PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) Deshawn Freeman had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Corey Sanders added 12 points and Rutgers beat Fordham 75-63 on Tuesday night.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) Corey Sanders scored 18 points and Deshawn Freeman had 13 to lead Rutgers past NJIT 73-64 on Thursday night.

Ohio State head coach, Urban Meyer, defended his defensive coordinator, Greg Schiano, after he had a falling out for the University of Tennessee's head coaching position. 

Schiano was set to become Tennessee's new head coach, and the announcement was to be made on Sunday. However, Tennessee backed out of the deal after a wave of backlash on social media from fans. The anger stemmed from a 2015 sworn testimony that stated Schiano had knowledge of Jerry Sandusky's allegations while he was a graduate assistant at Penn State Univeristy from 1990-95. 

Though the allegation is just hearsay, it still prompted Tennessee fans to protest the singing. However, Meyer backed up his coach saying he is more than worthy of the position. 

Rutgers football head coach Chris Ash signed a five-year contract through 2022 to continue coaching the Scarlet Knights. 

Ash, who took over the head coaching position in Dec. 2015, signed an initial Memorandum of Agreement which was good for five years, $11 million.

The Scarlet Knights just finished their season 4-8 after a blowout to Michigan State, 40-7, at High Point Solutions Stadium. It was an improvement from Ash's 2-10 inaugural season, but the 43-year-old will continue to try and improve next season. 

The University of Tennessee is reportedly backing out of a deal with former Rutgers head coach and current Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano amid fan backlash, according to Yahoo! Sports' Pete Thamel.

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer confirmed to ESPN that Tennessee contacted Schiano, and USA TODAY Sports first reported that the two sides were nearing a deal that would have made Schiano the next Volunteers head coach.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) Brian Lewerke threw for a touchdown and ran for another and No. 21 Michigan State held the ball for more than 47 minutes in defeating Rutgers 40-7 on Saturday to cap a terrific turnaround season.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) While the wins keep coming, the shots aren't falling for Rutgers.

Even before No. 14 Penn State lost its last two games, Nittany Lions coach James Franklin believes his team lost its way.

The Lions (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) will try to regain their bearings in time for Saturday's homecoming matchup against resurgent Rutgers (4-5, 3-3).

Penn State followed up a 39-38 loss at Ohio State with a 27-24 defeat last week at Michigan State, and Franklin told reporters afterward that his team was "too finesse" and had allowed "a lot of noise" to become a distraction -- the latter a reference to talk of a berth in the conference championship game and/or College Football Playoff...

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) From the opening tip, Rutgers and City College of New York looked like teams from different divisions.

Issa Thiam had 19 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, Deshawn Freeman scored 16 points, and Rutgers cruised past Division III City College of New York 94-38 on Friday night.

It tied the largest margin of victory in school history, 56, when Rutgers defeated Trenton State 91-35 in 1936. Rutgers used the opportunity to clear its bench, with 13 players checking in, including four walk-ons.

The Rutgers men's basketball team open their season against the City College of New York at the RAC on Friday night. 

The visiting CCNY team had a lot happen last season that found them as a Division III team this year. They have been a Division I team, but after a major gambling scandal, the school was forced to make it a Division III team. 

Head coach Steve Pikiell and his team took down St. Johns, 80-78, in an exhibition game. It should be an easy start to the season for Rutgers, so don't expect to see stars Corey Sanders, Deshawn Freeman, and Mike Williams much throughout this one. 

This is the first game of three in the next five days for the Scarlet Knights. They take on Central Connecticut State on Sunday followed by Cleveland State on Tuesday. 

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) Gus Edwards ran for 109 yards and caught a go-ahead 23-yard touchdown pass with 7:30 remaining to rally Rutgers to a 31-24 victory over Maryland on Saturday.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Brandon Peters helped Michigan score touchdowns on his first three drives, allowing the Wolverines to pull away and beat Rutgers 35-14 Saturday.

Jim Harbaugh finally benched John O'Korn after another shaky performance. Harbaugh put Peters in and the redshirt freshman took full advantage of his first opportunity to play extensively, completing 10 of 14 passes for 124 yards with a TD.

Rutgers has won two straight Big Ten games for the first time since entering the conference in 2014. The Scarlet Knights have not won three consecutive conference games since winning five in a row as a Big East program in 2012.

"They're excited and they're eager to keep getting better," Rutgers second-year coach Chris Ash said. "It's a pretty positive mood. They know we're getting better."

Rutgers WR Ahmir Mitchell was dismissed from the team after violating team rules, per NJ.com's Ryan Dunleavy. 

