Before last season began, St. John’s and Rutgers faced off in a thrilling exhibition match at Carnesecca Arena. The Scarlet Knights forced overtime with a 21-point comeback, Nahiem Alleyne forced another overtime with a three-pointer at the final buzzer, and the Red Storm rallied at the end of the game to win 89-78 against their former Big East rival.
Both fan bases may be disappointed that there is no news of a next regular season meeting, but they will be granted a rematch of the previous season in the fall.
According to CBS Sports reporter Jon Rothstein, St. John’s will face Rutgers for the second time in as many years this October. Brian Fonseca of NJ.com also reports that the game will take place at Jersey Mike’s Arena on the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
While it may be impossible to match last year’s excitement, the October clash is nonetheless exciting. Rutgers enters this season with the fourth-best high school recruiting class according to 247Sports.com’s rankings, led by recruits Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, who are unanimously ranked second and third.
New star transfer Kadary Richmond will face Rutgers for the fifth consecutive season and look to break through the Scarlet Knights’ iron-clad defense that has given him problems in the past. Richmond has a career record of 2-2 against the Scarlet Knights, averaging 10.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists on 39.5% shooting and 16.7% three-point percentage in appearances with Syracuse and Seton Hall.
