After an embarrassing loss to Central Connecticut State at home, the Rutgers men’s basketball team is gearing up for a trip out to Las Vegas for the Players Era Tournament. They are set to take on No.20
Tennessee on Monday at 1 pm, with their game against Notre Dame coming on Tuesday at 1 pm. Their next game in the tournament will be decided by the results of the first two games and the other games that take place throughout the tournament.
The Volunteers are undefeated so far this season; however, they haven’t played any games against quality opponents. With that being said, they have shown no signs of struggle throughout these games, as their smallest margin of victory is 15 points against Mercer in the first game of the season. They have three players averaging 14 points or more per game this season. Tennessee itself is averaging 90 points per game this season, 47.6 rebounds per game, and 8 steals per game.
Rutgers’ second game of the Players’ Era Tournament is against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 4-1 to start the season, with their only loss coming by one point to Ohio State. They have to play No.24 Kansas in game one of the tournament before they play the Knights in game two. Markus Burton stands above the rest as a contributor for Notre Dame, as he is averaging 19.4 points per game, which is about 7 points higher than the next highest contributor. The Irish as a whole are averaging 83.6 points per game, 39.2 rebounds per game, and 5.6 steals per game.
With Rutgers’ recent performance against CCSU in mind, it would be a major step up for them to at least make these games interesting. If the Knights can make both of these games interesting, it could have some effect on how they will play in their unannounced third game of the tournament.
The arenas for the tournament are the MGM Grand Garden Arena and the Michelob ULTRA Arena. Broadcasts for both games will be available on TNT.
