Rutgers falls to Kennesaw State, 79-77, in first road test for freshmen

KENNESAW, Ga. – So much for southern hospitality.
Billed as a homecoming for Rutgers freshman Ace Bailey and teammate Jamichael Davis, Sunday afternoon’s game between the Scarlet Knights and the Kennesaw State Owls morphed into a rude awakening for the entire Rutgers team.
Kennesaw State (5-1) proved to be the aggressor, pressuring No. 24 Rutgers into miscues, building a 20-point lead and outlasting Rutgers’s late rally with a 79-77 victory in front of a crowd of 3,805.
It was Kennesaw State’s first win over a ranked team in program history. The Owls, who play in Conference USA, out-rebounded Rutgers, 46-27.
“I knew we were coming into a real tough environment, and it was all that,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said. “We have to figure out how to play 40 minutes, especially when we are on the road.”
Bailey, who is from Chattanooga, Tenn., transferred to McEachern High in nearby Powder Springs, Ga. as a sophomore. He developed into a McDonald’s All-American at McEachern, which is 11 miles from Kennesaw State, but struggled all game on Sunday.
He battled early foul trouble to score 17 points on 17 shots. Standing 6-foot-10, he grabbed only one rebound, blocked a shot and recorded a steal. He did not have an assist, and his last pass, which was intended for Zach Martini across the court, was intercepted as Rutgers trailed by two points in the final seconds.
“Probably a lot here coming home for him,” Pikiell said. “But he’s just a good player. You have to live through some of these opportunities and experiences. I have a lot of faith in him. I want to make sure, one of the things he has got to continue to do for us is rebound. That is something he did not do a great job of tonight, but he will.”
Davis missed all four of his shot attempts off the bench and was held scoreless.
It was the Scarlet Knights’s first loss of the season that has started with high expectations amid an unprecedented influx of talent and four wins at home. They will have to respond quickly. Notre Dame awaits next on Tuesday at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. On Wednesday, they face No. 8 Alabama. A third opponent is to be determined after the first two rounds.
“You gotta get off the mat,” Pikiell said. “This is a big boy league. We don’t have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves. We gotta figure it out. If we play like we played in the second half, we’ll be fine.”
Bailey got the Scarlet Knights within two points after hitting a three in the final minute. It was a late surge after he also pulled Rutgers within five points on a three with 7:03 left in the game. Kennesaw State’s student section serenaded him with “Over-rated!” chants when he stepped to the free throw line late.
“These are all new experiences,” Pikiell said. “We play a lot of freshmen. They do, too. When you go on the road, it is a different ballgame.”
But Rutgers rallied behind the creative shotmaking of freshman Dylan Harper (21 points; 9 assists), overwhelming defense by Jeremiah Williams (4 steals) and team-wide defense that forced five-second violations from Kennesaw State. Still, after cutting the lead to seven points with 12:43 remaining in the second half, Rutgers fans started shouting “R!” while others answered with “U!” But Kennessaw State quickly ran off a few shots to in raise the lead to double digits again.
While Harper and Bailey draw national headlines, Kennesaw State freshmen Jamil Miller and Brandan Lue threw down monster dunks on the Scarlet Knights to posterize the moment.
“I know for this team, we were super hyped,” said Miller, who finished with 8 points. “We had the game circled for a while. A lot of us had been waiting for this for a long time.””
Family and friends caravanned 80 miles south from Chattanooga to Kennesaw State’s Convocation Center. They wore replica Rutgers jerseys with Bailey’s surname and No. 4 on the back. In the second row behind the Rutgers bench, Bailey’s mother, Ramika McGee, and stepfather, Antoric Wilson, sat with Bailey’s siblings. Higher up in the stands, Tremayne Anchrum, his coach at McEachern High, sat, as well as the entire McEachern roster from this season.
Bailey and sophomore guard Jamichael Davis played together at nearby McEachern High in Powder Springs, Ga.
The road has not been friendly to Rutgers. Coming in, the Scarlet Knights had lost 12 of their last 13 non-conference games outside of Piscataway since 2018.
Rutgers trailed 44-26 at halftime after making only 28.1% of its shots.
Bailey’s day started well. He knocked down his first shot attempt, a three, but little else went well early. He then missed three shots before making another, and then had his crossover dribble stripped. Though he hustled down court to affect an Owl’s shot, he then tried to run through a defender on the court next time down. That was his second foul, with 12:36 remaining in the first half. He went to the bench immediately. Rutgers was down 11-9 at the time.
Bailey only sat three minutes before coming back in the game, but Rutgers could not stop Kennesaw State’s shotmaking from deep. Rutgers allowed points, too. Harper took a ball off the rim and was whistled for goaltending. He played over 13 minutes in the half.
Kennesaw State stroked shots from deep to open up an early lead, which was then punctuated by Braedan Lue, who threw down a right-handed dunk over Rutgers guard P.J. Hayes on a fastbreak. Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell called a timeout immediately.
Bailey answered with a long three from the top of the key. But Kennesaw State came right back with an another deep ball. After another Bailey miss, on a shot he settled for after trying to back down his defender, Kennesaw State came right back.
The exchanges continued as such throughout the second half.
While Bailey had his family and friends in the stands, it was Kennesaw State team that readied for the holidays with a win.
“We lost this game in the beginning,” Pikiell said. “Not in the end.”
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Kevin Armstrong may be reached at [email protected].