City College of New York @ Rutgers preview

Rutgers will begin what it hopes will be its first winning season in 12 years Friday against visiting City College of New York. The Scarlet Knights dominated their non-conference schedule last season and open coach Steve Pikiell's second campaign with six winnable games, beginning with the Division III Beavers.

Pikiell has added several talented freshmen to a unit that is returning three solid upperclassmen in Deshawn Freeman, Corey Sanders and Mike Williams. The trio accounted for better than half of the team's points last season, but were unable to lead the team to success in the Big Ten (3-15) after opening 11-2. "The best thing we can give our fans is wins," Sanders told the media. "We want to show more progress. We want to show that we are working hard." The Beavers, who compete in the City University of New York Athletic Conference, have not faced a Division I opponent since falling to New Jersey Tech 99-60 in 2013-14.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Plus

ABOUT CCNY (2016-17: 17-10): The Beavers and coach Paul Dail are in rebuilding mode after reaching the conference championship game a season ago. Gone are the top four scorers from last season and left in their place only five upperclassmen, including Salvatore Palazzolo, Brendan Hauser and Wils Jazilek. The Beavers hold a commanding lead in the series with the Scarlet Knights, winning 17 of 20 games, all of which were played before 1960.

ABOUT RUTGERS (2016-17: 15-18): The freshman that is likely to have the biggest impact this season is Geo Baker, who is expected to see time at the point, which will allow Sanders to spend more time playing off the ball. The 6-4 Baker, who saw his first game action in the Scarlet Knight's exhibition win over St. John's, notching four points and three assists while playing 32 minutes. Mamadou Doucoure, a 6-9 freshman forward from Mali, played only briefly against St. John's after getting into foul trouble, something that plagued him during scrimmages.

TIP-INS

1. Freeman registered a double-double against St. John's, something he did 10 times last season.

2. Candido Sa, Issa Thiam, Eugene Omoruyi and freshman Souf Mensah will be key contributors off the bench of Rutgers, whose last winning season occurred in 2005-06.

3. Williams and Sanders displayed better shooting against St. John's, something that Pikiell would welcome after each made less than 40 percent of their shots last season.

PREDICTION: Rutgers 88, CCNY 44