The stakes will be high and the stage will be grand when Rutgers and Michigan State head to Madison Square Garden for the annual Big Ten Super Saturday matchup in New York.

Both programs are trying to make headway in the jam-packed Big Ten Conference, with the Spartans (14-8, 6-5) having lost four of six and the Scarlet Knights (15-7, 7-4) winners of four of six. Rutgers enters the weekend tied for second in the league with Illinois; Michigan State is part of a six-way tie at 6-5.

Rutgers is the designated home team for the matchup, and the NCAA told the program this week that it will also count as a home team for the purposes of the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings rather than a neutral-site game. That means it will be a Quadrant 2 game for Rutgers rather than a Quadrant 1 game.