Rutgers Travels to No. 23/25 Notre Dame Wednesday Night
Feb 13 | Men's Basketball
Piscataway, N.J. - Rutgers (12-13, 4-8) returns to the rugged road of the BIG EAST to meet No. 23/25 Notre Dame (17-8, 9-3) Wednesday evening in a 7 p.m. tip-off at 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center. After wins this season over No. 10 Florida and No. 8 Connecticut, the Scarlet Knights have the opportunity to defeat three nationally ranked opponents in the same season for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign, when RU downed four ranked foes. The Fighting Irish are 13-1 at home this season, with the only loss coming against No. 17/16 Connecticut (67-53) on Jan. 14. The Irish are 32-1 in their last 33 home games.
The game will be televised live nationally in high definition on ESPNU and via the web at WatchESPN.com with Adam Amin calling the action and LaPhonso Ellis 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.
Wednesday evening's contest marks the 31st meeting between Rutgers and Notre Dame on the hardwood dating back to 1984, with the Fighting Irish holding a 17-13 advantage in victories. RU is 10-12 in BIG EAST regular season play against UND. The Scarlet Knights have a 2-10 mark on the Irish's home floor, including seven consecutive losses. On Jan. 16, in the first half of the home-and-home match-up this season, Rutgers earned a 65-58 victory over Notre Dame at the RAC. Freshmen guards Eli Carter (Paterson, N.J.) and Jerome Seagears (Silver Spring, Md.) had 13 and 10 points, respectively, and junior forward Austin Johnson (Elkins Park, Pa.) added 10 points. The Scarlet Knights led for the final 32 minutes of the game to secure the victory. Since that defeat, the Irish have captured six consecutive victories.
Rutgers is coming off a 59-54 home loss to Seton Hall Wednesday (Feb. 8) evening at the RAC. Sophomore wing Mike Poole (Rosedale, N.Y.) shot 6-of-9 to score 14 points off the bench and Carter added 13 points, but it was not enough. The Scarlet Knights shot just 31.5 percent (17-54), including 26.1 percent (6-23) from behind the arc, to suffer their third consecutive loss. In a game that featured eight lead changes and four ties, Rutgers took a 50-48 advantage on Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) three-pointer with 3:08 remaining. Seton Hall answered with a trey of its own and would not relinquish the lead for the remainder. The Pirates scored eight of the contest's final 12 points.
The Scarlet Knights rank 23rd nationally in steals per game (8.6).
Notre Dame, under the direction of 12th-year head coach Mike Brey, defeated DePaul 84-76 on Saturday afternoon at the Joyce Center. The Irish shot 59.6 percent (31-52) and out-rebounded the Blue Demons by a 33-23 margin. Junior forward Jack Cooley, the current BIG EAST Conference Player of the Week, shot 10-of-12 to score 22 points with 14 rebounds. Redshirt freshman guard Jerian Grant, who ranks fifth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.1), made 6-of-10 field goal attempts to add 22 points as well. In conference play, UND leads the BIG EAST in scoring defense (59.2) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.254). Individually, Cooley is the top offensive rebounder (4.5) in league competition.
Notre Dame ranks fourth nationally in personal fouls (4.0), fifth in the country in turnovers per game (10.4) and 12th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.38).
