Rutgers vs. No. 13/12 Wisconsin
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Jersey Mike's Arena
6:00 p.m. (ET)

TV: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Steven Bardo)
Radio: RWJBarnabas Health Rutgers Sports Network (Jerry Recco, Austin Johnson)
FOX Sports New Jersey 93.5-FM & 1450-AM, XM 384, WOR 710-AM, Scarlet Knights App
WRSU 88.7 FM RU Student Radio    

BACK HOME FOR THE BADGERS
The Rutgers men's basketball team (16-11, 10-7 Big Ten) is back home Saturday night at Jersey Mike's Arena, as RU will host No. 13/12 Wisconsin (22-5, 13-4 Big Ten) in a rematch of a game two weeks prior, where RU claimed its first ever win at the Kohl Center. 

At home, Rutgers is 13-2 this season, 41-7 over the past three seasons, and 31-3 in the last two seasons of games with fans allowed in the building. 

The matchup represents sixth ranked opponent in a span of seven games for the Scarlet Knights. That marks the first time that the program has played six of seven games against ranked teams since the 2008-09 season.The Scarlet Knights had a historic start to that stretch, as 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 six currently ranked Big Ten teams this season and have five Quad 1 wins. 

ABOUT THE BADGERS
Wisconsin enters the game tied for the conference lead with a 13-4 Big Ten mark, and a 22-5 record overall. Wisconsin is led by national Player of the Year candidate Johnny Davis, who is third in the Big Ten at 20.6 points per game. UW takes great care of the ball, ranked first in the nation in turnovers. 

HISTORY WITH WISCONSIN
Wisconsin leads the all-time series 9-4, dating back to 1949. Two weeks ago, RU claimed its first ever win in Madison and the program's highest ranked road win since 2008 with a 73-65 victory at No. 14 Wisconsin. Ron Harper Jr. led the Scarlet Knights with 21 points in that game. 

Rutgers has won three games over the Badgers at home since joining the Big Ten. In 2015, Rutgers downed No. 4 Wisconsin 67-62 for the highest-ranked victory in program history. Myles Mack scored 21 points and Kadeem Jack added 20 points to deal UW one of four losses during its national finalist campaign.

WITH A VICTORY 
A win over No. 13/12 Wisconsin would be: 
- The first time sweeping the home-and-home series against a ranked team in program history
- The second home-and-home series sweep this season.
- Six ranked wins on the season, extending the program record for the most ranked wins in one season. 
- The 14th ranked win under coach Steve Pikiell

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 4 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 MSU, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 16 OSU).  
- RU now holds a 5-2 record this year against ranked teams
- 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 

LAST TIME OUT
The Scarlet Knights were defeated 71-62 by the Michigan Wolverines on Wednesday night at the Crisler Center. Rutgers trailed 32-30 heading into half-time but a strong run by the Wolverines in the second half gave Michigan a double-digit lead that they didn't relinquish.

MCCONNELL A DPOY CANDIDATE
Caleb McConnell is having a stellar season on defense with 63 steals, which is currently seventh in the nation. McConnell leads the Big Ten Conference in steals and  leads in steals-per-game (2.33). He had back-to-back-to-back games of over four+ steals to key wins over No. 13 Michigan State (four) and No. 16 Ohio State (four) and No. 13 Wisconsin (six). His 21 steals over a five game stretch tied him for second most in the Big Ten since 2002-03. His chase-down block to deny a breakaway layup against OSU sparked a 10-0 run for the team to close the game. He tied a career-high with six steals against Wisconsin.