Rutgers Basketball: 2021-22 season preview for Scarlet Knights

Schedule Outlook

Rutgers should have the benefit of easing into the toughest portion of their schedule. The Scarlet Knights start the season at home on November 10 against Lehigh, which is not as mighty as it was several years ago. Home tilts against Merrimack and NJIT should bring two more victories.

The Scarlet Knights are participating in the Gavitt Tipoff Games this year, the annual clash between the Big Ten and the Big East. Rutgers pulled the best straw, however, matched up against a DePaul team that may not just be the worst in the Big East, but the worst among major conference schools.

The two biggest obstacles on the non-conference schedule are the annual Seton Hall game and the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, which will feature a rematch with the Clemson Tigers. Both games are part of a tricky five-game stretch that starts on November 27 with a deceptively tough game at UMass, followed by hosting Clemson on November 30, starting Big Ten play at Illinois on December 3, hosting Purdue on December 9, and playing at Seton Hall on December 12.

The rest of the non-conference schedule won’t inspire the selection committee very much. Home games against Lafayette, Rider, Central Connecticut State, and Maine fill out the rest of the schedule; it would be a problem if Rutgers doesn’t win every one of those games.

A daunting stretch comes over the final run of conference play for the Scarlet Knights. Beginning February 5, Rutgers will host Michigan State and Ohio State, take on Wisconsin on the road, return home for Illinois, hit the road again for a gauntlet at Purdue and Michigan, go back to the RAC for another game with Wisconsin and then take on Indiana on the road. That eight-game stretch could define the season for Rutgers.