The Monday Morning Kickoff
The take from center court (Rutgers Basketball)
The Scarlet Knights improved to 12-8 on Saturday with a 65-64 last-second win over Nebraska inside The RAC. The victory was made possible by Corey Sanders, who grabbed an offensive rebound and made a short shot to give RU the lead with one second left in regulation.
“I thought we did a good job defensively for a long time, but we couldn’t get Sanders under control,” said Nebraska head coach Trim Miles after the win. “That was probably the story of the game.”
The win was Rutgers’ first in seven Big Ten games this season and the first conference victory for head coach Steve Pikiell.
“We deserved to win. These guys have wanted to win, but you have to deserve to win in this league,” Pikiell said post-game. “I am just proud of our guys. It has not been and easy road, fighting and clawing,” Pikiell said. “We were obviously playing terrific teams and Nebraska is one of those teams. …We stayed the course. Things got tough down the stretch and we just stayed with it.”
Next up for Rutgers is a Tuesday night road contest against Maryland with tip-off set for 7 p.m.
On the mat (Rutgers Wrestling)
The No.11-ranked Scarlet Knights improved to 9-2 over the weekend with commanding home wins over Oregon State and Purdue. The first win came on Friday night as Rutgers trounced Oregon State 38-3.
That victory was followed by a 27-9 win on Sunday over Big Ten conference opponent Purdue.
“It was a good match. That’s a good Big Ten team and they’re going to win a lot down the road,” head coach Goodale said after the Purdue win. “That kind of sets us up for the national duals. Obviously we’re going to probably make the national duals at this point. Where we’re going to go is going to depend on where we finish in this conference. We’ve got some big ones coming up, but that one had me worried for a long time. They wrestle really, really hard. Overall it was a good team win.”
Rutgers will be back at it this Friday night with a road contest against No.15 Michigan and that will be followed by a Sunday dual against Michigan State.
A view from the gridiron (Rutgers Football)
It was a bit of an unusual weekend at Rutgers as a group of official visitors did not translate into any commitments, at least not yet. The group of visitors who were on campus came away with a high opinion of Rutgers and that extended to tight end target Travis Vokolek of Missouri.
“My finalists are Rutgers and Wyoming right now,” Vokolek told Scarlet Nation. “If anybody comes in this last week then that'll play a role as well. I have no timetable for a decision, just trying to find the right place for me.”
The biggest recruiting news to come out of the weekend was a preferred walk-on commitment from Bridgewater-Raritan senior Justin Davidovicz who will provide immediate help at a position of need in the 2017 season.
“Seeing the ongoing program and facility upgrades and the increasing interest from top players in NJ solidified my desire to be a part of this program,” Davidoviicz said. “Having the opportunity to play in the Big Ten, close to home in front of family and friends is a big motivator.”
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