RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS (10-3, 1-1) AT NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (6-7, 1-1)
Friday, January 3, 2020 | 8 p.m. (ET)
Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,500) | Lincoln, Neb. 

TV: BTN (Kevin Kugler, play-by-play, Shon Morris, analyst)
Radio: Rutgers Sports Properties Radio Network (WCTC 1450 AM/WOR 710 AM/XM 381; Jerry Recco & Joe Boylan); WRSU 88.7 FM
 
Series Record: Nebraska leads 8-4
Last Meeting: Nebraska 68, Rutgers 61 (March 13, 2019)
 
OPENING TIP: Rutgers plays its initial game of the new year and resumes Big Ten action when it meets Nebraska Friday evening at Pinnacle Bank Arena. With a NCAA NET ranking of 31, the best in program history, and a 51 Ken Pomeroy rating, the Scarlet Knights will work to improve to 2-1 conference play for the first time since joining the Big Ten in 2014-15.
 
Rutgers concluded non-conference play with a 94-49 home win over Caldwell on Monday, as Jacob Young scored a season-high 23 points and Paul Mulcahy contributed a career-best 14 to lead five Scarlet Knights in double figures. RU limited the Cougars to 29.1% (16-of-55) shooting, the lowest for an RU opponent since Eastern Michigan was held to a 27.8% (15-of-54) mark on Nov. 19, 2018.
 
THE OPPONENT: Under first-year head coach Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska downed Purdue at home following an overtime loss at Indiana to begin Big Ten play last month. In the Huskers last outing on Dec. 29, Haanif Cheatham scored 17 points to pace four UN players in double figures in a 73-52 home win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The 52 points marked a season low for a Husker foe.
 
Cheatham leads the team in scoring (13.1), followed closely by Cam Mack (12.8) and Dachon Burke Jr. (12.7). Mack is 13th nationally in assists (6.5) to help fuel a Huskers' offense that leads the Big Ten in turnover margin (2.8). Nebraska, which features one returner to score points last season in junior guard Thorir Thorbjarnarson, is 4-3 at home this season.
 
THE SERIES: Rutgers and Nebraska will meet for the 13th time on the hardwood, with the Huskers leading the series dating back to 1999 by an 8-4 margin. Since joining the Big Ten, the Scarlet Knights have defeated Nebraska twice, both at the RAC (in 2017 and 2019). The teams have also played twice in the Big Ten Tournament (2016 and 2019). The match-up pits the two farthest teams in the league geographically against one another. The Scarlet Knights will take flight for Lincoln, travelling to a campus that is approximately 1,300 miles west. Rutgers is 0-3 at Pinnacle Bank Arena, having suffered a 67-55 loss in its most recent trip to the venue on Feb. 10, 2018.
 
RUTGERS RATED
NCAA NET Ranking: 31
Ken Pomeroy: 51
Basketball Power Index (BPI): 57
 
HEAD COACH STEVE PIKIELL
Overall Record (years): 246-213 (15th)
Rutgers Record (years): 54-57 (4th)
Record vs. Nebraska (RU): 2-4
Record vs. Nebraska (overall): 2-4
 
SCARLET KNIGHT NOTABLES

• Rutgers is undefeated at home (10-0), when shooting a better percentage than its opponent (8-0), and when limiting foes to less than 60 points (8-0).
• Rutgers is No. 31 in the NCAA NET rankings and No. 51 in the Pomeroy Ratings.
• Rutgers has out-rebounded its opponent in 12 of 13 games this season.
• Myles Johnson leads the Big Ten in FG% (72.2), is 5th in offensive rebounds (3.46), and 8th in rebounding (8.7) and blocks (1.5)
• Per ESPN statistics, Johnson is fifth nationally in FG%.
• Geo Baker leads in the Big Ten in steals (1.8) and 6th in assists (4.0).
• Akwasi Yeboah ranks 43rd among active players in career points (1,442) and 48th in rebounds (616). He is 6th in the Big Ten in 3PT% (45.7).
• Rutgers is 2nd in the Big Ten in steals (7.7) and turnovers forced (15.38), 3rd in scoring defense (59.5), 4th in FG% defense (37.9) and blocks (5.0) and 5th in rebounding margin (+9.8).
• Rutgers is a young squad, ranking 229th nationally in experience per Pomeroy. The starting lineup for the first nine games featured one junior and four sophomores.
• Rutgers 20-point win over No. 22 Seton Hall on Dec. 14 was its largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent in program history.
• After five sell-outs in 2018-19, its most since 2004-05 (7), Rutgers welcomed 8,329 fans vs. Seton Hall, its largest crowd in 18 seasons.
• Rutgers had 23 second chance points (23-5) in its victory over Wisconsin on Dec. 11, its most ever in a Big Ten game.
• Rutgers announced the signings of 6-7 F Mawot Mag, 6-8 F Oskar Palmquist and 6-10 F Dean Reiber.
• Rutgers entered the Fall 2019 semester with a 3.06 cumulative team GPA.
• Rutgers posted a 4-0 record against professional club teams during a tour of Spain in August. RU outscored its opponents 387-284 and had five players with double figure scoring averages.
• Of Rutgers' 11 scholarship players, 10 are 6'4 or above and seven are 6'6 or taller.

QUOTABLE
"Nebraska is a real tough place, first and foremost. They had their way with Purdue at home. It's a talented team. Coach Hoiberg is an NBA guy so they run a lot of NBA sets. Going on the road is the hardest thing to do in college basketball. So it's going to be tough. That's the next step for us as a program, go on the road, put your hard hat on, and figure out a way to compete and get it done. We've been playing good basketball and have to keep that going."

- Head Coach Steve Pikiell on the most recent episode of the Inside Rutgers Athetics Podcast
 
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