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Eric LeGrand isn't the only Rutgers player to sign with an NFL team in recent days.

Four other Scarlet Knights who went undrafted in last week's NFL Draft have signed free agent contracts: fullback Joe Martinek (Giants), offensive linemen Desmond Stapleton (Steeleres) and Desmond Wynn (Buccaneers), and defensive lineman Justin Francis (Patriots).

They hope to join wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, the third-round pick of the Bengals, in the NFL next season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, under former Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, signed Eric LeGrand to a contract on Wednesday.

LeGrand is the former Rutgers defensive tackle who was paralyzed in a game against Army back in 2010.

Click here to read more.

Former Rutgers wide receiver Mohamed Sanu was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round of the NFL draft on Friday night.

Sanu was the 83rd player selected overall. Ironically, he went to the team that Sanu thought had picked him in the first round on Thursday night, which turned out to be a hoax.

Click here to read more.

Rutgers men's basketball coach Mike Rice has added another player to the mix for next season.

Vincent Garrett, a 6-foot-5 wing player originally from Chicago, has signed to play for the Scarlet Knights starting in 2012-13.

Garrett averaged 16 points and 6 rebounds per game for Lee College in Baytown, Texas, last season as a sophomore. He will have two years of eligibility at Rutgers.

“Signing Vincent was a priority for us this recruiting period, and we are thrilled to welcome him into the program,” said Rice in a statement. “He is a very gifted athlete with the ability to score the ball at many levels. Vincent is also a mature young man who has developed and excelled due to a tremendous work ethic.”

Rutgers released its full 2012 football schedule on Tuesday -- its first slate under new head coach Kyle Flood.

The Scarlet Knights will kick off the season with a road game at Tulane on Saturday, Sept. 1.

Here is the full schedule:

Saturday, Sept. 1: at Tulane
Saturday, Sept. 8: Howard
Saturday, Sept. 15: at South Florida
Saturday, Sept. 22: at Arkansas
Saturday, Oct. 6: Connecticut
Saturday, Oct. 13: Syracuse
Saturday, Oct. 20: at Temple
Saturday, Oct. 27: Kent State (Homecoming)
Saturday, Nov. 10: Army
Saturday, Nov. 17: at Cincinnati
Saturday, Nov. 24: at Pittsburgh
Thursday, Nov. 29: Louisville

Rutgers power forward Gilvydas Biruta is transferring to another school, Rutgers announced on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-8 sophomore from Lithuania started all 32 games for Rutgers this season, averaging 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He was a key contributor for the Scarlet Knights the past two years -- this is a significant blow for the program.

“Gilvydas is a fine young man and we appreciate his contributions to the program,” said Rutgers coach Mike Rice in a statement. “We wish him the best in his future endeavors, both on and off the court.”

NEW YORK -- When the final horn mercifully sounded Tuesday night, just before 11:30 p.m., Mike Rice wasted no time exiting the Madison Square Garden floor.

After the perfunctory handshakes with the opposing coaches and players, the Rutgers head coach stopped on a dime, turned and walked briskly back toward his team’s locker room, head down, shaking his noggin the whole way.

Who could blame him?

Rice had just watched his team go from up four at halftime to down 21 at the buzzer, and its season end in the process -- a 70-49 loss to Villanova in the opening round of the Big East tournament.

“Obviously it’s very hard to win a basketball game only scoring three field goals in the second half,” said Rice at the postgame news conference.

That’s right -- Rutgers had just three buckets, total, in the final 20 minutes of play. The Scarlet Knights shot 3-for-25 -- that translates to 12 percent, for those of you without your calculators handy.

Those numbers are so ugly, they might break your calculator.

Meanwhile Villanova, which trailed Rutgers 34-30 at intermission, outscored Rutgers 40-15 in the second half.

“We made some mental errors that led to their transition, led to their wide-open looks in the paint, and it just snowballed from there,” said Rice.

Villanova’s second-team All-Big East point guard Maalik Wayns schooled the Scarlet Knights to the tune of 28 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Rutgers freshman Eli Carter almost matched him, with 23 points of his own. But none of his teammates scored more than seven.

