Thursday, January 8
Champaign, Ill.
8:30 PM
Rutgers University
at
Illinois
Photo by: Ben Solomon
Men’s Basketball Travels to No. 16/19 Illinois for Thursday Game
Jan 06 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Following a four-game homestand, Rutgers men's basketball is set to play its first game outside the Garden State since December 6, traveling to No. 16/19 Illinois for a Thursday night game. The Scarlet Knights and Fighting Illini match up at 830 pm, with the game broadcast on Big Ten Network, with Kevin Kugler and Shon Morris on the call.
Rutgers earned their first Big Ten win of the season on Monday night with an 85-80 overtime thriller over visiting Oregon. To lead the Scarlet Knights Tariq Francis scored 30 points, his second 30+ point game over the last four contests, a span where he averages 25.0 points across those four games. Francis is the only Big Ten player in the last 10 seasons with multiple 30-point games off the bench in the same season and is now the team's leading scorer at 14.9 points per game on 45.8% shooting. Across 69 college games, Francis averages 16.6 points per game. This season, his 45.8% is a career-best, well above his previous high of 38.9%.
Freshman Lino Mark had a career-high 13 points against OU, his second double -digit scoring game of the season. Darren Buchanan Jr. had his second highest output of the year with 13 points. Behind the output, RU had its 5th 80-plus point game of the year and a season-high in points, in the team's first overtime contest of the year.
Rutgers made a season-high 30 free throws, shooting 30-of-34 from the line for a season-high 88.2% against Oregon. Rutgers opened the game 10-of-10 and 22-of-23 from the free throw line. It was the third time in the past four seasons that RU shot 88% or better, also doing so last year vs. Alabama, USC and Ohio State.
Tariq Francis shoot 87.3 percent from the line, currently the seventh best mark in the Big Ten. That would be the second best free throw percentage in a season for a Steve Pikiell era Rutgers player (Cam Spencer, 89.5%) and a top-10 mark in RU history.
Against the Ducks, RU had a 26-7 margin on points off turnovers, forcing 17 turnovers and committing just seven.
Illinois last played on January 3, earning a road win over Penn State at The Palestra over the weekend to improve to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten. The Fighting Illini have only lost to top-25 teams (Alabama, UConn and Nebraska), while earning ranked wins over then-No. 11 Texas Tech and No. 13 Tennessee, along with Big Ten wins over Ohio State and Penn State. Illinois is 4-3 against top-60 Ken Pom teams.
Under head coach Brad Underwood, the Illini have made five straight NCAA Tournaments, including four of those seasons winning at least one game, with an Elite Eight trip in 2023-24. He has won 63% of his games, including a 94-67 mark in the Big Ten (58.4% winning percentage).
The Fighting Illinois are one of the top free throw shooting teams in the nation, shooting 79.3 percent from the charity stripe, which is tops in the Big Ten and third nationally. Illinois is also in the top-10 nationally in rebounding margin (+11.4) and 15th in rebounds per game (42.43).
Illinois has four players averaging between 13 and 15.5 points per game, with freshman Keaton Wagler (15.4 ppg) as the team's leading scorer. Wagler is the reigning Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week, having averaged 16.3 points, 6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals across the Illini's last three wins, including 22 points against Missouri and 16 against Penn State. He has won Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice across the past month.
Kylan Boswell, who played two seasons at Arizona and is on the Watch List for Shooting Guard of the Year, is second on the team at 14.9 points per game.
Four of the top-six leading scorers on the team are international players (Andrej Stojakovic, David Mirkovic, Tomislav Ivisic, Zvonimir Ivisic). Tomislav Ivisic was an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection last year at 13.0 ppg and 7.7 rpg last season. Stojakovic, the son of Peja Stojakovic, who was a three-time All-Star with the Sacramento Kings, and previously played at Stanford and Cal, is at 14.5 points per game on 52.4% shooting. He is on the Watch List for Small Forward of the Year and was all-ACC last year. Zvonimir Ivisic is 15th nationally with 2.5 blocks per game. David Mirkovic is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, as the forward from Montenegro averages 13.1 points and a team-best 8.4 rebounds.
Rutgers has won five times lifetime against Illinois and have four wins in the past eight contests against them (with three wins from 2020-2022). This will be the 18th meeting all-time between the two squads.
Rutgers played Illinois just once last season, at home, earning an 82-73 win over a No. 23/25 ranked Illini squad. Dylan Harper led RU with 28 points in that game, with Ace Bailey adding 18. RU led by as much as 17 points in the game after racing out to a 23-6 lead.
The last road trip to Champaign saw an 86-63 loss two seasons ago. Rutgers has never earned a road win at Illinois, taking seven losses there since joining the Big Ten in 2015.
