By Danielle Daniels
Scarlet Knights and Buckeyes on BTN
RUTGERS GAME NOTES
https://scarletknights.com/documents/2024/1/2/2023_24_MBB_GameNotes_at_OhioState.pdf
OHIO STATE GAME NOTES
https://scarletknights.com/documents/2024/1/2/Ohio_State_Game_Notes_vs._Rutgers_1-3-24.pdf
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men’s basketball is set to resume Big Ten Conference play with the first contest of 2024 at Ohio State. The Scarlet Knights finished the non-conference slate with an 8-3 non-conference record and will begin 2024 with their first road league game of the season.
| ABOUT RUTGERS |
In the non-conference finale on December 30, Rutgers was taken down to the wire by NEC foe Stonehill. Sophomore guard Derek Simpson came up clutch, drilling a three-pointer with 12 seconds remaining to provide the remaining points in a 59-58 win. Clifford Omoruyi had his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and a career-high 17 rebounds.
Aundre Hyatt leads the team at 12.3 points per game. Clifford Omoruyi is second at 11.4 points per game and paces the squad with 9.1 rebounds per game and 41 blocks on the year. He has had at least three blocks in nine of the 12 games this season.
Derek Simpson leads the team with 36 assists and 17 steals. In Simpson’s last three games he is averaging 10.0 points, 4.3 assists and just 1.0 turnovers.
In the national rankings, Rutgers is seventh in field goal percentage defense (37.4), 10th in scoring defense (61.4) and 13th in turnover margin (5.1). Cliff Omoruyi is third in the country with 41 blocks and at 3.42 blocks per game.
| ABOUT OHIO STATE |
The Buckeyes enter 2024 with an 11-2 overall record and a 1-1 league mark. Ohio State is receiving votes in both polls and are in the top-35 in both the NET and KenPom.
Their early season slate has featured Power 5 wins over No. 17 Alabama, Minnesota, UCLA and West Virginia, with the losses coming to No. 15 Texas A&M and at Penn State.
Last time out in a meeting in Cleveland against West Virginia, OSU’s Roddy Gayle became the first OSU player with 30 points, 7 rebounds & 6 assists in a game since 2015 and just the second since 2010. Gayle averages 15.2 points per game, second behind Bruce Thornton’s 16.9 ppg. Thornton has scored in double-figures in all but one game this season. His assist to turnover ratio of 4.82 is fifth nationally.
Jamison Battle, a transfer from Minnesota who was on the national Watch List for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the ear award, averages 14.3 points per game. Behind the 3-point line he shoots 42.4 percent and makes 2.77 triples per game, both marks being best in the Big Ten. Senior Zed Key, a Bayshore, N.Y. native set for his 99th game at OSU, averages 9.7 points and 5.9 rebounds.
Ohio State head coach Chris Holtman, a three-time national Coach of the Year finalist, is 248-162 in his 13-year head coaching career and 134-77 in seven years at the helm of OSU.
| SERIES INFO |
Rutgers and Ohio State will match up for the 17th lifetime meeting between these two programs, with 16 of those coming since 2015, Rutgers’ first year in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights are 5-11 against the Buckeyes and are looking for their first ever win at OSU’s Value City Arena. RU has previously won two neutral site matchups and three home games.
The teams split the two meetings last season. The last time the two teams faced off was a 68-64 home win in overtime for the Scarlet Knights. Mawot Mag, who had 15 points and eight rebounds, sealed the game with a clutch three-pointer in the extra session.
RU also defeated then-No. 16 Ohio State, 66-64, in the 2021-22 season, overcoming an eight-point lead with under four minutes to go to capture a win, highlighted by a chase-down block from Caleb McConnell to swing the momentum.
The last three games in the series have all been decided within four points and five of the last eight games have been decided within eight points.
| MILESTONE TRACKER |
Omoruyi recently recorded 1,000 career points, currently at 1,055. He is within 5 points of 37th (JR Inman: 1,060)
| WITH A WIN |
A victory over Ohio State would represent Rutgers’ first ever road win at Ohio State
| UP NEXT |
Rutgers has another game on the rugged road of the Big Ten, heading to Iowa City this Saturday to face the Iowa Hawkeyes (8-5, 0-2). RU returns home to host Indiana on Tuesday, January 9.
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