RU Hosts Dartmouth in Season Opener Friday Night
Nov 07 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers, under the leadership of second-year head coach Mike Rice, hosts Ivy League foe Dartmouth Friday (Nov. 11) evening in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at the Rutgers Athletic Center in the 2011-12 season opener. Fans in attendance will receive a men's basketball schedule poster, sponsored by STS, and magnet, sponsored by Rutgers School of Engineering, while supplies last. The Scarlet Knights have a 72-27 all-time record in game one contests.
The game will be available live via the web at ScarletKnights.com on RVision Presented by AT&T with Danny Breslauer and Adam Helfgott calling the action. On the radio, the game 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.
Friday evening's match-up will mark the fourth meeting between Rutgers and Dartmouth on the hardwood dating back to 1946, with the Scarlet Knights holding a 2-1 advantage. Rutgers won the last match-up by a 55-50 score at the RAC on Nov. 20, 2007. The teams first met on Dec. 7, 1946, with the Big Green coming away with a 54-48 home victory, before the Scarlet Knight downed Dartmouth on a neutral court, 79-52, on Jan. 4, 1968.
Rutgers returns five scholarship players from a team that posted a 15-17 overall (5-13 BIG EAST) mark last season. Six true freshmen have arrived to supplement a roster that must replace three starting seniors. The task is aided by pair of BIG EAST Conference All-Rookie honorees on the roster in junior wing Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) and sophomore forward Gilvydas Biruta (Jonava, Lithuania). Miller was one of two unanimous selections to the squad in 2009-10 and augmented his game last season by developing into one of the league's top defensive stoppers. Biruta was first among all BIG EAST freshmen last season in rebounding, field goal percentage and free throw percentage.
Rutgers welcomes the highest-rated class in school history into the fold. The class has been ranked in the top 10 nationally by multiple outlets. All of RU's newcomers enrolled in classes this past summer and competed together in an NCAA sanctioned summer league. The true freshmen class is comprised entirely of players ranked among the top 150 recruits nationally: All-American guard Myles Mack (Paterson, N.J.), guard Jerome Seagears (Silver Spring, Md.), guard Eli Carter (Willingboro, N.J.), forward Malick Kone (Conakry, Guinea), forward/center Derrick Randall (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and forward Greg Lewis (Randallstown, Md).
The Scarlet Knights do not have a scholarship senior on the roster, but have five experienced players in the form of returning starters Miller and Biruta and returning letterwinners Austin Johnson (Elkins Park, Pa.), Mike Poole (Rosedale, N.Y.) and Austin Carroll (Bedford, Mass.).
Rutgers was picked 11th in the annual BIG EAST Conference preseason coaches poll.
Dartmouth is under the leadership of Paul Cormier, who rejoined the Big Green as head coach in April 2010 after having previously served in the position for seven seasons (1984-91). Dartmouth is coming off a second straight 5-23 (1-13) season and was tabbed for eighth place in the Ivy League's preseason media poll. The Big Green returns nine letterwinners and welcomes six freshmen into the fold.
