MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (Feb. 1, 2020) - Rutgers women's basketball (16-4, 6-3) visits Minnesota (13-8, 3-7) for a Big Ten road game on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) inside Williams Arena.

The Scarlet Knights begin a stretch of three out of the next four games on the road. The home team in the Scarlet Knights-Golden Gophers series has won all eight contests in a clash that Rutgers leads 4-3 since joining the Big Ten in 2015, including two of the last three.

ON THE AIR

• Watch on BTN+
• Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM (Play-by-play: Corey Jason and Keyur Palan)

THE SCOUT

• The Golden Gophers (13-8, 3-7) enjoyed an 11-1 start to the year and rocketed to No. 24 in the AP Top 25 Poll in Week 9.
• Big Ten play brought Minnesota back to Earth as the Gophers lost seven of eight before a victory against Nebraska last time out on Thursday in Williams Arena.
• Minnesota is 8-5 this season in home games, outscoring teams by an average of 74-64. After dropping the season opener at home, the Gophers won seven straight at Williams Arena, which was one off cracking the top 10 longest home win streaks in program history.
• The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank 29th in the country in free throw percentage at 75.4 percent, making 244 of 324 attempts. 
• Senior Taiye Bello has posted 10 double-doubles this year. She had a stretch of four straight at toward the end of the non-conference and now has three in her last four games
• Led by Destiny Pitts' 16.3 points per game, a total of four Golden Gophers average double-digits including Taiye Bello (12.2), Gadiva Hubbard (11.6) and Sara Scalia (11.3).

HEAD-TO-HEAD

 
 

KNIGHT NOTES

OPENING TIP: Rutgers is 16-4 to start a season for the second straight year. RU's 15-2 start was its best opening during the C. Vivian Stringer era (since 1995) and best overall since the 1990-91 squad opened 16-1.

B1G TIME: C. Vivian Stringer, the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten play with 218 victories, leads the Scarlet Knights through the conference slate one year after RU's most successful season in the league since joining in '14-15. Rutgers' 13 regular season Big Ten wins, the No. 3 B1G Tournament seed and the tourney semis finish in '18-19 were all program bests.

AG1K: Redshirt Jr. guard Arella Guirantes is the second leading scorer in the Big Ten at 19.4 points per game (24th nationally). Amid a 16-point third quarter against Michigan State on Jan. 20, Guirantes became the 39th player in Rutgers history to score her 1,000th career point in a Scarlet Knight uniform. She scored 288 at Texas Tech as a freshman, 386 as a redshirt sophomore at Rutgers, and 369 this season "On the Banks." She has been honored in six Big Ten weekly awards this year, twice as the Big Ten Player of the Week and four times on the weekly honor roll.

PLAYING B1G: Rutgers has owned the paint this season, outscoring opponents by an average of 15.2 points per game down low. The Scarlet Knights are 16-2 this season when outscoring opponents in the paint. RU has outrebounded 11 of its last 14 opponents and ranks third in the B1G in average rebounding margin at +4.6.

RESUME BUILDING: Receiving one point in this week's AP Top 25 Poll, Rutgers has been listed as receiving votes in 11 of 12 polls this season. RU is currently listed No. 39 in the RPI rankings with victories over No. 26 Purdue, No. 43 Virginia and No. 56 Nebraska and losses to No. 14 Indiana, No. 24 LSU and No. 46 Michigan.

D-FENCE: The Scarlet Knights' 16 wins have been fueled by stifling defense. RU ranks No. 7 in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .336 and No. 13 in the nation in scoring defense at 54.1 points allowed per game. RU, who leads the Big Ten in points allowed and field goal percentage defense, has held 19 of 20 opponents under its scoring average, while doing the same in 49 of its last 52 dating back to last season.

NEW-LOOK KNIGHTS: Rutgers women's basketball entered the 2019-20 season without four of the top five leaders in games started from last winter, returning 45% of its points and 35% rebounds. The eight returning Scarlet Knights (seven letterwinners) make up 29 percent of last year's games started. The projected starting lineup 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).

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 out of Neumann Goretti in Philadelphia. Blue Star Basketball ranks the class No. 5 in the nation.
 

TRENDING

• After averaging 12.6 minutes and 3.1 points per game over her first 16 contests, Zipporah Broughton has averaged 26.5 minutes over the past two and averaged 9.5 points per game over that span.

• Illinois' .264 shooting on Thursday was RU's lowest field goal percentage allowed in a Big Ten game since Michigan managed a mark of .262 on 2/8/15.

• Rutgers has swiped double-digit steals in four of the last six games and are 9-1 this season in games with 10 or more steals. 

• KK Sanders is 15 assists away from becoming the 10th player in RU history with 400.

• Rutgers' four turnovers vs. Michigan State was its lowest in a game since five against Wisconsin on Jan. 7, 2016.

• Against Michigan State, RU for a third time this season came back from down 10 points or more, but fell to 2-1 in those contests.

• At least two players have scored in double-figures in 19 of 20 games. RU is 14-1 when three or more score in double-digits.

• Tekia Mack has put together two 3-block games this season. Jordan Wallace picked up three blocks at Michigan on Sunday and Mael Gilles swatted away three shots vs. Illinois.

• Rutgers is 16-2 when scoring more points in the paint and more points off turnovers.

• The Scarlet Knights have held 49 of its last 52 opponents under their scoring average. Since the beginning of 2017-18, RU has held 78 of its last 84 opponents under their scoring average.
 

NATIONAL RANKS

Rutgers, as a team or individually, is ranked in the Top 25 in the nation in four statistical categories through games played on Jan. 23, including a pair of Top 15 marks in key defensive figures..
• Team: FG% defense (7th - .336) - Leads Big Ten
• Team: Scoring defense (13th - 54.1) - Leads Big Ten
• Arella Guirantes: Points/gm (24th - 19.4)
• Arella Guirantes: FG attempts (25th - 317)
 

UP NEXT

Rutgers returns home to the RAC to host Penn State on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in a rematch of the Scarlet Knights' 62-57 victory in University Park on Jan. 16.

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