COLUMBUS, Ohio –– Ohio State has two solid nonconference wins against Notre Dame and UCLA on its resume, and it's had its first Big Ten test, faltering against Purdue without E.J. Liddell, but the Buckeyes have yet to see a ranked opponent or a truly elite conference foe.

They’ll get both on Wednesday in No. 11 Rutgers (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten), which made an eight-spot leap in the AP Poll after knocking off then-No. 13 Illinois on Sunday, and now turns its attention to No. 23 Ohio State (6-1, 0-1 Big Ten).

“Rutgers is a tremendous team. They are tremendous. They are a legit Sweet 16 caliber team, there’s no question in my mind,” Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said after the Buckeyes’ win over UCLA on Saturday. “I’ve watched them, they are tremendous.”

The Scarlet Knights began the season ranked one spot below the Buckeyes at No. 24, but have quickly ascended the national rankings with six impressive wins in a row, including five-straight by a double-digit margin before beating Illinois 91-88 this past weekend.

Helmed by fifth-year head coach Steve Pikiell, who looks poised to lead Rutgers to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the early ‘90s, the Scarlet Knights cruised by 20-plus in each of their first three nonconference warmups before topping Syracuse by 10 and beginning Big Ten play with a 14-point win against Maryland.

Rutgers hasn’t held a ranking this high since the 1975-76 season, and it’s due in no small part to the torrid pace that junior guard/forward Ron Harper Jr. –– yes, the son of that Ron Harper –– has set this season.

Harper, a 6-foot-6, 245-pound wing, is the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer, averaging 24 points per game, nearly twice as many as he averaged last season, and he’s doing it with eye-popping efficiency.

Shooting .600 for the season, Harper has the conference’s fourth-best field-goal percentage, with the only three ahead of him essentially being 7-foot centers, and he leads the Big Ten shooting .525 from behind the 3-point arc. Harper has gone 5-for-8 from 3 for the past three games in a row, and sits atop the conference with an average of 3.5 hits from deep per game.

Harper has only gotten better as competition began ramping up, as he had scored 26, 27 and 28 points in the past three games respectively, and he’s committed one or fewer turnovers in every game this year.

On Tuesday, Holtmann said Harper is "certainly one of the best players in our league right now."

"I think what you’ve seen right now is, he’s a gifted athlete and he’s got a huge frame. Really big frame," Holtmann said. "There’s no question he’s a bonafide NBA prospect. There’s no question in my mind."

Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, Harper is not the only weapon for the Scarlet Knights on offense. Upperclassmen guards Jacob Young and Montez Mathis are averaging 16.5 and 13.7 points per game, respectively, and Young, a 6-foot-2 senior, is third in the conference with an average of 5.7 assists.

Ohio State’s starting backcourt may have a hard time containing the explosive trio of Rutgers guards on offense, but as redshirt junior Musa Jallow, freshman Eugene Brown and redshirt junior Seth Towns all continue to come along, the Buckeyes have plenty of length to throw at the wings in the slew of lineups that Holtmann has toyed with this season.

RELATED: Brown expected more minutes in Year 1, but making most of limited role

Ohio State got Liddell back against UCLA, a welcome sight despite the emergence of freshman Zed Key as a big-time contributor on the block, but Ohio State will have to contend with a pair of near-7-footers once again this season.

Junior forward Myles Johnson, standing at 6-foot-11, 255 pounds, is averaging a near-double-double at 8.7 points and 9.7 rebounds, but it’s 6-foot-11 freshman center Clifford Omoruyi –– a top 50 player in the 2020 class –– that has started each game for the Scarlet Knights.

Omoruyi’s minutes have dipped a bit in the past three games, and he left the Illinois matchup with an apparent injury, but Holtmann said he's not aware of Omoruyi's latest injury status.

When the freshman does shoot the ball though, it’s usually going on. The big man is connecting on 72 percent of his field goals this season.

Even if Omoruyi doesn't play, Holtmann believes Johnson could be a load for the Buckeyes to handle inside.

“Myles Johnson has tremendous size, and he’s an older player –– he’s a really, really effective big in our league. He doesn’t get talked about enough,” Holtmann said. “This is a tremendous Rutgers team; deep, balanced, really well-coached and they’ve got a lot of returning guys.”

Rutgers ranks ahead of Ohio State in a number of team categories on offense, including its Big Ten fourth-best 82.7 points per game and third-best .511 team field-goal percentage.

The Buckeyes are dead last in the Big Ten in 3-point defense, allowing opponents to hit on nearly 38 percent of their attempts, but Ohio State’s scoring and overall shooting percentage defense is neck and neck with Rutgers’ own in the middle of the pack.

Ohio State will have to keep up with the Scarlet Knights on offense, something the Buckeyes have struggled to do at times this year, with the fourth-least efficient offense in the conference in terms of shooting percentage, but it’s a task made easier with Liddell back in the fold.

The Buckeyes have won 8-of-11 all-time meetings between the programs, including seven of the past 10 dating back to 2015, and the last two in a row.

The Big Ten foes will tip off at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus.