Friday, January 23
Piscataway, N.J.
6 PM
Rutgers University
vs
Indiana
Photo by: Ben Solomon
Men’s Basketball Returns Home to Host Indiana Friday Night
Jan 21 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball returns home from a two-game Midwest swing to Wisconsin and Iowa to play a home game on Friday night at Jersey Mike's Arena. The Scarlet Knights will host Indiana in a 6 pm game televised by FS1. There will be a special halftime show featuring ONE PIECE, with an exclusive giveaway.
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a hard-fought battle against a top-20 KenPom team in Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. RU never let the Iowa lead get into double-figures and hung tight throughout, leading by 13:32 in the game, but ultimately falling 68-62.
Rutgers led by four with 10 minutes to play after starting the second half with a run that was 10-0, 15-5 and 20-8. RU's defense kept the visitors on the road at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, as they forced Iowa into a stretch where they made just 3-of-13 shots in a 12 minute stretch after the Hawkeyes were shooting 50% from the field in the first 18 minutes of the ball game. Bennett Stirtz had his 9th 20+ point game of the season for the Hawkeyes and freshman Tate Sage had a career-high 17 points to lead Iowa, who had their lowest output since December 11 and fourth lowest point total of the season due to the Scarlet Knight defense. RU had a 31-24 advantage in rebounds and shot 19-of-24 from the free throw line but committed 19 turnovers.
With their leading scorer Francis coming off the bench, RU is second in the Big Ten in bench points at 29.21 per game. RU is also fourth in the league in free throw attempts per game and fifth in offensive rebounding.
Iowa's 24 rebounds were the second fewest by a RU opponent this season (Maine, 23) and fewest by a Big Ten foe since Jan. 20, 2025 (Penn State, 22 rebounds in an 80-72 win).
Darren Buchanan Jr. led RU with 17 points in Tuesday's game. That was his season-high in scoring and the third time over the past five games he had 13+ points. Buchanan has made five of his last eight three points (62.5%) and is shooting 47.4% from three-point distance this year, including 60% in Big Ten games.
Tariq Francis had 15 points. He has had at least 15 points in seven of his past eight games, and averages 19.2 points per game across his last five games. Francis leads the team at 15.3 points per game and is shooting 87.5% at the free throw line (77-of-88).
Emmanuel Ogbole had eight points and 10 rebounds. It was his sixth double-digit rebounding game of the year. Ogbole has a team-high 131 boards (6.9 per game), with 59 of them on the offensive end, and a team-high 25 blocks.
Following an 86-72 loss on Tuesday to No. 3 Michigan, Indiana stands at 12-7, 3-5 in the Big Ten). With the loss, IU is on a four-game losing streak, all to ranked foes (Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa and Michigan). The Hoosiers opened Big Ten play 3-1 with wins over Penn State, Washington and Maryland. Of IU's 12 wins, only two have come against teams in the top-110 per KenPom (No. 53 Washington and No. 81 Kansas State).
Head coach Darian DeVries is in his first season as the bench boss for the Hoosiers. He won 19 games last year at West Virginia and went 150-55 over the previous six years at Drake with three NCAA Tournament trips, making a winning percentage at the Division I level over 70%.
IU shoots 78.1% from the free throw line, third in the Big Ten. They are also fourth in three-point attempts per game (29.2).
Lamar Wilkerson was a two-time First Team pick in Conference USA, scoring 20.5 points per game last season. This year he is fifth in the Big Ten at 19.0 points per game and has made the most three-pointers in the league (62). Tucker DeVries is on multiple National Player of the Year Watch Lists after being a three-time all-conference selection in the Missouri Valley Conference. He averages 14.2 points per game. He and Wilkerson and 1-2 in the league in three-point attempts, and both are top-6 in three-point percentage.
Conor Enright, a senior who started at Drake and DePaul, stands seventh nationally in assist-turnover ratio (3.81). Tayton Conerway was the Sun Belt Player of the Year at Troy last season. He averages 4.3 assists and 11.5 points per game. Reed Bailey was First Team All-Atlantic 10 last season at Davidson, and supplements the squad with 9.8 points per game.
Rutgers and Indiana will meet for the 19th time. The series is even at 9-9 all-time. Rutgers has won nine of the past 12 interactions.
IU won the initial meeting between these teams in a neutral site matchup in Honolulu in 1980, then the first five games as Big Ten foes. Since then, starting with RU's win in the Big Ten Tournament in New York in 2018, RU is 9-3 against IU, including four wins by double-digits.
The two squads played just once last season, an 84-74 loss to Indiana at Assembly Hall. In that game, Ace Bailey posted 39 points, tying the most points by a Rutgers freshman in a Big Ten game in program history, and also the most ever scored by a RU freshman in a regulation game. The last time that IU visited Jersey Mike's Arena was the season prior, a 66-57 win.