“A young team might not have responded as well as I would have liked, but these things happen,” Rice said. “Learn from it. Hopefully use that as motivation in the spring and the summer to improve, to get stronger, to maybe be able to finish some of the shots down in the paint. But that’s life when you have a very young basketball team.”

Rutgers is indeed a very young team, with mostly freshmen and sophomores in the rotation. The Scarlet Knights won’t be happy with their 14-18 final record, or the way they played in the final 20 minutes of their season. But there were a few bright spots, such as wins over Florida and UConn in late December and early January, when both teams were ranked in the Top 10.

Carter, a freshman, was the team’s leading scorer at 13.8 points per game. Several other young players, like fellow freshman guards Myles Mack and Jerome Seagears, showed promise at times. And with no seniors on the roster (besides a pair of walk-ons), the entire nucleus will be back -- plus Wally Judge, a talented transfer from Kansas State.

Junior forward Dane Miller, who will be the team’s senior leader next season, talked about how the team can improve after the game. “I think a couple things that we’ve got to work on is just attention to details,” Miller said. “Being locked in and being real focused on both ends of the court. I think now, as the games go by, we saw that you can’t win a lot of games like that without being focused. We just need to come in during the offseason and listen to Coach Rice and the whole coaching staff and we should be very successful.”

“We’re going to lock them in the weight room, too,” Rice said, chuckling.

That was about the only chuckle we saw from Rice after halftime Tuesday night. Rutgers has now endured six straight losing seasons, including the last two under his watch. But Rice sounded as confident as ever after the game, despite such a tough loss.

“It’s going to happen,” Rice said. “Rutgers is going to happen.”

Overview: Rutgers' second season under coach Mike Rice ends in very disappointing fashion, as the 11th-seeded Scarlet Knights are blown out by the 14th-seeded Villanova Wildcats in the opening round of the Big East tournament.

This game was there for the taking -- Rutgers actually led by four at the half! But things took a very different turn after intermission (see below).

Meanwhile Villanova, which had a very underwhelming regular season to say the least, goes on to play another day.

Turning point: Rutgers trailed Villanova 24-16 with 6:52 remaining in the first half, but from there the Scarlet Knights went on an 18-2 run to take a 34-26 lead, and led 34-30 at intermission. Rutgers shot 7-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half.

Villanova got off to a fast start in the second half, while Rutgers went ice-cold shooting the ball and had turnover problems, too. The Wildcats took control of the game with a 12-2 run to start the half, and never looked back. The Scarlet Knights' offensive numbers in the second half were simply abominable (see below). The outcome was a formality in the final minutes.

Key player: Maalik Wayns, Villanova's second-team All-Big East guard, was outstanding as usual, finishing with 28 points, six rebounds and four assists. Rutgers simply could not handle him.

For the Scarlet Knights, freshman guard Eli Carter was excellent, scoring 23 points. But no one else scored more than seven points.

Miscellaneous: Rutgers shot 13-for-30 in the first half (43.3 percent) overall, and as we said earlier, 7-for-11 from downtown. As for the second half? The Scarlet Knights were 3-for-25 (12 percent) -- it doesn't get much worse than that.

What's next: Villanova will face the No. 6 seed, South Florida, on Wednesday night at approximately 9:30 p.m.

Rutgers' season is over -- the Scarlet Knights finish with a record of 14-18, 6-12 in Big East regular season play.

Here are three halftime observations from the second game of the day here at the Big East tournament:

LATE SURGE: Rutgers trailed Villanova 24-16 with 6:52 remaining in the first half, but from there the Scarlet Knights ripped off an 18-2 stretch to take a 34-26 lead, and lead 34-30 at intermission. Rutgers god red-hot from the perimeter -- how hot? Well ...

THIS HOT: Rutgers shot a blistering 7-for-11 from downtown in the first 20 minutes. Eli Carter, who has a game-high 15 points, connected on three of four. Myles Mack has hit a pair, and Dane Miller and Jerome Seagears have one apiece. Coach Mike Rice said after Rutgers beat St. John's three nights ago that if his team just hit open shots, they'd be dangerous.

THE OTHER SIDE: Villanova is hanging in there by outscoring Rutgers 8-1 on the foul line. Maalik Wayns has nine points to lead the Wildcats.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Winning ugly -- that's what Rutgers did Saturday night.

