Men’s Basketball Travels to No. 23/25 Ohio State for First Big Ten Road Game
Dec 05 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers men's basketball will play it's first Big Ten Conference road game of the season on Thursday night. The Scarlet Knights head to Value City Arena to face No. 23/25 Ohio State at 7 p.m.
In the initial release of the NET Rankings, RU came in at No. 30, just two spots behind No. 28 Ohio State. Rutgers is also receiving votes in the Coaches Poll. Rutgers has had four different players lead the team in scoring in a game this year (Cam Spencer, Clifford Omoruyi, Aundre Hyatt, and Caleb McConnell).
ON THE AIR
Rutgers will be on ESPN2 on Thursday night for its final appearance of the season on the ESPN Family of Networks. Doug Sherman and Robbie Hummel will have the call for the broadcast. Rutgers fans can also tune in to WCBS 880 AM where Jerry Recco and Austin Johnson will have the radio call.
LAST TIME OUT
Rutgers picked up a top-10 and Quadrant I win on Saturday at Jersey Mike's Arena, with a dominating defensive performance against a team that entered the day in the top-10 nationally in scoring. The Scarlet Knights held down No. 8/10 Indiana for a 63-48 win. The Scarlet Knights claimed their sixth straight win over the Hoosiers, with Steve Pikiell's third top-10 win at Rutgers coming by a 15-point margin that was the second largest margin of victory over a top-10 team in program history, and most since 1977.
RU held IU, who entered the day averaging 87.1 points per game, to its lowest output in over two years, and held them to just 30.4% shooting from the field. The team was sparked by freshman Derek Simpson, who posted 14 points in the second half, and propelled RU in a 19-0 run that erased the final Indiana lead of the day. The Scarlet Knights out toughed the Hoosiers, claiming a 47-33 rebounding margin that included a 17-9 margin for RU on the offensive glass. The 47 rebounds marked a season-high for RU.
Senior guard Paul Mulcahy made his return to game action after missing four contests due to a shoulder injury, during which time RU went 2-2. The Bayonne, N.J. native has 325 career assists, sitting at 10th all-time in program history and three assists behind Corey Sanders (2016-18, 328) for ninth place on RU's career leaderboard.
THE OHIO STATE MATCHUP
The contest marks the 15th lifetime meeting between these two programs, with 14 of those coming since 2015, Rutgers' first year in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights are 4-10 against the Buckeyes, with two home wins and two neutral site wins, as they seek their first victory in Columbus. In the last meeting, RU claimed a 66-64 win last season over No. 16 Ohio State. The Scarlet Knights trailed by eight points with 3:49 left, but a 10-0 run, fueled by a key chase-down block from 2021-22 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Caleb McConnell propelled Rutgers' closing burst for a victory.
On the year, Ohio State has a 6-2 record, holding wins over Cincinnati and No. 21 Texas Tech at the Maui Invitational. The two losses came to ranked foes in No. 17 Duke and No. 17 San Diego State. The Buckeyes enter the matchup eighth nationally in rebounding margin (+10.6) and 10th in the country in free throw percentage (79.1%).
In just 17.8 minutes per game off the bench, four-star freshman Brice Sensabaugh paces the squad at 14.2 points per game. Zed Key is 11th nationally, shooting 69.5 percent from the field, while also fourth in the Big Ten in offensive rebounding (3.5), while posting 13.4 points per game. There are four Buckeyes overall averaging double-digit scoring, with Justice Sueing (13.1 ppg) and Sean McNeil (10.4 ppg) joining that duo.
WITH A WIN....
A victory at Ohio State would represent:
· The program's first ever road win at Ohio State
· Rutgers' second straight ranked win after defeating No. 8/10 Indiana this past Saturday
· Seven ranked wins in the past two seasons
· 15 ranked wins under head coach Steve Pikiell
· The third ranked road win under Steve Pikiell and second consecutive season with a win on the road.
RU'S DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE
Rutgers boasts the top three-point defense in the NCAA, holding opponents to 20.6 percent shooting from behind the arc. RU is also seventh in scoring defense (54.1 ppg), eighth in field goal percentage defense (35.4%), 12th in steals (10.9 spg) and 15th in turnover margin (+5.6) and 25th in turnovers forced (18.0). RU leads the Big Ten in offensive rebounds (14.75, also seventh in the nation), scoring defense, steals per game, three-point percentage defense, turnover margin, and turnovers forced.
Per Ken Pom, RU is fifth in the nation in effective field goal percentage (39.5%), fifth in steal percentage (15.6%), sixth in defensive efficiency (87.8%) and 13th in turnover percentage (25.8%).
CLIFFORD OMORUYI, DUNK KING
Junior center Clifford Omoruyi has continued his success from last season being one of the nation's top dunkers. He led the country in dunks heading into the NCAA Tournament last season and is off to another hot start in 22-23. Omoruyi has 19 dunks in eight games thus far (2.375 per-game). That is good for fifth-best in the country.
STANDOUT STATS
Junior guard Cam Spencer has 24 steals. He currently is fourth in the nation at 3.00 steals per game and fifth overall in total steals, just four behind the NCAA's leader. The Davidsonville, Md. Native is posting 13.8 points-per-game and 3.6 assists. Spencer is shooting 95.5 percent from the free throw line, seventh best nationally and the best mark thus far of any Big Ten player.
Junior center Clifford Omoruyi is leading RU with 9.8 rebounds per game and has three double-doubles. Omoruyi has scored a team-best 15.4 points-per-game and has been a force to be reckoned with in the paint thus far. Omoruyi is shooting 50.5 percent from the field.
Senior forward Aundre Hyatt has been a huge contributor on the offensive side of the ball averaging 11.3 points. He's averaging 5.0 rebounds in 28.0 minutes thus far. After entering the year with just four career double-figure scoring games, he has scored in double figures six times thus far this season and had a career-high three made three-pointers at Miami.
Mawot Mag, who averaged 2.9 points per game last season, has produced 8.1 points per game thus far this year, starting all eight games. He has posted between seven and 11 points in seven of the eight games.
UP NEXT
This marks the third game in a challenging five-game slate against major conference opponents. RU is back home on Sunday for an in-state rivalry matchup, as they will host Seton Hall for the Garden State Hardwood Classic at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 11.
