Thursday, December 5
Piscataway, N.J.
6:00 PM (ET)
Rutgers University
vs
Virginia
Game 8: Women's Hoops vs. Virginia in B1G/ACC Challenge
Dec 04 | Women's Basketball
Game NotesLive StatsWatch on BTN+Listen on WCTCListen on WRSUB1G/ACC Challenge CentralRoster CardTickets
Scarlet Knights represent the Big Ten in the 13th annual cross-conference challenge
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Dec. 4, 2019) - Rutgers women's basketball (6-1) represents the B1G against Virginia (4-4) on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. at the RAC in the 13th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The game will air live on Big Ten Network with Jason Horowitz on the play-by-play and Julianne Viani on color analysis.
In their last game, Rutgers dispatched of the ACC's Georgia Tech to claim the 2019 Junkanoo Jam championship on the island of Bimini in the Bahamas. Rutgers is seeking its second win in the last three Big Ten/ACC Challenges, and looks to improve on a 1-4 record in the cross-conference event in its sixth year playing for the B1G.
JAMMIN: Rutgers defeated Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech to claim the 2019 Junkanoo Jam championship on the island of Bimini in the Bahamas during Feast Week, led by Tournament MVP Arella Guirantes and All-Tournament Team selection Tekia Mack. It marks Rutgers' second Junkanoo Jam title in as many tries, joining the 2005 trophy obtained by C. Vivian Stringer and Tournament MVP/future WNBA superstar Cappie Pondexter.
B1G HONORS: Redshirt junior guard Arella Guirantes has been honored by the Big Ten in three of the first four weeks of the season. Guirantes is the reigning Big Ten Women's Basketball Player of the Week after earning Junkanoo Jam MVP honors averaging a double-double of 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game during the title run. She earned the first Big Ten Player of the Week honor of the season in November, making her the first Scarlet Knight to earn multiple Big Ten weekly awards since 2014. Guirantes followed that up with a mention on the Big Ten Honor Roll in Week 2 with 21.5 points and nine rebounds per game. Guiratnes leads the Big Ten in scoring with 19.3 points per game, nearly two points per contest more than the runner-up.
#KKTOP10: Graduate student guard Khadaizha "KK" Sanders shifted the momentum in the Vanderbilt victory by hitting a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer to cut the Commodores' lead from four to one. The play was featured at No. 4 in ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays on the Thanksgiving evening edition of the flagship program.
D-FENCE: The Scarlet Knights started 6-1 for the first time since 2014 behind stifling defense. RU ranks No. 1 in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .281 and fourth in the nation in scoring defense at 47.9 points allowed per game. Rutgers leads the Big Ten in those crucial defensive categories, along with its 31.0 defensive rebounds per game. RU has held all seven opponents under its scoring average, and have done the same in 37 of its last 39 dating back to the start of last season.
NEW-LOOK KNIGHTS: Rutgers women's basketball enters the 2019-20 season without four of the top five leaders in games started from last winter, while returning 45% of its points and 35% of its rebounds. The eight returning Scarlet Knights (seven letterwinners) make up 29 percent of last year's games started. The first six starting lineups with last year's number of starts in parantheses: Khadaizha Sanders (0 – injury), Arella Guirantes (21), Tekia Mack (2), Mael Gilles (9) and Jordan Wallace (0).
SPEAKING OF THE STARTERS: The aforementioned Sanders (16), Guirantes (17), Mack (21), Gilles (16) and Wallace (10) all scored in double-figures against Coppin St., marking the first time all five RU starters scored in double-digits since Dec. 20, 2013.
FUTURE IS BRIGHT: C. Vivian Stringer and her staff have secured the No. 8 nationally ranked recruiting class for 2020 according to ESPN, led by the signing of No. 6 ranked prospect Diamond Johnson. Blue Star Basketball ranks the class No. 5 in the nation.
• The last two years have seen some of the most competitive games in the history of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. In 2017 (won by the ACC, 10-4), 10 of the 14 games were decided by 10 points or fewer, including four decided by one point (with Big Ten schools leading or tied in the fourth quarter of eight games). Last season (won by the ACC, 8-6), seven games were decided by 11 points or fewer, including two one-possession games and the first OT Challenge game since 2016 (Clemson over Illinois, 69-67).
• Rutgers is 1-4 in the Challenge, while Virginia comes in at 5-7 with six straight losses.
• Rutgers is 6-0 when scoring more points in the paint and more points off turnovers than its opponents.
• Rutgers' highest field goal percentage allowed in a game this season is .350 in its lone loss of the season at now-No. 25 ranked LSU.
• The Scarlet Knights have held 37 of its last 39 opponents under their scoring average. Since the beginning of 2017-18, RU has held 65 of its last 70 opponents under their scoring average.
• The victory over Georgia Tech marked Rutgers' third comeback for a win after trailing by six points or more this season after erasing an eight-point deficit against Harvard and an 11-point disadvantage to Vanderbilt.
• Maori Davenport established an early career high with six rebounds at LSU, the first time she led Rutgers in rebounding.
• Arella Guirantes and Tekia Mack have each scored in double-figures in all seven contests.
• Against Harvard, three players recorded double-doubles in the same game for the first time since the 2018-19 season opener against St. Francis. It was Arella Guirantes' fourth career double-double (19pts, 11reb), Tekia Mack's second (10pts, 10reb) and Jordan Wallace's first (14pts, 10reb).
• Playing in her 97th career game, Sanders' six steals vs. Harvard were a career high and the most by a Rutgers player this season.
Rutgers, as a team, is ranked in the Top 25 in the nation in four statistical categories through games played on Dec. 3, including leading the nation in field goal percentage defense.