But it counts just as much in the standings.

In the last game of the Big East regular season, the Scarlet Knights (14-17, 6-12 Big East) squeaked past St. John's, 61-58, and in the process gained the No. 11 seed in next week's Big East tournament.

The Red Storm (13-18, 6-12 Big East) lose the head-to-head tiebreaker with Rutgers, and have to settle for the No. 12 seed.

"This is a confidence builder, going into the Big East tournament," said Rutgers guard Mike Poole. "We just needed to get this win."

The game was far from aesthetically pleasing, but the biggest play of the day was a beauty -- Dane Miller's put-back one-handed slam off an Eli Carter miss with nine seconds left, putting Rutgers ahead 59-58.

"It's all about angles rebounding the ball," said Miller, who posted his seventh double-double of the season, with 10 points and 10 boards. "I knew where he shot it from, I just ran straight to the rim and I was in the air -- when the ball came out it went right to my hands."

"It's a fitting moment, especially of the way he's played the last four weeks of the season," said Rutgers coach Mike Rice. "When he gives that energy and that toughness, we're a much better team."

Neither squad led by more than five points over the course of 40 minutes. St. John’s guard D'Angelo Harrison missed a long 3-point attempt with under five seconds remaining -- and following a pair of Carter free throws, saw his half-court heave rim out at the buzzer, which would have tied the game.

"I had a chance to win it," said Harrison, who had a team-high 17 points but shot just 6-for-17 from the field. "I didn't take advantage of it."

Fellow Big East Rookie of the Year candidate Moe Harkless had an off night, with just eight points, shooting 4-for-15.

Neither team shot better than 37 percent from the field. But their performances at the foul line were drastically different. Rutgers made 16 of 21 attempts from the charity stripe; St. John's was just 10-for-22.

"It was a matter of us, our ability to hit our free throws," said St. John's coach Mike Dunlap. "You can talk about this play or that play, but that right there, that piece is glaring to me."

The Red Storm entered the game shooting 68.4 percent from the foul line, ranking them 196th in Division I -- the middle of the pack. But free throw misses have cost them dearly in several games this season.

As for Rutgers, Rice was happy with his team after the game, despite the fact they shot the ball so poorly -- including just 30 percent in the first half, which ended in a 25-25 tie.

"I was proud of them, and they didn't understand," Rice said. "It wasn't phony at halftime. I was really proud of our guys. They were awful, and yet they defended. And yet they just hung in there. They found a way, and in this league you have to do that."

Dunlap was proud of his guys, too, coming off an 89-69 pounding at Pittsburgh three nights before.

"For us to come in here off of the Pitt loss and perform the way we did, rock solid," Dunlap said. "Defensively I was really disappointed in our effort [against Pitt], and I thought our effort tonight was drastically different."

Rutgers, which won two of its last three to end the regular season, will now face No. 14 seed Villanova on Tuesday at 9 p.m. The Wildcats just beat the Scarlet Knights two nights ago at the RAC, 77-71.

"I hope this gives us energy. I hope this recharges our batteries," Rice said. "I like the fact that it's a quick turnaround with somebody who just got done beating you -- hopefully that's a little more added motivation."

St. John's also has a quick turnaround -- they get a rematch with No. 13 seed Pittsburgh, Tuesday at 2 p.m.

“We’ve gotta rebound better,” Dunlap said. “[Pitt] absolutely beat us from pillar to post off the glass. So that was something that I think we can correct.”

“They beat us pretty bad,” Harrison said, of Pittsburgh. “We felt like we didn’t play our brand of basketball. We’ll be at home, so we’ll definitely have a lift going into that game.”

Both teams finished with six conference wins. But for Rutgers, it’s their most Big East victories since 2005-06.

“They deserve it,” said Rice of his players. “They fought through a lot of different circumstances this year, especially for a young team.

“They’re getting better. They’re not as soft. They’re responding better. That’s all it is.”

Now these two teams, both chock-full of freshmen, wade farther into unchartered waters -- postseason play.

How will they handle this stage? We’ll find out starting Tuesday afternoon.

The regular season is in the books, folks.

