Rutgers faces Illinois on home slide

Illinois Fighting Illini (15-5, 5-4 Big Ten) at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-12, 1-9 Big Ten)

Piscataway, New Jersey; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Rutgers takes on Illinois looking to end its five-game home losing streak.

The Scarlet Knights are 8-7 on their home court. Rutgers ranks fourth in the Big Ten in rebounding with 37.3 rebounds. Destiny Adams paces the Scarlet Knights with 10.0 boards.

The Fighting Illini are 5-4 against Big Ten opponents. Illinois ranks sixth in the Big Ten with 25.4 defensive rebounds per game led by Kendall Bostic averaging 9.0.

Rutgers is shooting 40.2% from the field this season, 0.6 percentage points higher than the 39.6% Illinois allows to opponents. Illinois has shot at a 44.2% clip from the field this season, 4.2 percentage points above the 40.0% shooting opponents of Rutgers have averaged.

The Scarlet Knights and Fighting Illini face off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kiyomi McMiller is scoring 18.8 points per game and averaging 4.7 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights. Adams is averaging 15.9 points and 9.7 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Bostic is scoring 16.5 points per game and averaging 11.2 rebounds for the Fighting Illini. Genesis Bryant is averaging 1.9 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Scarlet Knights: 2-8, averaging 62.4 points, 33.4 rebounds, 11.0 assists, 9.1 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 36.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.1 points per game.

Fighting Illini: 7-3, averaging 69.9 points, 33.3 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 5.3 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 43.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 61.3 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press