Saturday, February 5, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.
Jersey Mike's Arena - (Piscataway, N.J.)
TV: FS1 (PXP: Dave Sims, Color: Donny Marshall)
Radio: Rutgers Sports Properties Radio Network (WCTC 1450 AM/WOR 710 AM; PXP: Jerry Recco and Color: Austin Johnson)
WRSU 88.7 FM RU Student Radio: Chris Tsakonas, Dylan Allen
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers men's basketball team (12-9, 6-5) returns home from a two-game road trip to host the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday, Feb. 5 at Jersey Mike's Arena at 4:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
The Scarlet Knights are looking to rebound from a (1-3) slide where the team's last three losses have come from a combined 13 points. RU is (10-2) at Jersey Mike's Arena this season and (38-7) at home during the last three seasons.
RU last time out
The Rutgers men's basketball team erased a 24-point deficit to force overtime with a dunk from center
Clifford Omoruyi with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation.
After a first half with 10 turnovers and 25 points, RU outscored Northwestern 45-27 in the second half to send the game to overtime at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday night.
In overtime, Northwestern made clutch free throws and timely stops to secure a 79-78 victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Point guard
Geo Baker had an uncharacteristic night where he did not score and turned the ball over with 28 seconds remaining in overtime with the Scarlet Knights trailing by one point.
Senior forward
Ron Harper Jr. had 16 points on (4-14) shooting. Harper Jr. fell just short of a pull up jumper with two seconds on the clock and the Scarlet Knights trailing by one point in overtime.
Junior point guard
Paul Mulcahy scored a career-high 31 points and willed the Scarlet Knights back into the game with contested layups around the basket and clutch shots from beyond the arc. Mulcahy had a career-high of ten field goals on just 13 shots, was (9-11) from the free throw line and (2-3) from three-point range. He played a career-high 44 minutes, grabbed seven boards, and had seven assists.
Scouting Michigan State
Senior forward Gabe Brown is the leading-scorer for the Spartans with 12.8 points-per-game on the season. He is shooting 41.4 percent from the field and 90.4 percent from the free throw line. Brown is averaging 4.5 rebounds and shoots 35.8 percent from three-point range. Forward Malik Hall is averaging 10.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 22.3 minutes-per-game. He is shooting 57.2 percent from the field on the season.
Freshman guard Max Christie is one of the best underclassmen in the Big Ten Conference. He plays a team-high 31.2 minutes-per-game and is averaging 10.2 points on 40.6 percent shooting from the field.
Senior forward and seven-footer Marcus Bingham Jr. leads the team with 6.9 rebounds-per-game. Bingham Jr. is averaging 9.6 points and shooting 56.5 percent from the field.
History with Michigan State
The Scarlet Knights 67-37 victory over Michigan State last season on Jan. 28 at Jersey Mike's Arena marked the first-ever victory over Michigan State in program history. The margin of victory (+30) at the time was RU's largest-ever in a Big Ten game.
Rutgers held MSU to 28.6% shooting, tying for the lowest percentage ever against RU in a Big Ten game. It marked MSU's lowest scoring output since a loss at Iowa on Jan. 12, 2008. Prior to last year's home victory, the Scarlet Knights had lost the last ten matchups against the Spartans.
Michigan State last time out
Junior forward
Malik Hall hit a layup with 1.9 seconds left as Michigan State beat Maryland, 65-63, at the XFinity Center in College Park on Tuesday night.
Hall scored 16 points and had four rebounds to lead the Spartans, while redshirt senior forward
Joey Hauser finished with 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals and senior forward
Marcus Bingham Jr. had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Pikiell building RU success in the Big Ten
The Scarlet Knights are off to a (6-5) start to the Big Ten slate at the midpoint of the conference schedule.
Pikiell has led RU to a (27-24) Big Ten regular season record over the past 2 and a half seasons. Pikiell was (13-43) in his first three seasons building Rutgers in the conference. RU was just (16-76) in their first five years in the league.
Student-athlete Scarlet Knights
The Scarlet Knights continued to excel in the classroom in 2021-22. The team term GPA was 3.082 and the team cumulative GPA was 3.240.
Luke Nathan earned a perfect 4.0 in his graduate program courses.
Jalen Miller,
Oskar Palmquist &
Logan Stephens earned Dean's List honors (3.50 term GPA w/12 or more credits). A total of 11 students (73% of roster) earned a term GPA of 3.00 or higher. A total of 12 students (80% of roster) hold a cum GPA of 3.00 or higher. The success of
Steve Pikiell's Scarlet Knights in the classroom is the best in RU's history.
RU, Adidas honoring black excellence
Rutgers men's basketball and Adidas partnered up to create the Scarlet Knights "honoring black excellence" jerseys to commemorate Black History month.
out RU's jerseys that will be worn on Saturday below:
