PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The rollercoaster ride continues for the Hoyas.

A week after knocking off then-No. 2 Villanova in convincing fashion, No. 7 Georgetown was stood up by Big East cellar-dweller Rutgers, 71-68, on Valentine’s Day at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

The Scarlet Knights (13-12, 3-9 Big East) led by one at halftime and scored six of the game’s final eight points to down the Hoyas (18-6, 8-5), the second-highest ranked opponent Rutgers has ever beaten.

“If you had been here at practice [yesterday], we were unbelievable,” Rutgers Head Coach Fred Hill said after the game. “The focus, the energy and the intensity was unbelievable. It was game-like. . I knew we would play with physicality, great intensity [and] great emotion.”

Down three with a minute and a half left, sophomore center Greg Monroe single-handedly brought the Hoyas back as he hit two layups and drew a charge in between to give Georgetown a 66-65 lead with 51 seconds to play. Monroe scored a team-high 19 points.

Coming out of a timeout, Rutgers sophomore guard Mike Rosario missed a jumper, but freshman Dane Miller came free down the lane and tipped in the miss to give the Scarlet Knights the lead with 19 seconds to play. Miller finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, his second career double-double.

“There was definitely more intensity [from Rutgers],” Monroe said. “They came out and they just wanted it more than us.”

On the ensuing play, junior point guard Chris Wright missed an open three from the right wing, and Miller and Jonathan Mitchell (career-high 24 points) hit a pair of free throws each to seal the win.

“I told them in the timeout previous that if Rutgers scores, get it and push it, and see what we have. If I didn’t like what I saw then I would call timeout,” Head Coach John Thompson III said about the possession that ended with Wright’s miss. “We had a two-on-one on that side of the court with Hollis [Thompson] and Chris. Chris got a wide open shot that he can make, it just didn’t go in.”

Three weeks ago, the Hoyas pounded the Scarlet Knights by 25 points in Washington. On Tuesday, Rutgers only beat Division II Caldwell by eight points, a game Hill admitted was a mistake to schedule in the middle of conference play.

“We have a lot of first-year guys,” Hill said. “I think our guys are working to get better.”

Rutgers held a slim 33-32 advantage after a back-and-forth first half that saw seven ties and 12 lead changes, but the Scarlet Knights came storming out of halftime behind Mitchell. The forward hit a three on Rutgers’ first possession, a layup on the next trip down and then another triple after he stole the ball.

“I thought they did a better job of executing at both ends of the floor,” Thompson said. “Collectively, as a group, we didn’t make all of the plays we needed to make.”

itchell, a junior-transfer playing in his first season at Rutgers, gave the home team a 41-34 lead with his seven points in the 1:35 span to start the half. The Hoyas would recover but could never take a lead of more than two points for the rest of the game.

Wright was 2-of-8 from the field for six points, and had two assists and two turnovers. The Hoyas entered the game with a 2-5 record when Wright does not score in double figures, a stat that Hill was very familiar with.

“We held him to six, so I guess now they’re 2-6,” Hill said.

Junior guard Austin Freeman had a chance to send the game to overtime as the final buzzer sounded, but his running three-point attempt hit the back of the iron. Freeman finished with 17 points, including two free throws after Rutgers fouled him with 5.1 seconds to play to prevent him from attempting a potential game-tying three.

Georgetown turned the ball over 14 times, which lead to 18 points for Rutgers.

One bright spot for Georgetown was the play of freshman Hollis Thompson, who had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in 20 minutes off the bench.

Now in fifth place in the Big East, Georgetown will take on No. 2 Syracuse on Thursday. The Orange (24-2, 11-2) lost to Louisville on Sunday but beat the Hoyas by 17 in January.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Verizon Center.

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