PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball is back at Jersey Mike's Arena on Tuesday night. The Scarlet Knights will host Nebraska for an 8 p.m. game on BTN, which features Jason Horowitz and Brian Butch on the call.
THE SERIES
Rutgers faces Nebraska for the 18th time lifetime, looking to even the all-time series at 9-9 with a victory. RU has won four of the past five meetings and five of the last seven since 2019.
Rutgers faces Nebraska for the lone time this season. The Scarlet Knights swept the Huskers last season, winning 93-65 at home and claiming a 63-61 road win.
In the later meeting, RU only let up one basket on the last ten possessions to come back from an 11-point deficit and defeat Nebraska by two at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The home win saw the Scarlet Knights score their most points in a Big Ten Conference regulation game in school history, with 29 points from
Ron Harper Jr. leading five in double-figures.
WITH A WIN
A victory at Nebraska would represent:
- Five wins in the past six meetings against Nebraska
- Seven wins against the Huskers since joining the Big Ten
- Ninth Big Ten win, tying for second most in the league
- A 14-2 record at home this season and 28-5 at home over the past two seasons.
ABOUT RUTGERS
Rutgers has been propelled by an outstanding defense. The Scarlet Knights are 16-1 when holding its opponent to 65 or fewer points and 8-0 when doing so in Big Ten games. Rutgers is 0-7 when allowing more than 65 points in Big Ten games this year.
The Scarlet Knights remaining schedule with six conference games remaining features five of the six games against teams currently 9th or lower in the conference.
RUTGERS LAST TIME OUT
Rutgers took a tough loss on the road on Saturday, as the Scarlet Knights were defeated 69-60 at the State Farm Center by Illinois. RU had four players in double-digits in
Caleb McConnell (14 points),
Clifford Omoruyi (14 points),
Aundre Hyatt (12 points) and
Paul Mulcahy (12 points).
ABOUT NEBRASKA
The Cornhuskers are 5-10 in the Big Ten but have won two of their past three games with home wins over Penn State and Wisconsin. The Huskers, who are missing two key rotation players due to injury, overcame a 17-point second-half deficit for an overtime win against Wisconsin on Sunday. Their lone road win in league play came in overtime at Minnesota. Nebraska's 12 wins this season are the most in a year in any of Fred Hoiberg's four seasons at the helm of the Huskers.
Derrick Walker leads the team at 13.5 points per game. Keisei Tominaga is second at 12.0 points per game, but has been hot of late, averaging 25.3 points per game in February, with four 20-point games over his last six games.
Nebraska averages 66.2 points per game. They are 8th nationally in fouls per game, but are only in the top-100 nationally in one other statistical category (defensive rebounds, 82nd, 26.15 per game).
MILESTONE WATCH
Cam Spencer has 57 steals on the season. He'll soon be top-10 on RU's single season list. One more ties him for ninth, two more ties him for 8th, and five more ties him for sixth.
Caleb McConnell needs one more steal to become the third RU player with 200 career steals. He is approaching Myles Mack's mark of 211 career steals for second all-time. Eddie Jordan has the RU record with 220.
Paul Mulcahy (410 career assists) is 15 assists away from tying Myles Mack for 5th all-time at RU.
