After a brutal loss to No.16 Illinois, Rutgers men’s basketball will be looking to rebound this Sunday against Northwestern. The Scarlet Knights are coming into this game at 8-8, while the Wildcats stand
at 8-7. Rutgers sits above Northwestern in the Big Ten standings because the Knights are 1-4 in conference play while the Wildcats are 0-4 in conference.
Northwestern will be coming into this game on a two-game losing skid, as the Wildcats lost to Minnesota 84-78 and No. 12 Michigan State 76-66.
Northwestern is led on offense by its two forwards, Nick Martinelli and Arrinten Page. Martinelli leads the team in points per game, with 23.4. He also leads the team in rebounds per game with 6.4. Page, on the other hand, is second on the team in scoring with 14.1 points per game. He leads the team in blocks and steals per game, averaging 1.2 and 1.1 for each. He also grabs the second most rebounds with an average of 6.1 per game.
As a team, Northwestern relies very heavily on its forwards to do pretty much everything. The team itself averages 79.4 points per game and 33.1 rebounds per game. In comparison, Rutgers averages 69.3 points per game and 35.5 rebounds per game. The Wildcats shoot an average of 48.2 percent from the field, 74.3 percent from the line, and 30.8 percent from three, while the Knights shoot 40.3 percent from the field, 71.9 percent from the line, and 31.7 percent from three.
The best chance Rutgers will have to win this game is if it can find a way to throw Martinelli and Page off their rhythm. They are clearly the preferred scorers on the team, with Martinelli being the main offensive weapon. If the Knights’ defense can find a way to put both of them off their game, that forces other players on the team to step up. Rutgers has been good at drawing fouls in recent games, so putting them in foul trouble early could be the best option. On the flip side, they cannot allow these two to get hot, as they likely won’t be able to keep pace scoring-wise.
The Knights’ game against the Wildcats is set for tomorrow at 5 pm inside Jersey Mike’s Arena. Live coverage for the game will be available on Peacock.