March Madness has officially arrived.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- A quick take on Rutgers' 61-58 win over St. John's on Saturday night at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

WHAT IT MEANS: In the final game of the Big East regular season, Rutgers secures the No. 11 seed in next week's conference tournament. The Scarlet Knights (14-17, 6-12 Big East) will play No. 14 seed Villanova on Tuesday at 9 p.m.

St. John's (13-18, 6-12 Big East) falls to the No. 12 seed, and will play No. 13 seed Pittsburgh on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

THE SKINNY: The first 20 minutes was about as ugly as it gets, for both teams. St. John's shot 35.3 percent, Rutgers 30 percent. The Red Storm were 0-for-9 from 3-point range, and 1-for-7 from the foul line. Neither team led by more than five, and it was 25-all at intermission.

The second half wasn't much prettier. Trailing 42-38, St. John's went on an 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of D'Angelo Harrison treys, to make it 46-42 with just under eight minutes remaining. The game stayed tight from there. A 3-pointer by Myles Mack gave Rutgers back the lead, 57-56, with 1:16 remaining -- but then a putback by God'sGift Achiuwa made it 58-57 with 45 seconds left. Rutgers' Dane Miller followed that up with a spectacular one-hand jam off a rebound to make it 59-58 with nine seconds left.

Following a timeout, Harrison missed a deep 3-pointer with under five seconds to play. Eli Carter made two free throws with 2.6 seconds left, and Harrison's half-court heave at the buzzer hit the rim but bounced out -- close, but not enough.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Carter had a team-high 15 points for Rutgers. Mike Poole had 11, while Mack and Miller had 10 points apiece. Miller also had 10 rebounds.

Harrison led St. John's with 17 points, but shot just 6-for-17 from the field. Amir Garrett scored 14 points, and Achiuwa chipped in 12. Moe Harkless scored just eight points, and shot just 4-for-15.

NUMBER CRUNCH: Neither team shot better than 37 percent from the field for the game. And St. John's was just 10-for-22 from the foul line. It cost the Red Storm dearly.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden, starting Tuesday at noon.

Here are three things to watch for when St. John's (13-17, 6-11 Big East) takes on Rutgers (13-17, 5-12 Big East) Saturday night at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J.

Tip-off is at 8 p.m., and you can watch the game locally on MSG, or via ESPN3.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: This is the very last game of the Big East regular season to tip off. The winner of this game will be the No. 11 seed in the Big East tournament, while the loser will be the No. 12 seed. Both teams will have to play a first-round game on Tuesday -- the No. 11 seed will play Villanova at 9:30 p.m., while the No. 12 seed will play Pittsburgh at 2:30 p.m.

KEEP AN EYE ON: St. John's star forward Moe Harkless, who injured his right ankle in the Red Storm's 89-69 loss at Pitt on Wednesday night. Harkless has been pronounced ready to go, but let's see if he's hampered at all by the injury. St. John's will have a hard time beating anybody without Harkless at full strength. He's the team's second-leading scorer (15.2 ppg) and leading rebounder (8.5 rpg), a prime candidate for Big East Rookie of the Year.

ALSO KEEP AN EYE ON: Rutgers forward Dane Miller, who has been reluctant to shoot for most of the season, but has really come on of late. The talented junior, who is averaging 7.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, had a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Seton Hall last Saturday, and followed that up with 16 points and nine rebounds in a loss to Villanova two nights ago. When Miller is aggressive on offense, Rutgers is a much more dangerous team.

Rutgers couldn't keep the momentum going from their big win over Seton Hall last Saturday, losing at home to Villanova on Thursday night, 77-71.

The Scarlet Knights were down 16 at halftime, fought back to cut the deficit to a single point on two occasions, but couldn't quite get over the hump.

Rutgers (13-17, 5-12 Big East) wraps up the regular season on Saturday night against St. John's, again at the RAC.

New Rutgers head football coach Kyle Flood is already having to remake his coaching staff, just a month after being hired.

Three of his assistants are headed to the NFL, including two joining former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- click here to read more.

Flood is already facing a big challenge, serving as a head coach for the first time. Now the challenge just got even tougher.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Sometimes games don't live up to a rivalry.

