PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball wraps up a three-game homestand on Monday evening. The Scarlet Knights welcome UCLA for a contest at 6:30 pm on FS1 on Monday, January 13. The game is the third straight at Jersey Mike's Arena for RU, and the last game at the venue until February 1.
The Scarlet Knights enter the game at 8-8 overall and 1-4 in conference play. RU is looking to snap a three-game losing streak at Indiana and home against Wisconsin and No. 20/19 Purdue at the resumption of league play in January. In the last game, RU limited the Boilermakers to a season-low percentage in three-pointers and saw PU have a season-low mark at the free throw line, but the Scarlet Knights could not overcome a season-low offensive output (fewest points since scoring 46 vs. Penn State on January 31 last season).
Over that three-game stretch, RU's leading scorer, Dylan Haper, has been limited to 43 minutes, sixth on the team in that stretch, and his effectiveness has been limited while battling illness, shooting just 2-of-11 in two games played. In his absence,
Ace Bailey has averaged 21.7 over those contests, highlighted by 39 points against Indiana, doing so on 60 field goal attempts, twice the number of the next player in that span.
Tyson Acuff has averaged 11.3 points per game over the last three contests, seeking to play a larger role after being the eighth leading scorer in the nation last season at Eastern Michigan, but limited early in this season by an offseason foot injury.
Dylan Grant, who saw action in just four of the first 14 games, has averaged 7.5 points over that span, which is third on the squad in that time period.
This will be the fourth game this season for RU against a ranked team. The first two came in tight losses at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas (95-90 to No. 9 Alabama, 81-77 to No. 20 Texas A&M) prior to Thursday's game against No. 20/19 Purdue. Dating back to the availability of rankings in 1974, Rutgers has 49 lifetime ranked wins. Between 2005 and 2015, Rutgers had just nine ranked wins. Pikiell has earned 16 since.
RU, who has never averaged more than 69 points per game under head coach
Steve Pikiell is averaging 76.4 points per game this season. The last time RU averaged over 70 points per game was 2013-14 (71.1 ppg). RU
has averaged over 70 points per game for a full season just that one time since the start of the 2001-02 season.
This is the third straight home games for RU. The Scarlet Knights are 74-21 at Jersey Mike's Arena since 2019-20, 7-2 this season, and 18-7 over the past two years.
UCLA, ranked as high as number 15 nationally and spending the last five weeks in the polls, enters the game against RU with an 11-5 record amidst a current three-game losing streak after opening the year with a 10-1 record. The Bruins have claimed two ranked wins this season (No. 12 Oregon, No. 14 Gonzaga), as well as a team in Arizona that was ranked at one point ranked in the top-10. However, UCLA, has dropped four of the last five games (loss to North Carolina, win over No. 14 Gonzaga, loss at Nebraska, loss to No. 24 Michigan, loss at Marlyand). UCLA has been outscored by double-digits in each of their last three game (12 at Nebraska, 19 to Michigan, 18 at Maryland) and stand at 2-3 in league play.
The Bruins conclude their first East Coast swing as league members following Friday's contest in College Park. Under sixth-year head coach Mick Cronin, they have made three NCAA appearances in the past four years, including a Final Four in 2020-21 and two Sweet 16 appearances prior to a 16-17 season last year.
Cronin previously coached at Cincinnati from 2006-2019, where he was 8-1 against Rutgers. UCLA associate head coach Darren Savino, a New Jersey native who took the helm Friday for the duration in the second half when Cronin was ejected, spent four-years at Rutgers up until 2010 prior to joining Cronin at Cincinnati.
UCLA has top-rated scoring defense (62.6, 18
th nationally), turnover margin (5.6, 9th nationally) and turnovers forced (17.56, 5
th nationally) in the Big Ten. Oregon State transfer Tyler Bilodeau leads the team with 14.9 points per game. UCLA doesn't have a second player averaging over 11.5 points per game or a player averaging over 6.0 rebounds per game, but has two players (Kobe Johnson and Skyy Clark) in the top-10 in the league in steals.
Rutgers and UCLA have played three times previously, with all the matchups coming between 1976 and 1981. RU is 1-2 in the all-time series and won the last meeting. UCLA was a top-10 team in all three meetings, and will be making their first ever visit to Piscataway.
Rutgers fell against No. 6 UCLA, 106-92, in the consolation game of the 1976 NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia to conclude the team's famous Final Four season. RU then lost a road game in 1979 to the sixth-ranked Bruins, falling 78-57.
In the lone single-digit contest in the all-time series, RU won a neutral site meeting on December 3, 1981, prevailing 57-54 over No. 8 UCLA at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., the first ever college basketball game played at the venue. Rutgers sealed the game on a layup in the waning seconds from Brian Ellerbe.
The Scarlet Knights head to the road for their next two games and have true road games in three of the next four contests to close out January. RU heads to Nebraska next Thursday night, then is at Penn State the following Monday. That is followed by a game at Madison Square Garden against Michigan State (January 25) and then at Northwestern.
