Starting 5: Women's Basketball @ Penn State

Thursday, December 9

University Park, PA

7 PM ET

Rutgers University

Penn State

Dec 08 | Women's Basketball

Rutgers Game Notes Watch on B1G+Listen on WRSU Live Stats RutgersWBB Media Guide 2021-22

The five things to know before the Scarlet Knights play their first Big Ten road game on Thurs., Dec. 9 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Rutgers women's basketball (4-6, 0-1) faces its first Big Ten road test at Penn State (4-5, 0-1) on Thu., Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center and streaming live on B1G+.Rutgers has won its previous four Big Ten road openers dating back to 2017-18.

ON THE AIR

Watch on B1G + (Preston Shoemaker and Andrew Destin)
Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM (Gideon Fox and Shaun Nadkarni)

The 5 Things to Know

1. THE SCOUT

Penn State is 4-5 after opening Big Ten play on Monday with a 70-40 loss to No. 6 Indiana.
The Lady Lions started 3-0 before dropping five of their next six, including four in a row heading into the Rutgers game.
Junior guard Makenna Marisa (21.3ppg - 10th in NCAA, 2nd in B1G) scored at least 11 points in all nine games this season and has 20+ points in six games. Marisa was named Co-Big Ten Player of the Week on November 22 after a triple-double in Penn State's 120-51 win over Delaware State on November 16 and followed with a 29-point, eight-assist performance at Clemson on November 21. It was the first triple-double at Penn State since 1988.
Sophomore forward Ali Brigham adds 12.4 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per contest.

2. THE HEAD-TO-HEAD

3. B1G TIME

The Scarlet Knights opened Big Ten play on Sunday holding No. 8 Maryland 11 points under its season scoring average, producing a +7 rebounding margin, and forcing the Terps into 15 turnovers after they came into the game with the NCAA's best turnover percentage. Rutgers battled Maryland with four players in double-figure scoring for the first time this season, led by Shug Dickson's 18 and Tyia Singleton's second-career double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.

4. RUTGERS RALLIES

Rutgers' 4-1 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. In the opening game of the Paradise Jam, Rutgers nearly erased another 18-point deficit, getting within two points of DePaul before a tight, 77-74 loss. Last game out, Rutgers widdled down a 15-point deficit to four points in the fourth quarter against the defending Big Ten champion and No. 8-ranked Maryland Terrapins.

5. POINTS TAKEN

The Scarlet Knights are one of just five teams in NCAA Division I to boast three current 1,000-point scorers on the 2021-22 roster: Osh Brown (1,568), Lasha Petree (1,466), and Victoria Morris (1,430) combining for 4,453 points. Jailyn Mason has 991 career points and Shug Dickson has 960. They would become the fourth and fifth, making Rutgers the only school in the country to roster four or more 1,000 career point scorers.

#Trending

• Against No. 8 Maryland, Tyia Singleton recorded the second double-double (10pts, 12reb) of her career and the first since the 2020-21 regular-season finale against Ohio State. It was her fifth career game in double-figure scoring and fifth with double-digit rebounds.

• Tyia Singleton, who ranked fourth in the Big Ten in blocks last season, continues the trend into 2021-22 with a No. 4 conference ranking at 1.3 blocks per game.

• Osh Brown's 20-point, 20-rebound double-double vs. DePaul was Rutgers' first in a game since Betnijah Laney's 24-24 against UNC on Dec. 5, 2014 in a 2OT game (21-20 at the end of regulation). It fell two shy of Brown's career-high of 22 rebounds, set in the 2021 NCAA Tournament last season, a Ball State program record.

• Rutgers' highest-scoring quarter has been the fourth in seven of 10 games this season – including 20 apiece against Saint Peter's, South Alabama, and No. 9 Arizona, 15 against Fairfield and Stony Brook, and 25 against Harvard.

• The Rutgers defense has held opponents under their scoring average in 27 of its last 29 games, and 114 of its last 124 dating back to 2017-18.

• Rutgers ranks 16th in the country in both total steals (100) and total blocks (48).

• Sayawni Lassiter grabbed a career-high five steals against Fairfield. She has three or more steals in five Rutgers games this season. The Florida State transfer ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 1.9 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 3.2 points in the paint and by 9.1 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 the highest percentage of field goals assisted (95%).

• 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.

📺 ShugVision

Check out these dimes from Dickson👀#TheBlueprint /// #GoRU! pic.twitter.com/mgiLVPApRb
— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) December 7, 2021