Rutgers Basketball is ranked 25th in the country. The Scarlet Knights face-off against Michigan at Madison Square Garden tomorrow.
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY.
When: February 1 @ 4:30 pm EST : Television: Big Ten Network
Rutgers Basketball broke into the AP top 25 rankings during the twelfth week of the college basketball season. Over the last five games, Steve Pikiell’s squad is 4-1 with all four victories played in the friendly confines of the Rutgers Athletic Center. Rutgers is 15-0 at home with the last five Big Ten contests played at the RAC selling out. The lone loss over the last five games came at the hands of #19 Iowa, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena by the score of 80-85. The home winning streak has propelled the Scarlet Knights into a second-place conference tie with Maryland as both East Coast-based teams have 7-3 conference records.
The final ten games of the Big Ten Conference 2019-20 regular season kicks off for Rutgers tomorrow afternoon. Head Coach Pikiell has a 0-3 record against Michigan. This game will be played at Madison Square Garden and even if it’s considered a neutral court, in reality, it should be about as neutral as the Palestra is for Penn State. The other nine games that Rutgers will have left to play will find the Knights on the road six times. We know how Big Ten road teams usually fare so we will get to see how the Scarlet Knights hold up away from home. One thing in coach Pikiell’s favor is that good team defense usually travels.
Let’s look at a scoring breakdown for Rutgers. When the Knights play conference games at home they average 68.7 points and they limit their opponent to 61.2 points. During their three road losses, Rutgers opponents averaged 72 points while the Knights averaged 65.3. The road loss margin for Rutgers is -6.7 while the home victory margin is +7.5. What I get from these numbers is Rutgers is losing away games by 2.25 possessions while they win home games by 2.5 possessions. If you add the Knights’ win in Lincoln to the road calculations, the margin of loss falls to -0.7. With all conference games accounted for Rutgers is losing road games by less than a point.
Michigan Wolverines Basketball’s record over the last five games is the polar opposite of Rutgers. Michigan is 1-4 with their only win coming at the expense of the Huskers, 79-68. Their senior point guard is suspended for failure to follow team rules, so there is doubt whether he will be available to play tomorrow. The bright spot for Michigan is that they defeated Nebraska on the road without Xavier Simpson and Isaiah Livers. That’s something for this team to build on.
Michigan needs to find answers for their horrid three-point shooting percentage and they also need to contest more of their opponents’ three-point attempts. Over the last five games, Big Blue has converted 37 out of 131 attempts for a 28.2 percent clip. Their opponents have made 34 out of 83 attempts from long-range. That’s a respectable 40.2 percent rate. The answer could be to take better quality shots from deep. Michigan chucked up 48 more three-point attempts than their opponents and only had 9 more points to show for it. Of those 48 attempts from deep, how many resulted in fast-break opportunities or foul calls against Michigan? That’s a good question and I don’t have time to research that answer for you. I do believe that taking higher quality percentage shots from three will help to turn things around for Michigan.
In this review, I have done my best to provide a snapshot of how these two teams have played over the span of the last five games. In my opinion, Rutgers is playing at a high level and they are traveling to Madison Square Garden, a mere 38 miles away on I-95. The New York and New Jersey fans are going to come out in force to support their #25 ranked Knights. I’m picking Rutgers. Geo Baker and company will show out in the bright lights of MSG. Just don’t bet the farm on it.