It was not specified what team rule Mitchell broke, but he never got on the field as a Scarlet Knight. 

Mitchell transferred from Michigan in September 2016 after he was suspended from the team. Head coach Chris Ash gave Mitchell a second chance, and even recruited his brother, Damon, from Arkansas to act as a role model for his younger brother.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) Gus Edwards scored on a 74-yard run on Rutgers' second offensive play and Gio Rescigno threw a 35-yard touchdown pass in the second half as Rutgers beat Purdue 14-12 Saturday, posting consecutive Big Ten Conference wins for the first time since joining the league in 2014.

Rutgers (3-4, 2-2) forced two turnovers and limited Purdue (3-4, 1-3) to 4 of 19 on third- and fourth-down conversion attempts. The defense also came up with a defensive stop on the 2-point conversion after Anthony Mahoungou made a one-handed catch of a 10-yard touchdown pass by David Blough with 25 seconds to play to cut the lead to two points.

Rutgers coach Chris Ash has not had as much success as [Jeff] Brohm. He has won 4 of 18 games in his first 1-plus seasons but his team has been more competitive this year. The Scarlet Knights clearly played their best game last weekend, rushing for a season-high 274 yards.

Gus Edwards rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns as Rutgers ended a 16-game losing streak in the Big Ten with a 35-24 win over Illinois on Saturday.

The Scarlet Knights (2-4, 1-2) led wire to wire for their first conference victory since 2015 at Indiana.

Ohio State appeared to sort out some of the issues with its passing game in the blowout win over UNLV last Saturday, and the opportunity should be there for more of the same this week.

The 11th-ranked Buckeyes (3-1, 1-0) return to Big Ten play Saturday night (7 p.m. ET on BTN) at Rutgers (1-3, 0-1) as more than a four-touchdown favorite. Ohio State has won two straight after opening the conference season with a victory at Indiana and then stumbling at home against Oklahoma.

Kiy Hester's third-quarter interception return for a touchdown gave Rutgers a 17-14 lead, but Nebraska stormed back to score 13 unanswered points en route to a 27-17 win on Saturday at Tom Osborne Field at Memorial Stadium. >> Read more 

Rutgers offensive coordinator, Jerry Kill, is back with the team after suffering a seizure early Sunday morning, per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.  

Kill was back with the team on Monday head coach Chris Ash said. Kill was hit on the sideline following a play against Eastern Michigan Saturday, and hit his head. However, Ash isn't sure if the hit cause Kill to have a seizure the next morning. 

"There's a possibility of a number of things, including the sideline [hit]," Ash said Tuesday. "But that is not the definite things that tirggered anything. They don't know what happened. He hasn't had one in two years. He's been completely healthy. He was getting his sleep. He's been on a good diet. Obviously when you start to play games the stress level goes up. There's more nights with less sleep and that could contribute to it also."

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) Rutgers took a major step in its rebuilding under Chris Ash when it showed it could be competitive against a nationally ranked team last week.

With 10 straight losses in a row over the last two seasons, the Scarlet Knights need to take the next step.

They have to start winning, and they'll get that chance Saturday when they play host to Eastern Michigan (1-0) of the Mid-America Conference at High Point Solutions Stadium.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) Dante Pettis woke up No. 8 Washington just before halftime with his sixth career punt return for a touchdown and Jake Browning threw two second-half touchdown passes in a tougher-than-expected 30-14 victory over rebuilding Rutgers on Friday night.

Pettis' blistering 61-yard return gave the Huskies their first lead at 10-7 with 3:50 left in the half. He tied former California star DeSean Jackson's Pac-12 career record for punt returns for scores.

A senior receiver, Pettis actually set up the Huskies' first three scores this season. His 51-yard catch set up the first of three field goals by Tristan Vizcaino and his catches of 10 and 24 yards ignited an early third-quarter drive that Browning capped with a 7-yard swing pass to halfback Lavon Coleman for a 17-7 lead...

Rutgers is breaking in a new quarterback in fifth-year senior Kyle Bolin, a graduate transfer from Louisville.

Bolin will be making his seventh career start. He has passed for 2,104 yards in 17 career games.

"We're excited to watch him go play and I'm really glad he's here," second-year coach Chris Ash told reporters. "He's created a great competition at the quarterback position. I think he's elevated the play of others around him and just the leadership and the ethic the kid has demonstrated and brought to our offense has been outstanding so far."

Rutgers has suspended wide receiver Jawuan Harris for the team's season opener against Washington for violating team rules, head coach Chris Ash told reporters Wednesday. 

