PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers men's basketball (17-11, 9-8) is back on the road for the fourth time in it's last six games. RU will take on the Nittany Lions (17-11, 8-9) at Bryce Jordan Arena at 6:30 PM on Sunday night. On the call for the Big Ten Network is Jason Horowitz and Jess Settles.

THE SERIES

Rutgers is (36-44) all-time against the Nittany Lions. RU won it's last matchup with Penn State 65-45 at Jersey Mike's Arena holding the Nittany Lions to their season low in points on Jan. 24. 

RU is (3-3) in the last six games against Penn State, with all three victories coming in Piscataway. 

Rutgers will look to win at the Bryce Jordan Center for the first time since a 64-60 victory on Jan. 26, 2019. Head Coach Steve Pikiell is (2-4) in six career games at Penn State in his time at Rutgers.

UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS AT RU

The Rutgers men's basketball program has had unprecedented success in the last four years under Steve Pikiell. The team is 71-48 in that time frame, on pace for the most wins in a 4 year span at RU since 1976. Prior to the Pikiell-era RU had not had 17 wins in a season since 2005-06.

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE

Rutgers' defense ranks in the top-20 nationally in field goal percentage defense (eigth, 38.9%), scoring defense (eighth 59.8), steals (23rd, 8.9) and three-point defense (19th, 29.9 %). RU leads the Big Ten in those categories, in addition to turnovers forced (14.75).

WITH A WIN

A victory vs Penn State would represent:
- The team's 10th win in Big Ten play. 
- Three-straight wins against Penn State.

ABOUT RUTGERS

Rutgers has been propelled by an outstanding defense. The Scarlet Knights are 17-2 when holding its opponent to 65 or fewer points and 8-1 when doing so in Big Ten games. Rutgers is 0-7  when allowing more than 65 points in Big Ten games this year. The Scarlet Knights schedule has three conference games remaining and features two  games against teams currently 9th or lower in the conference. 

Rutgers has battled injuries since losing starting junior forward Mawot Mag with a torn ACL in the first half of the game at Madison Square Garden against Michigan State on Saturday, Feb. 4. 

RUTGERS LAST TIME OUT

RU shot 38.3 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from the free throw line and scored 45 points in the 58-45 loss to the Michigan Wolverines on Thursday night.

Senior guard Cam Spencer led the way with 11 points. Senior guard Paul Mulcahy scored nine points and added six assists. Mulcahy now sits in sole possession of fourth place on the all-time assists list at Rutgers.

Junior center Clifford Omoruyi had his 12th double-double of the season with ten points and ten rebounds. Fifth-year guard/forward Caleb McConnell returned to action after missing last week's game against Wisconsin (back) and scored seven points, had five rebounds and added a pair of steals.

ABOUT PENN STATE

The Penn State men's basketball team won its third-straight game with a gritty 75-71 road victory at Ohio State Thursday night.
 
Jalen Pickett scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the final 7:15 as Penn State closed the back-and-forth game on a 14-8 run and limited the Buckeyes to just four field goals in the final 7:30.
 
Pickett finished with 23 points, 21 of which were scored in the second half after battling first-half foul trouble. Seth Lundy tallied 19 points and five rebounds in another efficient performance, while Camren Wynter had a huge game with 18 points and six rebounds.

LAST TIME VS. PENN STATE

Rutgers defeated the Nittany Lions 65-45 behind a second half performance in which forward Aundre Hyatt dropped 12 points and went on his own 8-0 run. Hyatt finished the game with 14 points and shot 6-for-12 from the field. The defense was in prime form and held Penn State to a season-low in points and three-pointers made (four).

Junior center Clifford Omoruyi had another double-double performance with 16 points and ten rebounds. Omoruyi had 12 points in the first half and shot 6-for-7 from the field in the game. Omoruyi was a force on the defensive side with a team-high three blocked shots. Senior point guard Paul Mulcahy dropped 12 points, added six assists and six boards. Fifth-year wing Caleb McConnell had ten points, seven rebounds and one steal. Junior forward Mawot Mag finished with eight points and seven boards.

MILESTONE WATCH

Paul Mulcahy enters the matchup with 428 career assists. He is now in sole possession of fourth place on RU's all-time leaderboard. 

Caleb McConnell has 205 career steals. He is six shy of Myles Mack (211) for second all-time at RU. 

Cliff Omoruyi has 112 career blocks. He needs three more to match Steve Perry (115) for ninth all-time at RU. 

Cam Spencer has 63 steals on the season. He has passed Phil Sellers' 1975-76 campaign (61) and Steve Worthy's 1992-93 season of 62 steals for sixth most in a single-season in RU history.