Rutgers Meets Florida in Legends Classic Final Tonight
Nov 28 | Men's Basketball
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - After an 83-75 win over Massachusetts Friday evening, Rutgers (3-1) meets Southeastern Conference foe Florida (5-0) Saturday night at 9,300-seat Boardwalk Hall in an 8:00 tip-off in the championship final of the 2009 Legends Classic. The Gators, who are currently receiving votes in both the AP and coaches polls, defeated No. 2-ranked Michigan State, 77-74, on Friday to earn a berth in the final.
The game will be televised live on HDNet, available on the Dish Network, DirecTV and Verizon FiOS. Kenny Rice will provide the play-by-play, Tim McCormick will serve as the analyst and Seth Davis will offer courtside reports. On the radio, the contest will be broadcast live on the Rutgers Radio Network, WOR 710 AM in New York City and WCTC 1450 AM in New Brunswick. Chris Carlin will serve as play-by-play announcer and Dick Lloyd will provide commentary.
Saturday's game will mark the fifth meeting between Rutgers and Florida on the collegiate hardwood dating back to 1972, with the Gators holding a 3-1 advantage in the series. The teams last met on Nov. 17, 2007 at the O'Connell Center in the Blue Ribbon Challenge, when the then two-time defending national champions defeated RU 88-63 to provide Billy Donovan his 300th career head coaching victory. Current Rutgers redshirt junior forward Jonathan Mitchell (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) then competing for the Gators as a second-year sophomore, scored five points and grabbed three rebounds in 10 minutes of action. Then RU true freshman Mike Coburn (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) scored 10 points and 3-of-6 shooting in 12 minutes. Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal) had nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and issued four blocks.
Five Rutgers players scored in double figures Friday evening in the victory over the Minutemen. It marked the first time five RU players tallied 10-plus points since the win at No. 13 Pittsburgh on Jan. 26, 2008. Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) scored 18 first half points en route to a game-high 22, while also grabbing a career-best tying seven rebounds. Rutgers had its finest shooting night of the young campaign, with season-bests in field goal percentage (55.8, 29-52), three point percentage (57.1, 8-14) and free throw percentage (70.8, 17-24). The Scarlet Knights' 83 points marked their highest scoring output since an 85-77 win at Delaware on Nov. 16, 2008.
"I just think it was a good bounce-back win for us, " said head coach Fred Hill post-game. "We did the same thing tonight that we did the other day. We lost our composure for about a five or six minute stretch…Tonight, we were able to re-gain our composure and make big plays down the stretch to win the game. I though UMass did a very good job of making the game hectic in the second half. It really went away from what got us the lead. We were really running and executing extremely well and then we just 'went out and played.' I think what we learned is that if we play more disciplined; we have a chance to be a pretty good club."
Four Scarlet Knights average 9.0 points-per game or better, including Rosario, who averages a team-best 18.5 points-per-contest. Sophomore center Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela) scores an average of 12.0 points-per-game while also averaging a team-best 8.3 rebounds. Ndiaye, who ranks fourth nationally among NCAA players in career blocks, has issued 19 rejections this season in 64 minutes of action.
Florida helped to force 23 Michigan State turnovers Friday evening to earn the victory over the Spartans. Sophomore guard Erving Walker scored 12 points in the second half and senior forward Dan Werner hit two free throws in the final seconds of regulation to help UF improve to 5-0 for the fourth time in five years. The Gators were out-rebounded by a 42-24 margin, but deposited 22-of-25 from the charity stripe and had five players in double figures.
Three Gators boast double-figure scoring averages, including freshman guard Kenny Boynton, who averages a team-best 15.2 points-per-game. GAME NOTES
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