Starting 5: Women's Basketball vs. DePaul

Thursday, November 25

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

1 PM ET

Rutgers University

DePaul

Nov 24 | Women's Basketball

Rutgers Game Notes DePaul Game Notes Watch on ESPN3 Listen on WRSU RutgersWBB Media Guide 2021-22

The five things to know before the Scarlet Knights face the Blue Demons at the Paradise Jam on Thursday in the U.S. Virgin Islands

SAINT THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands - Rutgers women's basketball (4-1) is set for the first of three games in three days at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, opening with DePaul (3-1) on Thursday, Nov. 25 at 1 p.m. ET (2 p.m. local) at the University of the Virgin Islands.

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Watch on ESPN3 or ESPN+ (Play-by-play: Brad Wells; Analyst: Kevin Lehman)
Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM Tuesday (Play-by-play: Chris Tsakonas & Shaun Nadkarni)

The 5 Things to Know

1. THE SCOUT

DePaul is off to a 3-1 start, with the last win over Northwestern in overtime garnering points in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
Two-time BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Aneesah Morrow is thriving at the next level. She is nearly averaging a double-double, leading the team in scoring at 17.3 points a game and in rebounding (9.8). She's been a force on both ends of the court, topping the team in blocked shots with 17 and steals with 10. Morrow began the week No. 4 in the country in blocks per game and No. 5 in total rejections.
Off the best start of her Blue Demon career, Deja Church is scoring 16.3 points a game and is third on the team in rebounds.
All-BIG EAST guards Sonya Morris (16.3 points per game) and Lexi Held (13.5 points, team-high 6.3 assists per game) provided a one-two knockout punch in last Sunday's 78-75 win over rival Northwestern. Morris went off for 13 points in the first 10 minutes and Held closed it down with 13 points in the fourth quarter.

2. THE HEAD-TO-HEAD

3. CALM AFTER THE STORM

Rutgers finished a five-games-in-10-days stretch with a 4-1 record before departing for the U.S. Virgin Islands for the 2021 Paradise Jam. The opening stint concluded with a heart-stopping win for the Scarlet Knights against Harvard that featured an 18-point comeback, a game-tying three-pointer at the end of regulation, and two blocked shots in the final 30 seconds of overtime. The comeback for the win was the second largest in school history (since overcoming 22 at Providence in 1993) and tied for the fifth largest in Big Ten Conference history.

4. 55 ALIVE & WELL

Rutgers ranked fourth in the NCAA last season in steals per game, and with a new-look roster, continue the trend into 2021-22 with a No. 13 national rank with 63 total steals through Nov. 23. Sayawni Lassiter leads the defense with 3.6 steals per game and ranks 6th in the NCAA in total steals with 18. The 48.6ppg scoring defense ranks 17th nationally and is tops in the Big Ten as RU looks to lead the conference in that defensive metric for the third consecutive season.

5. WHO STEPS UP TODAY?

It's been five games, and five different starting lineups for the Scarlet Knights. In four contests, no less than 10 different Rutgers players have contributed to the scoring, and four games had a different scoring leader (Liz Martino, Stephanie Guihon, Victoria Morris, and Lasha Petree). Petree and Morris join Osh Brown, Sayawni Lassiter, Awa Sidibe and Sakima Walker as the six Scarlet Knights averaging 5.0 or more points per game through five contests.

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• Playing in its first overtime game since beating No. 18 Iowa, 78-74, in overtime on March 1, 2020, Rutgers improved to 26-21 all-time in extra time, including wins in three of its last four overtimes.

• Osh Brown's 19 rebounds vs. Harvard are the most for a Scarlet Knight in a game since Betnijah Laney's 24 against UNC on Dec. 5, 2014. It fell three shy of her career high of 22, set in the 2021 NCAA Tournament last season, a Ball State program record.

• Rutgers' highest scoring quarter has been the fourth in all three victories this season – 20 apiece against Saint Peter's and South Alabama, and 15 against Fairfield and Stony Brook, and 25 against Harvard.

• Tyia Singleton, who ranked fourth in the Big Ten in blocks last season, continues the trend into 2021-22 with a No. 2 conference ranking at 1.8 blocks per game.

• Rutgers bench outscored the opponents' total score in the first two victories of the season.

• The Rutgers defense has held opponents under their scoring average in 24 of its last 25 games, and in 110 of its last 119 dating back to 2017-18.

• Sayawni Lassiter grabbed a career-high five steals against Fairfield. She has three or more steals in all five Rutgers games this season. Her 18 total steals ranks sixth in the country and ranks second in the Big Ten with 3.6 thefts per game.

• Rutgers' specialty stats show the Scarlet Knights clicking in the paint and off the bench. RU is outscoring opponents by an average of 9.2 points in the paint and by 22.6 in bench points.

• Rutgers passed out 21 assists on its 22 field goals in the St. Peter's victory, setting a school modern era record (since 2001-02) for highest percentage of field goals assistsed (95%).

• Rutgers ranks 16th in the country with 30 total blocks (25th with 6.0 per game), recording six apiece in all five contests.

• In the St. Peter's win, Rutgers forced its most turnovers by an opponent (34) since 38 against Penn State during the 2014-15 season.

• The nation's fourth best steals per game team last season, Rutgers grabbed 21 steals in the 2021-22 season opener, the most since 22 at Wisconsin in Game 2 last season on Dec. 11, 2020.

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