Penn State is still in search of its first win outside Pennsylvania as it begins a two-game road stretch Wednesday against Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J.
Penn State (9-11, 3-6 Big Ten) has dropped four of its past five games overall and Rutgers (10-9, 2-6) has lost three of four, making this a matchup of bottom-feeders with dim postseason hopes as February arrives.
The Nittany Lions are 0-4 in true road games, a category that doesn’t count a 79-73 win over Michigan on Jan. 7 at the famed Palestra in Philadelphia. Penn State follows the Rutgers game with a visit to Indiana on Saturday.
“You got to get to a point to become a very good program in your conference, you have to go on the road and beat people,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades told reporters. “We haven’t done that yet.”
Penn State’s most recent attempt to do so ended in a 79-67 loss at Ohio State on Jan. 20. One week later, the Nittany Lions were at home but blew a 47-31 second-half lead and lost 83-74 to Minnesota.
Ace Baldwin Jr. led Penn State in that game Saturday with 16 points and six assists. He’s second on the team in scoring (13.2 points per game) behind only Kanye Clary’s 18.4, but Rhoades said Clary is day-to-day after the guard collided with an opposing player late against Minnesota.
Rutgers fell 68-60 to No. 2 Purdue at home on Sunday but is 9-2 in its building this season.
Aundre Hyatt, who leads Rutgers with 12.4 points per game, scored a team-high 15 against Purdue. Cliff Omoruyi, going up against reigning national player of the year Zach Edey, came away with 13 points and six rebounds.
Omoruyi ranks third nationally with 3.1 blocked shots per game.
“People don’t realize, (but) Cliff has come a long, long way,” Scarlet Knights coach Steve Pikiell said. “His freshman year, he led the league in fouls per minute and now he’s one of the best defenders in the country. So to flip the script in three years and now to be a presence on that end of the floor, I think he’s one of the elite defenders in the country.”
The center’s matchup against Penn State will be Qudus Wahab, who averages 9.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.
–Field Level Media