Steve Pikiell and Rutgers will enter Saturday’s Garden State Hardwood Classic against No. 15 Seton Hall as the underdog even though the game will be played at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
“Seton Hall’s really good and they got really good players,” Pikiell said Thursday.
But with that underdog status comes the chance for a marquee win that could help the Scarlet Knights’ résumé and recruiting.
Seton Hall has won the last four meetings between the Garden State rivals and leads 24-15 since Rutgers joined the Big East in 1995, per the Asbury Park Press. Pirates coach Kevin Willard is 6-5 all-time against the Scarlet Knights and 4-1 at the RAC.
“It would be a great win for us and a big win for us because we let two slip away early,” Rutgers guard Corey Sanders said Thursday.
“So if we could get this win, it would show everybody that we’re that team to watch out for, which we all believe that we are.”
Rutgers (9-3) can be a tough out at the RAC. They lost by 5 points to Florida State there on Nov. 28 and by 10 to then-No. 3 Michigan State on Dec. 10 in a game that was much closer than that.
In Seton Hall (9-1), they will be facing a team whose only loss was by 1 point to Rhode Island at Barclays Center. Seton Hall owns wins over then-No. 22 Texas Tech and at then-No. 17 Louisville, as well as Indiana, Vanderbilt and VCU.
Willard said he was “dreading” this week with games against Saint Peter’s and Rutgers. The Pirates beat Saint Peter’s by 23.
You can throw the records out the window when these two teams meet, but Rutgers does have an opportunity to help its image with recruits in the state with a win.
Rutgers is expecting Class of 2019 guards Paul Mulcahy and Khalif Battle of Gill St. Bernard’s, sources said. With the high school season starting this weekend, several top New Jersey teams, such as The Patrick School, will be out of town.
“I think any time you play great teams in great environments, it helps recruiting,” Pikiell said. “That’s just the way it is. It’s going to be a great environment and it was a great environment last year, too. Seton Hall being ranked now and probably their best team in a while makes it even that much more important, so I think anytime you can have two quality programs down the road from each other it’s a great thing.
“And hopefully you can have great games that warrant a great rivalry.”
