The road hasn’t been kind to the Scarlet Knights coming into the March 7th Rutgers at Purdue betting pick. Rutgers has gone 1-8 away from the RAC this season and face a tough visit to the Mackey Arena where Purdue is 11-4 on the season. That being said, Rutgers is coming off a win over Maryland and fighting for their NCAA tournament lives.
Purdue is also making a charge towards the tourney with back-to-back wins including 77-68 at Iowa on Tuesday as +4.5 underdogs. The Boilermakers can add to their resume with a victory over 19-win Rutgers on Saturday but are all but eliminated with a loss as -5.5 favorites in this one.
Rutgers Playing Better on the Road Lately?
Sure the Scarlet Knights have lost their last 6 road games coming into the March 7th Rutgers at Purdue betting pick. In fact, the 79-62 win in Nebraska on January 3rd is their only away victory on the season. It’s not like Steve Pikiell’s team is getting blown out in those away contests though. The defeats include by 3 at Illinois, 5 at Iowa, 5 at Maryland, 6 at Ohio State, 8 at Wisconsin and 1 at Penn State.
The Scarlet Knights should come into Saturday’s game at West Lafayette with some confidence too after beating Maryland 78-67 on Tuesday. Geo Baker had 11 in that game, Montez Mathis 15, and Jacob Young 17 off the bench as Rutgers displayed some nice scoring depth.
Another reason for Rutgers to have some momentum in Saturday’s meeting is because they’ve already beaten Purdue this season, 70-63 on January 28th as -3 point home favorites. 4 Rutgers players scored in double figures that game
Purdue Getting Hot at the Right Time?
The Boilermakers moved up 3 spots to 22nd in the KenPom rankings after the win at Iowa this week (Rutgers 27th). It was the 2nd straight win for Purdue who is trying to battle back to tournament relevancy after a 4-game losing streak.
What’s troublesome for Purdue is that 2 of their 4 losses during the streak came at home, dropping their record to 11-4 at Mackey Arena on the season. Those home defeats weren’t pretty either including a 12 point loss to Penn State and falling by 8 to Michigan as the Boilermakers were favored in each.
Purdue will try to win Saturday’s game with defense as they do rank 12th in the country in efficiency on that end of the court. The Boilermakers did allow 26 and 12 to Luka Garza this week, but that was on the road in Iowa City. Rutgers also has a top 10 defense in efficiency though which would favor an ‘under’ 127.5 play.
March 7th Rutgers at Purdue Betting Pick
Rutgers has played much better on the road than their 1-8 record would indicate. Purdue meanwhile has had some slip ups at home over the last couple weeks. Combine those with a line that is probably 3-4 points too high and it’s looking like a good play on the visitors here.
Pick: Rutgers Scarlet Knights +5.5