Rutgers return home on Sunday, with Northwestern visiting for a 5 pm contest on Peacock. Following that, RU hits the road to play at Wisconsin (Jan. 17) and No. 19/23 Iowa (Jan. 20).
| About Rutgers |
Rutgers earned their first Big Ten win of the season on Monday night with an 85-80 overtime thriller over visiting Oregon. To lead the Scarlet Knights Tariq Francis scored 30 points, his second 30+ point game over the last four contests, a span where he averages 25.0 points across those four games. Francis is the only Big Ten player in the last 10 seasons with multiple 30-point games off the bench in the same season and is now the team's leading scorer at 14.9 points per game on 45.8% shooting. Across 69 college games, Francis averages 16.6 points per game. This season, his 45.8% is a career-best, well above his previous high of 38.9%.
Freshman Lino Mark had a career-high 13 points against OU, his second double -digit scoring game of the season. Darren Buchanan Jr. had his second highest output of the year with 13 points. Behind the output, RU had its 5th 80-plus point game of the year and a season-high in points, in the team's first overtime contest of the year.
Rutgers made a season-high 30 free throws, shooting 30-of-34 from the line for a season-high 88.2% against Oregon. Rutgers opened the game 10-of-10 and 22-of-23 from the free throw line. It was the third time in the past four seasons that RU shot 88% or better, also doing so last year vs. Alabama, USC and Ohio State.
Tariq Francis shoot 87.3 percent from the line, currently the seventh best mark in the Big Ten. That would be the second best free throw percentage in a season for a Steve Pikiell era Rutgers player (Cam Spencer, 89.5%) and a top-10 mark in RU history.
Against the Ducks, RU had a 26-7 margin on points off turnovers, forcing 17 turnovers and committing just seven.
| About Illinois |
Illinois last played on January 3, earning a road win over Penn State at The Palestra over the weekend to improve to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten. The Fighting Illini have only lost to top-25 teams (Alabama, UConn and Nebraska), while earning ranked wins over then-No. 11 Texas Tech and No. 13 Tennessee, along with Big Ten wins over Ohio State and Penn State. Illinois is 4-3 against top-60 Ken Pom teams.
Under head coach Brad Underwood, the Illini have made five straight NCAA Tournaments, including four of those seasons winning at least one game, with an Elite Eight trip in 2023-24. He has won 63% of his games, including a 94-67 mark in the Big Ten (58.4% winning percentage).
The Fighting Illinois are one of the top free throw shooting teams in the nation, shooting 79.3 percent from the charity stripe, which is tops in the Big Ten and third nationally. Illinois is also in the top-10 nationally in rebounding margin (+11.4) and 15th in rebounds per game (42.43).
Illinois has four players averaging between 13 and 15.5 points per game, with freshman Keaton Wagler (15.4 ppg) as the team's leading scorer. Wagler is the reigning Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week, having averaged 16.3 points, 6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals across the Illini's last three wins, including 22 points against Missouri and 16 against Penn State. He has won Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice across the past month.
Kylan Boswell, who played two seasons at Arizona and is on the Watch List for Shooting Guard of the Year, is second on the team at 14.9 points per game.
Four of the top-six leading scorers on the team are international players (Andrej Stojakovic, David Mirkovic, Tomislav Ivisic, Zvonimir Ivisic). Tomislav Ivisic was an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection last year at 13.0 ppg and 7.7 rpg last season. Stojakovic, the son of Peja Stojakovic, who was a three-time All-Star with the Sacramento Kings, and previously played at Stanford and Cal, is at 14.5 points per game on 52.4% shooting. He is on the Watch List for Small Forward of the Year and was all-ACC last year. Zvonimir Ivisic is 15th nationally with 2.5 blocks per game. David Mirkovic is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, as the forward from Montenegro averages 13.1 points and a team-best 8.4 rebounds.
| About the Series |
Rutgers has won five times lifetime against Illinois and have four wins in the past eight contests against them (with three wins from 2020-2022). This will be the 18th meeting all-time between the two squads.
Rutgers played Illinois just once last season, at home, earning an 82-73 win over a No. 23/25 ranked Illini squad. Dylan Harper led RU with 28 points in that game, with Ace Bailey adding 18. RU led by as much as 17 points in the game after racing out to a 23-6 lead.
The last road trip to Champaign saw an 86-63 loss two seasons ago. Rutgers has never earned a road win at Illinois, taking seven losses there since joining the Big Ten in 2015.
| With a Win over Illinois... |
- First ever road win at Illinois
- First ranked win of the season
- Last ranked win came against No. 23/25 Illinois last season (Feb. 5, 2025).
- Third ranked win over Illinois since 2022 and fifth since 2020
- Highest ranked team defeated since No. 9/11 Wisconsin on Feb. 10, 2024
- First road win over a top-20 team since Jan. 2, 2023 (at No. 1 Purdue)
| Up Next |
Rutgers return home on Sunday, with Northwestern visiting for a 5 pm contest on Peacock. Following that, RU hits the road to play at Wisconsin (Jan. 17) and No. 19/23 Iowa (Jan. 20).
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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