RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS (12-3, 3-1) AT ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI (11-5, 3-2)
Saturday, January 11, 2020 | 12 p.m. (ET)
State Farm Center (15,500) | Champaign, Ill.

TV: BTN (Jeff Levering, play-by-play, Jess Settles, analyst)
Radio: Rutgers Sports Properties Radio Network (WCTC 1450 AM/WOR 710 AM/XM 385; Jerry Recco & Joe Boylan); WRSU 88.7 FM (Jake Ostrove and Brad Loprinzi)

Series Record: Illinois leads 7-1
Last Meeting: Illinois 99, Rutgers 94 OT (Feb. 9, 2019)

OPENING TIP: Rutgers is off to an historic start, securing its best record through 15 games since the 1975-76 undefeated regular season. The Scarlet Knights were last two games over .500 in conference play in February 2002 (7-5) and last began league play with a 3-1 record as a member of the Atlantic 10 in 1994-95 (4-1). In Champaign, RU will be working to win its seventh straight game and earn consecutive Big Ten road victories for the first time since joining the league in 2014-15.

Rutgers is coming off a 72-61 home win over No. 20 Penn State on Tuesday, its second ranked victory of the season by double-digits. It provided RU with multiple ranked victories in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2001-02 and 2002-03 campaigns. Sophomore Ron Harper Jr. led the way with 22 points, which included setting the program's Big Ten record with a 12-of-12 performance at the charity stripe. The Scarlet Knights issued nine blocks, their most ever in a Big Ten contest.

Over the last four games, freshman Paul Mulcahy is shooting a team-best 81.3% (13-of-16), with a team-high 18 assists and seven steals with just two turnovers. In those four games, Jacob Young is RU's leading scorer, averaging 14.0 points. During its current six-game winning streak, RU is shooting 48.1%, while limiting opponents to a 34.4% mark, including 27.7% from behind the arc.

THE OPPONENT: Illinois is fresh from a 71-70 win at Wisconsin Wednesday night that snapped the Badgers four game win streak. The Illini are 9-1 at home and rank third nationally in rebounding margin (+10.8). Three of UI's losses have come to nationally ranked teams on the road. Wooden and Naismith Award watch list designee Ayo Dosunmu leads Illinois in scoring (15.3), followed by freshman Kofi Cockburn (15.0), who has six double-doubles and paces the Illini in rebounding (9.1). UI has received votes in the polls for three weeks this season.

THE SERIES: Illinois leads the all-time series dating back to 2005-06 7-1. The Scarlet Knights are 0-4 at the State Farm Center. Last season at the venue, Caleb McConnell scored a career-high 25 points on 8-of-10 shooting in a 99-94 overtime loss, RU's second defeat to UI in extra time over seven Big Ten meetings. In Steve Pikiell's first season at the helm, RU overcame a 10-point second half deficit to earn a 62-69 senior day victory at the RAC.
 
HEAD COACH STEVE PIKIELL
Overall Record (years): 248-213 (15th)
Rutgers Record (years): 56-57 (4th)
Record vs. Illinois (RU): 1-3
Record vs. Illinois (overall): 1-3
 
RATED RUTGERS
RPI: 16
NET: 21
CBS Sports Top 25 And 1: 21
Jeff Goodman Top 25: 24
Ken Pomeroy: 34
Jeff Sagarin: 35
BPI: 38
 
SCARLET KNIGHT NOTABLES

• Rutgers is undefeated at home (11-0), when shooting a better percentage than its opponent (10-0) and when limiting foes to less than 60 points (8-0).
• Rutgers has out-rebounded its opponent in 14 of 15 games this season.
• Myles Johnson leads the Big Ten in FG% (71.7), is 2nd in offensive rebounds (3.9), 7th in rebounding (8.8) and 9th in blocks (1.7). 
• Johnson is second nationally in FG%, ninth in offensive rebounding % (17.2) and 23rd in offensive rebounding (3.67).
• Akwasi Yeboah ranks 46th among active NCAA players in career points (1,455) and 51st in rebounds (631).
• Rutgers is seventh nationally in rebound margin (+10.1), 10th in rebounding (41.6), 16th in scoring defense (59.7), 17th FG% defense (37.4), 24th in scoring margin (+13.9) and 27th in blocks (5.2).
• Rutgers is a young squad, ranking 236th in experience per Pomeroy. The starting lineup for the last two games featured four sophomores, with all eight players that saw game action in their first or second year of action in an RU uniform.
• RU's 20-point win over No. 22 Seton Hall on Dec. 14 was its largest margin of victory over a ranked foe 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, and also welcomed a capacity crowd for Penn State.
• 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.

THE STORY BY NUMBERS
 
2         
Players with double-doubles at Nebraska. Myles Johnson and Ron Harper Jr. both achieved the feat, the first time multiple players had double-doubles for RU in a Big Ten game.
 
Number of double-digit victories RU has earned over Top 25-ranked teams, the only unranked program to achieve the feat this season.
 
3         
Number of quadrant 1 victories Rutgers has on its resume, tied for most in the Big Ten and fifth nationally.
 
Scholarship players making their Rutgers debut this season: Akwasi Yeboah, Paul Mulcahy and Jacob Young.
 
3.06     
Cumulative team grade point average of Rutgers entering the fall 2019 semester.
 
5         
Times Rutgers has limited an opponent to less than 40 points under head coach Steve Pikiell.
 
Sold out crowds at the RAC last season, RU's most since experiencing seven in 2004-05. RU has sold out games versus No. 22 Seton Hall and No. 20 Penn State this season.
 
7         
Collegiate team captains on the Rutgers' staff, including six that played point guard.
 
Conference wins last season, RU's most league wins in a year since winning seven in Big East competition in 2005-06.
 
9         
Children in the family that Steve Pikiell grew up in, comprised of five girls and four boys, with Steve as the seventh child and third boy.
           
10       
Number of scholarship Rutgers players 6'4 or above, including seven 6'6 or taller.
 
18       
Years since Rutgers was two games over .500 in conference play, which last occurred as a member of the Big East in 2002 (7-5).
 
25       
Years since Rutgers began conference play 3-1, last achieving the mark during the 1994-95 Atlantic 10 season (4-1).
 
26       
Years between New Jersey HS boys basketball players averaging a triple double, prior to it being done last season by Paul Mulcahy, who posted 18.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 10.1 assists-per-game for Gill St. Bernard's in Gladstone. LaMarr Greer averaged 24.1 ppg, 12.4 rpg & 10.3 apg in 1992-93.
 
32       
NBA players the RU staff has combined to recruit and/or coach, including those making 19 All-Star appearances collectively.
 
44       
Years since Rutgers began its season with a better record than its 12-3 start, when the 1975-76 Final Four team was unbeaten (26-0) during the regular season.
 
71       
Positions improved in the KenPom ratings last season, the best among Power 5 conference programs.
 
100      
Percent of men's basketball student-athletes participating in Rutgers Leadership Development community service initiatives during the tenure of Steve Pikiell.
 
408      
National prospect rating of Myles Johnson coming out of Long Beach Poly High School.
 
414      
National prospect rating of Geo Baker coming out of Proctor Academy.
 
604      
Days between collegiate basketball games for Jacob Young, who redshirted last season after transferring from Texas. Young had last played against Nevada in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
 
8,329   
Fans in attendance when Rutgers defeated No. 22 Seton Hall 68-48 in the Garden State Hardwood Classic, the largest crowd at the RAC since Feb. 23, 2002, also against SHU.
 
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