Men’s Basketball Hosts NJIT Tuesday - Rutgers University Athletics

Tuesday, November 10

Piscataway, N.J.

6:30 PM

Rutgers

NJIT

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Nov 08 | Men's Basketball

Watch on BTN Live Stats Rutgers Game Notes

Game two of the season tips off at 6:30 pm on Big Ten Network

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers men's basketball season continues with game two of the year as the Scarlet Knights will host NJIT on Tuesday at 6:30 pm. The contest at Jersey Mike's Arena will be the first national television broadcast of the year, with Big Ten Network televising the game. Jason Horowitz will provide the play-by-play, with Nik Stauskas alongside him on analysis.

About Rutgers

The Scarlet Knights opened the season with an 81-54 victory over New Haven on opening night on Friday. The Scarlet Knights displayed their depth in the contest, with 15 players seeing action, even with guard Kaden Powers missing the game due to illness. Rutgers utilized a starting lineup of Tariq Francis, Lino Mark, Darren Buchanan Jr., Darin Smith Jr. and Christian Gurdak, with Jamichael Davis, Rasheed Jones and Diego Garavaglia also seeing at least 15 minutes off the bench.

The Scarlet Knights saw Francis (14), Jones (14), Davis (13) and Gurdak (12) give the team four players in double-digit scoring. Jones led the team from long range, shooting 4-of-5 behind the 3-point arc. Rutgers forced 17 turnovers and had a 37-21 rebounding advantage.

Rutgers guard Tariq Francis, who surpassed 1500 career collegiate points with a team-high 14 points against New Haven, previously played for NJIT for his first two collegiate seasons. He led the America East Conference with 19.2 points per game at NJIT in 2024-25 and averaged 14.8 points in 27 games as a freshman the year prior.

About NJIT

Under fourth-year head coach Grant Billmeier, NJIT had their highest win total last season since 2018-19 with 16 victories. The Highlanders were picked fourth in the American East, with David Bolden named to the America East Preseason All-Conference Team. Bolden averaged 11.8 points last season and led the conference with 1.9 steals per game as the America East Rookie of the Year as a freshman.

Starting alongside Bolden have been Belgian freshman Victor Vandestraeten, redshirt freshman via Georgia Tech Brandon Stores Jr., VMI transfer Mario Tatum (8.5 ppg last season) and UTSA transfer from France Matheo Coffie (3.8 points and 4.8 rebounds last season). NJIT opened the season 1-2. Hosting St. Peter's on Sunday, Brandon Stores Jr. hit a half-court buzzer-beating three-pointer to provide the Highlanders with a 54-52 victory. NJIT also has road losses to Dayton (89-58) and Iona (72-49). Vandestraeten is the team's leading scorer at 9.3 ppg. while Coffi leads with 4.7 rebounds per game.

About the Series

Rutgers is 8-0 all-time against NJIT and 7-0 at home. Rutgers has won every game against the Highlanders by at least nine points and the last three games (2017, 2019 and 2021 were wins by an average margin of 16.67 points.

The most recent matchup between the two schools came in 2021, a 75-61 RU victory. Ron Harper Jr. had a double-double for RU with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Geo Baker added 19 points. Rutgers won 85-58 in 2019 as Harper Jr. had 25 points and Myles Johnson had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Up Next

Rutgers will remain at home for the third game of the season as Bryant visits on Friday night at 6 pm. That game will be streamed on B1G+. Following that, RU takes flight to Las Vegas for the Players Era tournament.