Rutgers University Hosts Michigan State
Saturday the Rutgers men’s basketball team will host Michigan State Spartans after a two game road trip. Over the last four games the Scarlet Knights are (1-3). They have lost their last three games by a total of 13 points. The Scarlet Knights are (10-2) this season at home and hope to keep their record strong with a big win over the number 13 team in the country.
On Tuesday the Scarlet Knights lost a close one to Northwestern in overtime. In the first half Rutgers had 10 turnovers and scored 25 points. Rutgers came back in the second half and outscored Northwestern 45-27 forcing the game into overtime.
The two stars for Rutgers had off nights, senior guard Geo Baker did not score a single point and turned the ball over with 28 seconds left in overtime. Senior forward Ron Harper Jr. had a bad shooting night going 4-14 with 16 points. One bright spot for the team was junior guard Paul Mulcahy who had a career-high 31 points. He shot a career-high 10-13 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds and added seven assists.
Michigan State will be a hand full for Rutgers, senior forward Gabe Brown is having a good season. He is the leading scorer for the Spartans averaging 12.8 points per game. He is shooting 41.4 percent from the field and 90.4 from the free throw line. Forward Malik Hall is averaging 10.3 points per game and 5.1 rebounds and shooting 57.2 percent from the field.
They have one of the best freshman in the Big Ten in Max Christie. He averages 10.2 points on 40.6 percent shooting, he also averages 31.2 minutes per game the most on the team. Their seven foot forward in the middle Marcus Bingham Jr. averages 9.6 points per game on 56.5 percent from the field. He leads the team in rebounds with 6.9 per game.
The Scarlet Knights are (12-9) and have a Big Ten record of (6-5) which puts them seventh in the Big Ten standings. If the Scarlet Knights want to improve on their standings in the conference they have to string together a couple wins starting with a big matchup against Michigan State.
The Scarlet Knights play the Spartans at Jersey Mike’s Arena at 4 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
