After defeating Minnesota 72-67 in the second round of the Big Ten tournament, largely thanks to a 29-point performance from guard Tariq Francis, Rutgers will take on UCLA in the third round of the Big Ten tournament. Both teams have already squared off once this year, with the Bruins blowing out the Scarlet Knights 98-66 in Los Angeles.
UCLA avoided the first two rounds of the Big Ten tournament because they went 13-7 in conference play, which earned them a double-bye. They closed out the regular
season on a two-game winning streak, beating No.11 Nebraska by 20 points, before beating their cross-town rival USC 89-68.
The Bruins are led on offense by forward Tyler Bilodeau, who is averaging 18 points per game. UCLA has five players in total who are averaging 11 points or more per game. Bilodeau also leads the team in rebounds per game with 5.8. Another player to note is guard Donovan Dent, who averages the second-most points per game on the team with 13.6, while providing 7.5 assists per game.
As a team, UCLA averages 78 points per game, 32.5 rebounds per game, and 16.1 assists per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 76.3 percent from the line, and 38.2 percent from three. Rutgers, in comparison, averages 70.9 points per game, 33 rebounds per game, and 11.9 assists per game while shooting 41.8 percent from the field, 73.9 percent from the line, and 32.4 percent from three.
For Rutgers to pull off a win in this game, it will likely require some heroics like what we saw from Francis in the Minnesota game. On top of that, they will need to find a way defensively to throw the Bruins’ scorers off their game, or they could simply pile points on the Knights as they did in their last matchup. It should be noted that the Knights are playing like a much better team as of late, compared to the first game these two teams played. However, that doesn’t mean that knocking off UCLA won’t be a tremendously tall task for the Knights.
Rutgers-UCLA will tip off 25 minutes after the conclusion of Purdue-Northwestern, at approximately 9 pm, inside the United Center in Chicago. Live coverage for the game will be available on the Big Ten Network.
