PISCATAWAY, N.J. -  The Rutgers women's basketball team will play its next two games on the road beginning with Wednesday night matchup at Illinois at 8 p.m. at the State Farm Center.

HOW TO WATCH
Wednesday's game will be streamed on BTN Plus.

To learn more about BTN Plus and BTN2Go, click here.

ON THE AIRWAVES
Wednesday's game air will on WRSU, the Rutgers student radio station with Tevin Johnson-Smith & Stephen Nelson on the call.

BACK OUT ON THE ROAD
The Rutgers women's team is hot and on a roll, taking its six-game win streak onto the road this week for games at Illinois on Wednesday and Nebraska on Sunday.

The Scarlet Knights won their eighth-straight home contest putting away Penn State, 74-62. It was the largest come-from-behind win of the season for RU, who trailed 29-19 with 7:31 left in the second quarter.

Redshirt sophomore guard Arella Guirantes paced Rutgers with a career-high 24 points and narrowly missed her first career double-double ending the game with nine rebounds. Guirantes has combined for only 15 points in the previous three contests in games with Maryland, Brown and Penn State.

RU also made its debut in both polls this week, receiving votes in both. The Scarlet Knights check in at No. 27 in the Associated Press Poll, while landing at No. 31 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

ABOUT ILLINOIS
The Fighting Illini snapped a three-game skid on Sunday picking up a 66-62 win at No. 12/13 Minnesota to improve to 9-5 overall and 1-2 in Big Ten play. It was the squad's first win over a ranked opponent since 2015 and first win over a top 15 program since 2014.

Illinois is led by senior forward Alex Wittinger at 16.1 points per game to go along with a team-leading 8.4 rebounds per game. Last season, Wittinger was a Second Team All-Big Selection behind 15.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per outing.

Junior guard Brandi Beasley is the Fighting Illini's other double figure scorer at 10.9 points per contest. She was a member of the 2017 Big Ten All-Freshman team.

LAST TIME VS. ILLINOIS
Rutgers, ranked at No. 25 in the Coaches Poll, made it 10-straight victories with a 76-37 routing of Illinois at the RAC on Jan. 3, 2018.

Nigia Greene posted a career- and game-high 18 points. Tyler Scaife rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 points. Caitlin Jenkins pulled in 10 boards in the win.

Illinois was paced by Alex Wittinger with 16 points and eight rebounds in the loss. The Fighting Illini's second-leading scorer, Brandi Beasley, who entered Wednesday's contest averaging 13.1 points per game, was held scoreless going 0-of-9 from the field. 

SCORING MILESTONES TO WATCH
While it was head coach C. Vivian Stringer with her 1,000th victory earlier this season, two Scarlet Knights are nearing the 1,000 milestone in scoring.

Redshirt senior forward Stasha Carey is 24 points away from joining the 1,000-point career club, while graduate student guard Sierra Calhoun is 85 points away from the milestone.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Thru the 14 games of the season, Rutgers ranks among the top 25 nationally in two categories.

The Scarlet Knights are checking in eighth nationally in scoring defense (52.1) and seventh nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.329)

B1G SPEAKING
Among conference peers, Rutgers currently ranks:

Scoring Defense - 1st - 52.1
Field Goal Pct. Defense  - 1st - .329
Steals  - 1st  - 10.9

The following Scarlet Knights are ranked among conference peers:
Victoria Harris  - 3rd - Steals  - 2.2
Stasha Carey - 9th - Steals  - 1.5 
Caitlin Jenkins - 10th - Rebounding  - 7.9

FREE POINTS
Rutgers has been finding success from the free throw line over the last three games. 

Including Sunday's mark of 15-of-17 (.822) from the stripe against Penn State, RU has missed only five shots from the line going 43-of-48 for a .896 clip.

D-D-D-DEFENSE
The defense turned up the pressure last season  leading the Big Ten in scoring defense holding opponents to just 59.3 points per game. 

Twenty-nine of RU's 32 opponents were held under their scoring average.
 

	Avg. Total Points Entering Game	Total Points vs. Rutgers
JMU	70.2	63
Temple	96.0	67
Charlotte	70.5	54
Wake Forest	71.7	51
South Carolina	88.2	78
Washington St.	69.7	64
Siena	67.3	63
NC State	71.9	53
Virginia	63.2	43
Seton Hall	81.1	45
FDU	63.0	35
Princeton	65.8	50
Houston	73.9	57
Purdue	68.8	50
Michigan State	79.6	58
Illinois	64.8	37
Penn State	70.4	65
Purdue	66.1	47
Minnesota	86.2	70
Penn State	70.1	70
Nebraska	70.9	52
Indiana	68.2	64
Maryland	85.1	88
Michigan	77.1	56
Ohio State	85.7	90
Maryland	84.0	72
Wisconsin	60.9	50
Iowa	79.7	77
Northwestern	62.1	63
Purdue (B1G)	66.3	60
Ohio State (B1G)	85.3	82

So far in 2018-19, the trend has held steady with all 14 opponents under their scoring average. 
 

	Avg. Total Points Entering Game	Total Points vs. Rutgers
St. Francis (Pa)	80.9	52
Stony Brook	62.6	47
CCSU	62.5	44
Albany	43.7	39
Drake	82.5	69
Gonzaga	68.8	57
ETSU	61.7	44
Va. Tech	78.3	67
Harvard	68.3	49
LSU	63.9	43
Northwestern	71.5	41
Maryland	78.2	65
Brown	76.0	52
Penn State	70.8	61

UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights are back out to the Midwest on Sunday for a meeting with Nebraska on BTN with Mike Monaco and Vera Jones on the call.

Follow Rutgers women's basketball at www.ScarletKnights.com and (@RutgersWBB) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all of the latest news and updates. For additional updates, download the Rutgers Gameday App.