Rutgers has re-entered the national rankings after a big week.
The Scarlet Knights slotted in at No. 24 in the latest Associated Press’ Top 25 poll released Monday, marking the second week this season that Rutgers is ranked. It previously entered the poll at No. 23 last month.
BUY RUTGERS BASKETBALL TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETSMARTER, TICKETMASTER
The Scarlet Knights (16-7, 8-4) won both games it played last week, crushing Minnesota at home on Tuesday before getting revenge on Michigan State at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
With eight games remaining on its Big Ten schedule, Rutgers stands alone in second place in the league standings, one game ahead of six different teams — Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan and Northwestern — and 2.5 games behind first-place Purdue.
The Scarlet Knights face the Hoosiers on Tuesday and the Illini on Saturday, a five-day, two-game road trip that will could determine their fate in the race for a top-four finish in the league standings.
As for other national rankings, Rutgers’ mixed week caused mixed movement:
- Rutgers jumped 12 spots in Andy Katz’s Power 36 rankings on NCAA.com, going from 28th last week to 16 this week. Katz is a noted Scarlet Knights believer, so we followed him around Madison Square Garden on Saturday to chronicle his day among the Rutgers faithful.
- FanDuel’s Jon Rothstein ranked Rutgers at 23 in his “Rothstein 45″ rankings, a four-spot jump from last week.
- Stadium’s Jeff Goodman put Rutgers at No. 17 in the latest edition of his Top 25, a three-spot jump from last week.
Want to bet on College Basketball?
See the best NJ Sports Betting sites
- CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish slotted the Scarlet Knights at No. 26 in his latest Top 25 And One.
-The Athletic’s Seth Davis put the Scarlet Knights at No. 18 in his AP Top 25 poll, a four-spot jump from last week.
As for the computers, the Scarlet Knights rank 15th in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin rankings, 16th in Bart Torvik’s efficiency rankings and 19th in the NCAA’s NET rankings.
Full AP Top 25 this week:
1) Purdue
2) Houston
3) Alabama
4) Arizona
5) Texas
6) Tennessee
7) UCLA
8) Virginia
9) Kansas
10) Marquette
11) Iowa State
12) Kansas State
13) Xavier
14) Baylor
15) Saint Mary’s
16) Gonzaga
17) TCU
18) Indiana
19) Miami (Fl.)
20) Providence
21) UConn
22) North Carolina State
23) Creighton
24) Rutgers
25) San Diego State
Others receiving votes:
Florida Atlantic 93, Duke 87, Auburn 65, Clemson 31, Pittsburgh 26, Illinois 25, Nevada 16, New Mexico 16, Maryland 12, Arkansas 11, Iowa 8, Missouri 6, West Virginia 5, Oral Roberts 5, Northwestern 3, Charleston 3, VCU 2, Utah State 2, Kentucky 1.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust.
Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
Ad Choices