Rutgers men’s basketball had one of its two scrimmages before the 2026-2027 season on Sunday, Oct. 11, against Villanova. Although showing significant improvement compared to where they were last season, the Scarlet Knights came up just short, 77-75, against the Wildcats.
This was interim head coach Brandin Knight’s first experience coaching the Scarlet Knights in a game-like simulation, and it was the first time that many now-Rutgers basketball players donned the Scarlet to represent the school.
For this game, Knight chose to go with a starting lineup of JaMicheal Davis, Lino Mark, and Darin Smith Jr. at guard, with Darren Buchannan Jr. at forward and Christian Gurdak at center.
Smith, Gurdak, and Mark shined in this matchup. Gurdak was perhaps the most impressive of all, recording 19 points, eight rebounds and two assists, while Smith had 20 points, and Mark recorded 12 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists.
In total, Rutgers finished shooting 26 for 65, or 40%, from the floor and 4-for-17, or 23.5%, from three.
Defensively, Rutgers struggled to contain Villanova forward Devin Royal, who recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds en route to the Wildcat win. Royal transferred to Villanova after spending last year at Ohio State, where he averaged 13.7 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Rutgers was not at full strength in this game, as Tariq Francis and Will Sydnor did not play.
“Early in the game, I think we allowed them to get up on the offensive glass. We allowed too many offensive rebounds. We just kind of corrected it, and we were kind of fighting back for the entire game, all the way down to the last possession. So that’s something that will be a focal point of practice this week, and it’s something that we definitely have to fix moving forward,” said Knight in a press conference following the exhibition. “It was just encouraging to see, in the second half, our guys fight back. We got down twice by 10, I think, and those guys showed resilience. Again, we’re playing a lot of guys, just trying to figure out some rotations and see what guys are capable of doing early in the season.”
The next and final Preseason exhibition for Rutgers men’s basketball will be against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden at noon on Sunday, Oct. 18.
