Game 9
Fairleigh Dickinson (3-5) at Rutgers (7-3)
Date: Saturday, December 9, 2017
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Rutgers Athletic Center – Piscataway, N.J.
Coverage: BTN Plus - BTN2GO
Audio: KnightVision – Sitesh Shah

Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball squares off with in-state foe Rutgers (7-3) on Saturday night at the RAC.
 
The Series...Rutgers leads 12-2
FDU at Rutgers..2-11
Streak...L3
Last Meeting...Rutgers 82, FDU 69 (12/14/16 at Rutgers)
The Knights (2-8) were unable to overcome a tremendous rebounding effort by the Scarlet Knights (10-1), who remain unbeaten (8-0) at home with the win.. Darian Anderson paced the Knights with 22 points, four assists and three rebounds, while Mike Holloway tallied 14 points and Earl Potts Jr. added 13 tallies. Freshman forward Kaleb Bishop chipped in six points to go along with a team-high nine rebounds in the loss.
 
True to form, Rutgers, who entered the game ranked in the top 10 nationally in rebounding, took care of business on the glass out-rebounding FDU 43-31, including doubling-up the Knights 16-8 in offensive boards. In the victory, the home team shot 31-of-60 (51.7%) from the floor but struggled from the line, connecting on just 14-of-29 (48.3%). FDU knocked down 27-of-60 (45%) overall, 7-of-22 (31.8%) from the behind the arc and 8-of-11 (72.7%) from the charity stripe.

Following the loss head coach Greg Herenda said, "I am extremely proud of my team and their effort tonight. That was a hard-fought college basketball game and Rutgers proved to be just too good and too big tonight. The difference in that game was Rutgers making five 3's in the second half that opened things up for them. But I just loved how we competed against a tough team in a difficult building."

Scouting the Scarlet Knights: Saturday's matchup is the third game this week for the Scarlet Knights, who suffered a 10-point setback to No. 3 Michigan State on Monday and topped fellow New Jersey foe, NJIT 73-64 on Thursday. Led by second-year head coach Steve Pikiell, the Scarlet Knights are coming off of a 15-18 season, which included a 3-15 mark in Big Ten action. Junior guard Corey Sanders leads the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game, while senior forward Deshawn Freeman's 8.5 boards per game spearheads the top-25 rebounding squad. In the team's win over the Highlanders on Thursday night at the RAC, Sanders scored a team-high 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting and the Scarlet Knights limited their opponent to just 5-of-28 (17.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

Knights Keys: Saturday matches Rutgers' stingy defense against the Knights' efficient shooting and propensity to come up with steals. FDU enters the contest 66th in the NCAA in field goal percentage and 19th in steals per game, while RU sports the third-ranked defense in the nation (57.6 ppg) and fourth best FG% defense (35.9%). Additionally, the Scarlet Knights are the third-best rebounding team in the country at 45.4 per outing.

The Knights: The Knights are in the midst of a seven-game road trip, which began with tilts against MAAC opponents Saint Peter's and Iona. Both games marked the home opener for the two teams. The Knights are seeking their first road win of the season as they enter Saturday 0-4 away from the Rothman Center. Last time out, the team received a big time effort from freshman Noah Morgan, who recorded his first collegiate double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Knights led by double-digits for much of the game against the preseason MAAC favorite Gaels before a 19-3 second-half run allowed the home team to overtake FDU. After missing the first two games of the season, preseason All-NEC honoree Darian Anderson has returned for the Knights and is averaging a team-high 13.8 points per contest. Anderson poured in a season-high 21 points against Saint Peter's and dished out a season-best six assists at Iona on Saturday.
 
Last Time Out: The Knights held a 13-point lead early in the second half but could not hold off a furious rally by the Iona Gaels in an 82-75 loss at the Hynes Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon. In a homecoming game, which featured a large contingent of his friends and family, Mount Vernon, New York native, freshman forward Noah Morgan recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Morgan led five Knights in double figures, which included an 11-point, five-rebound, five-assist effort by senior guard Darian Anderson.
 