• Team: FG% defense (1st - .281)
• Team: 3FG% defense (3rd - .198)
• Team: Scoring defense (4th - 47.9)
• Team: Defensive rebounds/gm (17th - 31.0)
Rutgers continues a four-game home stand leading up to Christmas on Sunday, Dec. 8 against Towson at 2 p.m. at the RAC.
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
In their last game, Rutgers dispatched of the ACC's Georgia Tech to claim the 2019 Junkanoo Jam championship on the island of Bimini in the Bahamas. Rutgers is seeking its second win in the last three Big Ten/ACC Challenges, and looks to improve on a 1-4 record in the cross-conference event in its sixth year playing for the B1G.
| THE SCOUT |
- The Cavaliers (4-4) are playing .500 basketball, but three of their four losses have come to teams ranked in the nation's Top 25 - vs. No. 13 Kentucky (50-47), at No. 4 UConn (83-44) and vs. No. 11 UCLA (73-62).
- UVA defeated James Madison last Saturday, 55-49, by erasing an eight-point deficit with just over eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
- New Jersey native Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) ranks second in the ACC in scoring at 18.5 points per game and is seventh in rebounding at 9.3 per game. She scored 50 points and grabbed 26 rebounds in last weekend's Cavalier Classic.
- Virginia is proficient at getting to the free throw line, and converting the freebies. UVA ranks 24th in the nation with 116 made free throws and comes in at second in the ACC with its .739 free throw percentage.
| HEAD-TO-HEAD |
| KNIGHT NOTES |
B1G HONORS: Redshirt junior guard Arella Guirantes has been honored by the Big Ten in three of the first four weeks of the season. Guirantes is the reigning Big Ten Women's Basketball Player of the Week after earning Junkanoo Jam MVP honors averaging a double-double of 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game during the title run. She earned the first Big Ten Player of the Week honor of the season in November, making her the first Scarlet Knight to earn multiple Big Ten weekly awards since 2014. Guirantes followed that up with a mention on the Big Ten Honor Roll in Week 2 with 21.5 points and nine rebounds per game. Guiratnes leads the Big Ten in scoring with 19.3 points per game, nearly two points per contest more than the runner-up.
#KKTOP10: Graduate student guard Khadaizha "KK" Sanders shifted the momentum in the Vanderbilt victory by hitting a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer to cut the Commodores' lead from four to one. The play was featured at No. 4 in ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays on the Thanksgiving evening edition of the flagship program.
D-FENCE: The Scarlet Knights started 6-1 for the first time since 2014 behind stifling defense. RU ranks No. 1 in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .281 and fourth in the nation in scoring defense at 47.9 points allowed per game. Rutgers leads the Big Ten in those crucial defensive categories, along with its 31.0 defensive rebounds per game. RU has held all seven opponents under its scoring average, and have done the same in 37 of its last 39 dating back to the start of last season.
NEW-LOOK KNIGHTS: Rutgers women's basketball enters the 2019-20 season without four of the top five leaders in games started from last winter, while returning 45% of its points and 35% of its rebounds. The eight returning Scarlet Knights (seven letterwinners) make up 29 percent of last year's games started. The first six starting lineups with last year's number of starts in parantheses: Khadaizha Sanders (0 – injury), Arella Guirantes (21), Tekia Mack (2), Mael Gilles (9) and Jordan Wallace (0).
SPEAKING OF THE STARTERS: The aforementioned Sanders (16), Guirantes (17), Mack (21), Gilles (16) and Wallace (10) all scored in double-figures against Coppin St., marking the first time all five RU starters scored in double-digits since Dec. 20, 2013.
FUTURE IS BRIGHT: C. Vivian Stringer and her staff have secured the No. 8 nationally ranked recruiting class for 2020 according to ESPN, led by the signing of No. 6 ranked prospect Diamond Johnson. Blue Star Basketball ranks the class No. 5 in the nation.
| #WB1GACC |
• Rutgers is 1-4 in the Challenge, while Virginia comes in at 5-7 with six straight losses.
| TRENDING |
• Rutgers' highest field goal percentage allowed in a game this season is .350 in its lone loss of the season at now-No. 25 ranked LSU.
• The Scarlet Knights have held 37 of its last 39 opponents under their scoring average. Since the beginning of 2017-18, RU has held 65 of its last 70 opponents under their scoring average.
• The victory over Georgia Tech marked Rutgers' third comeback for a win after trailing by six points or more this season after erasing an eight-point deficit against Harvard and an 11-point disadvantage to Vanderbilt.
• Maori Davenport established an early career high with six rebounds at LSU, the first time she led Rutgers in rebounding.
• Arella Guirantes and Tekia Mack have each scored in double-figures in all seven contests.
• Against Harvard, three players recorded double-doubles in the same game for the first time since the 2018-19 season opener against St. Francis. It was Arella Guirantes' fourth career double-double (19pts, 11reb), Tekia Mack's second (10pts, 10reb) and Jordan Wallace's first (14pts, 10reb).
• Playing in her 97th career game, Sanders' six steals vs. Harvard were a career high and the most by a Rutgers player this season.
| NATIONAL RANKS |
• Team: FG% defense (1st - .281)
• Team: 3FG% defense (3rd - .198)
• Team: Scoring defense (4th - 47.9)
• Team: Defensive rebounds/gm (17th - 31.0)
| UP NEXT |
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- RU -
Players Mentioned
C
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F/G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballWomen’s Basketball Post Game Press Conference - Lafayette
Saturday, December 20
Women’s Basketball Post Game Press Conference - Saint Peter’s
Sunday, November 30
Women's Basketball Postgame Press Conference - Northeastern
Saturday, November 29
Women's Basketball Postgame Press Conference - Siena
Tuesday, November 25
