Pondexter Jersey Retirement During ACC/B1G Challenge With Duke
Nov 29 | Women's Basketball
| Game Seven: Duke (7-1, 0-0 ACC) | |
| Date | Thursday, Dec. 1 |
| Time | 7:00 p.m. EST |
| Location | The RAC | Piscataway, N.J. |
| Video | BTN Plus (Lou Brogno & Cathy Andruzzi) |
| Radio | Rutgers IMG Radio Network - WCTC 1450 AM (Ralph Bednarczyk & Mark Peterson) WRSU 88.7 FM (Matt Salvatore and Jake Ostrove) |
| Live Stats | |
| Game Notes | Rutgers ( Big Ten) | Duke ( ACC) |
| Stats | Rutgers | Duke |
| Tickets | ScarletKnights.com/Tickets |
| Promotions | Cappie Pondexter Jersey Retirement Cappie Pondexter T-Shirt For First 500 Fans $25 Family Four Pack (4 Tickets, 4 Hot Dogs, 4 Sodas) $5 Faculty Staff/Discount Healthcare Appreciation & First Responders Night |
>> More On Cappie Pondexter
UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
Rutgers continues its homestand on Thursday hosting the Duke Blue Devils in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. RU will be participating in its third challenge since joining the Big Ten in 2014.
At halftime, the Scarlet Knights will retire Rutgers great Cappie Pondexter's No. 25 jersey.
The Scarlet Knights kicked off its current four-game homestand snapping a five-game losing streak with a 50-42 victory over Bryant for the first win of the 2016-17 campaign. Kandiss Barber collected a season-high 14 points, while Aliyah Jeune contributed 11 points to go along with a career-high seven assists.
ABOUT DUKE
The Blue Devils are 7-1 on the season, having won three-straight after its lone loss of the year, a 77-73 road setback at Vanderbilt. Since then, Duke has rattled off three-straight wins including victories over Long Beach State (83-46) and Pepperdine (99-65) in a California swing during the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Blue Devils have a trio averaging double digits led by redshirt junior guard Rebecca Greenwell at 22.0 ppg to go along with a team-leading 6.8 rpg. Greenwell, who is 11th nationally in scoring, was a Preseason All-ACC Team selection. Junior guard Lexie Brown, suiting up in her first season after sitting out last season following her transfer from Maryland, is pouring in 18.4 ppg, while rookie forward Leaonna Odom is netting 10.1 ppg.
Duke was picked to finished sixth in the Preseason ACC Poll after closing out last season at 20-12 overall.
Head coach Joanne P. McCallie is in her 10th season at Duke. She has guided the Blue Devils to three ACC Championships over the last seven years.
MEMORIES OF 2007
Thursday's game may bring back memories of Rutgers' 2007 Final Four season as the Duke Blue Devils play a big role in the story.
The fourth-seeded Scarlet Knights defeated the top-seeded Blue Devils, 53-52, in the 2007 NCAA regional semifinals enroute to its NCAA Championship game appearance. Epiphanny Prince stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for the go-ahead score, while ACC Player of the Year Lindsey Harding had an opportunity to win the game for the Blue Devils, but missed two from the free throw line with one-tenth of a second showing on the clock. The same Duke squad had beaten the Scarlet Knights by 40 points, 85-45, in RU's home opener earlier in the season.
ACC A PLENTY
Of the 11 nonconference games on the Scarlet Knights' schedule, three hail from the Atlantic Coast Conference in Virginia, Wake Forest and Duke.
ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE RECAPS
The Scarlet Knights are looking for their first win in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge after joining the Big Ten in the summer of 2014.
RU's first challenge appearance in 2014 with North Carolina proved to be one of the most exciting matchups of the year. The Tar Heels needed double overtime to get past the Scarlet Knights as former Rutgers forward and second round WNBA draftee Betnijah Laney scored not only her 1,000th career point, but set the RAC rebounding record (men and women) with 24 boards.
The Scarlet Knights, who had the nation's longest active win streak entering the game with the Tar Heels with 12-straight wins dating back to the 2014 WNIT Championship run, fell 96-93.
Last season, Rutgers snapped a four-game win-streak with a 65-43 loss at No. 13/14 Florida State. In the loss, Tyler Scaife led RU with 10 points, while former Scarlet Knight Ariel Butts was just short of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIEND ALIYAH
Aliyah Jeune set a new career-high with seven helpers in RU's victory over Bryant on Sunday afternoon. It was the most assists by a Scarlet Knight since Briyona Canty's 12 assists in an overtime loss at Purdue on Feb. 25, 2016.
Jeune, whose previous career-high was three last captured in RU's loss at Wake Forest on Nov. 17, is averaging 2.3 assists per game.
The younger Jeune sister is also tied with teammate KK Sanders for third in the Big Ten in steals per game averaging 2.3 thefts per contest.
DRAWING CLOSE TO THAT DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Desiree Keeling has narrowly missed out on her first career double-double in the last two contests. Last Friday at Princeton, the sophomore put up seven points and nine rebounds, while in Sunday's victory over Bryant, Keeling collected eight points and nine rebounds.
Keeling has set new career benchmarks in rebounding in three of the six games so far this season.
After grabbing five rebounds in the season opener with Chattanooga, she followed with eight against Elon and registered 11 boards in the next game against Wake Forest.
To date, the Roanoke, Virginia native leads RU at 7.7 rpg and is eighth in the Big Ten in the category.
PROTECTING HOMECOURT
The Scarlet Knights have had an outstanding track record of success at home. The Scarlet Knights went 12-5 at home in 2015-16, with four of the five setbacks against team featured in the polls (Top 25 - Ohio State, Maryland, Michigan State; Receiving Votes - St. John's; Not Ranked: Virginia).
Since the 2002-03 season, the Scarlet Knights have gone 174-35 (.833) at the RAC.
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