The 2020–21 Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball team represented

Rutgers University–New Brunswick Rutgers University–New Brunswick is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in New Brunswick and Piscataway. It is the oldest campu ...

during the

2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 25, 2020, and concluded on March 14, 2021. The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament culminated the season and began on March 18 and concluded on April 5. Season ...

. The Scarlet Knights were led by fifth-year head coach Steve Pikiell and played their home games at the

Rutgers Athletic Center Jersey Mike's Arena, commonly known as the RAC (an initialism for Rutgers Athletic Center, its former official name), is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Piscataway, New Jersey on Rutgers University's Livingston Campus. The building is shaped ...

Piscataway, New Jersey Piscataway ( ) is a Township (New Jersey), township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan River, Raritan Valley. As of the 2020 United ...

as seventh-year members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. They finished the season 16–12, 10–10 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for sixth place. As the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they defeated

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

in the second round before losing to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

in the quarterfinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, their first NCAA Tournament appearance since

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. As the No.10 seed in the Midwest region, they defeated Clemson in the first round before losing to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in the second round.

Previous season

The

Knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

finished the 2019–20 season 20–11 and 11–9 in Big Ten play to finish in a four-way tie for fifth place. Following the regular season, the Big Ten tournament and all subsequent postseason tournaments were canceled due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, effectively ending the Knights' season. In January 2020, Rutgers was nationally ranked for the first time since 1979.

Offseason

Departures

2020 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Big Ten regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Big Ten tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

Rankings

^AP and Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll, and Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball team Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball seasons

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...