MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Rutgers women's basketball (8-17, 1-12) gets a road rematch with Minnesota (12-14, 5-9) at Williams Arena on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) and streaming live on B1G+. The contest is a rematch of the Golden Gophers' 62-49 victory in Piscataway on Jan. 6.

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The 5 Things to Know

1. THE SCOUT

• Minnesota has won three consecutive home games, including its last contest against Northwestern, 74-68. 
• The Gophers prevailed, 62-49, at Jersey Mike's Arena to kick off the 2022 portion of the season. In that contest, without head coach Lindsay Whalen (appendectomy), Kadi Sissoko scored all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter to help Minnesota close out Rutgers on the road for their first Big Ten win of the year. 
• As a team this season Minnesota has the second-best three-point field goal percentage in the Big Ten at 37.9 which is also good enough for seventh best in the NCAA. On average the Maroon and Gold make 8.6 threes per game, good enough for the 23rd best mark in the nation and the second best in the conference.
• Sara Scalia leads the team with 17.1 points per game, doing her damage from beyond the arc with a .418 clip from three on 84 makes this season.

2. THE HEAD-TO-HEAD

 

3. 55 ALIVE & WELL

Rutgers has the best scoring defense in the Big Ten at 58.8 points allowed per game, trying to finish the season leading that conference category for a third consecutive year. Over the past five games, Rutgers has faced three of the seven programs in the country to average more than 80.0 points per game (Maryland, Nebraska, and Ohio State) and held them an average of 21 points under their scoring averages. Rutgers has held teams an average of 17.2 points under their scoring average over the last five games.
 

4. OH MY OSH

Osh Brown, a graduate transfer from Ball State now with 1,746 career points, is the NCAA Division I active career leader in rebounds with 1,336 and in double-doubles with 58. Brown grabbed her first Rutgers double-double in grand fashion in the Paradise Jam opener with a 20-point, 20-rebound performance against DePaul, Rutgers' first 20-20 since Betnijah Laney's in 2014 against UNC. She added her ninth this season with 20 and 11 in the Penn State win.

Brown is closing in on the top 30 on the NCAA career rebounding chart (TCU's Sandora Irvin is 30th at 1,370 rebounds). She is the third player to compete for any length of time at a Big Ten school who has grabbed 1,300 rebounds.
 

5. 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 (1,746), Lasha Petree (1,599), Victoria Morris (1,487), Shug Dickson (1,047), and Jailyn Mason (1,029) combining for 6,908 points.

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• Rutgers' 28 points in the fourth quarter was its most in the final period of a game all season, and its most in a fourth quarter since scoring 28 at Iowa on Dec. 31, 2020.

• The 61-57 setback at No. 23/21 Ohio State marked Rutgers' fifth loss by five or less points in Big Ten play in 2021-22.

• Sayawni Lassiter has scored in double-figures in two consecutive games for the first time in her career. She has made eight three-point field goals over the span, shooting 62 percent from beyond the arc. Her career-high 15 points at No. 23/21 Ohio State (Feb. 7) surpassed her previous high of 13 against Harvard earlier this season.

• Rutgers' nine three-point field goals in the Penn State win were a season-high and the most for the program since nine on Feb. 17, 2021 at Minnesota.

• Tyia Singleton tied a career-high with 13 rebounds at Nebraska, last produced against Ohio State last season on March 5.

• Over the last five games, Rutgers has held opponents an average of 17.2 points under their scoring averages.

• Osh Brown's 24 points against Ohio State (Jan. 23) marked a season-high and the third of now four 20+ point games of the season for the grad transfer.

• 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 41 of its last 44 games, and 128 of its last 139 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.

• 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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