Starting 5: Women's Basketball vs. Michigan State

Sunday, January 30

Piscataway, NJ

2 PM ET

Rutgers University

Michigan State

Starting 5: Women's Basketball vs. Michigan State

Jan 29 | Women's Basketball

Rutgers Game Notes Michigan State Game Notes Watch on B1G+Listen on Fox Sports Radio New Jersey Listen on WRSU Live Stats Roster Card RutgersWBB Media Guide 2021-22

The five things to know before the Scarlet Knights tip-off against the Spartans on Sun., Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. ET at Jersey Mike's Arena and live on B1G+

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers women's basketball (7-14, 0-9) hosts Michigan State (11-8, 5-3) at Jersey Mike's Arena on Sun., Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. ET live on B1G+. The game is the annual Play4Kay game presented by RWJBarnabas Health in support of cancer awareness and research.

ON THE AIR

Watch on B1G+ (Dom Savino & Dominique Patrick)
Listen on Fox Sports Radio New Jersey 93.5 FM (Ralph Bednarczyk & Mark Peterson)
Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM (Alex Carmenaty & Eddie Kalegi)

AT THE ARENA

Presented by RWJBarnabas Health, Rutgers will give away 200 pink towels with a space to write in who you stand for in the battle against cancer.

Gallery: (1-29-2022) WBB Play4Kay 2022

Rutgers Athletics announced that effective immediately, attendees at all indoor athletics events must provide proof of full vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours of the event accompanied by a photo ID. Doors for all events will open 90 minutes prior to the start.

Click HERE for a full listing of Rutgers Athletics COVID-19 protocols.

The 5 Things to Know

1. THE SCOUT

The Spartans are 5-3 in the Big Ten and are coming off a dominant 79-58 win on the road at Penn State.
Michigan State had a 45-18 rebounding advantage against Penn State on Jan. 27. MSU's +27 rebounding advantage was its highest of the season topping the previous season-high of +22 vs. Florida Gulf Coast (12/20/21).
The Spartans' 79 points was their second-highest in not just a B1G game, but also in a conference road game this season, behind 83 at Ohio State (1/12/22) in 89-83 loss.
In league games, Nia Clouden is seventh in the league in scoring (19.4 ppg), while Matilda Ekh stands 12th (15.8 ppg). DeeDee Hagemann is second in B1G games in assists per game (6.7 apg).

2. THE HEAD-TO-HEAD

3. WHO STEPS UP TODAY?

Destiny Marshall's 10 points at No. 17/15 Maryland marked the 11th different Scarlet Knight to tied or lead Rutgers in scoring in a game this season. Nine games featured at least 10 players scoring points. With eight returners (three upperclassmen) and eight newcomers, Rutgers entered the new season with 20% of last year's scoring and 11% of last season's assists.

4. THE MILLENNIALS

The Scarlet Knights are the only team in NCAA Division I to boast five current 1,000-point scorers on the 2021-22 roster: Osh Brown (1,692), Lasha Petree (1,557), Victoria Morris (1,461), Shug Dickson (1,030), and Jailyn Mason (1,021) combining for 6,761 points.

5. NEVER OUT

Rutgers erased a 21-point deficit to tie the game at Purdue before a heartbreaking Boilermaker buzzer-beater on Jan. 2, and in the last road game, shrunk a 15-point deficit at Northwestern to one in the final minute of play before Northwestern forced two turnovers to hold on for the win. The Scarlet Knights came back from 18-down in a victory over Harvard on Nov. 19, the second-largest comeback for a win in school history. Rutgers then shrunk an 18-point deficit down to two points in a close loss to DePaul in the Virgin Islands on Thanksgiving Day.

#Trending

• Destiny Marshall scored a season-high 10 points at No. 17/15 Maryland, her most in a Rutgers uniform since joining the program before the 2020-21 season.

• Sayawni Lassiter is now ranked fifth in the Big Ten with her 1.9 steals per game.

• Tyia Singleton has blocked at least one shot in five consecutive games and ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 1.2 swats per game.

• Osh Brown's 24 points against Ohio State marked a season-high and the third 20+ point game of the season for the grad transfer.

• Rutgers enjoyed its best three-point and free throw shooting performances of the season at Northwestern, connecting on 8-of-19 for 42 percent from beyond the arc and 13-of-14 (.929) from the stripe.

• Shug Dickson's eight assists against Wagner tied her career-high from March of last season when she played for Mizzou against Alabama.

• RU held opponents an average of 12.5 points under their season scoring averages over contests from Dec. 1 to Jan. 6.

• The Rutgers defense has held opponents under their scoring average in 37 of its last 40 games, and 124 of its last 135 dating back to 2017-18.

• Rutgers' 24 assists against Delaware State were the most in a game since 25 vs. Hampton on Dec. 18, 2020.

• Rutgers ranks 19th in the country in total steals (204) and 39th in total blocks (84). Its per-game marks (4.0 blocks and 9.7 steals are both top-four in the Big Ten).

• 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 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.

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- RU -