NEW YORK, N.Y. – No. 14 seed Rutgers (15-18) plays No. 8-ranked and third seeded Purdue (26-5) on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament presented by SoFi at Madison Square Garden. The winner of the contest, which will tip-off at approximately 9 p.m., will advance to meet the winner of the Ohio State/Penn State match-up at approximately 4:30 p.m. in the semifinals on Saturday. Rutgers entered the postseason with the most difficult conference schedule in the Big Ten per Ken Pom analysis.

Friday's game will be televised live on BTN with Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, Rick Pizzo calling the action. On the radio, the contest will be broadcast live on the Rutgers IMG Sports Network (WMCA-AM 570, 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. The contest is available nationally via Compass Media Networks with Drew Bontadelli and Rick Mahorn on the call.

The Scarlet Knights have won two conference tournament games for the first time since 1998. RU is working to win three conference tournament contests for the third time in school history and the first time since winning the Atlantic 10 Conference title in 1989 under Bob Wenzel.

RU has the opportunity to match its highest ranked victory away from its home floor in program history. The Scarlet Knights defeated No. 8 UCLA 57-54 at the Meadowlands on Dec. 3, 1981. The Scarlet Knights are 47-55 at the current (since Feb. 1968) Madison Square Garden. Overall at MSG since 1949, Rutgers is 53-57. RU is 3-21 all-time against ranked opponents at The Garden. Its last victory over a ranked foe at the arena was a 75-72 win over West Virginia in the 1998 Big East Championship. The Scarlet Knights highest-ranked victory at MSG was an 89-70 defeat of No. 10 Cincinnati on Feb. 19, 1977. Under Steve Pikiell, RU is 3-1 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.

Pikiell has 17-11 record in conference tournament action as a head coach over the last 12 seasons, including 11 at Stony Brook. He is 3-1 in the Big Ten Tournament.

The contest signals the 12th match-up between RU and Purdue dating back to 1953, with the Boilermakers holding a 10-1 advantage, including eight straight victories and both meetings this season. On Feb. 3, Rutgers fought back from a 15-point deficit to draw to within one point on multiple occasions, but could not complete the comeback, in a 78-76 loss to No. 3 Purdue at the RAC. Sanders scored a season-high 31 points and grabbed seven rebounds to spark the Scarlet Knights' 48.4 (31-of-64) field goal percentage, including a 50 percent (6-of-12) mark from behind the arc. RU's lone victory over the Boilermakers was an 81-73 win at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 4, 1975 during the Scarlet Knights' 31-0 start en route to the Final Four.

Sanders scored 28 points, while both Deshawn Freeman and Geo Baker contributed 15, to help Rutgers overcome a 16-point deficit to defeat No. 6-seed Indiana, 76-69, Thursday night. The Scarlet Knights shot 58.0 percent (29-of-50), while limiting the Hoosiers to a 35.8 percentage (19-of-53) from the field. Sanders' 28 points were the most for a Rutgers player in a post-season game since Quincy Douby had 30 in an NIT game at St. Joseph's on March 16, 2006.

"These games are not easy," said Pikiell post-game. "Any of them you're going to be up sometimes and down sometimes. Go through scoring droughts and defensive droughts. You just continue to stay the course.  They did tonight.  I'm really proud.  Once we got the lead we did a really good job of keeping it."

Purdue enters the tournament on a three-game winning streak. Four Boilermakers earned All-Big Ten honors on Monday, led by Carsen Edwards' first-team selection. Vincent Edwards was named second team, Isaac Haas third team and Dakota Mathias was an All-Defensive Team honoree. Carsen Edwards is a finalist for the Jerry West Award, Vincent Edwards for the Julius Erving Award and Isaac Haas for the Kareem Adbul-Jabbar Award. The Edwards' duo are also on the Wooden Watch. Head coach Matt Painter is a semifinalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award. 

"I used to be in a one-bid league, where you could win 20 games in a row during the regular season and nobody cared," said Pikiell.  "You've got to win the tournament.  It's a lot like what I'm used to for my whole career.  You have to have a great weekend and we've had a couple of good days.  So hopefully we can make it a great weekend."

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