PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball is back in action on Monday night, returning to Jersey Mike's Arena to host Wisconsin. The Scarlet Knights, who resumed Big Ten play Thursday at Indiana, play their second Big Ten home game of the season, and first since a win over Penn State on Dec. 10.
RU returns to a venue where the team is undefeated this season (6-0) and 18-5 over the past two seasons in front of sellout crowds. The game against the Badgers tips off at 7 p.m. on FS1.
The Scarlet Knights stand at 8-6 overall and 1-2 in conference play following an 84-74 loss at Indiana's Assembly Hall on Thursday night. RU is now 7-0 at home and 1-6 in either true road games (0-3) or neutral sites (1-3).
With star guard
Dylan Harper out due to illness, the Scarlet Knights were led in the Indiana game by fellow standout frosh
Ace Bailey. Versus the Hoosiers, Bailey went off for 39 points, along with eight rebounds and four blocks, shooting 16-of-29 from the field. With that performance, Bailey tied the Rutgers' freshman scoring record, had the most points for a RU freshman in a regulation game, and matched the most points and had the most field goals for any RU player in a Big Ten game. Bailey became just the second freshman with a 39-8-4 line in a game in the past 20 years, joining Kansas' Andrew Wiggins in 2014. His four blocks made him the first RU freshman with a four block game since 2005.
Bailey is now 17
th nationally at 19.9 points per game. With Harper ranking third (22.8 points per game), Rutgers is the lone team with two players in the top-20 in the country in scoring.
Harper and Bailey are now the top two leading freshmen scorers in the nation. In NCAA stats dating back to 2011, no team has ever finished the season with the top-two leading freshmen scorers playing for the same squad. Harper and Bailey have three of the four games in RU history where a freshman has scored 36+ points and are just the second duo in the past 15 years to each post 37+ point games in the same season (joining Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk).
Harper and Bailey have combined for 535 points on 398 shots this season. The rest of the team combined have scored 575 points on 449 shots.
Rutgers has scored at least 66 points in every game this season, reaching 75 points eight times, and averaging 79.3 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.
Under Greg Gard, who is 197-110 in his 10 seasons behind the bench for the Badgers, Wisconsin enters the contest at 11-3 overall and 1-2 in league play following an offensive outburst in Friday night's contest against Iowa with a 116-85 win over Iowa.
Wisconsin is buoyed by first-year Badger (via Missouri and Colorado State) John Tonje, who has 18.4 points per game this season and is fifth in the league in scoring. John Blackwell (32 points versus Iowa, 15.4 ppg this season) and center Steven Crowl each had 17 points in Wisconsin's win over Rutgers last season. Max Klesmit provides a long-range threat with 27 triples for a squad that made 21 three-pointers on Friday night, an all-time program best. UW had its most ever points in a Big Ten game with the 116 spot against the Hawkeyes.
From the free throw line, UW is shooting 85.2 percent from the year, the best in the nation, with Tonje at 93.3 percent. The Badgers, who dished 26 assists versus Iowa, are in the top-30 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio as a ballclub.
Rutgers has played Wisconsin 15 times all-time, with Wisconsin holding a 9-6 advantage. The teams matched up three times prior to RU joining the Big Ten (1949, 2003, 2004), all Wisconsin wins. Since becoming conference foes, the series is even at 6-6.
Last season, RU and Wisconsin split the two games, with RU winning by 22 at home over then-No. 9 ranked Wisconsin and falling by 12 at the Kohl Center. RU has won two of the last three and three of the last five meetings. Notably, in RU's first season of Big Ten competition, the Scarlet Knights claimed a 67-62 win over then-No. 4 Wisconsin that ranked at the time as the highest ranked win in program history.
Rutgers has three ranked wins over the Badgers since joining the Big Ten (vs. No. 4 UW in 2015, at No. 14 Wisconsin in 2022, vs. No. 9/11 Wisconsin in 2024). That is the most ranked wins over any Big Ten team since joining the league.
- Wins in three of the past four and four of the past six against Wisconsin
- 75-19 at Jersey Mike's Arena since 2019-20
- 8-0 at home this season and 19-5 over the past two years
Rutgers remains home for its next two games, facing No. 20/22 Purdue (Jan. 9) and No. 15/18 UCLA (Jan. 13). The team plays seven straight games against teams that are ranked or receiving votes in this week's polls.
