Basketball Opponent Pregame Glimpse: Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Michigan has a big test away from home today against Rutgers in Madison Square Garden.

No. 25 Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 16-5 (7-3) 

Last Result: Rutgers Scarlet Knights 70, Purdue Boilermakers 63

The Scarlet Knights were able to improve to 15-0 at home on a night when Rutgers Athletic Center sold out for the fifth straight game for the first time since the arena that sits 8,000, the lowest seat capacity of any Big Ten schools home court, opened.

Rutgers led the entire game after center Myles Johnson’s layup put them up 6-5 with 16:57 left in the first half. Eight different players for Rutgers scored a basket in the first half, as they were able to take a 12 point lead into the break. The Scarlet Knights got the lead up to as many as 17 with 18 minutes remaining before Purdue started to chip away at the lead. Purdue slowly worked their way back into the game and found themselves within three with two minutes remaining. That was as close as Purdue would get, though, despite Rutgers not making a single field goal attempt after Akwasi Yeboah three put the Scarlet Knights up seven with 6:44 remaining in the game.

Rutgers was able to hang on to this victory despite their inability to score the ball from the field late in the game due to their defense and free throws. The Scarlet Knights defense, which ranks 2nd best in the Big Ten and 16th best in the country in points allowed per game at 61.4, was once again outstanding. Purdue was only able to get two players in double-digit points and shot a poor 6-for-22 from three in the contest. Rutgers was also helped by the huge discrepancy in free throw attempts, as the Scarlet Knights attempted 36 free throws compared to the Boilermakers 10. As a team, Rutgers was not great from the foul strike shooting 69.4% in the game; however, that is better than their season average of 64% from the free throw line, which ranks 2nd worst in the Big Ten. Rutgers leading scorer in the game sophomore guard Caleb McConnell was great from the foul line, knocking down all six of his free throws in the last two minutes, as he made 12 of his 13 attempts and finished the game with 16 points. The Scarlet Knights big man Myles Johnson, who is a 37.5% free throw shooter, continued to struggle at the line, making just one of his six attempts at the line.

The Scarlet Knights were able to survive the late surge by Purdue and pick up a quality team win, as six players on Rutgers finished the game with at least seven points. This many guys scoring a solid amount of points is not unusual for Rutgers, though, as they have seven players averaging at least seven points per contest. Rutgers is a very deep team, and it shows as no player on their team has played over 31 minutes in their last six games.

Rutgers Last Matchup Against Michigan:

February 5th, 2019: Michigan Wolverines 77, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 65

After trailing 4-3 early in the game, the No. 7 ranked Wolverines went on a 15-2 run in over four minutes of action and never allowed Rutgers to get within seven points the rest of the contest. Michigan led the game by double-digits most of the way with their largest lead being 17. The Wolverines had four players with at least 11 points, including Ignas Brazdeikis, who led the way with 23 points, Jordan Poole, who got 15 points, Zavier Simpson, who had 14 points and seven assists, and Charles Mathews, who finished with 11 points and five rebounds in the game. Michigan shot the ball pretty well in the contest going 11-for-23 from three and shooting 44.8% from the field overall.

Despite Rutgers leading scorer last year Eugene Omoruyi, who transferred to Oregon after the season, having 21 points in the contest, it was still not enough to keep Rutgers even close late in the game, as the role players around him failed to step up. The most notable player who struggled for Rutgers was Geo Baker. He was the Knights second leading scorer last year, but he really struggled against the Wolverines going just 1-for-9 from the field before fouling out in the game. It was a game in which Rutgers was the underdog, as Michigan came in as 9.5 point favorites, so for the Knights to have had a real chance to pull off the upset their best guard Geo Baker needed to play better. Fortunately for him, though, he will have two more cracks at the Wolverines this season, starting at MSG today.

Players to Watch:

Geo Baker, Junior, Guard

After starting the first 13 games of the season for Rutgers, Geo Baker suffered a left thumb injury. The 6-4 guard sat out three games and since he has returned Baker has been coming off of the Scarlet Knights bench. Baker is arguably Rutgers’ best player and still gets the ball in his hands during crunch time. Despite scoring zero points against Nebraska through the first 37 minutes of the game, when the game was on the line the ball still found Rutgers most experienced guard. Baker took four of the last five Rutgers shots, which included a three pointer to take the lead 72-69 with 2:45 left in the game and the game winning step back three to put the Knights up 75-72 with just one second remaining on a clear out iso play. Even though Baker is averaging fewer points at 10.1 this season than he did in his first two seasons at Rutgers, mainly due to the talent around him, Baker will still have the ball in his hands at critical points in the game and must make big plays if Rutgers wants to beat Michigan in basketball for the first time in their program’s history.

Akwasi Yeboah, Senior, Forward

The 6-6 forward from Chigwell, England is Rutgers best three point shooter at 37.5%. Yeboah transferred from Stony Brook after leading them in scoring each of the last two seasons. The senior forward has even hit the 1,500 career collegiate point mark this season at Rutgers. Yeboah is averaging 9.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for the Scarlet Knights. He has been playing really well recently, reaching double figures in scoring in each of the Scarlet Knights’ last three contests. Yeboah is just one of the many players on Rutgers that can step up in a big way in the game against the Wolverines due to the way that the Scarlet Knights share the basketball, as their leading scorer Ron Harper Jr. doesn’t even average over 12 points a game. Rutgers is very deep and will feed the hot hand, so if Yeboah gets going early he could have a career game against the Wolverines in Madison Square Garden. 

What do you see happening in today's game? Do you think Zavier Simpson's return rejuvenates the entire team? Comment below!!!