The 2025 Rutgers Men’s Basketball season is almost upon us. The next installment of our preview series for the upcoming season brings us to the team’s schedule. In the last two articles, we broke down
the newcomers to the program and the returning players. Now it is time to break down who those players will be going up against.
The first five games of the Rutgers Men’s Basketball Schedule are made up of teams from Mid-Major to Low-Major conferences. Those teams include Ryder, Maine, Lehigh, American, and Central Connecticut State. All of these games are at home. The Scarlet Knights should be able to pick up five wins in this early window.
Right after their easiest stretch to the season, the Knights will have their hardest stretch of the season, according to the preseason rankings. Their hardest stretch of the season begins with a trip out to Las Vegas for the Players Era Tournament. Their confirmed opponents are No.18 Tennessee and Notre Dame. Their next opponent in the tournament will depend on how the first two games go.
After the tournament, Rutgers will come home to play Purdue, which is the No.1 team in the country according to the preseason polls. After that, they will travel to play No.7 Michigan before taking the short trip up to Newark to play Seton Hall. Even though the Pirates aren’t projected to do well this season, that rivalry game is always a grudge match. The Knights will be lucky if they take two games out of this stretch.
Rutgers will get a small break before heading into Big Ten play, as they have two home games against Delaware State and UPenn. The Knights should be able to pick up two wins here before heading into conference play.
Rutgers’ home stand will continue into Big Ten play, as they will take on Ohio State and Oregon at home. Both teams played and beat Rutgers last year and finished the 2024-25 season with a winning record in Big Ten play.
Then the Knights will once again hit the road to play another preseason-ranked team, No.17 Illinois, before coming home to play Northwestern, and then go back to the Midwest to play another preseason-ranked team, No.24 Wisconsin.
The Knights will stay on the road to take on Iowa before heading home to take on Indiana and No.22 Michigan State. Then Rutgers will wrap up the month by traveling out west to take on USC and No.12 UCLA.
February and March provide the best opportunity for Rutgers to pick up some wins in Big Ten play. They only play 1 preseason-ranked team over that time, No.22 Michigan State, and five of their last 8 games are against opponents who had a losing record last season. In addition to MSU, they play Nebraska at home, Maryland twice, Penn State twice, Minnesota on the road, and Washington at home. Penn State, Nebraska, and Washington finished at the bottom of the Big Ten last season, while Minnesota landed just behind the Knights in last year’s standings.
After that, they will find out where they are seeded in the Big Ten tournament. There was a slight change to the tournament bracket this season, where all Big Ten teams will qualify rather than just the top 15.
This Rutgers team has very few expectations placed upon them. It will be interesting to see where a return to “Pikiell Ball” can take them.
