Washington, D.C. – The Rutgers Scarlet Knights have made the ranked Georgetown Hoyas in today's Big East Conference matchup from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
After opening conference play 0-2, Rutgers has played better of late, winning three of its last four with the most recent outing against visiting Notre Dame on Monday resulting in a 65-58 triumph. As a result, the Scarlet Knights are 11-8 overall and an even 3-3 in the Big East. A win today would give RU three wins over top-10 teams this season (Florida and UConn), marking the first time that has happened in school history. Rutgers is just 1-3 in true road games thus far, and 2-5 away from home all together when you factor in three neutral-site affairs.
Georgetown has won its last two games, beating St. John's and DePaul, both on the road, to improve to 15-3 on the year and 5-2 in conference. The Hoyas, who are 9-1 at home this season, are the only team with wins over four ranked teams to this point, and their No. 10 ranking means they have been ranked in the top-10 for at least one poll in each of the past six seasons. The only other schools to be able to make that claim are Duke, North Carolina and fellow Big East school Pittsburgh.
Georgetown owns a 26-16 lead in the all-time series with Rutgers, and the Hoyas have dominated the Scarlet Knights in recent years, winning nine of the last 10 meetings. They are 17-2 at home, with RU's last win in D.C. coming in December of 1998.
Rutgers isn't an explosive offensive team by any means, but the squad does have a few guys who are capable of filling the basket with some consistency. Eli Carter (13.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.2 apg), Myles Mack (10.2 ppg, 2.1 apg) and Gilvydas Biruta (9.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg) have all produced for coach Mike Rice's club, which puts up 68.1 ppg in hitting 44.1 percent of its field goal attempts, which includes a 33.5 percent showing from three-point range. Defensively, the Scarlet Knights are permitting just 63.8 ppg on typical shooting outputs of 40.3 percent overall and 32.2 percent from downtown. RU owns a +2.8 rebounding margin, and goads the opposition into nearly 17 turnovers per outing. Carter tallied 13 points to lead three players in double figures in what was a hum-drum win over Notre Dame last time out, as neither team much to establishing itself at either end of the court. Rutgers scored 10 points at the foul line compared to just five for the Fighting Irish, and the Knights earned a 12-4 advantage in second-chance points, as well as a 24-11 edge in bench points.
Jason Clark drained 11-of-14 field goal attempts, including five three- pointers, to net a career-high 31 points in leading the Hoyas to an 83-75 win at DePaul on Tuesday night. Clark got help from Henry Sims (16 points) and Hollis Thompson (14 points), while freshman Otto Porter made the most of his first career start by grabbing 15 rebounds. Georgetown claimed a resounding 47-25 advantage on the glass. The Hoyas wound up shooting 52.6 percent from the floor, and they made good on better than half of their three-point tries (7-of-13), while holding the Blue Demons to 43.8 percent field goal efficiency and logging a 40-24 edge in points in the paint. Clark continues to pace GU in the scoring column, averaging 16.2 ppg on the strength of his 50.8 percent accuracy from the field and 72.8 percent efficiency from the charity stripe. Thompson (14.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and Sims (11.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg) round out the double-digit scorers for coach John Thompson III's squad, which nets 73.2 ppg on a 48.1 percent shooting effort, including 37.2 percent from beyond the arc, while giving up just 59.9 ppg with foes shooting a meager 39.4 percent from the field, and 28.8 percent from long range. Georgetown also owns favorable margins in both rebounding (+5.7) and turnovers (+1.5).
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.