UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team heads to Piscataway, N.J. to face Rutgers Sunday for the final regular-season game of the year. Tipoff is slated for noon and the game will air nationally on Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Big Ten Network – Jason Horowitz (pxp) & Jordan Taylor (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
- NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 380 & SXM App Ch. 970
- LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
- GAME NOTES: Penn State Notes
OPENING TIPS
- The Nittany Lions wrap up the regular season Sunday when Penn State travels to Rutgers to face the Scarlet Knights for the second time in 18 days.
- Penn State owns Big Ten wins over Iowa (71-69), Washington (63-60) and Minnesota (77-75) this season.
- Penn State's trio of Freddie Dilione V (14.0 ppg), Kayden Mingo (13.7 ppg) and Josh Reed (11.4 ppg) are all averaging double-digit points.
IF PENN STATE BEATS RUTGERS
- Penn State would earn its fourth Big Ten win of the season and second road win in conference play.
- The Nittany Lions would improve to 48-38 all-time against the Scarlet Knights.
- Penn State would wrap up the regular season with a 13-18 overall record and 4-16 mark in B1G action.
SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
- The Scarlet Knights are 12-18 on the season and 5-14 in Big Ten play heading into Sunday's regular-season finale.
- Rutgers is coming off a close 87-91 loss at #8 Michigan State Thursday night in the Scarlet Knights' most recent game.
- Rutgers is 9-7 when playing at Jersey Mike's Arena this season compared to their 3-11 record away from home.
- Tariq Francis leads the Scarlet Knights with 16.9 points per game, while Dylan Grant follows with 10.2 points per contest.
AGAINST RUTGERS
- Penn State and Rutgers meet for the second time in 18 days when the Nittany Lions travel to Piscataway, N.J. for the regular-season finale Sunday.
- The two teams met on Feb. 18 inside the Bryce Jordan Center, with the Scarlet Knights claiming an 85-72 victory. The Nittany Lions shot 68 percent from the field in the second half, but couldn't overcome a slow start that saw Rutgers own a 39-20 halftime advantage. Josh Reed led the Nittany Lions with 22 points, while Kayden Mingo scored 16 and Freddie Dilione V tallied 11 points.
- The Nittany Lions are 17-26 all-time in road games at Rutgers, with Penn State's last road victory against the Scarlet Knights coming on Dec. 10, 2024.
B1G DUBS
- Penn State has shot 52.9 percent from the field in its three Big Ten wins while limiting its opponents to a 45.0 percent clip. Josh Reed has led Penn State in its three conference wins with an average of 19.0 points per game, while Freddie Dilione V (18.7 ppg) and Kayden Mingo (12.0 ppg) follow.
- Penn State earned its first Big Ten win of the season on Feb. 1 as rookie guard Kayden Mingo scored on a game-winning left-handed scoop shot with one second left to play to lift the Nittany Lions to a gutsy 77-75 win over Minnesota inside the Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions grabbed their first road win of the conference season on Feb. 11 at Washington as the Nittany Lions limited the Huskies to a 37.7 FG% in PSU's strong defensive effort. Penn State is coming off its third Big Ten win of the year Saturday as the Nittany Lions took down Iowa, 71-69, on the back of 25 points from Josh Reed and a pair of game-winning free throws from Freddie Dilione V with 1.5 seconds left.
STASHING STEALS
- The Nittany Lions rank second in the Big Ten with 7.1 steals per game. Penn State has led the conference in steals per game in each of Mike Rhoades' two full seasons at the helm.
- Individually, Kayden Mingo leads the conference and ranks 20th nationally with 2.12 steals per game. Penn State has also had the Big Ten's individual steals leader in each of the last two seasons, as two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Ace Baldwin Jr. led the conference in steals in 2024-25 (2.4 spg) and 2023-24 (2.7 spg).
ONE OF ONE
- Rookie guard Kayden Mingo is the ONLY freshman in the country averaging 13+ points (13.7 ppg), 4+ assists (4.3 apg), 3+ rebounds (3.3 rpg) and 2+ steals (2.12 spg) per game through games on March 5.
JUMP FOR JOSH
- Senior Josh Reed was relied upon as a key defensive player in his three seasons at Cincinnati, averaging just 2.8 points per game through 97 career games with the Bearcats, but has enjoyed a breakout season in the Blue & White in 2025-26.
- Reed is averaging 11.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game through 30 games this season. He has scored in double figures in 19 games this season, including each of the last 13 contests, after coming to Penn State with just seven career double-digit scoring games through his three seasons at Cincinnati. Reed put together a career-high 25-point performance in Penn State's win over Iowa on Feb. 28.
- Reed has averaged 14.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while shooting 52.8 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from 3-point range over the last 14 games.
MINGO MAKING HIS MARK
- Rookie Kayden Mingo is the third-highest scoring freshman in the Big Ten. He leads the Nittany Lions in assists (4.3 apg) and steals (2.12 spg), while ranking second on the team in scoring (13.7 ppg) and ranking third on the team in rebounds (3.3 rpg).
- He has scored in double figures in 19 of 26 games, including three 20-plus point efforts. Mingo leads the Big Ten and ranks 20th nationally with 2.12 steals per game and he collected a single-game program record-tying eight steals against Sacred Heart on Nov. 29.
- Mingo scored the game-winning shot with a second to play in Penn State's first Big Ten win of the season against Minnesota on Feb. 1.
- Mingo, the highest-ranked recruit in program history, was named an ESPN Top 50 Impact Newcomer in late October. He was ranked as the No. 34 recruit nationally per 247Sports & No. 39 recruit nationally per ESPN out of high school. He was named the 2025 New York Gatorade Player of the Year following standout senior season at Long Island Lutheran.
BIG FELLA BATTLING
- Freshman Ivan Jurić leads the team with a 56.9 (95-167) field goal percentage while averaging 9.5 points and a team-best 5.2 rebounds per game.
- Jurić owns 13 double-digit scoring efforts and put together a career-best 20-point performance against #2 Michigan on Jan. 6. He owns two double-doubles in Big Ten play (at Ohio State and at #9 Nebraska).
UP NEXT
- Penn State turns its attention to the Big Ten Tournament, which will be held March 10-15 at the United Center in Chicago.
- The Nittany Lions will open postseason action on Tuesday, March 10, at approximately 7:30 p.m. Penn State’s first-round opponent and final seeding will be decided upon the conclusion of this weekend’s regular-season games. All information on the 2026 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament can be found at Tournament Central.