Rutgers men's basketball looks to continue strong play against Long Island University
The Rutgers men's basketball team is returning home to Jersey Mike's Arena on Livingston campus to take on Long Island University on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights (6-3, 0-1) have gotten off to a bit of a shaky start this season and are looking to find consistency coming off their solid win against Seton Hall.
The Sharks (1-8, 0-0) will not be the most daunting of opponents for Rutgers. Long Island University has been losing and has not kept its losses particularly close in score. The Sharks have won just one game on the season, and of their eight losses, just one was not by double-digit points.
Things should be no different against the Knights, as Long Island University has struggled in numerous facets of the game to begin the season. The Sharks rank 333rd out of 351 Division I teams in field goal percentage. While Rutgers does not rank much higher, sitting at 317th, the Knights boast a much stronger defense than Long Island University does, which could ultimately be the deciding factor in this game.
While Rutgers' offense has struggled at times, its defense has remained solid for the most part. The Knights rank No. 10 in the nation in opponent field goal percentage, as opposing teams have not had much shooting success against them. The Sharks can be found, once again, near the bottom of the country in this statistic, ranking 310th.
On paper, Rutgers outmatches Long Island University tremendously. But the Knights will still need to hone in on certain areas in this game.
Rutgers seemed to finally find a starting lineup that worked in the win over the Pirates (6-4, 0-0). Head coach Steve Pikiell went with fifth-year guard Noah Fernandes, freshman guard Jamichael Davis, senior forward Aundre Hyatt, senior forward Mawot Mag and senior center Clifford Omoruyi against Seton Hall, and the starting five meshed well together in the signature win.
Pikiell should once again pay close attention to his rotations in Saturday's game and not stray too far from what worked against the Pirates.
Mag's return from his ACL injury was a huge boost for the Knights against Seton Hall. Mag will continue to make a sizable impact as he gets back into the swing of things moving forward.
Rutgers is 17-7 with Mag on the floor in the past two seasons versus 8-10 without him. He is the engine that powers the Knights, and Saturday's game against the Sharks will provide Mag with an opportunity to become more accustomed to this year's team in a much less pivotal game than the Garden State Hardwood Classic, in which he made his season debut.
Long Island University will look to its backcourt duo of Eric Acker and Tai Strickland in hopes of pulling off the upset. The tandem led the team in scoring at approximately 12 points per game apiece.
Saturday's game will tip off at 1 p.m. and be broadcast on the Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
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