Rutgers men's basketball looks to sweep season series against Michigan
The Rutgers men’s basketball team will travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take on Michigan tomorrow evening. It is the second time the Scarlet Knights (16-10, 10-6) and the Wolverines (14-11, 8-7) will play this season, with the first matchup being a 75-67 Rutgers win in Piscataway.
The Knights’ record-breaking four-game winning streak against ranked teams finally came to an end in an 84-72 loss to Purdue on Sunday. While the game remained close for a majority of the first half, the No. 5 Boilermakers (24-4, 13-4) took control of the game thanks to a 20-1 run that spanned the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half.
Junior guard Paul Mulcahy led in scoring with 15 points and had a game-high six assists, a number that helps his conference-leading 5.5 assists-per-game.
“(Mulcahy’s) been an all-conference player the last seven games, and he was (again) tonight,” said Purdue head coach Matt Painter after the game. “He’s a fabulous player. He has a chance to play in the NBA. He’s really good, understands the game, has good size, can pass and shoot.”
Rutgers now has four games remaining in the regular season: two at home and two on the road. Thanks to the previous four-game winning streak that saw the Knights become the first unranked team to ever defeat four straight ranked opponents, a second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth is in sight.
Predictions vary on whether Rutgers is a tournament team as of now, with Joe Lunardi of ESPN placing the program as an 11-seed while Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has the Knights out of the field and part of the “First Four Out.”
With that said, thanks to a strong February, Rutgers controls its own destiny. A conference record of 12-8 or better still is the respected mark for the team to feel confident heading into Selection Sunday, which would mean at least two wins in the final stretch.
That starts tomorrow night against a Michigan team that has made headlines early this week for all the wrong reasons.
In the postgame handshake line after the Wolverines’ game against Wisconsin on Sunday, both teams got into a scuffle which saw Michigan head coach Juwan Howard and several Wolverines players fight Badgers (21-5, 12-4) players and staff.
Yesterday evening, the University of Michigan suspended Howard for the rest of the regular season. In addition, two Michigan players were suspended for one game.
With Howard and several Wolverines out for Wednesday's game, the Knights will look to build upon the aforementioned victory over Michigan on Jan. 4. In the win, senior guards Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. combined for 47 points and together shot 60.7 percent from the field.
Wednesday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network and 88.7 WRSU-FM. Rutgers will also be looking for its first-ever win in the Crisler Center.
“We got to prepare for a really good Michigan team that is playing good basketball,” said head coach Steve Pikiell. “We've gone into (the Crisler Center), and we haven’t had a lot of success. So we’re going to have a good practice prep tomorrow. We’ll have another good practice the next day, and we’ll get on a plane, and we’ll go to Ann Arbor.”
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