PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Feb. 26, 2020) - Rutgers women's basketball (19-8, 9-7) plays the penultimate game of the regular season on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. against Wisconsin (11-17, 3-14) at the RAC.

The Scarlet Knights are 12-2 at home this season and 38-7 over the last three seasons at the RAC. The home-court advantage helped fuel a 15-2 start to the year, Rutgers' best opening to a season since the 1990-91 squad began 16-1 on their way to the NCAA Tournament.

Rutgers, who has clinched a first round bye in next week's Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, is playing for important seeding in the championship bracket. The Scarlet Knights can finish as high as fifth place. The No. 5 and 6 seeds play a team in the second round on Thursday that played the day before in the first round.

ON THE AIR

• Watch on BTN+ (Play-by-play: Lou Brogno, Color Analyst: Dom Savino)
• Listen on WCTC 1450 AM (Play-by-play: Ralph Bednarczyk, Color Analyst: Mark Peterson)
• Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM (Play-by-play: Corey Jason and Justin Sontupe)

PROMOTIONS

• Student For a Day - Tickets starting at $10 for general seating in the student section.

THE SCOUT

• The Badgers (11-17, 3-14) have lost six straight since their last win at Illinois on Feb. 2.
• Imani Lewis secured a double-double after scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against No. 14 Northwestern last time out. She has now taken over fifth place for most rebounds in one season with 12 and moved into a tie for eighth-most career double-doubles at 17 total. Lewis leads the Badgers averaging 14.5 ppg. 
• Lewis ranks first in the Big Ten and 29th nationally with her 12 double-doubles.
• Abby Laszewski also averages in double-figure scoring with 12.1 points per game to go with her 6.6 rebounds per contest.
• As a team, Wisconsin ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 38.6 rebounds per game.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

 

 

LAST TIME OUT

 

LAST TIME VS. WISCONSIN

• Rutgers (11-1) outscored Wisconsin (8-4) 20-8 in the final quarter to erase a 15-point deficit and win its Big Ten opener on the road, 64-61, on Dec. 28, 2019 in the Kohl Center. 
• The Scarlet Knights turned up the press in the second half, forcing 12 turnovers after halftime and holding Wisconsin under its scoring average of 66.6 points per game.
• Redshirt junior guard Arella Guirantes overcame an 0-of-7 start from the field to finish with a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds, along with a new career-high of eight assists.
• Junior wing Tekia Mack added 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting seven boards and three assists.

KNIGHT NOTES

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 221 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.

NO ANSWER FOR AG: Redshirt junior guard Arella Guirantes is the Big Ten's leading scorer at 19.9 points per game (12th nationally). Guirantes scored a career-high 36 points against Ohio State, including the game-winning jumper with less than four seconds to play in the 59-57 victory on Saturday. The 36 points were the second most scored in the Big Ten this season (most in a conference game) and were the most by an RU player since RU Hall of Famer Cappie Pondexter netted 40 in January of 2006.

OK, KK!: Senior point guard Khadaizha "KK" Sanders surpassed the 400-career assist mark with six at Northwestern, becoming the 10th player in Rutgers women's basketball history to reach the milestone.

CHASING HISTORY: Guirantes is seeking to become the first RU player since Cappie Pondexter in '06 to average 20 points per game for a season. She would be the first player in program history to average 19+ points, 6+ rebounds and 3+ assists per game.

TRAPEZOID OF TERROR: Since the 2002-03 season, the Scarlet Knights have gone 217-50 (.811) at the RAC. RU is 38-7 (.844) over the last three seasons at home, finished out 2018-19 at 13-2 and started this season 12-2.

PLAYING B1G: Rutgers has owned the paint this season, outscoring opponents by an average of 12.4 points per game down low. The Scarlet Knights are 18-5 this season when outscoring opponents in the paint. RU has outrebounded 14 of its last 21 opponents and ranks fourth in the B1G in average rebounding margin at +3.8.

RESUME BUILDING: Rutgers has received votes in 12 AP Top 25 Polls this season. RU is currently listed No. 44 in the RPI rankings with victories over No. 23 Ohio State, No. 30 Michigan, No. 40 Purdue and No. 45 Virginia, with losses to No. 7 Northwestern, No. 19 Indiana, No. 30 Michigan and No. 32 LSU.

D-FENCE: The Scarlet Knights' 19 wins have been fueled by stifling defense. RU ranks No. 17 in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .348 and No. 20 in the nation in scoring defense at 55.9 points allowed per game. RU leads the Big Ten in points allowed and field goal percentage defense, and has held 25 of 27 opponents under their scoring averages, while doing the same in 55 of its last 59 dating back to last season.

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

• RU is scoring 66.5 points per game, as it stands the 5th most offensively productive C. Vivian Stringer team "On the Banks" behind four NCAA Tournament teams ('99, '15, '98 & '03).

• Jordan Wallace has scored nine or more points in four of her last six games. Rutgers is 10-1 this season in games when Wallace scores in double-figures.

• 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 12 20-or-more point games this season, and 16 for her career.

• 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.

• At least two players have scored in double-figures in 25 of 27 games. 

• RU is 16-3 when three or more score in double-digits.

• Rutgers is 18-5 when scoring more points in the paint and 19-4 with more points off turnovers.

• The Scarlet Knights have held 55 of its last 59 opponents under their scoring average. Since the beginning of 2017-18, RU has held 84 of its last 91 opponents under their scoring average.
 

NATIONAL RANKS

Rutgers, as a team or individually, is ranked in the Top 25 in the nation in six statistical categories through games played on Feb. 20, including a pair of Top 20 marks in key defensive figures.
• Arella Guirantes: Points/gm (12th - 19.9)
• Arella Guirantes: FG made (15th - 134)
• Arella Guirantes: FT attemtps (16th - 172)
• Team: FG% defense (17th - .348)
• Team: Scoring defense (20th - 55.9)
• Arella Guirantes: FG attempts (21st - 426)
 

UP NEXT

Rutgers concludes the 2019-20 regular season on Sunday, March 1 against No. 18/20 Iowa at noon at the RAC and live on Big Ten Network.

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