PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball team accepted a bid to participate in the 2023 NIT Tournament.

Rutgers was seeded No. 1 in the tournament and will take on Hofstra at 7 p.m. The game will broadcast live on ESPNU.

"I want Caleb (McConnell) and Paul (Mulcahy) and the rest of our seniors to play as many games as they can," head coach Steve Pikiell said on accepting the bid. "I obviously don't want this season to end. This group has done a lot of great things for us and to have an opportunity to play a home game for those guys would be very important. I would love for them to take advantage of postseason play. I'm not apologizing for postseason play here at Rutgers, but obviously our goal in the beginning of the year was the NCAA tournament, but we will have to shift quickly."

The full 32-team field was released on Sunday on ESPNU. The higher-seeded team in each game will host the matchups until the semifinals of the tournament. The semifinal and championship game will be held at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For the third-straight season, Rutgers men's basketball is heading into postseason play. It marks the 15^th time in RU history that the Scarlet Knights will compete in the NIT as Rutgers last participated in the tournament in 2006.

The Scarlet Knights made it to the NIT Championship in 2004, losing to Michigan 62-55 in the finals. Rutgers holds a (16-13) overall record in the NIT Tournament in school history.

The 2022-23 Scarlet Knights finished this regular season with a (19-14) record, including ten Big Ten wins. The Scarlet Knights guaranteed their fourth-consecutive winning season.

Rutgers beat the No. 1 team in the country for the second-straight year which marked one of the best road wins in the country at Mackey Arena against Purdue. Pikiell collected his 100^th win at Rutgers and 300^th win overall as a head coach earlier this year. RU collected ten wins against quad 1 and quad 2 opponents.



Pikiell has one NIT Championship under his belt as a player and helped settle the 51st annual National Invitation Tournament by nailing a crucial 3-point field goal that snapped a 46-46 tie and helped lift the Connecticut Huskies to a 72-67 victory over Ohio State at Madison Square Garden in 1988. The victory helped UConn win it's first postseason tournament in school history.

Pikiell will prepare his current team for the NIT Tournament beginning with practice on Monday.

"It is like any game," Pikiell said. "You must be ready to get your team off the mat. I want them to know I played in the NIT myself as a player and we had an unbelievable run when I was at the University of Connecticut in 1988. It was one of the great experiences that I had in basketball.  Today they don't want to hear those things, but tomorrow we will get them in a room and try to make sure they understand that a lot of teams have hung up their uniforms and we have a chance to keep playing as a group. This group has fought through a lot the last four years and fought through a lot of obstacles. I expect them to do the same here and we will be honored if we get an opportunity to keep playing."

THE SERIES

Rutgers is (3-3) all-time against Hofstra in six total matchups against the Long Island. N.Y. foe. Rutgers last squared off with the Pride in 2020 with a 70-56 victory at Jersey Mike's Arena. Pikiell is (1-0) against Hofstra in his time at the helm at RU. 

ABOUT RUTGERS

Rutgers men's basketball finished (19-14) the 5th time in 40 years RU had that many wins. Rutgers has been propelled by an outstanding defense. The Scarlet Knights are 19-2 when holding its opponent to 65 or fewer points and 10-1 when doing so in Big Ten games. Rutgers is 0-10 when allowing more than 65 points in Big Ten games this year. Rutgers has battled injuries since losing starting junior forward Mawot Mag with a torn ACL in the first half of the game at MSG on Feb. 4.

RUTGERS LAST TIME OUT

The Rutgers men's basketball team fought till the finish against the No. 1 seeded Purdue Boilermakers on Friday. The No. 5 team in the country defeated the Scarlet Knights 70-65 at the United Center in the third round of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament.The Scarlet Knights started the game on fire with a 12-4 RU run and a 17-10 lead midway through the first half. The Boilermakers received 13 foul calls compared to RU's four foul calls received in the first half. RU was again led by freshman point guard Derek Simpson who scored a team-high 18 points and had three steals. Senior point guard Paul Mulcahy had ten points, five assists and four rebounds.Senior guard Cam Spencer scored 13 points had three rebounds, a steal and an assist. Junior center Clifford Omoruyi had ten points, eight boards and three blocked shots. Fifth-year winger Caleb McConnell had six points and two steals. He now has 219 career steals at RU which is one behind Eddie Jordan for first place on the all-time list. RU outscored Purdue 12-to-6 on turnovers and 30-to-24 in the paint.

ABOUT HOFSTRA

Hofstra will take a 24-9 overall record into the NIT after a spectacular season in which the Pride earned the top seed in the CAA Championship with a 16-2 conference record. Along the way, Hofstra had a 12-game win streak, which ranks as the fifth-longest in program history. The program earned multiple postseason honors from the CAA as Head Coach Speedy Claxton was named the CAA Coach of the Year, redshirt senior guard Aaron Estrada was the CAA Player of the Year as well as an All-CAA First Team honoree, redshirt senior guard Tyler Thomas garnered All-CAA Second Team accolades, and sophomore guard Jaquan Carlos was selected for the CAA All-Defensive Team. Estrada leads the Pride in scoring and rebounding with averages of 20.5 and 5.5, respectively. He is also averaging 4.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game, to rank second in both categories. Thomas is second on the team in scoring with 16.3 points per game, while Carlos leads the team with 4.8 assists and 1.5 steals per outing. Sophomore guard Darlinstone Dubar is nearly averaging in double figures with 9.9 points per game and chips in with 4.8 rebounds per game.

LAST TIME VS. HOFSTRA

No. 23/24 Rutgers men's basketball defeated Hofstra, 70-56, on Sunday evening at the RAC, improving to 3-0 to start the 2020-21 season. It marks the first time since 1980-81 the team has won its first three games by double-digits. The Scarlet Knights never trailed while holding the Pride to a 30 percent mark from the field. Rutgers took control of the contest during a 21-6 first-half run, in which Hofstra missed 12 straight shots and was 2-of-19 over the stretch. A 10-0 spurt at the beginning of the second half set the stage for an eventual 22-point lead four minutes into the second half. Jacob Young paced the Rutgers scoring effort with 17 points. Ron Harper Jr. (15 points) and Montez Mathis (14 points).

MILESTONE WATCH

Paul Mulcahy enters the matchup with 452 career assists. He is now in sole possession of fourth place on RU's all-time leaderboard. 

Caleb McConnell has 219 career steals. He just passed Myles Mack (211) for second all-time at RU and is one away from Eddie Jordan (220) for first all time.  Cliff Omoruyi has 127 career blocks. He's for ninth all-time at RU. Cam Spencer has 68 steals on the season. He has passed Phil Sellers' 1975-76 campaign (61) and Steve Worthy's 1992-93 season of 62 steals for sixth most in a single-season in RU history.