No. 25 men's basketball hosts St. John's in an exhibition on Thursday

PISCATAWAY, NJ – No. 25 Rutgers men's basketball prepares for the 2024-25 season with an exhibition game against St. John's, presented by Prudential. The game begins on Thursday, October 17th at 6:30 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena. The exhibition game will be nationally televised by the Big Ten Network and will host Andy Katz and Austin Johnson. The game will be a charity exhibition with all ticket proceeds benefiting the V Foundation.

This will be the third straight season with an exhibition game for the Scarlet Knights and the second straight year that RU will open the campaign with an exhibition game against the Red Storm. There was also a friendly match against St. John's in 2017. RU also played Fairfield in a home game prior to the 2022-23 season. The deer were then trained by Jay Youngwho returned to the Rutgers coaching staff this season.

Last season, Rutgers fought back from a 20-point deficit in the second half and forced the game into overtime, but ultimately fell 89-78 in the second overtime.

 

The 2024-25 Scarlet Knights, under ninth-year head coach Steve Pikiellboast home-field advantage at Jersey Mike's Arena, where they have sold out 64 straight home games and sold out the entire home schedule for the upcoming season. Rutgers welcomes the highest-rated freshman class in school history, ranked second in the nation. The class consists of five top-150 recruits Dylan HarperAce Bailey, Lathan Summerville, Dylan Grant And Bryce Dortch.

Pikiell and his staff also welcome three players from the 2023-24 squad: Jeremiah Williams, Jamichael Davis And Emmanuel Ogboleas well as a highly regarded transfer class with four newcomers: Zach MartiniPJ Hayes, Tyson Avuff and Jordan Derkack.

RU is ranked 25th in the preseason AP poll, earning a preseason ranking for the fourth time in school history. The Scarlet Knights are one of four Big Ten teams in the preseason AP poll. RU also finished seventh in the preseason Big Ten rankings poll before the league expanded to 18 teams for the upcoming season.

This will be Rutgers' only public exhibition game before the highly anticipated upcoming season. RU will begin the regular season on November 6th as the Scarlet Knights host Wagner. The first four games of the regular season will be played in front of a home crowd at Jersey Mike's Arena, followed by games against St. Peter's (November 11th), Monmouth (November 15th) and Merrimack (November 20th).

 

The last regular season meeting between the two programs came on November 16, 2018, when the Red Storm earned an 84-65 victory in Piscataway in the Gavitt Tipoff Games. Rutgers and St. John's met 42 times in the regular season, with the Red Storm holding a 28-14 advantage.

St. John's went 20-13 overall and 11-9 in BIG EAST play last season, finishing fifth in the league in its first season under Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino. The team finished strong, winning the final six games of the regular season, but fell short of the NCAA Tournament.

The Red Storm return four players from last season, most notably RJ Luis (10.9 ppg/4.6 rpg) alongside Zuby Ejiofor, Brady Dunlap and Simeon Wilcher. SJU brought in a number of transfers including Kadary Richmond (15.7 ppg/7.0 rpg/5.1 apg at Seton Hall), Aaron Scott (11.0 ppg/5.8 rpg at North Texas), Devion Smith (13.3 ppg/6.3 rpg/7.1 apg at Utah and Vince Iwuchukwu (USC) as well as four freshmen.

St. John's narrowly missed a top-25 finish in the AP poll, ranking 27th in votes received. They are 19th in the KenPom rankings, making them the third highest ranked BIG EAST team there.