Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-6, 5-6) at Northwestern Wildcats (6-8, 3-7)
Sunday, January 31 | 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Welsh - Ryan Arena | Evanston, Ill.
TV: BTN (Lisa Byington, play-by-play; Stephen Bardo, analyst)
Radio: Rutgers Sports Properties Radio Network (WCTC 1450 AM/WOR 710 AM/ XM 380 (Jerry Recco and
Jordan Ozer); WRSU 88.7 FM (Raj Shah and Dylan Allen)
Rutgers men's basketball returns to the road to face Northwestern on Sunday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena at 7:30 p.m. The Scarlet Knights enter on a historic two-game winning streak, following its first win at Assembly Hall (74-70 at Indiana last Sunday) with the first ever win over Michigan State (67-37 on Thursday).
Rutgers trounced the Spartans for a 30-point victory. The win was Rutgers' largest margin of victory in a Big Ten game. It represented Rutgers largest margin of victory in a conference game since Feb. 15, 2004 (85-52 vs. Virginia Tech) when it was in the Big East. Rutgers did so while holding MSU to just 37 points, the lowest total points allowed ever in a Big Ten game. It was the sixth time under head coach
Steve Pikiell that RU held an opponent under 40 points. Rutgers forced 21 turnovers, the most in a Big Ten game under
Steve Pikiell. The previous most under Pikiell came in the first meeting against the Spartans this year (18). Rutgers held MSU to 28.6% shooting, tying for the lowest percentage ever against RU in a Big Ten game. The 14 steals tied for the most ever in a Big Ten game for RU.
Myles Johnson continued to be a force down low, posting his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Johnson tied his career-high with his third game this season of five blocks. He is second in the Big Ten and 21st nationally with 2.4 blocks per game, and moved into 9th place all-time at Rutgers with 106 career rejections. He also ranks 28th nationally with 3.27 offensive rebounds per game and is third in the Big Ten at 8.9 rebounds per game.
Geo Baker had an all-around performance in the win with 11 points, five assists and a career-high five steals.
Rutgers is looking for its third Big Ten road win of the season. The Scarlet Knights only won two road games last season. RU seeks to reach three conference road wins in a season for just the second time as a member of the Big Ten, and just the third time in the past 16 seasons. Rutgers has only once previously won three Big Ten road games in a season (2018-19).
On the season, the Scarlet Knights have posted four Quad 1 wins, tied for the third most in the nation. Rutgers' four Quad 1 wins is also tied for the most of any Big Ten teams. The Scarlet Knights' four quad 1 wins include Illinois (7), Purdue (30), Maryland (40), and Indiana (48). RU's average opponent NET rank is 6th in the nation, while their NET Strength of Schedule ranks as the 8th toughest. In its first 11 league games, RU has played nine of them against teams in the top-50 of the NET and six of them against teams in the top-30 of the NET.
Northwestern opened the season by winning six of their first seven games, including opening 3-0 in the Big Ten with victories over No. 4 Michigan State, at Indiana and No. 23 Ohio State. That earned them a spot in the national rankings, peaking at No. 19. The Wildcats are on a seven-game losing streak since, including losses to six ranked teams, and are have had an eight-day layoff. NU is led by Miller Kopp at 13.6 points per game, one of four players to average in double-figures. The team has committed the fewest turnovers in the Big Ten (142) and is second in assist-turnover ratio (1.65).
Series Record: Northwestern leads 10-4
Last Meeting: Rutgers 77, Northwestern 73 (Feb. 9, 2020)
Sunday marks the 15th meeting in the all-time series dating back to 1969, with Northwestern holding a 10-4 advantage. However, Rutgers has won two straight in the series and three of the past four meetings. In the last meeting, Rutgers had its biggest comeback victory in 24 years, overcoming an 18-point first half deficit to rally for a comeback victory in overtime.
Geo Baker scored 23 points in the second half and overtime, including 12 of RU's final 16 points of the game to seal the victory. Prior to that, RU claimed its first win at Welsh-Ryan Arena, 59-56, behind 12 points from both
Geo Baker and
Montez Mathis, on Feb. 13, 2019.