Jan Svandrlik's three-point shooting was a thorn in the Knights' side throughout the game as the Gaels' graduate forward finished with 27 points and buried 6-of-11 from behind the arc. Svandrlik made 7-of-12 overall and added six rebounds in the win. The Knights shot 58.1 percent in the first half but were held to 37.5 percent in the second half, while the Gaels rebounded to shoot 41.9 percent in the second stanza after a 25.7 percent performance in the first. The Gaels also earned a huge advantage at the free throw line where they made 33 trips, connecting on 26 (78.8 percent) compared to the Knights, who shot just six free throws in the game, making five.
 
Herenda's postgame quotes - "That one is hard to swallow for everyone that wore a blue jersey today. I just told my team that I am very proud of their effort and grit and if we continue to play that way on the road, we will be building towards another championship." 
 
"If we finished around the basket more in the first half and especially early in the second half, that game could have been over but give Iona the credit. They have a number of very potent offensive players and they are very difficult in this building. We had five guys in double figures and had 17 assists but there is no defense for the foul line and ultimately, that was the biggest difference between the two teams today."
 
Bishop Versus Iona: In last season's game against the Gaels, sophomore forward Kaleb Bishop totaled 13 first-half points.  In the game against the Gaels this past Saturday, Bishop scored 14 first-half points on 7-of-8 shooting.
 
Record Book Update: Darian Anderson scored 21 points and tallied five steals in the Knights' loss at Saint Peter's on November 29. He now ranks 10th all-time in FDU history with 1,409 points and second in steals with 182.
 
Give Us That: Featuring one of the program's most adept defenders in Anderson, the Knights added a slew of speedy counterparts this season including freshman guard Jahlil Jenkins. Jenkins nabbed five steals against Princeton, while junior guard Darnell Edge totaled seven against Kean, which has helped the Knights to a 9.6 steals per game average this season -- 15th best in the NCAA.
 
Turn it Over: The Knights nabbed a program-record 19 steals in the win against Kean and forced 31 turnovers. Junior guard Darnell Edge was at the forefront of the effort with seven steals of his own (most by a Knight since Sean Baptiste totaled seven on 1/10/09 against CCSU)
 
Dish it Out: In the lopsided win over FDU-Florham on 11/15, the Knights totaled 27 assists. That total is the most in a game since the team dished out 28 helpers in a 122-115 overtime loss to LIU Brooklyn back on February 23, 2002.
 
Darnell's Delight: In a career-high 39 minutes against Holy Cross, Edge poured in a career-best 23 points as the Knights topped the Patriot League's Crusaders. Now in his first season as a regular starter, Edge is averaging 13.6 ppg. 
 
Road Warriors: After playing four of their first six games at home, the Knights close out 2017 with seven straight road games. Entering the long stretch the team had an 0-2 record away from the Rothman Center.
 
Holloway Holds His Own: Facing some of the country's toughest big men this season, including preseason All-American Angel Delgado of Seton Hall, Mike Holloway Jr. is averaging 13 ppg. He has also scored in double figures in all but one game this season. The junior forward, who was 0-2 from three-point range in his career, knocked down the Knights' first basket of the season with a 3-pointer at Seton Hall. He also made a trey against PSU and is 2-for-4 on the season. Holloway has started 66 of a possible 68 games since arriving in Hackensack and currently ranks 19th in the nation in career field goal percentage.
 
Freshman Tested: Freshman point guard Jahlil Jenkins began his collegiate career with a pair of difficult tests in two big time college basketball arenas. Jenkins held his own against No. 23 Seton Hall at the Prudential Center and at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center, averaging 9.0 ppg, 6.0 apg, and 4.0 rpg. The first-year point guard seemed undaunted by the big stage, dishing out eight assists against the nationally-ranked Pirates and scoring 13 points at PSU.
 
Newcomers: Freshmen Jenkins, Elyjah Williams and Noah Morgan and sophomore Pat McNamara are averaging 14 or more minutes per game this season. Coach Herenda has not been afraid to play his new guys and even featured a stint aginst Saint Peter's where five newcomers were on the court at once (Tyler Jones and the aforementioned four players).
 
Up Next: The Knights return to action next Saturday, December 16 against another New Jersey opponent when they take on NJIT. Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m. in Newark.