Who: Michigan (3-6, 0-1) at 18 Rutgers (8-2, 1-0)
Where: Piscataway, N.J.
When: April 10, 12:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: BTN Plus
Michigan | Rutgers | |
Goals-Shot Attempts | 87-291 | 131-422 |
Shot % | .299 | .310 |
Shots on goal-Attempts | 171-291 | 255-422 |
SOG % | .588 | .604 |
Man-Up Goals | 10-31 (.323) | 10-32 (.312) |
Ground Balls | 256 | 355 |
Turnovers | 123 | 112 |
Caused Turnovers | 73 | 77 |
Faceoffs | 120-229 (.524) | 138-257 (.537) |
Clears | 139-164 (.848) | 161-174 (.925) |
Offensive Efficiency | .284 | .382 |
Defensive Efficiency | .272 | .205 |
So, you know how everyone makes fun of Rutgers for...well, being Rutgers? The Scarlet Knights lacrosse team does not fit the "Buttgers" theme in any way, and they are quite a bright spot for the Rutgers athletic department. As a team, Rutgers leads the conference in a number of statistical categories, none of which are titled "sucking". They rank first in the Big Ten in: assists per game, clearning percentage (also first in the nation), ground balls per game, points per game, scoring margin, scoring offense, and winning percentage. All their stats in these categories put them in the top-10 nationally as well.
The trio of attackers in Scott Bieda, Adam Charalambides, and Jules Heningbug account for 54% of the Rutgers offense, as each has twenty goals or more on the season. Michigan's Kyle Jackson has 23, but no one else on the team has more than fifteen. Speaking of Kyle Jackson, after sitting out the last two games he and Ian King should return to the Wolverines' starting lineup, which will give Michigan a much-needed injection of offense.
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a win over Johns Hopkins, who just happen to be in the midst of an unusual season with a 6-4 record over all. It's still a big win for the Rutgers program, and a win that the Michigan program is still waiting to get.
Goalie Kris Alleyne is tops in the conference in goals-against average (8.5), while Gerald Logan's GAA is 11.80...which is decidedly not first in the conference.
It isn't very often that we can say that a Michigan team has a very good chance of losing to a Rutgers team, but this is one of those times. Although, I didn't think the Wolverines would play anywhere near as well as they did against Maryland last week, so I guess that's why they actually play the game.