Rutgers remains home for a game next Tuesday. The Scarlet Knights host a ranked Michigan State squad in a 6:30 pm game on FS1.
| About Rutgers |
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a hard-fought battle against a top-20 KenPom team in Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. RU never let the Iowa lead get into double-figures and hung tight throughout, leading by 13:32 in the game, but ultimately falling 68-62.
Rutgers led by four with 10 minutes to play after starting the second half with a run that was 10-0, 15-5 and 20-8. RU's defense kept the visitors on the road at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, as they forced Iowa into a stretch where they made just 3-of-13 shots in a 12 minute stretch after the Hawkeyes were shooting 50% from the field in the first 18 minutes of the ball game. Bennett Stirtz had his 9th 20+ point game of the season for the Hawkeyes and freshman Tate Sage had a career-high 17 points to lead Iowa, who had their lowest output since December 11 and fourth lowest point total of the season due to the Scarlet Knight defense. RU had a 31-24 advantage in rebounds and shot 19-of-24 from the free throw line but committed 19 turnovers.
With their leading scorer Francis coming off the bench, RU is second in the Big Ten in bench points at 29.21 per game. RU is also fourth in the league in free throw attempts per game and fifth in offensive rebounding.
Iowa's 24 rebounds were the second fewest by a RU opponent this season (Maine, 23) and fewest by a Big Ten foe since Jan. 20, 2025 (Penn State, 22 rebounds in an 80-72 win).
Darren Buchanan Jr. led RU with 17 points in Tuesday's game. That was his season-high in scoring and the third time over the past five games he had 13+ points. Buchanan has made five of his last eight three points (62.5%) and is shooting 47.4% from three-point distance this year, including 60% in Big Ten games.
Tariq Francis had 15 points. He has had at least 15 points in seven of his past eight games, and averages 19.2 points per game across his last five games. Francis leads the team at 15.3 points per game and is shooting 87.5% at the free throw line (77-of-88).
Emmanuel Ogbole had eight points and 10 rebounds. It was his sixth double-digit rebounding game of the year. Ogbole has a team-high 131 boards (6.9 per game), with 59 of them on the offensive end, and a team-high 25 blocks.
| About Indiana |
Following an 86-72 loss on Tuesday to No. 3 Michigan, Indiana stands at 12-7, 3-5 in the Big Ten). With the loss, IU is on a four-game losing streak, all to ranked foes (Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa and Michigan). The Hoosiers opened Big Ten play 3-1 with wins over Penn State, Washington and Maryland. Of IU's 12 wins, only two have come against teams in the top-110 per KenPom (No. 53 Washington and No. 81 Kansas State).
Head coach Darian DeVries is in his first season as the bench boss for the Hoosiers. He won 19 games last year at West Virginia and went 150-55 over the previous six years at Drake with three NCAA Tournament trips, making a winning percentage at the Division I level over 70%.
IU shoots 78.1% from the free throw line, third in the Big Ten. They are also fourth in three-point attempts per game (29.2).
Lamar Wilkerson was a two-time First Team pick in Conference USA, scoring 20.5 points per game last season. This year he is fifth in the Big Ten at 19.0 points per game and has made the most three-pointers in the league (62). Tucker DeVries is on multiple National Player of the Year Watch Lists after being a three-time all-conference selection in the Missouri Valley Conference. He averages 14.2 points per game. He and Wilkerson and 1-2 in the league in three-point attempts, and both are top-6 in three-point percentage.
Conor Enright, a senior who started at Drake and DePaul, stands seventh nationally in assist-turnover ratio (3.81). Tayton Conerway was the Sun Belt Player of the Year at Troy last season. He averages 4.3 assists and 11.5 points per game. Reed Bailey was First Team All-Atlantic 10 last season at Davidson, and supplements the squad with 9.8 points per game.
| About the Series |
Rutgers and Indiana will meet for the 19th time. The series is even at 9-9 all-time. Rutgers has won nine of the past 12 interactions.
IU won the initial meeting between these teams in a neutral site matchup in Honolulu in 1980, then the first five games as Big Ten foes. Since then, starting with RU's win in the Big Ten Tournament in New York in 2018, RU is 9-3 against IU, including four wins by double-digits.
The two squads played just once last season, an 84-74 loss to Indiana at Assembly Hall. In that game, Ace Bailey posted 39 points, tying the most points by a Rutgers freshman in a Big Ten game in program history, and also the most ever scored by a RU freshman in a regulation game. The last time that IU visited Jersey Mike's Arena was the season prior, a 66-57 win.
| Up Next |
Rutgers remains home for a game next Tuesday. The Scarlet Knights host a ranked Michigan State squad in a 6:30 pm game on FS1.
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