With Sunday's game against North Carolina coming on to their horizon like a fastball from Rutgers pitcher Casey Gaynor, the Rutgers men's basketball team must make sure tomorrow night's game against NJIT doesn't throw a curveball in their plans.
Coming off a road loss to Nebraska, the Scarlet Knights will take their 6-3 record and finish off their two game swing away from the friendly confines of the Louis Brown Athletic Center when they visit the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The Highlanders are 0-12 going into the matchup, playing against a schedule that has matched RU's.
But the two teams share something else in common other than a New Jersey address: Both teams are winless on the road.
Head coach Fred Hill Jr. has attributed their road troubles to the wrong train of thought and not emphasizing the basics in their losses.
"I think it's the mindset that you get your kids in," Hill said. "And that us against the world attitude that we really have to be one, together. And you have to do the things you do on the road. You have to defend and rebound."
Yet the loss in Lincoln was marred by offensive problems, not the ones emphasized by Hill. The Knights were unable to put the ball in the basket, shooting 35 percent for the game and a meager 7-29 in the first half. Their shooting problems were exacerbated by the Knights' three-point shooting. RU only hit 4-18 from behind the arc.
The lone Knight to have a good game offensively was Corey Chandler. The freshman came up with a big game, shooting 10-20 and leading his team in points with 25.
It will be another big game for the guard tomorrow night, as he makes a return to his hometown of Newark. Chandler went to Newark East Side High School and will have 200 fans from his alma mater in attendance filling up the Rock.
"It'll be great," Hill said about Chandler playing in front of his hometown crowd.
"The Rock, the Prudential Center, is about 6 blocks, maybe 8, from East Side High School, and it's right in the neighborhood. And there will be a lot of people, and he will probably be juiced up."
The Highlanders will also be juiced up. It will be the first home game at the newly built Prudential Center for NJIT, and they will be playing against a Rutgers team that could be looking past them towards No. 1 North Carolina.
"If [we] do, we lose," Hill explained about his team overlooking NJIT. "It's that simple. We've already addressed it. This gives us an opportunity against a team that is struggling to win one, on the road. We're going to see their best game of the year."
To the NJIT players it represents a different chance. It is an opportunity to play against Big East competition and prove themselves. But sophomore Hamady N'diaye understands the test that the Highlanders will put up.
"We're playing against people that really don't have a chance to play big teams like Rutgers and have the chance to show people they somebody," N'diaye said. "They are playing for the first time in the arena. They're going to give us they're best game ever, and I'm not scared because I' m just going to come up like every time I come up."
But the center also admitted that he is already excited for the game against UNC.
"I'm even more then excited for it," N'diaye said. "I'm really looking forward to this game because to me this is one of the biggest games of my life. I will really give it my all. I'm ready for anybody that comes on my court. I got to defend it."
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