Wednesday, February 19
Evanston, IL
8:00 PM (ET)
Rutgers University
at
No. 18/20 Northwestern
Game 26: Women's Hoops at No. 18/20 Northwestern
Feb 19 | Women's Basketball
Scarlet Knights get their third chance at a nationally ranked Top 25 team
EVANSTON, Ill. (Feb. 18, 2020) - Rutgers women's basketball (18-7, 8-6) plays its final road game of the regular season at No. 18/20 Northwestern on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Getting its third chance against a Top 25 nationally ranked opponent this season, the Scarlet Knights bring the conference's top-ranked defense into the road test. Northwestern is ranked second in scoring defense, while leading the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio.
STATE OF SUCCESS: Boosted by a 15-2 start to the season - Rutgers' best to open a campaign since the 1990-91 squad started 16-1 - the Scarlet Knights have clinched their third straight winning regular season and 16th in the last 17 years under Hall of Fame head coach C. Vivian Stringer.
B1G TIME: C. Vivian Stringer, the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten play with 220 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.
OK, KK!: Senior point guard Khadaizha "KK" Sanders is three assists away from becoming the 10th player in Rutgers women's basketball history to reach the 400 career assists mark.
AG1K: Redshirt junior guard Arella Guirantes is the second leading scorer in the Big Ten at 19.3 points per game (21st nationally). Guirantes became the 38th player in Rutgers history to score her 1,000th career point in a Scarlet Knight uniform, and is now the 31st highest scorer to play for Rutgers. She scored 288 at Texas Tech as a freshman, 386 as a sophomore at Rutgers, and 463 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 13.0 points per game down low. The Scarlet Knights are 17-4 this season when outscoring opponents in the paint. RU has outrebounded 14 of its last 19 opponents and ranks fourth in the B1G in average rebounding margin at +4.4.
RESUME BUILDING: Rutgers has received votes in 12 of 16 AP Top 25 Polls this season. RU is currently listed No. 47 in the RPI rankings with victories over No. 34 Purdue, No. 35 Michigan and No. 51 Virginia, with losses to No. 18 Indiana, No. 26 LSU and No. 35 Michigan.
D-FENCE: The Scarlet Knights' 18 wins have been fueled by stifling defense. RU ranks No. 9 in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .339 and No. 15 in the nation in scoring defense at 54.8 points allowed per game. RU leads the Big Ten in points allowed and field goal percentage defense, and has held 24 of 25 opponents under their scoring averages, while doing the same in 54 of its last 57 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.
• Mael Gilles' 14 points in the Michigan win were a Big Ten career-high for the junior, while her four blocks also established a career best.
• Arella Guirantes has 11 20-or-more point games this season, and 15 for her career.
• Jordan Wallace surpassed her previous career-high point total of 16 with seven minutes to go in the second quarter at MSU on Thursday.
• Tekia Mack is Rutgers' leading passer over the past seven games with 25 assists (3.6 per game), including a career-high 7 vs. Penn State.
• RU's +23 rebounding (42-19) margin against Penn State was the program's highest in a B1G game since joining the conference in 2014-15.
• Penn State's 39 points was Rutgers' second lowest allowed since joining the Big Ten. It was the lowest allowed since Illinois' 37 in 2018.
• Illinois' .264 shooting on Jan. 30 was RU's lowest field goal percentage allowed in a Big Ten game since Michigan managed a mark of .262 on 2/8/15.
• KK Sanders is 3 assists away from becoming the 10th player in RU history with 400.
• At least two players have scored in double-figures in 24 of 25 games.
• RU is 16-2 when three or more score in double-digits.
• Rutgers is 17-4 when scoring more points in the paint and 18-4 with more points off turnovers.
• The Scarlet Knights have held 54 of its last 57 opponents under their scoring average. Since the beginning of 2017-18, RU has held 83 of its last 89 opponents under their scoring average.
Rutgers, as a team or individually, is ranked in the Top 25 in the nation in five statistical categories through games played on Feb. 17, including a pair of Top 15 marks in key defensive figures.
• Team: FG% defense (9th - .339)
• Team: Scoring defense (15th - 54.8)
• Arella Guirantes: FT attemtps (17th - 155)
• Arella Guirantes: FG made (20th - 120)
• Arella Guirantes: Points/gm (21st - 19.3)
Rutgers plays its final three regular season games at home, starting with Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. at the RAC, airing live on Big Ten Network.
