Our Cardinals have won seven out of their last nine and will be looking for another one Sunday when they return to the Yum Center to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The game is at 6PM and will be broadcast on ESPN2. Sunday evening’s contest marks the 14th meeting between the schools dating back to 1975, with the Cardinals holding a 12-1 advantage in victories. The Cardinals and Scarlet Knights faced each other back on January 4th at the RAC. The Cards won that game 83-76. Rutgers is 4-8 in the AAC and 7th place in the conference. The Cards are 9-2 in the AAC and 2nd place in the conference just one game back from Cincy.

There hasn’t been a college program in the country with more trouble surrounding it during this past year. And the Rutgers basketball program was the top story. I’m sure you’ve see the video of former basketball coach Mike Rice throwing balls at his players. So now new head coach Eddie Jordan has the task of completely turning it around. There were a lot of defections from the Rice turmoil but the cupboard isn’t completely bare.
They do have some proven scorers back this season who are leading Jordan’s hybrid Princeton style offense.

Myles Mack (15.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg), Kadeem Jack (14.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg), J.J. Moore (11.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Jerome Seagears (9.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg), Junior Etou (5.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Wally Judge (7.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg).
Mack is their do everything guy and their leader. He is seventh in AAC in scoring and first in FT% (.888). Jack was named Conference player of the week earlier this season. He’s a very good rebounder and versatile player. He ranks seventh in AAC in rebounding, 12th in scoring. Moore is a transfer from Pitt and has give them a big lift with his scoring ability. He ranks 22nd in the AAC in scoring. Seagears is not as good of a scorer, but really does well on the defensive end of the floor and is great at getting his teammates involved in the game on the offensive end. He Ranks 1st in AAC in assist/t-over ratio (2.5) & 9th in assists (3.7/g). Judge is 11th in AAC in rebounding.

Rutgers comes into Sundays game averaging 74.5 points-per-game, while shooting 43.8% from the floor and 34.8% from 3-point range. The Knights are converting 70.5% of their attempts from the free-throw line. Defensively, Rutgers is allowing 76.4 points-per-game as the opposition is shooting 44.1% from the floor. The Knights are getting out-rebounding by their opponents 899-900 with a rebounding margin of 0.0 averaging 36 boards-per-contest.

Rutgers
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
74.5
93rd
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
36
134th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
13.2
148th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.438
221st
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #180
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-107.3 ranks 233rd
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
-106.1 ranks 144th

Our Cards played one of their most complete games of the season on Friday night. They looked solid in every aspect of the game. They lead the American in scoring (82.3 ppg) and scoring margin (+20.1). Hopefully they are peaking at the right time and this game will just be another one to perfect things. Should not be any problems in this one. Cards win big and the beards keep growing.