"Right now for this game Jawuan Harris has got a one-game suspension for [violation of] team rules," Ash said. "But after that he'll be fine.''

Harris, who also plays for the school's baseball team, recorded 39 catches (three touchdowns) for 481 yards during his sophomore season on the gridiron. Looking outside of the suspension, Ash has been pleased with Harris's progress in summer camp. 

While top recruit Mamadou Doucoure was supposed to join Rutgers for the 2018-19 season, the power forward is set to join the team this year, according to Jerry Carino of the Asbury Park Press.

Carino reports that Doucoure has already enrolled at the university, but administration officials have not confirmed that he has been added to the roster.

WASHINGTON (AP) Vic Law led the way as Northwestern went on a run of 31 consecutive points in the first half of a 83-61 rout of Rutgers on Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Law scored 10 of his 16 points during that 31-0 run that put the game out of reach and pushed sixth-seeded Northwestern into the quarterfinals where it will face third-seeded and 25th-ranked Maryland. The NCAA Tournament-bound Wildcats (22-10) can only improve their seeding from here after taking care of business against the 14th-seeded Scarlet Knights (15-18).

Nigel Johnson led Rutgers with 21 points. >> Read more

Nigel Johnson scored 21 points and made all eight free throws to lead Rutgers to a 66-57 over Ohio State Wednesday night in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Rutgers (15-17) now has won back-to-back games after a six-game skid. Now in its third season in the Big Ten, it's the first time the Scarlet Knights have won consecutive conference games.

DeShawn Freeman scored 21 points and hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to lead Rutgers past Illinois 62-59 on Saturday.

Freeman hit the game-winner from the wing, before flinging Tracy Abram's missed 3-point attempt into the student section.

D.J. Wilson scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, three other Wolverines scored in double figures, and Michigan beat Rutgers 68-64 on Wednesday.

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored 14 points, Derrick Walton Jr. had 13 and Zak Irvin added 16 for Michigan (18-10, 8-7 Big Ten), which made 10 of 31 from behind the arc to Rutgers' 6 of 16.

Kam Williams had 23 points and Trevor Thompson added 15 points and 13 rebounds as Ohio State beat Rutgers 70-64 on Wednesday night.

Williams hit a 3-pointer and a subsequent foul shot to break a 62-62 tie at 1:05 after Rutgers had overcame a 12-point deficit. After Ohio State's Jae-Sean Tate missed a pair of foul shots, Rutgers' Deshawn Freeman tipped in a rebound to cut the lead to two, but the Scarlet Knights ran out of time.

Corey Sanders scored 25 points, with six rebounds, four assists, and three steals to lead Rutgers past Penn State 70-68 on Saturday for the Scarlet Knights' first-ever Big Ten road win.

Rutgers, which has just five wins in the Big Ten since joining in 2014-15, was 0-23 on the road in conference play. The last conference win was in 2014 against South Florida, an American Athletic Conference member.

Ethan Happ scored seven of his career-high 32 points in overtime and No. 15 Wisconsin overcame offensive struggles to beat Rutgers 61-54 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

Happ was the only player for the Badgers (18-3, 7-1 Big Ten) to shoot above 50 percent (12 for 18) and the team finished at 33.3 percent for the game (20 for 60) including 3 for 23 from 3-point range.

Corey Sanders scored 25 points, including the game-winner with one second left, to lead Rutgers past Nebraska 65-64 on Saturday for first-year coach Steve Pikiell's first Big Ten win.

Rutgers assistant defensive backs coach Aaron Henry will leave the program to become a position coach at North Carolina State, NJ.com's Keith Sargeant reports.

Henry played under NC State's Dave Doeren at Wisconsin from 2007 to 2011 when Doeren was the Badgers' defensive coordinator.

Henry spent one season with the Scarlet Knights, working with the team's safeties under head coach Chris Ash. He earned $140,000 as the lowest paid member among Rutgers' nine assisants.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- James Blackmon Jr. scored 16 points and OG Anunoby had 11 points and seven steals Sunday to lead Indiana past Rutgers 76-57.

It was the Hoosiers (12-6, 2-3 Big Ten) second win in six games.

Corey Sanders scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half and C.J. Gettys added 12 points and seven rebounds for Rutgers (11-8, 0-6), which has lost seven straight overall and five in a row to Indiana.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Miles Bridges had six points and six rebounds in a 17-minute return from an ankle injury and Eron Harris scored 24 points, helping Michigan State beat Rutgers 93-65 Wednesday night.

The Spartans (11-5, 3-0 Big Ten) have won four straight.

The Scarlet Knights (11-5, 0-3) have lost four in a row.

