Deshawn Freeman had 13 points and 15 rebounds to lead balanced Rutgers to its fifth straight win, a 66-53 home victory over North Texas on Wednesday night.

The Scarlet Knights, playing the middle game of a three-game Scarlet Knight Showcase, came in 4-0 for the first time since 2000 and new coach Steve Pikiell is the first Rutgers coach to win his first five games on the job.

At 5-0, Rutgers is off to its best start since 2000-01 and a home win Friday against 1-4 Hartford would give the Scarlet Knights their best six-game start since 1975-76, when Rutgers went through the regular season undefeated.

The Knights, 7-25 last year, also received a top 25 vote this week and the program has not been ranked since finishing at No. 18 in 1978-79. Pikiell was worried about the distraction surrounding the team and the first half proved him right.

North Texas (1-3) led by six points in the first half, but Rutgers trailed by a point at the half and then took over -- an 18-2 run leading to its fourth double-digit victory of the young season.

Rutgers came into the game seventh in the country in rebound margin and out-boarded the Mean Green 53-28 in the win.

Nigel Johnson, who had 20 points off the bench in Sunday's win over Niagara, added 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. Mike Williams had 10 points and six rebounds, Corey Sander posted nine points, six rebounds and six assists, and Issa Thiam scored eight points.

Shane Temara led the Mean Green with 16 points, going 4 of 8 on 3-pointers, and Deckie Johnson had 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The Mean Green, who host Niagara on Friday night, fell to 1-10 against Big Ten opponents. The only win was over Northwestern in 1967.