Starting 5: Women’s Basketball vs. No. RV/25 Ohio State

On Jan 22, 2022

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women’s basketball (7-12, 0-7) hosts No. RV/25 Ohio State (14-3, 6-2) at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Sun., Jan. 23 at 1 p.m. ET live on ESPN2. The game features the Big Ten’s top scoring defense (Rutgers’ 57.1 points allowed per game) against the league’s best scoring offense (Ohio State’s 84.3 points per contest).

Watch on ESPN2 (John Brickley & Meghan McKeown)
Listen on Fox Sports Radio New Jersey 93.5 FM (Ralph Bednarczyk & Mark Peterson)
Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM (Dylan Allen & David Palumbo)

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

Ohio State is receiving votes in the AP Poll released on Monday and is ranked 25^th in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll released on Tuesday.
The Buckeyes are coming off their first ranked win of the season, a 95-89 home victory against No. 12/11 Maryland on Thursday evening.
Ohio State is the nation’s No. 3 scoring offense at 84.3 points per game, a mark that leads the Big Ten.
The Buckeyes lead NCAA Division I in three-point field goal shooting percentage at .407, led by Taylor Mikesell’s 69-of-139 performance from beyond the arc at .496.
Jacy Sheldon (20.6ppg) and Mikesell (19.5ppg) are the dual-threat offensive leaders, who both rank in the Top 25 in the country in scoring.
Rebeka Mikulasikova paces the Buckeyes on the boards with 6.3 rebounds per game. Sheldon leads the group with 3.8 assists per contest.

Rutgers has the top scoring defense in the Big Ten at 57.1 points allowed per game, trying to finish the season leading that conference category for a third consecutive year. The Scarlet Knights’ pressure up front has led to a No. 3 conference ranking with 9.8 steals per game and the presence down low has RU ranked No. 5 in the B1G in blocked shots per game at 4.1.

Osh Brown, a graduate transfer from Ball State now with 1,658 career points, is the NCAA Division I active career leader in rebounds with 1,279 and in double-doubles with 55. 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 sixth this season with 11 and 10 vs. Wisconsin.

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.

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• Last game against Wisconsin, Shug Dickson recorded 5+ assists in a game for the 12th time in her career and for the fifth time in the last eight games.

• Vs. Wisconsin, Lasha Petree made multiple 3-point field goals in a game for the seventh time this season, and third in a row against Big Ten opponents.

• 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 35 of its last 38 games, and 122 of its last 133 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 13th in the country in total steals (186) and 27th in total blocks (77). Its per-game marks (4.1 blocks and 9.8 steals are both top-five in the Big Ten).

• 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.

• 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 –