Rutgers–Seton Hall men's basketball rivalry

The Rutgers–Seton Hall men's basketball rivalry, also known as the Garden State Hardwood Classic, is an intercollegiate basketball intrastate rivalry   between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University in Piscataway, NJ and Seton Hall Pirates of Seton Hall University in Newark, NJ. The series dates to 1916 and the teams have met continuously since 1996, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Former conference opponents in the Big East, Rutgers left for the American Athletic Conference in 2013 and then the Big Ten in 2014, while Seton Hall continued in the restructured Big East as part of the 2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment. Since changing conferences, the schools have continued to meet annually in the non-conference slate.

The rivalry is a trophy game, with the Garden State Hardwood Classic trophy at stake. The 33-pound wooden memento, made from reclaimed Asbury Park boardwalk planks, is fashioned in the shape of New Jersey with the teams' logos imprinted on it.

Series History
While the teams met intermittently before, the series began to be played more regularly in the 1970s on a near-annual basis. Rutgers joined the Pirates in the Big East Conference in 1995, ensuring an annual matchup, including several years with a regular season home-and-home. In the early 2000s, a revival in Scarlet Knight fortunes led to several high-profile and heated games between the rivals. The teams continued to meet annually in the non-conference slate after diverging paths in conference realignment.

After the 2020 game was not scheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the teams squabbled about whether to continue the rivalry. Rutgers had hammered Seton Hall in their previous 2019 meeting in Piscataway but Seton Hall did not schedule the Scarlet Knights for 2020, using the rationale that they could not have fans in the arena due to COVID-19 restrictions. Rutgers fans accused the Hall of ducking what turned out to be its first NCAA Tournament team in 30 years in order to avoid a second-straight loss. Rutgers’ stance was that it was willing to play at Seton Hall last season and that they should resume the series in Piscataway per the terms of the contract. Seton Hall continued to insist the game be played in Newark or not at all. Ultimately, the Scarlet Knights conceded that the 2021 game would be played in Newark.

Once played, the No. 23-ranked Pirates won 77–63. With the win, Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard moved past P.J. Carlesimo into second place (213 wins) on the program's all-time coaching wins list, behind only Naismith Hall of Famer Honey Russell (294 wins). Seton Hall also took strides to limit the number of Rutgers fans at the Prudential Center by boxing them out from getting tickets through the normal channels and only 1,500 Scarlet-clad faithful attended. Nonetheless, Seton Hall's efforts reduced the number from the 2016 and 2018 sellouts, in which there were roughly 3,000 Rutgers supporters. The following year, Seton Hall won its second consecutive game in the series in a low-scoring 45–43 contest and the first time victory in Piscataway since 2015.

Rival Accomplishments
The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs.