NEW YORK, N.Y. – No. 14 seed Rutgers (14-18) advances to the second round of the Big Ten Tournament for the second consecutive season and will meet No. 6 seed Indiana (16-14) Thursday evening at the Madison Square Garden. The Scarlet Knights will be working to earn their initial program victory over the Hoosiers, as well as win multiple post-season conference tournament games for the first time since defeating West Virginia and Georgetown in the 1998 Big East Championship at MSG. The winner of the contest, which will tip-off at approximately 9 p.m., will advance to meet No. 8-ranked and third seeded Purdue on Friday.  

Rutgers entered the postseason with the most difficult conference schedule in the Big Ten per Ken Pom analysis.

Thursday's game will be televised live on BTN with Kevin Kugler, Shon Morris and Rick Pizzo calling the action. On the radio, the contest will be broadcast live on the Rutgers IMG Sports Network (WOR-AM 710, WCTC-AM 1450). Jerry Recco will serve as play-by-play announcer and Joe Boylan will provide commentary. WRSU (88.7 FM) will also broadcast the game.

Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell has 16-11 record in conference tournament action as a head coach over the last 12 seasons, including 11 at Stony Brook. After defeating Ohio State in Washington (D.C.) last season in the opening round, Rutgers has won conference tournament games in consecutive years for the first time since winning Big East Tournament games in 2004-05 (Notre Dame, 3/9/05, 72-65) and 2005-06 (Seton Hall, 3/8/06, 61-48). In RU's two Big Ten Tournament victories, it has a +18.5 (Ohio State +16, Minnesota +21) average on the boards.

The Scarlet Knights are 46-55 at the current (since Feb. 1968) Madison Square Garden. Overall at MSG since 1949, Rutgers is 52-57. Under Pikiell, RU is 2-1 at the "Mecca of College Basketball."

Pikiell competed on the MSG floor as a two-time team captain under head coach Jim Calhoun at Connecticut. As a freshman, he shot 12-for-17, including 3-of-4 behind the arc, to score 27 points in a 61-59 loss to Boston College in the Big East Tournament opening round. It marked a career-high for Pikiell and set conference-tourney record for any UConn player at the time.

It will mark the seventh meeting between RU and IU dating back to 1980, with the Hoosiers winning the prior six match-ups. On Feb. 5, Rutgers was unable to find its shot in a 65-43 loss to Indiana at the RAC. Deshawn Freeman and Geo Baker scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the Scarlet Knights in their second game over a three-day span. RU made 24.1 percent (13-of-54) of its field goal attempts, while Indiana tweaked the twine on 24-of-55 shots (43.6%). IU's offense was spearheaded by Juwan Morgan (24) and Robert Johnson (19), who combined to score 43 points on 17-of-27 shooting.

Junior guard Corey Sanders scored 23 points to help Rutgers to a 65-54 victory over Minnesota Wednesday evening in the opening round. The Scarlet Knights out-rebounded the Gophers by a 49-28 margin to earn a conference tournament victory for the second straight season under Pikiell. Eight players played double digit minutes for RU, which trailed for only 1:45 of the contest's 40 minutes. Senior Mike Williams joined Sanders in double figures with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting. The Scarlet Knights limited the Gophers to 34.6 percent (18-of-52) shooting, including a 15.8 percent (3-of-19) mark from behind the arc, and benefitted from a 17-2 advantage in second chance points courtesy of 15 offensive rebounds. Freeman grabbed a game-high 11 boards.

"We were tough," said Pikiell. "We out-rebounded them. That was the key to the game…These guys made huge plays. Mike makes that big out-of-bounds play where he gets an and-one. Corey made big shots all night. Everybody kind of chipped in."

Indiana has steadily improved under first-year head coach Archie Miller. After allowing 76 points-per-game on 45.9% shooting and 41.7% accuracy from 3-point range in the month of November, IU limited teams to 65.4 points on 41.3% shooting from the floor and 33.1% from long distance in the month of February. The Hoosiers posted a two-win improvement in the Big Ten, going from 7-11 last season to 9-9 this year. Morgan, a second team All-Big Ten selection, averages 19.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, while shooting 57.8%. Johnson, an honorable mention All-Big Ten choice, contributes 16.3 points, and shot 50.0% (21-of-42) from three-point range in February.

"They play tremendously hard," said Pikiell. "They have matchup problems for us. We have a day. We have a lot of time to prepare. Our guys will sleep tonight. And then we'll get ready for a good Indiana team tomorrow."

Tickets to the 2018 Big Ten Conference Tournament can be acquired by clicking here.

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