Friday, December 3, 2021 | 7:00 p.m.
State Farm Center | Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
TV: ESPN 2 (PxP: Mike Couzens Color: Robbie Hummel)
Radio: Rutgers Sports Properties Radio Network (WCTC 1450 AM/WOR 710 AM; PXP: Jerry Recco and Color: Austin Johnson)
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers men's basketball heads back on the road to kickoff Big Ten play against one of the best teams in the conference in Illinois (5-2).
Rutgers (4-3) and head coach
Steve Pikiell are coming off of an early-season defining 74-64 victory over the Clemson Tigers on primetime on Tuesday night.
The crowd at the State Farm Center in Illinois is one of the loudest in college basketball and Pikiell is preparing his team to play it's first conference game on the road with fans in two years.
"Playing in front of fans has been a huge adjustment for our group and all college basketball players after last season," Pikiell said on the Pikiell Podcast with Jerry Recco earlier this week. "That's going to be a huge test at Illinois. Illinois fans are unbelievable. That has such a big adjustment coming back here after over 600 days of not having anybody here or on the road. Our guys continue to learn lessons on the journey of the season."
Rutgers is also less than a week removed from one of it's best offensive performances in the road game against UMass on Saturday, where the team had 25 team assists. That marked the first time and RU team has had that many dishes on the road since 1992.
The team's perimeter defense is what really stood out in the matchup against Clemson on Tuesday. Clemson entered the game third nationally in three point shooting, at a clip of 44.1 percent (64-for-145). Rutgers limited the Tigers to their worst percentage of the year from behind the arc, finishing at 22 percent in the game.
"The non-conference games were so important for our team to learn lessons," Pikiell said. "We have had segments where our defense has been great. We have to decide that we team we want to be."
Illinois last time out
The Fighting Illini are riding a three-game winning streak after losing a pair of games early in the season. Illinois defeated Notre Dame 82-72 at home on Monday night behind the dominating force of center Kofi Cockburn who led the team with 28 points.
The Fighting Illini shot 40.7 percent from deep against the Fighting Irish, with
Alfonso Plummer and
Jacob Grandison each hitting three treys. Plummer had his third consecutive night with 20-plus points, scoring 21 points on Monday. He put the game away down the stretch, going 8-8 from the free throw line in the final minutes.
Head Coach Brad Underwood was preparing to play without super senior Trent Frazier and Grandison in the game. Frazier did not practice the week before the game due to injury and Grandison was in bed battling an illness. Both were able to suit up against Notre Dame, but did not start.
Underwood called the victory on Monday night against the Fighting Irish one of the "five to 10 best wins he's been apart of" in his career.
Underwood also said on Thursday that he expects sophomore guard Andre Curbelo (concussion) to be out for Friday's game. Curbelo is one of the best players on the Illinois roster and had 129 assists in 31 games played for the Fighting Illini last season.
Scouting Illinois
Not many teams in college basketball have a center with the imposing size of Kockburn.
Listed as an even 7-foot-0 and at 248 lbs., the junior has been able to dominate opposing defenses in the paint all season. Cockburn was listed as the pre-season candidate for the Big Ten Player of the Year and is backing it up with his statistics so far.
The Kingston, Jamaica native is averaging 26.8 points-per-game and 9.5 rebounds. Last week Cockburn had a career performance against UT Rio Grand Valley where he scored 38 points and added 11 rebounds.
What to watch for
The play of Scarlet Knights center
Clifford Omoruyi has been a spectacular storyline and improvement from last season. Big Cliff has shown freakish athleticism on both sides of the ball and is averaging career-highs with 12 points and 7.9 rebounds-per-game.
Omoruyi's 6-foot-11 frame will be a major advantage that not many teams in college basketball have to combat Cockburn.
Key quote from the head coach
"Kofi Cockburn is one of the best pure post-up guys in the country," Pikiell said. "He's huge. Cliff is going to be tested in a lot of ways and his basketball IQ will really come into fruition in the next couple of games."
History against Illinois
RU is a career (3-9) against the Fighting Illini. Rutgers lost to Illinois in last year's Big Ten Tournament 90-68 on March 12 in Indianapolis.
The last time the Scarlet Knights played in Urbana-Champaign they held Illinois to 28.6 percent (18-of-63) shooting, the lowest ever mark by an RU foe in Big Ten play on Jan. 11, 2020. The Fighting Illini edged the Scarlet Knights 54-51. Rutgers is a combined (0-5) at Illinois.
Top Rutgers performers of late
Ron Harper Jr. has been the superstar of the Scarlet Knights to start the season. Harper Jr. has four double-doubles, which as of Thursday morning leads all Big Ten players. He is also coming off of his best game of the season on Tuesday night. The small forward scored his season-high of 23 points and just one board shy of his fifth double-double of the season.
Senior guard
Caleb McConnell had his best night shooting on the season and a season-high 16 points in Tuesday's game.
Paul Mulcahy tied his career-high on Tuesday with seven assists. Mulcahy has taken over as the floor general on offense with
Geo Baker missing the past two games due to injury.
Up next
The Scarlet Knights will have a resting period before hosting what is now the No. 1 team in the country in the Purdue Boilmakers on Thurdsay, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena.
