PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers men's basketball team (16-10, 10-6 Big Ten) is back on the road to take on the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan will mark the first unranked opponent after five-straight ranked foes, all of them ranked No. 16 or better in the nation. The Scarlet Knights are coming off a historic start to that stretch with four straight wins before a tough defeat agaist No. 5 Purdue on Sunday at Mackey Arena.

Rutgers became the first unranked team in NCAA history to play four straight regular season games against ranked teams and win all four. Rutgers has now defeated all five currently ranked Big Ten teams this season and has six Quad 1 wins. Michigan will be without their head coach Juwan Howard, and players Terrance Williams III and Moussa Diabate who were all suspended following an altercation at the end of the game against Wisconsin on Sunday. Longtime Saint Joseph's head coach and first year Michigan assistant Phill Martelli will act as the head coach for the Wolverines.

HISTORY WITH MICHIGAN

The Scarlet Knights defeated the Michigan Wolverines for the first time in school history with the 75-67 victory on Jan. 4 at Jersey Mike's Arena. The Wolverines are the last team in the Big Ten for RU to defeat for the last time. As a team, Rutgers had 20 assists, the second-most ever by a Scarlet Knight team in a Big Ten game. Rutgers '11 three-pointers tied for the team's most-ever in a Big Ten game. Rutgers held the lead in the game from start-to-finish.

Seniors Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. led the way with 47 combined points in the game. Baker had a season and game-high 27 points . Michigan and Rutgers have played 15 games, and the Wolverines have won 14 of 15 matchups. Rutgers has never won at Michigan. 

THE HISTORIC RANKED WINNING STREAK

With four straight ranked wins last week (No. 13 Michigan State, No. 16 Ohio State, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 12 Illinois), RU now has: 

- Five ranked wins on the season, the most ranked wins in one season in program history 
- Four straight wins over ranked teams, extending RU's program-record streak of consecutive wins over ranked teams 
- All four ranked wins in that span have come in four total consecutive games, also a program first 
- A 5-0 record in games against ranked Big Ten teams this season (No. 1 Purdue, No. 12 Illinois, No. 13 Michigan State, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 16 Ohio State).  
- RU now holds a 5-1 record this year against ranked teams, with the lone loss at No. 23/25 Seton Hall 
- 13 ranked wins under coach Steve Pikiell
- Four straight conference wins for Rutgers is the Big Ten's longest active winning streak.  
- Rutgers holds wins over the top five teams in the current Big Ten standings, and the top seven non-Rutgers teams.  
- Rutgers' 10th Big Ten win of the year represents the third straight season winning double-digit conference games.  
- Rutgers has previously only had one other stretch in history winning double-digit conference games, coming from 1988-89 to 1990-91 in the A-10 
- Rutgers became the first team in NCAA Division I college basketball with wins in four consecutive games coming over ranked teams since Michigan State did so to close out the 2019-20 season 
In that streak, RU: 
- Earned its first-ever win at the Kohl Center. 
Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell moved past Tom Young for the most ranked wins for a coach in Rutgers program history 

WITH A VICTORY:

• Rutgers would earn its first ever victory at the Crisler Center.
• The victory would mark the 10^th different road venue that RU has won at since joining the Big Ten.
• Rutgers would earn a season sweep of Michigan, having entered the season never having defeated the Wolverines.
• The Scarlet Knights will have won 11 Big Ten Conference games, tying the 2019-20 team for the most ever Big Ten wins in a season.
• RU would claim its fourth Big Ten road win of the season. That ties last season's team for the most ever road wins in Big Ten play.
• It would mark just the fourth time in the past 16 seasons that RU won four road games overall.

LAST TIME OUT

The No. 5 Purdue Boilermakers defeated Rutgers men's basketball 84-72 behind a game-high of 25 points from sophomore point guard Jaden Ivey.

Ivey was (5-11) from the field and (15-18) from the free throw line in the game. Seven-foot-four center Zach Edey had 15 points in 18 minutes and shot (5-6) from the field. Center Trevion Williams provided a spark off the bench for the Boilermakers with 11 points on (5-8) shooting in 21 minutes.

Guard Sasha Stefanovic (11 points) and forward Mason Gillis (10 points) rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Boilermakers. Purdue made six three-pointers in the first half and shot 57 percent from the field as a whole to take a nine-point lead into break.