RU Hosts Notre Dame Monday Evening at the RAC
Jan 15 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers (10-8, 2-3) returns to the friendly confines of the RAC after consecutive road games to host Notre Dame (11-7, 3-2) in a 9 p.m. tip-off on Monday. The Scarlet Knights have won four of their last five at the truncated pyramid, including wins over No. 10 Florida and No. 8 UConn. RU has an opportunity to improve to 3-3 in BIG EAST play, its best conference start after six games since a 4-2 beginning in 2003-04.
The game will be televised live nationally on ESPNU and via the web at ESPN3.com with Beth Mowins calling the action and Tim Welsh providing the analysis. On the radio, 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 FM) will also broadcast the game.
Monday evening's contest marks the 30th meeting between Rutgers and Notre Dame on the hardwood dating back to 1984, with the Fighting Irish holding a 17-12 advantage in victories. RU is 8-3 at home and 9-12 in BIG EAST regular season play against UND. The Fighting Irish have won six of the last seven in the series, but Rutgers captured the last contest played at the RAC, by a 74-73 score on Jan. 30, 2010. Last season No. 8/9-ranked UND downed RU by a 76-69 margin at the Joyce Center. Rutgers was stymied by a free throw disparity that saw the Irish deposit 27-of-34 from the charity stripe, while the Scarlet Knights made eight-of-12 attempts.
Rutgers is coming off an 84-60 loss at West Virginia on Saturday afternoon. Junior wing Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) had his second consecutive double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, but it was not enough as the Scarlet Knights were unable to overcome a 48-22 halftime deficit. Freshman point guard Myles Mack (Paterson, N.J.) joined Miller in double digits with 15 points. Rutgers jumped out to an early 4-3 lead but the home squad responded with an 11-0 run and never looked back. RU was victimized by a season-high 19 turnovers, including 11 in the first half.
The Scarlet Knights rank fifth in the BIG EAST in steals per game (8.9), placing 19th in the category in the most recent national rankings.
Notre Dame, under the direction of 12th-year head coach Mike Brey, suffered a 67-53 home loss to No. 17 Connecticut Saturday afternoon, snapping the Irish's 29-game home winning streak. The Fighting Irish were limited to 32.3 percent (21-65) shooting. Sophomore guard Eric Atkins shot 8-of-15 to score 20 points in the defeat, as UND was out-rebounded by a 43-33 margin. Three active players have double figure scoring averages, including Atkins with 13.2 points-per-game. Redshirt freshman Jerian Grant boasts a league best 3.3 assist-to-turnover ratio. In BIG EAST play, junior forward Jack Cooley leads the league in offensive rebounds (5.0), while senior Scott Martin paces the Conference in defensive rebounds (7.8).
