LAS VEGAS – Rutgers men's basketball will face their final challenge in Las Vegas on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. RU will look for its first ranked-win of the season as the Scarlet Knights take on the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies on Championship Day at the Players Era Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The game is for fifth place in the eight-team tournament.
The game will be live on truTV with J.B. Long and Candace Parker on the call as well as broadcast on WFAN 660-AM.
Rutgers enters the last game of the tournament at 5-2 overall. Rutgers fell to No. 9 Alabama in a hard-fought 95-90 loss in the second round of the inaugural Players Era Tournament late Wednesday evening in Las Vegas. The Scarlet Knights had less than 24 hours to prepare for the Crimson Tide as they defeated Notre Dame in a thrilling 85-84 overtime victory that ended at 1:50 am EST this morning. Alabama took down No. 6 Houston 85-80 in an overtime victory themselves the game before RU-ND tipped.
RU's top three leading scorers are freshmen.
Dylan Harper leads the team at 24.6 points per game on 55 percent shooting.
- Dylan Harper now holds the two highest-scoring games for a freshman player this season (36 and 37)
- Harper is the first freshman in 20 years to score 35-plus points in back-to-back games
- Harper is the first Rutgers player to score 30-plus points in back-to-back games since Quincy Douby on March 9, 2006.
- Harper had the most free throws made for the Rutgers player since Geoff Billet hit 15 in 1999.
He is closely followed by
Ace Bailey (17.8 ppg). Harper is currently the leading scorer among freshmen in the nation, ahead of Texas' Tre Johnson (21.2 ppg).
Ace Bailey does not meet NCAA minimums to qualify, needing to play in the team's next game to qualify. If he were qualified, he would be third nationally just behind Harper.
Rutgers last played in Las Vegas in the 2015-16 season under then-head coach Eddie Jordan to play in a Thanksgiving Week event, the Men Who Speak Up Main Event. The Scarlet Knights went 0-2 in the event, falling to Creighton (85-75) and Clemson (76-58) in games held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
This event is the first November non-conference tournament away from home that Rutgers has participated in under head coach
Steve Pikiell, who previously frequently hosted MTE events around Thanksgiving instead.
Rutgers has never faced Texas A&M. The Aggies come into the matchup with an identical 5-2 record and also split the first two games of the Player's Era. The Aggies will be the second-ranked opponent the Scarlet Knights have faced this season after the loss to the No. 9 Crimson Tide on Wednesday night.
In the first game of the tournament for the Aggies, they could not hold off a late rally and dropped an 80-70 decision to the Oregon Ducks on Tuesday. The Aggies battled to a 32-29 advantage at half and extended the lead to double digits at the 9:35 mark, but the Ducks erased the lead in less than three minutes and built a six-point bulge with 6:29 to go. The Ducks outscored the Maroon & White 12-to-1 down the stretch for the victory.
Zhuric Phelps led the Aggies with a season-high 20 points and
Wade Taylor IV chipped in 15 points.
Andersson Garcia and
Henry Coleman III both had seven rebounds.
The No. 20 Texas A&M men's basketball team rallied past the No. 21 Creighton Bluejays, 77-73, on Wednesday. The Aggies logged their second win of November against an AP Top 25 foe. The Aggies defeated Blue Jays, who jumped to an early 8-0 lead and controlled the first half as they took a four-point lead into halftime at 31-27. The Aggies came out firing in the second stanza and grabbed their first lead of the game less than three minutes into the second half. It was the first of 11 lead changes before the Aggies took the lead for good with :35 seconds remaining. For the game,
Wade Taylor IV led the Aggies with 18 points while pulling down five rebounds and dishing out four assists. Joining him in double figures were Coleman with 17 and Washington and
Andersson Garcia with 10. Coleman led the Aggies with nine rebounds, including four off the offensive glass.
The Aggies are led by a dynamic duo in the backcourt in Zhuric Phelps (15.2 points per game) and Wade Taylor IV (14.7 points per game). Forward Henry Coleman IV rounds out their double-digit scorers (11.3 points per game).
By beating Texas A&M, Rutgers would:
- Improve to 6-2 for the third straight season
- Earn the first win over the Aggies in school history
- Earn its first win over an SEC team under head coach Steve Pikiell
- Defeat a ranked opponent for the first time since Feb. 10, 2024; Rutgers 78, No. 9/11 Wisconsin 56
