PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 24/24 Rutgers men's basketball returns to Jersey Mike's Arena on Friday night, hosting Monmouth at 6:30 p.m. in a contest that will be nationally televised by the Big Ten Network. Monmouth will make the 36-mile trek north to play at RU. It will be the second straight New Jersey foe faced for the Scarlet Knights. Previously, RU played St. Peter's on Monday, with the Peacocks making a 34-mile trip from Jersey City. The team also opened the year with Wagner making a 31-mile drive over the bridge from Staten Island.
Freshman point guard
Dylan Harper scored a game-high 24 points against St. Peter's. Harper, who scored 20 points in the season opener became the first RU freshman since 1972 to score at least 20 points in his first two games. In 1972-73, the first season that freshmen were eligible for competition, Phil Sellers scored 30 points in his debut and 28 points in his second game. He was the first RU freshman since Corey Sanders in 2016 to record back-to-back 20+ point games.
A fellow freshman, center
Lathan Sommerville has made an impact off the bench right away in two games. He has two double-digit scoring performances, averaging 12.5 points per game on the year, and leads the team with 6.5 rebounds per game.
Rutgers is 62-7 in non-conference home games under head coach
Steve Pikiell. Rutgers has won 11 straight non-conference home games and is 43-2 in those contests since the start of the 2019-20 season. Dating back to the start of the 2019-20 season, Rutgers is 70-19 at Jersey Mike's Arena.
Monmouth enters the game at 0-3 overall, having taken losses at Michigan State (81-57), Temple (103-74) and at Northern Illinois (79-66), having lost by an average margin of 22 points. Abdi Bashir Jr. leads the team at 18.3 points per game after posting 25 at NIU Tuesday night. Madison Durr has reached double figures in all three games, averaging 13.3 ppg. The Hawks were 18-15 overall and 10-8 in the CAA.
King Rice enters his 14
th season patrolling the Hawks' sidelines. He is 207-211 career.
Rutgers leads the all-time series against Monmouth 9-1. The teams played 10 times from 1984 to 2015, with RU winning the first nine before the Hawks took the last game in 2015. This is the first time Rutgers will play Monmouth under head coach
Steve Pikiell.
The last RU win came in 2014 on the road. Myles Mack hit a buzzer-beating, 19-foot shot to provide RU a dramatic 59-58 victory. Mack posted 16 points, while
Bishop Daniels added 12 points and five assists in the win. Other notable performances against Monmouth include Hamady Ndiaye totaling 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks in a 2009 victory and Marquis Webb scoring eight points in the final 1:06 of overtime in a 2004 win.
- Rutgers would start 3-0 for the fifth time in the past six seasons.
- 10-1 all-time versus Monmouth with a win for the first time since 2014 and a home win over Monmouth for the first time since 2011.
Rutgers remains at Jersey Mike's Arena for one more contest, hosting Merrimack on the 20
th. Following that, RU will play the next five games away from home and seven of the next 10 games through the start of the 2025 calendar year away from its home venue.
