Rutgers Travels to State Foe Monmouth Saturday Evening
Dec 16 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers (7-2) will look to earn its first victory of the season on an opponent's home court went it travels to West Long Branch on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip off versus Monmouth (4-6) at the Multipurpose Activity Center. The Scarlet Knights have won four straight and are a perfect 6-0 at home this season. Monmouth is one of six Garden State opponent's on RU's 2010-11 schedule.
The contest will be broadcast live on the Rutgers Radio Network, WOR 710 AM in New York 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) will also broadcast the game.
Saturday evening's game marks the seventh meeting between Rutgers and Monmouth on the collegiate hardwood dating back to 1984, with the Scarlet Knights having won the prior six match-ups. All of the games have taken place at the RAC, with RU winning the last meeting by a 66-52 score last season. Hamady Ndiaye had 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks in the victory.
Rutgers is coming off a 79-65 home win over Fairleigh Dickinson Tuesday night. Senior forward Jonathan Mitchell (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) shot 10-of-15 to score 22 points and the Scarlet Knights dished out 22 assists, their most in a contest since Dec. 2005. Sophomore guard Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 13 points with nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks to fall one board shy of his third consecutive double-double. He was one of three Scarlet Knights with five or more helpers, as senior guards Mike Coburn (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) and James Beatty (Wilmington, N.C.), dished out six and five, respectively.
Miller was named to the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday. He averaged a double-double with 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds to help Rutgers to a 2-0 record last week.
In the most recent NCAA stat rankings report, Rutgers is among the national leaders in many categories. The Scarlet Knights ranked 18th in blocks, 23rd in turnovers, 24th in scoring defense and 26th in field goal percentage defense. Individually, Coburn ranked 39th in assist-to-turnover ratio and 55th in steals. Sophomore Austin Johnson (Elkins Park, Pa.) is currently second in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage (.659).
Monmouth, under the leadership of 14th-year head coach Dave Calloway, dropped a 74-54 decision at Rider Wednesday night. The Hawks were led by Ed Waite's 14 points and five rebounds, as the sophomore made seven-of-10 from the floor. Waite paces MU in both scoring and rebounding with 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds-per-game. GAME NOTES
