PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 25 Rutgers men's basketball readies for the 2024-25 season with an exhibition game against St. John's, presented by Prudential. The game will tip off at 6:30 pm on Thursday, October 17 at Jersey Mike's Arena. The exhibition game will be nationally televised by the Big Ten Network with Andy Katz and Austin Johnson on the call. The game will be a charity exhibition, with all ticket proceeds supporting the V Foundation.
This will be the third straight season with an exhibition game for the Scarlet Knights, and the second straight year where RU will open the campaign with an exhibition against the Red Storm. There was also a 2017 exhibition game against St. John's. RU also played Fairfield in a home exhibition ahead of the 2022-23 season. The Stags were then coached by
Jay Young, who has rejoined the Rutgers coaching staff this season.
Last season, Rutgers battled back from a 20-point deficit in the second half to force the game to extended time, ultimately falling, 89-78 in double-overtime.
The 2024–25 Scarlet Knights, under ninth-year head coach
Steve Pikiell, boast a home-court advantage at Jersey Mike's Arena in which they've sold out 64 straight home games with the entire home slate for the upcoming season sold out. Rutgers welcomes the highest-ranked freshmen class in school history, ranked second in the nation. The class features five top 150 recruits
Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey,
Lathan Sommerville,
Dylan Grant and
Bryce Dortch.
Pikiell and staff also welcome back three players from the 2023-24 roster:
Jeremiah Williams,
Jamichael Davis and
Emmanuel Ogbole, as well as a highly regarded transfer class of four new additions:
Zach Martini, PJ Hayes, Tyson Avuff and
Jordan Derkack.
RU is ranked number 25 in the preseason AP Poll, the fourth time in school history earning a preseason ranking. The Scarlet Knights are one of four Big Ten teams in the preseason AP poll. RU also ranked seventh in the preseason Big Ten ranking poll ahead of the league expanding to 18 teams for the upcoming campaign.
This will be Rutgers' lone public exhibition game ahead of the highly anticipated upcoming season. RU will begin the regular season on November 6, as the Scarlet Knights will host Wagner. The first four games of the regular season will be played in front of the home crowd at Jersey Mike's Arena, as the opener is followed by games against St. Peter's (November 11), Monmouth (November 15) and Merrimack (November 20).
The two programs last squared off in the regular season on November 16, 2018, with the Red Storm earning an 84-65 victory in Piscataway as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games. Rutgers and St. John's have met 42 times in regular season action, with the Red Storm holding a 28-14 advantage.
St. John's went 20-13 overall last season and 11-9 in BIG EAST play, finishing fifth in the league in the first season under Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino. The team finished strong, winning their last six regular season games, but fell short of the NCAA Tournament.
The Red Storm return four players from last season, highlighted by RJ Luis (10.9 ppg/4.6 rpg) alongside Zuby Ejiofor, Brady Dunlap and Simeon Wilcher. SJU brought in a number of transfers, including Kadary Richmond (15.7 ppg/7.0 rpg/5.1 apg at Seton Hall), Aaron Scott (11.0 ppg/5.8 rpg at North Texas), Devion Smith (13.3 ppg/6.3 rpg/7.1 apg at Utah and Vince Iwuchukwu (USC) alongside four freshmen.
St. John's just missed the top-25 rankings in the AP Poll, coming in 27th in the receiving votes section. They are 19 in the KenPom rankings, the third highest ranked BIG EAST team there.
