Our Cardinals are no longer part of the Big East but will be making a Big East esque trip on Saturday as they will head to Piscataway New Jersey to face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at the RAC. Saturday evening’s contest marks the 13th meeting between the schools dating back to 1975, with the Cardinals holding an 11-1 advantage in victories. The Scarlet Knights are 1-4 at home versus UofL. The Scarlet Knights will be looking for their fourth straight, while the Cardinals will be looking to capture their second consecutive win and eighth in their past nine games.

The Cards earned a convincing 90-65 win at UCF on Tuesday in their AAC opener and looked very good in doing so. Russ, who leads the team with a 17.4 points-per-game average, shot 8-of-14 and 6-of-10 behind the arc to post 24 points as the team shot 55% and 52% from behind the arc. Russ added nine assists as UofL dished-out 28 on 34 field goals. The Cardinals lead the AAC in scoring offense (85.0), scoring margin (+23.6), turnover margin (+8.21), assist/turnover ratio (1.6) and three-point field goals made (8.5).

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 (16.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.4 assist), Kadeem Jack (14.3 points, 7 rebounds), J.J. Moore (12.6 points, 3.9 rebounds), Jerome Seagears (9.5 points, 2.8 rebounds), and Wally Judge (9.1 points, 7.3 rebounds). Mack is their leader and ranks third in the AAC in steals, fifth in assists, tied for sixth in three-point field goals made, and eighth in both scoring and free throw percentage. Jack was named Conference player of the week earlier this season. He’s a very good rebounder and versatile player. Moore is a transfer from Pitt and has give them a big lift with his scoring ability. Seagears is not as good of a scorer, but really does well on the defensive end of the floor. Judge is fifth in rebounding and sixth in field goal percentage in the AAC.

Rutgers comes into Saturdays game averaging 77.2 points-per-game, while shooting 45.3% from the floor and 36.3% from 3-point range. The Knights are converting 69.8% of its attempts from the free-throw line. Defensively, Rutgers is allowing 74.8 points-per-game as the opposition is shooting 42.1% from the floor. The Knights are out-rebounding their opponents 531-508 with a rebounding margin of +1.6 averaging 37.8 boards-per-contest.

Rutgers
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
77.2
79th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
37.9
91st
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
14.0
115th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.453
135th
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #206
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-107.8 ranks 257th
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
-105.5 ranks 140th

I wasn’t able to do a post game report after the opening game in the AAC on New Years Eve, but as I briefly mention above our Cardinals looked very good considering the hit they took losing to UK and one of their best players a couple days prior. I think this team has been through enough battles together that they aren’t going to miss a beat. Guys look like they are going to step up and the bad last week could actually be a spark moving forward. I don’t think Rutgers has the talent or the defensive ability to pose any type of threat Saturday. This will just be another tune-up game in preparation for the battle with #18 Memphis next Thursday night.