On the Road Again

The Rutgers Men's basketball squad will take on #24/#25 Marquette in Milwaukee's Bradley Center for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off at the 18,850-seat Bradley Center. The #4/#5 Rutgers Women's basketball squad will travel to Alumni Hall/Mullaney Gymnasium to take on Providence's Friars, a team that RU has defeated 14 straight times. Tipoff is also set for 2:00 p.m.

Women's Basketball
RU's women's team, currently holding a 14-game winning streak against Providence - including six straight on the road - will look to remain in a tie for first place in the Big East Conference by extending its winning streak to 3 games. #4/#5 Rutgers (21-4, 11-1) has a perfect record against unranked opponents this season: 14-0. RU has also won 26 consecutive games over non-ranked foes. Providence (12-13, 2-10) snapped an 8-game losing streak earlier this week after upsetting #24 Syracuse.

Rutgers is coming off a 57-51 victory over #14/#14 Notre Dame on Tuesday at the RAC. The news was not all good for RU however, as Rutgers sophomore Myia McCurdy sustained a significant injury to her knee and will be forced to miss the remainder of the 2007-08 season. McCurdy sustained major injuries to her right knee including a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and injuries to the lateral collateral ligament and a tear of the lateral meniscus.

Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer remained positive however. "We're as thin as ever and it's a major blow for us," said the Hall of Fame Coach. "We're trying to lick our wounds and regroup and figure out how we can try and win because we're not quitters. We're fighters."

The Scarlet Knights hold a 20-1 edge all-time against Providence, and defeated the Friars 69-34 last season at the RAC.

Men'sBasketball
The men's squad travels to #24/#25 Marquette (19-6, 9-5) and will face the Golden Eagles for just the third time in school history.

Marquette has won three consecutive games and finds itself two games behind Big East Conference leader Georgetown. The Golden Eagles' balanced attack (four players average double figures in points) is le by Jerel McNeal's 13.4 ppg. McNeal score 20 in Marquette's previous victory against St. John's. The Golden Eagles are defeating their opponents by an average margin of 12.7 points per game, good enough for second in the conference and 21st nationally.

Rutgers has lost six straight games and narrowly lost to Notre Dame at the RAC in its previous outing. The Scarlet Knights held ND big-man Luke Harangody to a conference season low 10 points.

In Marquette, Rutgers faces a nationally-ranked squad for the sixth time this season. Rutgers' lone pair of conference victories this season have been against ranked opponents. For the Scarlet Knights to improve upon their last place standing in the conference standings, RU will have to secure a third such victory.

One facet of the game where RU does have an advantage is in the low-post on the defensive side of the ball. Rutgers is ranked 21st nationally in blocked shots, averaging 5.3 rejections per contest. So. center Hamady Ndiaye, who continues to improve his game on a daily basis, is second in the Big East, and 10th nationally, with an average of 3.0 blocks per game.

Rutgers is led by J.R. Inman's 12.9 ppg and 7.4 rebounds per game. Corey Chandler leads RU with 10.8 ppg in Big East conference play.

SportsNet New York (SNY) will televise the game live. In addition, the match-up will be a part of ESPN's Full Court package, available on DirecTV and the Dish Network, as well as on the web at www.espn360.com.