Rutgers
St. John's
Oct 14 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's basketball plays its second and final exhibition of the preseason Sunday, when the Scarlet Knights face St. John's at noon at Madison Square Garden, "The Mecca of College Basketball."
The game will be streamed live on B1G+, with Bob Brainerd on play-by-play and Brian Butch as color analyst. WRSU 88.7 FM will also carry the game, with Will Carmenaty and Sean Newcombe on the call.
About Rutgers
The Scarlet Knights opened their exhibition slate last Sunday at Jersey Mike's Arena in a tightly contested game against another BIG EAST foe, Villanova. Rutgers erased an 11-point deficit in the final 2:27 and had the ball with a chance to take the lead in the closing seconds before the Wildcats held on for a 77-75 win in front of 5,930 fans.
Eleven Scarlet Knights saw action, six of them making their Rutgers debuts. Rutgers started Jamichael Davis, Lino Mark, Darin Smith Jr., Darren Buchanan Jr. and Christian Gurdak, and Kaden Powers and RaSheed Jones each played 20-plus minutes off the bench. Smith, the reigning Northeast Conference Player of the Year, led the team with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting and added five rebounds. Gurdak posted 19 points and eight rebounds, and Mark added 12 points and a team-high five assists, including back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute. Rutgers outrebounded Villanova 42-39 and held a 32-20 edge in points in the paint.
Tariq Francis, Will Sydnor, Dorin Buca and Martin Tonejc did not play against Villanova. Francis led Rutgers at 17.0 points per game last season and earned All-Big Ten Honorable Mention honors.
"It was encouraging to see our guys fight back in the second half," associate head coach Brandin Knight said. "The guys showed resilience. We were playing a lot of guys, just trying to figure out some rotations and see what guys are capable of doing early. I was pleased with some of our performances."
Knight, in his 11th season on Steve Pikiell's staff, is leading the Scarlet Knights on the sideline as Pikiell undergoes treatment for cancer. Pikiell remains involved with the program.
Rutgers features a 16-man roster with seven returners and nine newcomers, including five Division I transfers, three international signees and one freshman. The Big Ten Network spotlighted the Scarlet Knights' returning experience: Rutgers brings back 60.4 percent of its possession minutes from last season, the second-highest share in the Big Ten.
Sunday marks Rutgers' first trip to Madison Square Garden since a Jan. 25, 2025, game against Michigan State. Rutgers has played 114 previous games at the Garden; its most recent win there was a 61-55 victory over Michigan State on Feb. 4, 2023.
About St. John's
Under Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino, St. John's has won two consecutive BIG EAST regular-season and tournament titles. The Red Storm reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament last season with a Sweet 16 berth. Sunday is also St. John's second exhibition; the Red Storm faced Drexel on Wednesday.
Five players return from that Sweet 16 team, led by guard Ian Jackson, who averaged 9.4 points per game. Jackson is one of two team captains, along with Babcar Sane, who averaged 9.9 points last season in the German Bundesliga after three years in the G League. The Red Storm bring in the nation's top transfer portal class, according to 247Sports, which lists Tounde Yessoufou (17.8 ppg at Baylor) and Keyshawn Hall (19.3 ppg at Auburn, Third Team All-SEC) among the top five transfers nationally.
About the Series
St. John's, a former BIG EAST rival, leads the all-time series 28-14. The teams last met in an exhibition at Jersey Mike's Arena before the 2024-25 season, a 91-85 St. John's win that raised money for the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Fund of the Jimmy V Foundation. The last regular-season meeting was an 84-65 St. John's win in Piscataway on Nov. 16, 2018, as part of the Gavitt Games.
Up Next
Sunday is Rutgers' final tuneup before the season opener against New Haven on Friday, Nov. 6, at Jersey Mike's Arena. The Scarlet Knights have sold out 93 straight regular-season games at Jersey Mike's Arena, the sixth-longest active streak in college basketball. Fans have four chances to see Rutgers at home in November: New Haven (Nov. 6), NJIT (Nov. 10), Bryant (Nov. 13) and Sacred Heart (Nov. 24). Rutgers also returns to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival, opening against Houston on Nov. 17 before facing two more opponents Nov. 18-19.
