How’s it going, y’all? We’re back once again with a Big Ten Basketball Preview! Today we’re going to be checking in on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who are coming off a 14-20 season (6-14 in conference).
Honestly, Rutgers is one of the few teams that didn’t really lose a whole lot in the transfer portal. Their biggest losses were Dylan Grant (9.5 points per game) and Harun Zrno (6.5 points per game). Other than that, they really only lost young depth players who didn’t do much last season.
They were able to retain their leading scorer from last season, guard Tariq Francis, who averaged 17 points in under 28 minutes per game. Francis is an undersized guard at 6 feet tall (on a good day), but makes up for his lack of size with shiftiness and an ability to play through contact you might not expect from someone his size.
Rutgers is bringing in Darin Smith Jr., a 6’7” Wing from Central Connecticut State who exploded onto the scene last season, averaging 20.7 points and 5.4 rebounds a game. He played an undersized 4 last season, but most likely will slide up to the 3 this year for Rutgers.
They’re also bringing in Rasheed Jones, a 6’6” guard from Coastal Carolina who averaged 14.8 points per game last season. Jones is primarily a shooter, with about half of his field goal attempts last year coming from behind the arc, where he shot a solid 36.7%.
The Ducks will host Rutgers this season, but at time of writing, we do not know exactly when.
As always, ‘Sco Ducks.