(RV) Rutgers Scarlet Knights (13-10, 9-10) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-14, 6-14)
Saturday, March 6, 2021 | 12 p.m.
Williams Arena | Minneapolis, Minn.
TV: FOX (Brandon Gaudin, play-by-play; Stephen Bardo, analyst)
Radio: Rutgers Sports Properties Radio Network (WCTC 1450 AM/WOR 710 AM/ XM 385; Jerry Recco and Joe Boylan), WRSU 88.7 FM
Rutgers men's basketball concludes the regular season on the road on Saturday, with a 12 noon Eastern time tip-off at Minnesota. The game will be broadcast on Fox.
Ron Harper Jr., a candidate for the Wooden Award and finalist for the Julius Erving Award enters the game ninth in the Big Ten in scoring. He has scored in double-figures 16 times, with 20-plus points in six games.
Myles Johnson, a leading candidate for Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, is the only player in the conference to have at least 60 blocks and 20 steals. He ranks 14th in the nation in blocks and has eight games this season with at least four blocks, while RU is the top shot blocking team in the conference and sixth nationally with 5.4 blocks per game. Rutgers has steered aside 124 shots this season, with 60 from Johnson and 14 apiece from Harper Jr. and Cliff Omoruyi.
Also key on the defensive end is
Jacob Young. He has a team-high 40 steals and is second in the Big Ten at 1.74 steals per game.
Pending the results of this weekend's games, RU can be seeding either 7th, 8th or 9th in the Big Ten Tournament. Postseason play will start on Thursday in Indianapolis at the
Big Ten Tournament.
The Scarlet Knights' success over the past two seasons has come with the competition in the Big Ten at an all-time peak. For the second straight season, RU has won nine conference games after doing that only once previously in the prior 17 seasons. The Scarlet Knights are in the top half of the Big Ten standings in a league that rates as easily the top conference in the nation.
Rutgers stands at 37 in the NET rankings. The Scarlet Knights have four Quad 1 wins on the year, highlighted by a victories over presumptive No. 1 seed Illinois (4), and also including wins over Purdue (22), at Maryland (32) and at Indiana (60). Four Big Ten teams are in the top-eight of the NET, representing five of RU's 10 losses. The Scarlet Knights' strength of schedule is ranked sixth overall in the nation per Ken Pomeroy, and there NET SOS is eighth. RU is 9-10 in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games, and has zero losses below Quad 2.
Minnesota is entering the regular season finale against Rutgers at 13-14 and 6-14 in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers, who are on a 6-game losing streak, have suffered injuries during the losing streak, most notably junior guard Gabe Kalscheur and junior center Liam Robbins. Marcus Carr leads Minnesota with 20 points and 5 assists per game. Carr is 2nd in the league in assists per game (5) and 8th in steal per game (1.32). Minnesota ranks 2nd in the league in turnovers forced per game (13.76) but ranks last in the league in three-point field goal percentage (28.8).
Series Record: Minnesota leads 8-5
Last Meeting: Rutgers 76, Minnesota 72 (February 4, 2021)
Saturday will mark the 14th meeting between these two programs. Minnesota holds a 8-5 advantage in the series. The Scarlet Knights have won four of the past five games and five of the past eight meetings with the Gophers.
A victory for Rutgers over Minnesota would represent:
- Rutgers' 10th conference win of the season. That would mark double-digit conference wins for the second straight season. That would be the first time for RU with consecutive seasons with double-digit conference wins since 1989-90 and 1990-91. RU would be .500 or better in conference play in two consecutive seasons for the first time since 1989-90 and 1990-91.
- Give Rutgers its fourth road win of the season. The Scarlet Knights previously won at Maryland, Indiana and Northwestern. That would mark the Scarlet Knights' most ever Big Ten road wins. The last time that RU won four road league games in a season was in 1990-91 when the team went 6-3 on the road in Atlantic 10 play.
- It would mark just the third time in the past 15 seasons that RU won four road games overall.
- Give Rutgers its sixth victory over Minnesota, the most wins over any Big Ten team since joining the Big Ten. A win would give Rutgers victories in five of the past six meetings with the Gophers.
