Men’s basketball heads to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival

On By Littum

LAS VEGAS – Rutgers men’s basketball continues its road trip with a three-game tournament held in Las Vegas. This week, RU will face Notre Dame, Alabama, and a third opponent at the Players Era Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The Scarlet Knights open Tuesday night against Notre Dame, tip off at 10:30 PM Eastern Time on TBS. Game two is the next night, against Alabama at 9 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday on TBS.

 

Rutgers enters the tournament 4-1 overall. The Scarlet Knights were undone at the start of the road trap at Kennesaw State on Sunday afternoon in a homecoming game at Georgia for Ace Bailey and Jamichael Davis. The Scarlet Knights outscored KSU 51-35 in the second half of a comeback bid, but fell short by one possession. Dylan Harper led the way with 21 points along with nine assists and two steals, just the third Big Ten freshman since 2004 to reach the stat line in a game.

RUC’s top three leading scorers are freshmen. Dylan Harper leads the team with 19.8 points per game on 54.3 percent shooting. He is followed closely by Ace Bailey (19.0 ppg). Lathan Sommerville joins the trio in double figures at 10.0 ppg. RUC’s top five scorers, incl Zach Martini and PJ Hayes, all shooting 48 percent or better from the field. Harper is currently the second-leading scorer among freshmen in the nation, trailing only Texas’ Tre Johnson (21.2 ppg). Ace Bailey does not meet NCAA minimum requirements to qualify, and must play in the team’s next three games to qualify. If he qualified, he would be third nationally just behind Harper.

Rutgers last played in Las Vegas in the 2015-16 season under then-head coach Eddie Jordan to play in a Thanksgiving Week event, the Men Who Speak Up Main Event. The Scarlet Knights went 0-2 in the event, falling to Creighton (85-75) and Clemson (76-58) in games held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

This will be the first November non-conference tournament on the road that Rutgers has participated in under a head coach Steve Pikiellthat previously often hosted MTE events around Thanksgiving instead.

 

Notre Dame will be RU’s first opponent on Tuesday night and will enter the matchup with RU with an identical 4-1 record under second-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry. The Fighting Irish just dropped an 84-77 decision to Elon after wins over Stonehill, Buffalo, Georgetown and North Dakota.

Shrewsberry previously coached Penn State in 2021-22 and 2022-23, going 1-3 against Rutgers. ND is 51st in the country in field goal percentage (51.9%) and 27thth in free throw percentage (78.8%). Sophomore Markus Burton leads the team with 21.4 points per game. battle, 19th nationally.

Rutgers and Notre Dame were former members of the BIG EAST Conference, playing annually from 1995 to 2013. The Irish lead the series 21-13. The lone meeting since splitting conferences in 2013 came in 2022 when the two teams met in the NCAA Tournament, playing in Dayton in the First Four, an 89-87 Notre Dame victory in double overtime.

Alabama, ranked ninth in both polls, enters the tournament 4-1 with wins over UNC Asheville, Arkansas State, McNeese and Illinois with a loss to then-No. 13 Purdue. Alabama opens tournament play on Tuesday against Houston.

The Crimson Tide boasts the No. 14 scoring offense in the nation at 89.6 points per game. match. Mark Sears, a second-team All-American last season, leads Alabama with 17.3 points per game. match. Former Scarlet Knight Clifford Omoruyi averaged 9.8 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds and 10 blocks. The Scarlet Knights and Crimson Tide have met just once before, an 80-69 victory for Alabama on Dec. 27, 1969 at a neutral site.

The match for Championship Day will be determined by the results of the first two matches. RU will play a team from the opposite side of the bracket, either Oregon, No. 21/19 Creighton, San Diego State or no. 20/20 Texas A&M.

RU and Creighton have only met once before, the 2015 matchup in Las Vegas.

Rutgers and Oregon, who will meet as conference members for the first time this year, have met twice previously, an RU win in 1982 and an Oregon win in 1985.

Rutgers has never faced San Diego State or Texas A&M.

By beating Notre Dame, Rutgers would:

  • Improve to 5-1 for third straight season

  • Earn first win over Notre Dame since 2012 and just third in 12 meetings since 2005

  • Earned its first win over an ACC team since defeating Clemson on Nov. 30, 2021 (0-3 in last three games against ACC teams: Miami, Wake Forest and Notre Dame).