PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Following a holiday break, Rutgers' men's basketball returns home to host Columbia on Monday, December 30 at Jersey Mike's Arena. The final nonconference game of the season will tip off at 5 p.m., with a broadcast on Big Ten Network, with Ed Cohen and Austin Johnson on the call.
The Scarlet Knights are 7-5 overall following a thrilling game and heartbreaking loss to in-state foe Princeton last Saturday in a neutral site meeting in Newark's Prudential Center.
Ace Bailey hit a three-point in the waning seconds, but the Tigers answered at the end of the floor for an 83-82 victory. It marked the team's second consecutive game to come down to the final possession against a New Jersey foe, as the Scarlet Knights previously downed Seton Hall, 66-63, on a buzzer-beater from
Dylan Harper.
Dylan Harper leads the team with 23.3 points per game, fourth nationally and leading the nation's freshmen. Harper has posted at least 14 points in every game, 20+ points in 10 of 12 games. Rutgers' boasts the leading freshmen scorer in D-I for both men's basketball (Harper) and women's basketball (Kiyomi McMiller, 20.9 points per game). The duo is also the top-2 leading scorers among all D-1 freshmen basketball players regardless of gender.
Fellow freshman
Ace Bailey is seventh in the Big Ten at 17.6 points per game, has four double-doubles on the year, and has averaged 11.3 rebounds per game over the last three contests, with his two highest rebound performances of the season coming in that span.
Jamichael Davis had a career-high four steals against Princeton. He did so after having just two thefts in the initial 11 games.
Rutgers has scored at least 66 points in every game this season, reaching 75 points eight times, and averaging 78.8 points per game this season. Rutgers has never averaged more than 69 points per game under head coach
Steve Pikiell. The last time RU averaged over 70 points per game was 2013-14 (71.1 ppg). In fact, RU has averaged over 70 points per game for a full season just that one time since the start of the 2001-02 season.
The Lions have opened the year with 10 wins in their first 11 games, taking that record into a Saturday game against Fairfield with a short turnaround before facing the Scarlet Knights. The opening stretch was highlighted by a victory over BIG EAST foe Villanova and saw an 8-0 beginning to the season that was the program's first eight game winning streak since 1982 and saw them receive votes in the national polls.
Through the opening 11 contests, CU averages 83.2 points per game, led by 18.9 per game from Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa. The senior guard and two-time Ivy League Player of the Week is 40
th in the country in both scoring and free throw percentage, while making 46.6 percent from three-point range, 21
st nationally. As a team, the Lions are second nationally with 19.9 assists per game and 17
th in field goal percentage (50.4%).
The two teams have played 50 times previously, with the series even at 25-25. Recent history has all been in favor of the Scarlet Knights. RU has won 10 straight games dating back to 1977 as well as 14 of the past 15.
Since 2002, there have been only two meetings. In 2018, Rutgers claimed a 68-65 home win. Then in 2022, the Scarlet Knights earned a 40-point win, taking down the Lions 75-35.
- 26th all-time win over Columbia
- 11th straight win over Columbia and wins in 15 of the past 16 meetings
- 74-19 at Jersey Mike's Arena since 2019-20
- 6-0 at home this season and 18-5 over the past two years
Rutgers will return to Big Ten play following this contest, having opened league play with a 1-1 record in early season competition against Ohio State and with a win over Penn State. Rutgers will be on the road to open Big Ten play, traveling to Bloomington for a game on Thursday, January 2 against Indiana. That is followed by three straight home games (Wisconsin, Purdue, UCLA) as RU will play four of the next five games overall at Jersey Mike's Arena.
In conference play, RU will play six games against teams ranked in this week's polls (Purdue twice, Michigan State, Oregon, Illinois, UCLA). The Scarlet Knights also play four games against teams that were ranked previously this season (Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan twice).
