After their 80-73 loss to Ohio State on Friday, Rutgers men’s basketball is set to wrap up its four-game homestand on Monday versus Oregon. If the Scarlet Knights can pull off a victory against the Ducks, they would leave their recent home stretch with a 3-1 record and head out to Illinois to play a ranked Illini squad with some momentum at their back.
This game is the second leg of an East Coast road trip for Oregon, as they beat Maryland on Friday, 64-54. They also beat Omaha 80-57 before they left
the West Coast, meaning that they will be heading into Jersey Mike’s Arena riding a two-game winning streak.
Much like Rutgers, Oregon has also struggled against high-major competition. So far, they have lost all of the high-major games they have played, besides their game against Maryland.
The Ducks are led by center Nate Bittle, who is averaging 16.1 points per game, 6.8 rebounds per game, 2 assists per game, and 2.4 blocks per game. Forward Kwame Evans Jr. leads the team in average rebounds per game with 7.7, adding 13.5 points per game in the process. Another main contributor to the Ducks is guard Jackson Shelstad, who leads the team in assists per game with 4.9 and steals per game with 1.4, while averaging 15.6 points per game, the second most on the team.
The main issue that the Ducks pose to the Knights is that they have very good center play, largely thanks to Bittle, who is seven feet tall. Rutgers, on the other hand, has not had very good center play at all and has often leaned on the smaller Bryce Dortch to be its backup at center.
One inspiring sign for Rutgers fans is that, after they looked very vulnerable against an awful Delaware State team, they played a very inspired game against a much better Ohio State squad. They gave themselves several opportunities to win and showed that they can be competitive against a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team when they are having a down night. Oregon, despite possibly being a bad matchup for Rutgers in particular, has not shown that it is on the same level as a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team.
Rutgers vs Oregon is set to tip off on Monday, January 5th at 7 pm inside Jersey Mike’s Arena. Live coverage for the game will be available on Peacock.
