Rutgers Welcomes Colgate to the RAC Today
Dec 04 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers (4-2) plays its fifth of nine non-conference home game this season when it welcomes Colgate (0-7) to the Louis Brown Athletic Center on Sunday for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off. The afternoon is also "RU Reading Day," a program designed to encourage reading among students in grades K through eight. Students that achieved goals set forth by their teachers or librarians earned complimentary tickets to the contest versus the Raiders.
The game will be streamed live on the web via KnightVision Broadband at www.scarletknights.com with Danny Breslauer and Adam Helfgott calling the action. 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. WRSU 88.7 FM will also broadcast the game.
Sunday's game will mark the 37th meeting between Rutgers and Colgate on the collegiate hardwood dating back to 1919, with the Scarlet Knights holding a 21-15 advantage in victories. RU has won the last 11 match-ups, including a 75-65 victory at the College Avenue Gymnasium in the last meeting on Dec. 7, 1974. Phil Sellers, who was recently honored by Rutgers as a "Legend of the Game" in conjunction with the Legends Classic, scored 24 points in that contest.
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 58-44 home victory over Princeton this past Thursday. The 14 point win over the Tigers marked just the fifth time since 1917 (116 meetings) that RU had defeated the state foe by 14 or more points. Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela) scored a career-high 21 points, including 17 in the second half, and grabbed 11 rebounds in the win. The sophomore center shot 5-of-8 from the field, 11-of-12 from the free throw line, and added three blocks to record his third double-double of the season and the eighth of his career. The Rutgers defense throttled the Tigers, limiting them to 28.8 percent (15-52) shooting. The Scarlet Knights also out-rebounded Princeton by a 41-13 margin and issued nine blocks, including four rejections by senior center Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal).
Ndiaye, who currently ranks third nationally in both blocks and career blocks, has issued 26 rejections in 95 minutes of action this season.
Colgate, under the leadership of 12th-year head coach Emmett Davis, suffered a 76-66 home loss to Maine on Thursday. The Raiders shot 35.4 percent (23-65), including just 15 percent (3-20) from behind the arc, in the defeat. Senior Kyle Roemer leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest. GAME NOTES
