Rutgers and Miami will both be looking to extend their two-game winning streaks when they square off in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday night. The Scarlet Knights are coming off an 83-49 win over Central Connecticut, which put them at 5-1 overall this season. Miami has won six of its first seven games, including a 66-64 win at UCF on Sunday.
Rutgers played without fifth-year senior Caleb McConnell for the first five games of the season, but he returned to the lineup on Saturday in an 83-49 win over Central Connecticut. He had missed six weeks of basketball due to a knee injury. McConnell is the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and is one of 20 players on the watch list for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year award. He played 25 minutes off the bench in the win on Saturday, scoring four points, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out three assists. The Scarlet Knights have won five of their first six games, with the lone loss coming to Temple in a neutral-site game earlier this month.
First team flight of the season ? Touched down in Miami ????#TheKnighthood???? pic.twitter.com/0ByHdE2uRN
— Rutgers Men's Basketball ?? (@RutgersMBB) November 30, 2022
They are still missing guard Paul Mulcahy (shoulder), who has 56 career starts under his belt. Loyola (Md.) transfer Cam Spencer leads the team in scoring with 17.3 points per game and he ranks second nationally with 3.7 steals per game. Center Clifford Omoruyi is averaging 16.8 points and is completing his double-double average with 10.0 rebounds, knocking down 62.7% of his shot attempts. Rutgers has been fantastic on the defensive end of the court, ranked seventh nationally in points allowed per game (52.8). The Scarlet Knights have not shot well from the perimeter, knocking down just 31.4% of their attempts from 3-point range.