Rutgers Hosts State Foe Saint Peter's Thursday Evening
Dec 21 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers (8-2) will look to improve to a perfect 7-0 at home when it hosts St. Peter's (7-4) at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on Thursday evening. The Peacocks are one of six Garden State opponent's on RU's 2010-11 schedule. The Scarlet Knights have won eight of their last nine contests, including five straight. A victory would provide head coach Mike Rice a 9-2 record, the best start for a first-year head coach at Rutgers since Donald S. White began his tenure with a 10-2 mark in 1945-46.
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. On the web, the game will be streamed live via KnightVision Broadband at www.scarletknights.com with Danny Breslauer and Adam Helfgott calling the action.
Thursday evening's game signals the 13th all-time meeting between the Scarlet Knights and the Peacocks dating back to 1975, with Rutgers holding a 10-2 advantage in victories. The Scarlet Knights defeated St. Peter's by a 66-42 margin on Dec. 22 last year at the RAC. Then-freshman Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) had 15 rebounds and RU limited the Peacocks to 23.3 percent (17-73) shooting.
Senior guard Mike Coburn (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) shot 7-of-10 to score 18 points in helping Rutgers to a 79-56 win at Monmouth this past Saturday evening. The Scarlet Knights outrebounded the Hawks by a 43-26 margin en route to a 21-2 advantage in second chance points. Senior forward Jonathan Mitchell (Mount Vernon, N.Y.), Miller and freshman forward Gilvydas Biruta (Jonava, Lithuania) joined Coburn in double figures. Mitchell had 16 points and seven rebounds. Miller posted 14 points on six-of-11 shooting with eight boards and five assists. Biruta chipped in with 10 points and nine rebounds. The 23-point win marked the largest margin of victory on the road for Rutgers since an 81-56 win at La Salle on Dec. 5, 2001.
Mitchell was named to the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after averaging 19.0 points and 6.5 rebounds to help Rutgers to a 2-0 record last week. He shot 56.7 percent (17-30) from the field and 57.1 percent (4-7) from behind the arc. It marked the second-straight week Rutgers had a player selected to the honor roll after Miller was recognized Dec. 13.
In the most recent NCAA stat rankings report (Dec. 20), Rutgers is among the national leaders in many categories. The Scarlet Knights ranked 16th in field goal percentage defense (.370), tied for 19th in turnover margin (4.9), 24th in scoring defense (58.8) and tied for 26th in blocked shots (5.4).
Saint Peter's, under the leadership of fifth-year head coach John Dunne, earned a 61-56 victory at Binghamton Tuesday night. Wesley Jenkins scored 14 points as the Peacocks held off a second-half rally. Ryan Bacon added 13 points and Nick Leon had 10 for SPC, which has won five in a row. Bacon, Leon and Jenkins were selected to the Preseason All-MAAC squad. Jenkins was named to the first team, while Bacon and Leon were named to the All-MAAC Second Team. GAME NOTES
