PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball hits the road this weekend. Heading to the Kohl Center for the fourth game over the past five away from Jersey Mike's Arena, RU will take on Wisconsin on Saturday at 12 p.m. in Madison.
LAST TIME AT WISCONSIN
The Scarlet Knights had their first-ever victory at the Kohl Center in program history last season, as it was the first time RU has defeated three ranked opponents in a row following a 73-65 win on Feb. 12.
The win marked four wins over ranked Big Ten teams in the same season for the first time in program history. It was the second time for RU defeating four ranked teams in one season under head coach
Steve Pikiell (also done in 2019-20). The win was the highest-ever ranked road win since RU joined the Big Ten and the second-ever ranked road win in Big Ten play. Rutgers had four players in double figures and were led by senior forward
Ron Harper Jr., who had a team-high 21 points.
LAST TIME OUT
Forward
Aundre Hyatt led the way offensively with 24 points in a 82-72 home loss to Nebraska. His previous high in a Big Ten game had been 16.
Paul Mulcahy had his second double-digit assist game of the season with 12 helpers.
MILESTONE WATCH
Paul Mulcahy enters the matchup with 422 career assists. He is within striking distance of Myles Mack (fifth, 425) and Geoff Billett (fourth, 428) on RU's all-time leaderboard.
Caleb McConnell has 203 career steals. He is eight shy of Myles Mack (211) for second all-time at RU.
Cliff Omoruyi has 110 career blocks. He needs five more to match Steve Perry (115) for ninth all-time at RU.
Cam Spencer has 60 steals on the season. He needs to more steals to tie Phil Sellers' 1975-76 campaign and Steve Worthy's 1992-93 season of 62 steals for sixth most in a single-season in RU history.
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 0-8 when allowing more than 65 points in Big Ten games this year.
The Scarlet Knights remaining schedule with five conference games remaining features four of the five games against teams currently 9th or lower in the conference.
ABOUT THE BADGERS
Wisconsin enters the matchup at 15-10 overall and 7-8 in league play following a home win (64-59) over Michigan on Tuesday night. The Badgers are 3-2 in their last five after a stretch that saw a 1-6 duration in January while hampered by injuries to multiple starters.
Wisconsin, as per usual, is an elite team at taking care of the ball, currently ranking second in the nation in turnovers per game (8.8) and they are 34
th in assist-turnover ratio (1.35). The Scoring defense of 63.4 points per game allowed is also 32
nd nationally.
Chucky Hepburn leads the team at 12.7 points per game, one of four players in balanced scoring between 11.5 points per game (Tyler Wahl) and the leader, joined by Connor Essegian and Steven Crowl at 11.8 ppg. The freshman Essegian is fourth in the league in three-pointers (2.32 per game).
ABOUT THE SERIES
Rutgers is 4-9 overall against Wisconsin. The teams played twice in two weeks last season with the home team winning each time. In the last trip to the Kohl Center, RU earned a 73-65 win over No. 13 Wisconsin. The home loss to the Badgers later on meant that Wisconsin has won three of the past four meetings in the series.
The series was highlighted by RU's first win, a 67-62 victory in January of 2015 over then No. 4 Wisconsin. The Badgers were also ranked No. 14 in the nation when RU claimed the win at the Kohl Center last season, the third in a streak of four straight victories over ranked foes last year.
