SAN MARCOS, Texas - No. 21/23 Rutgers women's basketball (14-4) opens the NCAA Tournament in the First Round of the Mercado Region as a No. 6 seed against 11-seed BYU (18-5) on Monday, March 22 at 12 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

Rutgers is making its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance with its highest seed since its six-seed in 2012. Head coach C. Vivian Stringer will lead the Scarlet Knights to a 17^th NCAA Tournament appearance since taking over the program for the 1995-96 season.
 
With Coach Stringer's patented defense ranked first in the Big Ten with 57.1 points allowed per game and a .376 field goal percentage defense, the offense is producing with historic voracity. At 75.6 points per game, this team is on pace to be Coach Stringer's highest scoring offense since taking over the Scarlet Knights in 1995 and best overall offensive production since 80.0 points per game in 1993-94. The Scarlet Knights' .467 field goal percentage is the highest in a season since a .472 mark in 1998-99.

ON THE AIR

• Watch on ESPNU (TV) / ESPN App (Streaming) (Play-by-play: Kevin Fitzgerald; Analyst: Christy Thomaskutty)
• Listen on WCTC 1450 AM (Play-by-play: Ralph Bednarczyk; Analyst: Mark Peterson)
• Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM Tuesday (Play-by-play: Chris Tsakonas & Jake Schmied)

HEAD TO HEAD

 

KNIGHT NOTES

LET'S DANCE: Honoring a tradition of excellence for Rutgers women's basketball, the Scarlet Knights are going dancing again at the NCAA Tournament. Rutgers earned its highest seed (6) since 2012 and will make its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance with a compiled 36-25 (.590) record in the Big Dance, including a run to the 2007 National Championship game, as well as a trip to the 2000 Final Four. Head coach C. Vivian Stringer will lead the Scarlet Knights to a 17th NCAA Tournament appearance since taking over the program in the 1995-96 season.

RUTGERS RANKED: Rutgers women's basketball is ranked No. 21/23 by the AP and WBCA Coaches polls after tying for its highest finish in the Big Ten in third place with a 10-3 record in the conference (14-4 overall). Following a five-week hiatus, Rutgers won its final nine regular season games in the Big Ten by an average margin of 16.3 points, including ranked wins over Top 25 teams Northwestern and Ohio State.

CLOUD NINE: Rutgers is on its longest Big Ten winning streak since joining the conference. RU opened the 2018-19 Big Ten season with seven wins in a row. The Scarlet Knights have their first nine-game conference winning streak since the perfect 16-0 Big East season of 2005-06, which was an actual 24-game Big East streak going back to '04-05.

NET WORKING: Rutgers is listed at No. 12 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, which replace RPI as a guide for selecting at-large bids for the NCAA Tournament. The NET rankings take into account Adjusted Net Efficiency (offensive vs. defensive points per possession weighted on quality of opponent) and Team Value Index (results-oriented). Rutgers is ranked in the Top 10 of the NCAA in points per 100 offensive possessions and average point margin per 100 possessions.

ARELLA RISING: Redshirt senior guard Arella Guirantes is on six national watch lists: The Senior CLASS Award, the Wooden Award for Most Outstanding Player, the Naismith Trophy and Wade Trophy for National Player of the Year, a Top 5 finalist for the Meyers Shooting Guard Award, and the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award.
     AP All-America Honorable Mention, First Team All-Big Ten, Big Ten All-Defensive Team
     Only Player to rank Top 5 in Big Ten in these four categories: scoring, assists, blocks & steals
     Triple-double on Dec. 23 vs. Manhattan (6th in RU history) with 17 points, 10 rebounds & 11 assists
     Three 30+ point performances vs. No. 9 Maryland, Iowa & Purdue

SHINE ON: True freshman Diamond Johnson matched her career high of 26 points in her first career postseason game against Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, and was one of 10 named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List semifinalists for the country's top point guard. The Neumann Goretti product earned Rutgers' first ever Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor on Dec. 21. Johnson scored in double-figures in 16 of her first 18 games. Rutgers is 6-1 when Diamond scores 20 or more points this season.
    Second Team All-Big Ten, Big Ten All-Freshman Team

THOU SHALL STEAL: Rutgers ranks fourth in the country with 12.6 steals per game and is eighth in the nation in turnover margin at 6.8. Four Scarlet Knights make up the Top 7 in the Big Ten in steals per game with Tekia Mack (9th in the nation - 3.1), Diamond Johnson (2.3), Arella Guirantes (2.1), and Mael Gilles (1.9).

