The “Spoil The Party” Game Thread: Rutgers At Northwestern

How To Watch & Listen

Rutgers (13-14; 2-12) At Northwestern (19-7; 8-5)

Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois (Capacity: 8,117)

Tip-off: Saturday, February 18th at 6:00 p.m. ET

TV: ESPNU - Clay Matvick and Sean Harrington

Radio: WCTC 1450 AM & WOR 710 AM - Jerry Recco & Joe Boylan; WRSU 88.7 FM

KenPom Rankings: Rutgers #135; Northwestern #31

KenPom Prediction: Northwestern 70 Rutgers 57; Rutgers is given a 11% chance of winning.

Series History: Northwestern leads the series 8-1 all-time.

1st Meeting Game Recap

Game Preview

Tonight is going to be a major challenge for Rutgers, heading into a sold out arena and playing in front of fans starving for their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. Northwestern is looking for their 20th win and despite losing three of four, they just toppled first place Wisconsin less than a week ago. Toughness, leadership, and poise are going to be needed for the Scarlet Knights to make a game of it on the road.

After losing the first meeting by 9 points at the RAC, Rutgers needs to play their best game of the season if they want to pull the huge upset against Northwestern. They played hard Tuesday at Purdue, but need to regain their identity on the defensive end and on the glass. On offense, the guards need to play well and balance is needed to have a real chance tonight. Deshawn Freeman had a double-double in the first meeting and needs to be aggressive in the paint tonight.

Let’s hope Rutgers puts forth a strong effort tonight, win or lose. This is the last road contest of the regular season, so any momentum they can bring back the to RAC for a three game home stand would be important. We will have live commentary on twitter here and join us in the comment section during the game. Let’s go RU!!!