PISCATAWAY, N.J. – After opening the season on Wednesday with a win over Rider, RU is back in action for the season's second game on Monday night. The Scarlet Knights will host Maine at Jersey Mike's Arena. Game time is 6:30 pm.
The game will air on Big Ten Network with Jason Horowitz and Austin Johnson on the call. With a win, RU would start the season 2-0 for the 10
th time over the past 11 seasons.
Rutgers opened the season with a 28-point victory over Rider, the largest margin of victory since a 31-point win over St. Peters in December of 2023. After Rider cut the lead to two points at 22-20 with five minutes to play in the opening half, RU outscored the Broncs by a 59-33 margin over the final 25 minutes.
Junior NJIT transfer guard
Tariq Francis led Rutgers with 20 points in his debut with RU, including four three-pointers. Junior guard returnee
Jamichael Davis added 15 points, four assists, and three steals. Sophomore forward
Dylan Grant finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard
Darren Buchanan Jr. who came to the Scarlet Knights from George Washington came off the bench to score 11.
RU had 29 fast break points and held Rider to shooting 27.7 percent from the floor and 2-of-20 from behind the arc. It matched RU's low three-pointers allowed last season (two by Texas A&M in November) and was the fewest three-pointers an opponent made at Jersey Mike's Arena since Rider had two in the last meeting on November 22, 2022.
The Scarlet Knights are back at Jersey Mike's Arena seeking an 80
th straight sellout. RU is 80-24 at Jersey Mike's Arena since 2019-20.
Maine opened the season with a 67-47 loss at George Washington, and has a short turnaround with a 5 pm Saturday game at Stony Brook ahead of the RU game. The Black Bears shot just 31.4% against GWU with freshman Ace Flagg, the twin brother of last season's number 1 NBA Draft Pick Cooper Flagg, scoring 10 points. Ryan Mabrey, a Belmar, N.J. native, was also in the starting lineup for his Maine debut and TJ Biel had 13 points.
The Black Bears were tied for second in the America East Preseason Poll, behind just Vermont, and received a first place vote. Maine lost their top five scorers from last season and brought in projected starters from Quinnipiac, UMass Lowell and Southeast Missouri State.
Chris Markwood has been the head coach since 2022-23 with a defensive emphasis. Last season, Maine allowed just 66.1 points per game, the 33
rd ranked defense in the NCAA, forcing 14.9 turnovers per game. The 20-14 overall record last year was only the program's second winning season in 21 years and their most wins in 25 years.
Rutgers and Maine have played five times lifetime, with the Scarlet Knights winning all five games, four of them coming at home. This will be the third time under
Steve Pikiell facing the Black Bears since 2018, with meetings in 1924, 1959, 2005, 2018 and 2021. In 2018, RU earned a 70-55 win and in 2021, the Scarlet Knights won 80-64. RU has won by double-digits in all five games.
RU remains home at Jersey Mike's Arena for the next three games after the meeting with Maine. The Scarlet Knights welcome Lehigh (Friday, November 14), American (Tuesday, November 18, BTN) and CCSU (Friday, November 21).