Nigel Hayes scored 20 points, Zak Showalter added 18 and No. 14 Wisconsin used an active start on the defensive end to build an early lead and defeat Rutgers 72-52 on Tuesday night.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Angel Delgado had 19 points and 16 rebounds and Khadeen Carrington scored 20 points to lead Seton Hall to a 72-61 victory over cross-state rival Rutgers on Friday night at the Prudential Center.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- Unlike past seasons when Rutgers figured out ways to lose, the Scarlet Knights are doing the opposite this year.

"We're figuring out ways to win games," said coach Steve Pikiell after Rutgers took an 82-69 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday night. "Each team we've played has presented a different challenge and we've been able to respond and take care of the game."

Mike Williams sank two free throws with three seconds left and Rutgers held off Stony Brook 71-66 Saturday night, scoring its last 10 points from the line.

As much as Chris Ash wants to move forward quickly after a 2-10 season first season as Rutgers' football coach, he knows that he has to spend time looking back, especially at the lowlights.

"It's not what anybody wants. I'm not satisfied with that," Ash said Wednesday. "We'll evaluate the overall big picture of the offense; special teams have not been very good. We'll assess all aspects of the process and identify ways to do better."

The Scarlet Knights allowed an average of nearly 38 points a game. They were outgained in total yardage by an average of 168 yards. There were 21 fumbles - 12 lost - and the revolving door at the quarterback position was squeezed with 34 sacks, totaling nearly the length of a football field. They finished on a nine-game losing streak, failing to win a contest in the Big Ten Conference.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) Freshman Dewan Huell had 14 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes and the Miami Hurricanes scored 17 consecutive points in the second half Wednesday to beat previously undefeated Rutgers in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, 73-61.

The 6-foot-11 Huell scored in double figures for the fifth time this season and had a couple of baskets worthy of video replays.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) Ty Johnson ran for 168 yards, Teldrick Morgan returned a punt 83 yards for a score and Maryland finally became bowl eligible by beating Rutgers 31-13 Saturday.

After losing four straight by a combined 191-49 score, the Terrapins (6-6, 3-6 Big Ten) took the lead for good in the opening minute and cruised to the finish.

The door to a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game is wide open for Penn State and what was unthinkable just weeks ago -- a shot at the four-team College Football Playoff -- is within reach. The question now is: Can the injury-riddle Nittany Lions (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten) limp through it?

No. 9 Penn State, ranked eighth in this week's College Football Playoff poll, is expected to play without its top three offensive tackles when it travels to Piscataway, N.J., to play Rutgers (2-8, 0-7) on Saturday.

Mike Williams had 14 points and nine rebounds as Rutgers improved to 3-0 with a 66-59 win over DePaul Thursday in Rosemont, Ill. Deshawn Williams had nine points and nine rebounds for Rutgers, which outrebounded DePaul, 48-30.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Tyler O'Connor threw three touchdown passes in the first half, and Michigan State snapped its seven-game losing streak with a 49-0 rout of Rutgers on Saturday in what was a matchup of the last two teams in the Big Ten without a conference win.

Now Rutgers (2-8, 0-7) is alone at the bottom of the league after the Spartans (3-7, 1-6) raced out to a 35-0 halftime lead. LJ Scott ran for 103 of his 122 yards in the first half, and Demetrious Cox returned an interception for a touchdown.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Mike Williams scored 17 points as Rutgers beat Division II Molloy 86-57 on Friday night to give Steve Pikiell his first win as Scarlet Knights head coach.

It was the largest margin of victory for a head coach in their Rutgers debut.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- For Rutgers, this scenario is a disappointment.

For Michigan State, it was unimaginable.

The Scarlet Knights and Spartans will meet in East Lansing on Saturday in a matchup between the only two winless teams in Big Ten play. Michigan State, which went to the national semifinals last season, has lost seven games in a row - yet is still favored by about two touchdowns. That's how badly this season has gone for Rutgers.

Chris Ash, in his first season as coach at Rutgers, was somewhat dismissive of the idea that the two teams are that similar.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- Devine Redding gave Indiana the lead with a 34-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and caught Richard Lagow's third touchdown pass of the game in the fourth as the error-prone Hoosiers rallied for a 33-27 win over Rutgers Saturday.

Lagow was 28 of 40 for 394 yards. He hit Ricky Jones for a 36-yard score and started the second-half rally for Indiana (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) with a 40-yard TD toss to Camion Patrick.

Zander Diamont added a 59-yard touchdown run for Indiana, which turned it over four times, missed three field goals and two extra points.