the Huskies. They trailed 24-0 after the first quarter, 34-3 at the half and 48-3 after three quarters.

Box score

SEATTLE -- Shortly after sustaining a knee injury in the spring of 2015 that would cost him the season, Washington'sJohn Ross placed the Rutgers logo on a calendar app on his phone, a countdown to when he'd finally get back on the field for the Huskies.

His return proved worth the wait.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) Darius Hamilton's technique is as flawless is any defensive lineman in the country. So is his knowledge of the game.

But what stands out most to Hamilton's coaches and teammates at Rutgers is his ability to flip the switch.

"When he walks on the field he changes. He's a different guy," defensive line coach Shane Burnham said. "I've been around him. He's a great kid. He'll do well in whatever he does in life, but when he gets on that field he turns into a nasty kid and that's what I like to see."

Chris Laviano will be the starting quarterback for Rutgers.

First-year coach Chris Ash announced the decision on Monday, less than two weeks before the season opener at Washington.

Laviano started 11 games last season in Kyle Flood's final year as coach. He edged TCU transfer Zach Allen, fellow redshirt junior Hayden Rettig and redshirt sophomore Giovanni Rescigno for the job.

Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell continued to rebuild his roster with the addition of 6-foot-9 forward Issa Thiam on Monday.

Thiam initially committed to former Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan and then re-opened his recruitment after Jordan was fired.

Greg "Shoes" Vetrone, an assistant under Jordan and now in charge of player development under Pikiell, was the point man on Thiam.

HOUSTON -- Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell opted to stay within his UConn family and hire Karl Hobbs as his associate head coach.

A former UConn starting point guard (1980-84) and captain, Hobbs just finished his 13^th season as a UConn assistant coach in two separate stints: 1993-2001 and 2011-2016. During 2011-12, he served as the Director of Basketball Administration). In between, he spent 10 years as the head coach at George Washington University, directing the Colonials to 166 wins, two Atlantic 10 Tournament titles and three straight NCAA Tournament berths.

"I'm a lucky guy to have had the chance to return to my alma mater and enjoy such great success," Hobbs said. "While at UConn, I had the opportunity to be a part of two incredible eras of national championship basketball with legendary coach Jim Calhoun and with Kevin Ollie, who is also a phenomenal head coach. Not many people can say that they have been fortunate enough to leave and come back and win again so, I'm incredibly grateful. I'm also very appreciative of the entire UConn family, which has given me so much as a former student, an alumnus, and now as a coaching professional.  

Chris Ash bounced from drill to drill at his first spring practice as Rutgers' new football coach Thursday, alternating from offense to defense, offering encouragement and warnings to his players.

"Finish every play," he said, later adding: "If you don't finish, you won't be here."

Music blasted inside the practice bubble for the entire hour the media was permitted to watch.

Steve Pikiell has been hired as the new Rutgers head basketball coach and will be introduced at a press conference on Tuesday.

Steve Politi of NJ.com was the first to report the news.

Pikiell, 48, took a four-win Stony Brook team and led them to their first NCAA Tournament in school history this season. 

Dan Hurley has turned down an offer to become the Rutgers men's basketball coach and will remain at Rhode Island. He decided to remove his name on Tuesday, a source with direct knowledge told SNY.tv.

If Pat Hobbs had been the athletic director at Rutgers three years ago when the school first approached Hurley, he would have taken the job, the source said. When the two sides couldn't come to terms in 2013, Rutgers hired Eddie Jordan instead. Jordan was fired last Thursday.

This time around, Rutgers offered Hurley a six-year deal worth in the neighborhood of $2 million annually, sources said. He could be in line for a significant raise at Rhode Island, where he will make a guaranteed $1 million per season by 2017-18. His current contract there runs through the 2021-22 season.