The Spartans played three of their first four Big Ten games on the road and will play four of their next five at home.

A look into the opponent

Rutgers stands at 7-2 overall and 3-2 in league play following a two point loss at home to Iowa over the weekend.

This is the 11th meeting between the Spartans and the Scarlet Knights in the all-time series, the sixth consecutive year on green and white territory.

MSU is one of two conference schools that Rutgers has yet to defeat since their debut in 2014-15 — the other is No. 10 Michigan. MSU leads Rutgers 10-0 in wins to losses.

In their last meeting on Dec. 8, 2019, then-No. 9 MSU pulled a 12-point victory over an unranked Rutgers, 77-65.

A win tonight for Rutgers would represent three things:

1. The first victory over the Spartans and at the Breslin.
2. The ninth ranked win under Head Coach Steve Pikiell and second ranked win of the season — previously was now-No. 12 Illinois.
3. The first road win for a ranked Rutgers team over a ranked opponent since Feb. 3, 1976, when they took victory over No. 17 Princeton.

The Scarlet Knights have four players who are scoring as high as double figures:

• Junior guard/forward Ron Harper Jr., who leads his team and is fourth in the Big Ten in scoring with 22.1 points per game.
• Senior guard Jacob Young, who is second on his team with 15.7 points and leads the team with 5.2 assists.
• Junior guard Montez Mathis, who averages 15.3 points per game.
• Senior guard Geo Baker, who averages 10.2 points per game.

Overall, Rutgers is sixth in the league in scoring offense with 80 points per game and ninth in the conference in scoring defense with 71.6 points per game.

Last time on MSU hoops

MSU stands at 7-3 overall and 1-3 in league play.

They've shown a balanced attack so far this season with two players already scoring in double figures, five scoring at least eight points, seven scoring at least six points and nine averaging at least 10 minutes per game.

Junior forward Aaron Henry broke and reset his career-high to 27-points against Nebraska and averages 13.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.6 steals per game.

Freshman guard A.J. Hoggard earned his first career start against Nebraska, playing a total of 23 minutes and collecting four points, five assists, three rebounds and two blocks.

Redshirt junior forward Joey Hauser, who literally lost a tooth in the fight against the Cornhuskers, is second leading on the team with 13.1 points and 7.9 rebounds. His career-high is also 27-points after their Christmas loss to now-No. 8 Wisconsin.

He has scored four double-doubles, had seven games in double figure scoring, two games with at least 20 points and four games with at least 10 boards so far this campaign. He also set his first career-high of 16 points against Notre Dame.