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Getting its third chance against a Top 25 nationally ranked opponent this season, the Scarlet Knights bring the conference's top-ranked defense into the road test. Northwestern is ranked second in scoring defense, while leading the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio.
| ON THE AIR |
- Watch on BTN+
- Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM (Play-by-play: Chris Tsakonas)
| THE SCOUT |
- The Wildcats (22-3, 12-2) are in second place in the Big Ten approaching the home stretch, and are tied with Maryland in the loss column for the top spot.
- Northwestern has won five straight games after storming back to win against Nebraska on Sunday afternoon. Sophomore Veronica Burton led all scorers in the game with 21 points. She has now scored double-digits in four straight games.
- Four of the Wildcat starters, Lindsey Pulliam, Abbie Wolf, Abi Scheid and Veronica Burton, are all averaging over 10 points per game. Pulliam's scoring average of 18.6 points per game ranks third in the Big Ten, behind Arella Guirantes' 19.3.
- The Wildcats are up to 12 in the latest RPI rankings.
| HEAD-TO-HEAD |
| KNIGHT NOTES |
B1G TIME: C. Vivian Stringer, the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten play with 220 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.
OK, KK!: Senior point guard Khadaizha "KK" Sanders is three assists away from becoming the 10th player in Rutgers women's basketball history to reach the 400 career assists mark.
AG1K: Redshirt junior guard Arella Guirantes is the second leading scorer in the Big Ten at 19.3 points per game (21st nationally). Guirantes became the 38th player in Rutgers history to score her 1,000th career point in a Scarlet Knight uniform, and is now the 31st highest scorer to play for Rutgers. She scored 288 at Texas Tech as a freshman, 386 as a sophomore at Rutgers, and 463 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 13.0 points per game down low. The Scarlet Knights are 17-4 this season when outscoring opponents in the paint. RU has outrebounded 14 of its last 19 opponents and ranks fourth in the B1G in average rebounding margin at +4.4.
RESUME BUILDING: Rutgers has received votes in 12 of 16 AP Top 25 Polls this season. RU is currently listed No. 47 in the RPI rankings with victories over No. 34 Purdue, No. 35 Michigan and No. 51 Virginia, with losses to No. 18 Indiana, No. 26 LSU and No. 35 Michigan.
D-FENCE: The Scarlet Knights' 18 wins have been fueled by stifling defense. RU ranks No. 9 in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .339 and No. 15 in the nation in scoring defense at 54.8 points allowed per game. RU leads the Big Ten in points allowed and field goal percentage defense, and has held 24 of 25 opponents under their scoring averages, while doing the same in 54 of its last 57 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 |
• Arella Guirantes has 11 20-or-more point games this season, and 15 for her career.
• Jordan Wallace surpassed her previous career-high point total of 16 with seven minutes to go in the second quarter at MSU on Thursday.
• Tekia Mack is Rutgers' leading passer over the past seven games with 25 assists (3.6 per game), including a career-high 7 vs. Penn State.
• RU's +23 rebounding (42-19) margin against Penn State was the program's highest in a B1G game since joining the conference in 2014-15.
• Penn State's 39 points was Rutgers' second lowest allowed since joining the Big Ten. It was the lowest allowed since Illinois' 37 in 2018.
• Illinois' .264 shooting on Jan. 30 was RU's lowest field goal percentage allowed in a Big Ten game since Michigan managed a mark of .262 on 2/8/15.
• KK Sanders is 3 assists away from becoming the 10th player in RU history with 400.
• At least two players have scored in double-figures in 24 of 25 games.
• RU is 16-2 when three or more score in double-digits.
• Rutgers is 17-4 when scoring more points in the paint and 18-4 with more points off turnovers.
• The Scarlet Knights have held 54 of its last 57 opponents under their scoring average. Since the beginning of 2017-18, RU has held 83 of its last 89 opponents under their scoring average.
| NATIONAL RANKS |
• Team: FG% defense (9th - .339)
• Team: Scoring defense (15th - 54.8)
• Arella Guirantes: FT attemtps (17th - 155)
• Arella Guirantes: FG made (20th - 120)
• Arella Guirantes: Points/gm (21st - 19.3)
| UP NEXT |
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Players Mentioned
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