PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball is back on the road in another matchup against a top Big Ten Conference team on Tuesday night. The Scarlet Knights are in West Lafayette to face No. 18 Purdue at Mackey Arena. The game will be on Peacock at 7 p.m. with Noah Eagle and Robbie Hummel on the call.
The Scarlet Knights enter the contest fresh off a heartbreaking defeat last Thursday night in Ann Arbor. Facing No. 15/13 Michigan, RU led for 26:25 in the game, and by as much as 13, but were undone on a buzzer beater in an 84-82 loss.
Rutgers has scored 80+ points in the last three games (Washington, USC, Michigan).
It marked the first time since December of 2022 that RU scored 80+ in three straight games (Wake Forest, Bucknell, Coppin State). It also marked the first time that RU scored 80+ points in three straight conference games since 1990-91 in the Atlantic 10 (February 1991 vs. Penn State, UMass and Duquesne). RU has averaged 88.6 points in those three contests.
Lathan Sommerville had a career-high 17 points against the Wolverines. He shot 7-of-7 on free throws and has made 17 consecutive free throws across the past 4 games.
Tyson Acuff added 16 points in the game, making four three-pointers. He has scored double-figures in five of the past nine games after doing so just twice in the first 19 games.
Dylan Harper remains in the team lead with 19.3 points per game, fourth in the Big Ten.
Ace Bailey trails him at 18.2 points per game, seventh in the league.
Dylan Harper is at 502 points on the season. He became the first Scarlet Knight to reach 500 points in a season since his older brother, Ron Harper Jr., scored 507 points in 2021-22. The only other Scarlet Knight to reach 500 points in a season under current head coach
Steve Pikiell was Corey Sanders in 2017-18 (517). With 16 points against the Boilermakers, Harper would have scored more points than any Scarlet Knight in the Big Ten era. The last Scarlet Knight to score at least 520 points in a season was Mike Rosario (534 in 2009-10).
Both
Dylan Harper and
Ace Bailey are in striking range of the top of RU's record book for points in a season by a true freshman.
Rutgers True Freshmen Season Scoring Leaders: Total Points
- Mike Rosario (08-09): 517
- Phil Sellers (72-73): 506
- Dylan Harper (24-25): 502
- Ace Bailey (24-25): 492
Matt Painter's Boilermakers squad enters the game at 20-9 overall and 12-6 in Big Ten Conference play. The Boilermakers earned a 76-66 win over UCLA on Friday night. That snapped a four-game losing streak, three of which came against ranked teams. Purdue opened the season at 19-5 and were on a 11-1 stretch prior to that four-game losing streak.
Trey Kaufman-Renn had 29 points against the Bruins. He leads the team with 19.6 points per game and 6.0 rebounds. Brendan Smith, Purdue's all-time assist leader, became the first player in Big Ten history with two seasons of 250 assists. In addition to his 8.6 assists per game, he averages 16.0 points. Fletcher Loyer has added 13.8 points per game.
In the national stats, Purdue is seventh in the country by shooting 49.3% from the field as a team (best in the Big Ten). They also lead the league and are 20
th nationally at 38.3% from three-point range. Individually, Smith is second nationally in assists and eighth in steals (69), while Kaufman-Renn is 11
th in field goal percentage (61.0%).
Rutgers and Purdue will meet for the 24th time all-time, with 19 of those matchups coming since RU joined the league in 2014-15. Rutgers has won five of the past 10 meetings. That streak included a 70-68 win in the meeting at Jersey Mike's Arena, as
Ron Harper Jr. hit a buzzer-beating shot to down the No. 1 ranked Boilermakers, the first ever win for RU over a top-ranked team as well as a win at Mackey Arena over No. 1 Purdue again on Jan. 2, 2023, a 65-64 win.
The two teams will meet up for the second time this season following a 68-50 win for the Boilermakers on Jan. 9 at Jersey Mike's Arena. Despite 17 points from
Ace Bailey, RU produced its lowest scoring output of the season in the defeat.
- Second ranked win of the season (No. 23/25 Illinois)
- Highest ranked victory of the season
The Scarlet Knights have one regular season game remaining. On Sunday, March 9, Rutgers hosts Minnesota at 1 pm for Senior Day at Jersey Mike's Arena.
