PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball is back on the road this week for the final road game of the regular season. The penultimate game of the regular season overall comes Thursday night at Wisconsin's Kohl Center (FS1, 7 p.m.).
With two games remaining in the regular season, and a guaranteed three more contests remaining this season including the Big Ten Tournament, the Scarlet Knights stand at 15-14 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten. Rutgers has split their last two games, following up a 30-point win over Michigan at home last Thursday with a 11-point loss at Nebraska on Sunday night. Since the beginning of February, Rutgers is 5-4. RU is 3-8 in true road games this season.
In its last game, RU got key contributions from its bench, as
Gavin Griffiths (10 points) and
Antwone Woolfolk (nine points, nine rebounds) provided a spark. Junior guard
Jeremiah Williams paced the Scarlet Knights with 14 points. Since gaining his eligibility on February 3, Williams has paced the team with 13.0 points per game, and scored in double-figures in seven of his nine games, while collecting 30 assists and 11 steals.
Cliff Omoruyi continues to excel as a rim protector as he makes his case for Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Omoruyi is second nationally with 3.0 blocks per game and third in the nation with 87 rejections overall. Omoruyi remains 21 blocks ahead of second place in the league (OSU's Felix Okpara, 66). He also ranks third in the league in offensive rebounds, and fourth in rebounding overall and defensive rebounding.
The Scarlet Knights are 13
th nationally and lead the league in blocks (5.3 per game), while placing second in the conference in field goal percentage defense (40.3%, 18
th nationally), scoring defense (66.0), steals (7.6) and turnovers forced (14.86). Defensively, RU holds the No. 4 adjusted efficiency rating in the nation (92.1).
Wisconsin opened the season with a 16-4 record, 8-1 in league games, and were ranked as high as No. 6 in the AP Poll this season. The Badgers have since lost seven of their past nine games, including two straight entering the game, to sit at 18-11 overall and 10-8 in league play. That tough stretch included the earlier game this season against Rutgers, a 20-point victory for the Scarlet Knights. In that stretch, Wisconsin is 2-2 at home, and are 13-3 at the Kohl Center this season.
The Badgers are led by St. John's transfer AJ Storr, who paces the squad at 16.1 points per game. He is supplemented by Tyler Wahl (11.8 points per game), who will be honored by the Badgers' program as the lone scholarship senior on Senior Night in a pregame ceremony.
Steven Crowl (10.9 ppg, team-best 7.6 rpg), along with guards Max Klesmit (9.9 ppg) and Chucky Hepburn (8.8 ppg, 109 assists). Wisconsin is a veteran-laden team, with four of those above five being returning starters from last season's NIT Final Four Team, along with the addition of Storr.
UW is third in the Big Ten in rebounding margin and turnovers per game. Hepburn is second in the league in steals and assist/turnover ratio.
Rutgers is 6-9 against Wisconsin, with their last win coming earlier this season over the Badgers on February 10
th. In that win, RU defeated then-No. 9/11 Wisconsin at home, marking their lone ranked win of the 2024 season. That 22-point victory was the largest ever margin over a ranked opponent in program history. In that game,
Jeremiah Williams led the team with 18 points while grad guard
Noah Fernandes was on fire with 17 points. Of the past four matchups since 2022, RU has won three of the four. In Rutgers' last visit to the Kohl Center, RU claimed a 58-57 win last season. The Scarlet Knights also defeated UW in their previous trip to the Kohl Center, a 73-65 win on Feb. 12, 2022.
Clifford Omoruyi has 1232 points in his career, 23
rd all-time at RU. He is 13 points away from 22
nd and 25 away from 21
st. His 500 career field goals are 12 away from 17
th place.
Last season, Trayce Jackson-Davis led the Big Ten with 92 blocks. With six more rejections this season, Omoruyi will have the most blocks of any Big Ten player since Jaren Jackson's 106 in 2018.
- Three straight wins at the Kohl Center.
- Four wins in the past five games against the Badgers
Rutgers returns home for Senior Day to close out the regular season. The Scarlet Knights will host Ohio State on Sunday at 2 p.m. on BTN. The Buckeyes, who do not have a midweek contest, are 18-12 overall and have won three straight games and four out of their last five.
