PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers (18-12, 10-9) will host the Northwestern Wildcats (20-10, 11-9) on Senior Night at Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday at 7:30 PM. The game will be broadcasted on Big Ten Network and on the call is Brandon Gaudin, Stephen Bardo and Andy Katz.
SENIOR NIGHT
There are five players that will walk after graduating from RU on Senior Night,
Andrew Fulin,
Aundre Hyatt,
Oskar Palmquist,
Paul Mulcahy and
Caleb McConnell will all walk during a pregame ceremony. McConnell is the only player without any eligibility left.
THE SERIES
Rutgers is currently (7-11) all-time against Northwestern in the series dating back to Feb. of 1984. Rutgers has won five of the last six games against the Wildcats including a 65-62 victory earlier this year on Jan, 12 in Evanston.
WITH A WIN
A victory vs. Northwestern would represent:
- The fourth consecutive win for Rutgers on the last game of the regular season
- A 2-0 record against Northwestern this season
-A 15-4 record at Jersey Mike's Arena this season.
-An 11-9 record in the Big Ten Conference
ABOUT RUTGERS
Rutgers men's basketball is back on the road for the sixth time in it's last eight games. Rutgers has been propelled by an outstanding defense. The Scarlet Knights are 18-2 when holding its opponent to 65 or fewer points and 9-1 when doing so in Big Ten games. Rutgers is 0-9 when allowing more than 65 points in Big Ten games this year. The Scarlet Knights regular season schedule features this last conference game on a Senior Night at Jersey Mike's Arena against Northwestern on Sunday.
Rutgers has battled injuries since losing starting junior forward
Mawot Mag with a torn ACL in the first half of the game at Madison Square Garden against Michigan State on Saturday, Feb. 4.
RUTGERS LAST TIME OUT
The Scarlet Knights took a tough loss in Minneapolis on Thursday night. RU surrendered a 10-point lead with 1:15 remaining on the clock. Golden Gophers forward Jameson Battle hit a game-winning buzzer-beater as the horn sounded to give Minnesota the 75-74 victory. Rutgers was carried by a stellar night from senior guard
Cam Spencer (21 points) and a career-high from junior center Clifford Omouryi (23 points). Spencer made his first four shots from the field and Omoruyi had his 13th double-double of the season.
ABOUT NORTHWESTERN
Northwestern fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions 68-65 in overtime inside a sold-out Welsh-Ryan Arena in overtime on Wednesday night. Northwestern has lost it's last three games.
The Wildcats (20-10, 11-8 B1G) had three players score in double figures, led by Boo Buie, who had 20 points, eight assists and three steals. Brooks Barnhizer tied his career-highh with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Ty Berry added 10 points.
Buie's season-high eight assists led the Wildcats. Northwestern forced 13 Penn State turnovers, eight of them coming on steals. The Wildcats turned those takeaways into 12 points on the other end of the floor. Chase Audige's three steals led the way for Northwestern, bumping his season total to 72, the most in the Big Ten and tied for fifth-most in the nation.
LAST TIME VS. NORTHWESTERN
It was Déjà vu in Evanston, Illinois on Jan. 12 for
Cam Spencer and the Rutgers men's basketball team following the win over No. 1 Purdue. On RU's second-to-last possession trailing by 2 points, the junior shooting guard received a pass from senior point guard
Paul Mulcahy and let a three-pointer fly.
Just like the previous Monday, at Mackey Arena to beat No. 1 Purdue, Spencer drilled the shot to give the Scarlet Knights a one-point lead. On the final possession RU's defense stood strong to seal the victory.
Spencer knocked down both free throws at the line on RU's final possession to seal the victory over Northwestern 65-62 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. With Rutgers trailing by three points with 2:11 remaining in the game, Spencer hit a bank three-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game 58-58. Spencer shot a lethal (6-7) from three-point range.
Mulcahy had another complete game with 12 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals and one block. He knocked down two of his four three-point attempts.
MILESTONE WATCH
Paul Mulcahy enters the matchup with 438 career assists. He is now in sole possession of fourth place on RU's all-time leaderboard.
Caleb McConnell has 208 career steals. He is three shy of Myles Mack (211) for second all-time at RU.
Cliff Omoruyi has 119 career blocks. He's for ninth all-time at RU.
Cam Spencer has 64 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.