Saturday's contest between Seton Hall and Rutgers was not one of those games.

The Pirates and Scarlet Knights went toe to toe for 40 minutes, plus an extra five, in a 5 p.m. tip-off at a sold-out Prudential Center. And when it was all said and done, the underdogs from Piscataway had upset the favorites from South Orange, 77-72.

For Rutgers (13-16, 5-11 Big East), this snaps a brutal six-game losing streak, dating back to Feb. 1. For Seton Hall (19-10, 8-9), this puts the Pirates back on the NCAA tournament bubble, depending on who you ask.

"This is a hard one. This is tough. Disappointing on many levels," said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard. "But I give them a lot of credit, they made some big shots, made some good plays."

This was a seesaw affair, with the lead changing hands 18 different times, plus nine tie scores. Seton Hall led by four at the half, Rutgers took a six-point lead in the second half, and the game wound up in overtime.

In the end, the final outcome came down to two plays. With the score tied at 72, Rutgers freshman guard Jerome Seagears buried a 3-pointer from the left corner with 13.2 seconds remaining. And on the ensuing possession, Seton Hall senior guard Jordan Theodore saw his game-tying attempt from beyond the arc go in and out.

"It was just that type of night for me tonight," said Theodore, who scored a team-high 17 points but shot just 4-for-14 from the field. "But I can't take nothing away from Rutgers. They came in here, they played really hard. They had some players step up for them tonight."

They certainly did. Seagears (16 points, six assists) and fellow freshman guard Eli Carter (17 points) were both potent from the perimeter. Sophomore forward Gilvydas Biruta also chipped in 16 points and seven boards.

But the player of the game was junior swingman Dane Miller, who erupted for a season-high 21 points and 10 rebounds, with 16 of his points coming after intermission.

"Outstanding," said Rutgers coach Mike Rice, when asked about Miller's performance. "He was the best athlete on the floor, and he should be that every single night, to be honest with you."

Miller, who made the Big East All-Rookie team as a freshman two years ago, has turned into an enigma this season -- the rare player who is too unselfish, taking just 5.7 shots and averaging just 7.1 points per game, even though he is probably the most talented player on his team.

But Miller looked like a totally different player in the second half on Saturday, taking the ball to the basket time and time again.

"That's sometimes the frustrating part of Dane Miller," Rice said. "I'm always a glass-half-full guy. … But you just never know with Dane."

"He wants me to be aggressive and shoot the ball," Miller said of his coach. "Sometimes I find myself passing the ball too much, and really try to get my teammates the ball. That's something that I really wanna do, and I love doing that. So I just came out and tried to mix it up with both. It was definitely fun."

It was not fun for Seton Hall, however -- especially on Senior Night, the final home game for Theodore and forward Herb Pope (14 points, 12 rebounds), both of whom have had outstanding senior seasons.

"It's tough to lose on Senior Night. But really they just took it from us," said Theodore. "We couldn't get a stop to save our lives. Couldn't get a rebound, we couldn't get a loose ball. It felt like they were just a half-step faster than us tonight, and really, they outplayed us."

Take a look at the box score, and you'll understand why Theodore felt that way. Rutgers shot 29-for-55 from the field (52.7 percent), an astounding 10-for-15 from 3-point range (66.7 percent), and didn't miss a single shot in overtime.

Miller said the Scarlet Knights desperately wanted to avenge their 59-54 loss to Seton Hall in Piscataway earlier this month, and also wanted to try to spoil Seton Hall's chances of making the Big Dance.

"Before we left, we had a little meeting with the players about that," Miller said. "We sent text messages out last night about spoiling that chance."

The truth is, with an RPI in the low 30s, Seton Hall still has a good chance to make the field of 68, despite this loss. But the pressure is officially on to win the regular season finale at DePaul next Saturday.

"Obviously it hurts us," Willard said. "But we've still got another conference game. … We've gotta win on the road on Saturday."

As for the Scarlet Knights? They've put an end to a brutal stretch, and have two very winnable home games (Villanova, St. John's) left on the schedule.

"Not winning a game in the month of February, a lot of times you pack it in, you start to feel sorry for yourself," Rice said. "They grinded it out. And it was a great win."