THAT'S OFFENSIVE: Rutgers has scored 80 or more points in three Big Ten games this season. Before this year, Rutgers has had a total of three 80+ games since joining the conference in 2014-15. RU had a five-game streak of scoring 70+ in conference games, the first time since 1997-98 in the Big East. RU earlier scored 80+ in five consecutive games for the first time since the 1990-91 season.

WELCOME TO THE B1G: Rutgers is one of the youngest teams in the nation with eight newcomers and 71 percent of the roster starting the season with two years experience or less in Division I. RU is one of just 32 teams across the nation with 10 or more players on the roster with two years experience or less.

FUTURE IS NOW: 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, one of four recruits ranked in the Top 55 - Sakima Walker (#21), Chyna Cornwell (#48) and Liz Martino (#53). Blue Star Basketball ranks the class No. 5 in the nation.
 

SCOUTING THE COUGARS

• BYU earned an at-large bid to this season's tournament after finishing second in the regular season standings and advancing to the West Coast Conference Tournament title game, losing to nationally-ranked Gonzaga by a buzzer-beater.
• 2020-21 WCC Co-Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales finished the season as the WCC's second-leading scorer and leads the team in points (17.9 ppg), assists (3.7 apg) and steals (2.4 spg).
• Following Gonzales, fellow 2020-21 All-WCC First Team members Paisley Johnson Harding (14.0 ppg) and Lauren Gustin (11.5 ppg) round out BYU's top-three scorers.
• Gustin ranks fifth in the nation in rebounds per game (12.8 rpg) and has racked up 14 double-doubles on the season, good for 13th in the country. She was named AP All-America Honorable Mention on Wednesday.
• Sara Hamson, a 2020-21 All-WCC Honorable Mention, is averaging a league best 2.6 blocks per game, good for 17th in the nation.
• Fellow 2020-21 All-WCC Honorable Mention honoree Tegan Graham is averaging 8.1 points per contest off the bench.
• BYU head coach Jeff Judkins, the 2020-21 WCC Coach of the Year, has a 429-199 record in 20 seasons at the helm of the program.
• As a team, BYU enters the NCAA Tournament ranked 21st in the country in field-goal percentage defense (.355) and 21st in assists per game (16.6 apg).

#TRENDING

• Versus Penn State on March 2, Rutgers held its seventh Big Ten foe in a row under 60 points. That is the longest streak in league play since the 2006-07 National Championship runner-up squad in the Big East.
• With 12 blocked shots against Ohio State, RU tied its program record for blocks in a Big Ten game - the most since 2016.
• Rutgers has held its final four regular season opponents an average of 20.3 points under their season scoring averages.
• Tyia Singleton set three career highs in the Ohio State victory with 18 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots. It was her first career double-double.
• Currently graded .766 from the charity stripe, RU is strongly challenging its single-season free throw percentage record of .734 ('80-81).
• RU has outscored opponents in the paint in 17 of 18 games this season.
• RU is 11-0 with a lead at halftime.
• The Scarlet Knights have outscored opponents by an average of 14.1 in points off turnovers (25.7 - 11.6).
• Arella Guirantes has five career 30+ point games, all against Big Ten opponents.
• RU's 87 points against Maryland were Rutgers' most in a Big Ten game since joining the conference in 2014-15 ... and most in a conference game since 90 vs. Seton Hall in the Big East in 2013.
• Guirantes' 30+point double-double vs. Maryland was Rutgers' first since Kahleah Copper had 30 and 10 against St. Joseph's on Nov. 13, 2015.
• Rutgers is 6-1 when Diamond Johnson scores 20 or more points in a game.
• With Diamond Johnson at 17.9 points per game, a look at the Top 5 freshman scoring averages in team history:

• 1. Cappie Pondexter (02-03) - 18.3ppg
• 2. Patti Sikorski (76-77) - 15.8ppg
• T3. Kathy Glutz (76-77) - 15.5ppg
• T3. June Olkowski (78-79) - 15.5ppg
• 5. Sue Wicks (84-85) - 14.9 ppg 

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