The Northwestern Wildcats (13-4, 2-2) are in Piscataway, NJ, to take on New York City’s Big Ten team, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (11-6, 0-4) at the famed Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) on Thursday night.
It hasn’t been the ideal start to the Big Ten season for the Scarlet Knights, who are in their first year under former Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell. Rutgers went 11-2 in non-conference play, but only beat one team inside Kenpom’s top 200 teams (DePaul, who currently sits at 180). Pikiell’s team has lost five straight with the most recent defeat coming at Iowa, as the Scarlet Knights led by nine with under 10 minutes to go but ultimately fell 68-62.