The set-up: The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers (13-13 / 2-11 in Big Ten) travel to West Lafayette to take on the 20-5 (9-3 in Big Ten) Purdue Boilermakers, who are ranked 16th in Monday's latest AP poll. Purdue has won eight of its last 10 and is tied for second place in the conference with Maryland, one game behind Wisconsin. As for Rutgers, after going 11-2 in non-conference play, the Scarlet Knights have lost 11 of the first 13 Big Ten games.

Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights did win their first-ever Big Ten road victory (Feb. 4th at Penn St.) plus the game before that, took Wisconsin to overtime in Madison Square Garden before losing. Head coach Steve Pikiell is encouraged that seven of his squad's last 10 games have been decided by single digits, particularly after 15 of last season's 17 conference defeats were by double digits." I like this team," Pikiell said. "We're scrappy. We're tough. We do the little things, usually. We just have to get them to do a few more of the little things. A couple free throws. A few blocks have to turn into charges. We have to make some plays down the stretch."

Purdue: Matt Painter knows he has an excellent team. It's led by national player of the year candidate Caleb Swanigan, who leads Purdue with averages of 19.0 PPG and 12.8 RPG (that ranks 2nd in the nation). The 6-9 power forward tops the country with 21 double-doubles. The 6-8 Vince Edwards (11.8 & 5.2) starts up front with Swanigan, along with the three-guard lineup of Carsen Edwards (11.0), Mathias (10.0 & 3.9 APG) and Thompson (7.4). The 7-2 Haas comes off the bench but is the team's second-leading scorer (12.8) plus adds 5.1 RPG.

Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights average just 62.2 PPG on the road and Purdue allows only 61.7 PPG here at Mackey Arena. Make the Under an 8* play.