PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers is right back at Jersey Mike's Arena on Wednesday night, as the team will host a late-night meeting with Penn State (8:30 p.m., Big Ten Network). Rutgers will face Penn State, looking for their fourth straight win over Penn State.

Wednesday's game has been declared as a Stripe Out. Fans are encouraged to wear red or white based on their seat location. All fans located in an EVEN section of Jersey Mike's Arena are encouraged to wear white , and all fans located in ODD sections are encouraged to wear RED.
 

About Rutgers

Rutgers stands at 10-9 overall and 2-6 in the league following a Sunday afternoon battle with No. 2 Purdue. The Scarlet Knights shot 50 percent in the second half (15-of-30 from the field and 4-of-8 from long-range), and outrebounded the visitors, 36-32, but were unable to overcome a 13-point halftime deficit after the team shot just 9-of-34 (26%) from the field and 0-of-8 from three-point range before the intermission. Despite reigning national Player of the Year Zach Edey posting 26 points, RU's defense did a good job, including limiting Purdue's second leading scorer, Lance Jones, to 1-of-10 shooting and holding the nation's number 7 scoring offense to their second-lowest mark of the season, along with their lowest rebounding total. RU held a 15-6 margin on the offensive boards but had a season-low one block. The Scarlet Knights took just their second home loss of the season, falling to 2-5 since the 2024 calendar year, 5-8 since the team's 5-1 start, and 4-8 against Power 6 league teams this season.

In the national rankings, Rutgers is in the top-30 in blocks (16^th, 5.3 bpg), offensive rebounds (27^th, 13.21) and turnover margin (30^th, 3.5). The Scarlet Knights are in the top-three in the league stats in those statistical categories, along with turnovers forced (second, 15.05), field goal percentage defense (second, 40.2%), scoring defense (third, 66.6) and rebounds (third, 39.00). Per KenPom, the Scarlet Knights have the top non-steal turnover percentage in the nation (first at 11.6), and are 10^th in adjusted efficiency (93.8) and 11^th in block percentage (15.1).
 

About Penn State

Under first-year head coach Mike Rhoades, Penn State holds a 9-11 overall record and 3-6 Big Ten record. Rhoades took the helm at PSU following a six-year stint at VCU, where he made three NCAA appearances and had a 129-60 record.

Penn State holds a ranked win (at home over Wisconsin), but that is their only win in their last five games. PSU is 2-5 since the start of the month and 5-11 since November 17. As a team, PSU leads the Big Ten in steals, turnover margin and turnovers forced.

Sophomore Kayne Clary leads the team at 18.4 points per game (fifth in the Big Ten) after scoring just 3.7 points per game as a freshman for the Nittany Lions last season. Ace Baldwin, who was a two-time all-conference pick, including the A-10 Player and Defensive Player of the Year last season for Rhoades at VCU, averaged 13.2 points and has a team-high 97 assists. Baldwin is sixth nationally with 2.75 steals per game (first in the league). Georgetown/Maryland transfer Qudus Wahab averages 9.3 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds. Puff Johnson, a UNC transfer, is first nationally in turnover rate per KenPom.
 

About the Series

Penn State leads the all-time series, 44-37, against the Nittany Lions. Rutgers has won the past three games against the Nittany Lions. The 37 wins over PSU is fourth most wins for the program against any one foe, and most over any Big Ten team (behind just Lehigh, Lafayette and Princeton).

In the last meeting, coming at the end of February last season at the Bryce Jordan Center, Rutgers men's basketball pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in school history on Sunday night in Happy Valley. Propelled by a career-high 16 points from freshman guard Derek Simpson, RU had a 19-point comeback to beat Penn State 59-56. The victory marked the biggest comeback win at RU since 1996. RU is 4-3 in the last seven games against Penn State and 7-8 against PSU as conference foes since joining the Big Ten in 2015.
 

Milestone Tracker

Cliff Omoruyi (850 career rebounds) needs 10 rebounds to tie Hollis Copeland for 6^th all-time at RU and 20 rebounds to tie Roy Hinson for fifth all-time at RU.

Omoruyi (1,126) is within striking distance of Don Parsons (1,140, 30^th), Steve Kaplan (1,154, 29^th) and Bob Graecen (1,154, 28^th) on RU's all-time scoring list.

Omoruyi has 59 blocks this season. With one more block, he moves into 19th on RU's single season list, and can move into a tie for 18th with two blocks. 

With his next block, he will become the first Scarlet Knight with consecutive seasons of 60+ blocks since Hamady Ndiaye (2008-09 and 2009-10).
 

With a Win

• Head coach Steve Pikiell would earn his 128^th win as the head coach of Rutgers, tying Bob Wenzel for the third most wins of any Rutgers' men's basketball head coach.
• Improving to 10-2 this season at home, 24-8 over the past two seasons, 33-12 over the past here seasons and 52-13 over the past four seasons.
• Four straight wins against PSU.
• 38 wins all-time against Penn State and 5-3 in the last eight games against the Nittany Lions.

 

Up Next

Following the two-game home swing, Rutgers' returns to the road for the first time since January 21 with two straight games away from the friendly confines of Jersey Mike's Arena. RU plays next at Michigan (Saturday February 3, 4 pm at the Crisler Center) and Maryland (Tuesday, February 6, 6:30 p.m. at the XFinity Center).