PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 19/17 Rutgers returns to The RAC for the first home Big Ten game of the season as the Scarlet Knights will host No. 13/13 Illinois at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
The game starts a stretch where five of Rutgers' next six games are against team's ranked in the AP Top 25, facing No. 13 Illinois, playing No. 20 Ohio State twice, and top-5 matchups against No. 3 Iowa and at No. 4 Michigan State, all by January 9. Rutgers currently has the fourth toughest remaining schedule in the nation per ESPN. The Scarlet Knights are ranked themselves at No. 19 in the AP Poll, the team's first apperance in the top-20 of the rankings since 1979.
RU has started the season off with a 5-0 mark, winning all its games by double-digit margins. It is the first time that the program has earned double-digit margins of victory in five consecutive games to begin a season since the 1934-35 campaign.
Last time out, Rutgers earned a 74-60 win at Maryland on Monday night. It marked the first time RU had ever won its Big Ten opener and was the team's first win in College Park since 1941.
RU closed the game strong, outscoring the hosts 47-32 in the second half, snapping the Terps' 21-game home winning streak when leading at half. That performance came on the heels of a similarly strong finish in the previous game against Syracuse, where RU held the Orange without a field goal in the final 5:38 to close a win with a 17-4 run.
Ron Harper Jr. has excelled through five games, leading the team in scoring at 23.2 points per game, which is second in the Big Ten and 11
th nationally. He is ranked in the top-10 of multiple national Player of the Year rankings, coming in 4
th per Bart Torvik and 9
th per Ken Pom. The junior had 27 points in the win Monday, has scored at least 15 points in every game this season and reached 25+ points in three of the five. Since facing Illinois last season on February 15, Harper Jr. has scored at least 15 points in 8 of the 11 games and over 20 points in five of those contests. He is averaging 19.1 points per game in that 11-game span.
Harper Jr. leads the conference in three-pointers made (3.2 per game), while alongside him, point guard
Jacob Young is the league leader in assists (6.0) and steals (3.0).
Geo Baker made his return to game action Monday after suffering an ankle injury in the opening half of the season that had caused him to miss the next three games. He came off the bench to play 28 minutes and score 13 points. His return steadied an offense that had just eight turnovers against a Terps squad that entered forcing 15 per game.
Myles Johnson was a force down low in the Maryland game, hauling in a career-high 16 rebounds. He collected a double-double with 10 points and also was credited with three blocks.
Watch: ESPN2 (Jason Benetti, play-by-play; Dan Dakich, analyst)
Listen: WCTC (Chris Carlin, play-by-play; Joe Boylan, analyst)
Live Stats
Illinois enters a 6-2 overall, dipping in last weeks rankings to No. 13 after being as high as number five in the AP poll. The Illini's non-conference schedule featured a win over No. 10 Duke setback against No. 2 Baylor. The team defeated Minnesota, 92-65, in their league opener Wednesday.
The Illini are averaging 88.3 points per game. The squad paces the Big Ten in field goal percentage (53.7 percent), three-point percentage (43.2) and rebound margin (+17.0). Center Kofi Cockburn has four double-doubles this season, averaging 16.7 points and 9.4 rebounds. Guard Ayo Dosunmu averages 22.7 points and 5.1 assists. Both players join
Ron Harper Jr. on the Wooden Award Watch List preseason listing of the nation's best players.
The Scarlet Knights claimed a double-digit victory over the 22nd ranked Illini the last time these two teams met, winning 72-57 in front of a sold-out RAC. Ron Harper Jr. was 11-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-5 from behind the arc, to score a game-high 27 points. RU held the visitors to 31.1 percent shooting, the third worst field goal percentage by an opponent in a Big Ten game since RU joined the league.
Overall, this is the 11
th meeting in the series. The teams had played just once before RU joined the Big Ten, a neutral site meeting in 2005 in South Padre Island, Texas. Both victories in the series have come with Pikiell at the helm, with RU also earning a 62-59 Senior Day victory in Pikiell's first season.
