Women's Hoops Closes Out Nonconference Schedule Saturday vs. Houston

Saturday, December 16

Piscataway, N.J.

6:00 PM

Rutgers University

HOUSTON

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Women's Hoops Closes Out Nonconference Schedule Saturday vs. Houston

Dec 15 | Women's Basketball

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Scarlet Knights & Cougars Tipoff at 6 p.m.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers women's team takes a six-game win streak into its final nonconference contest with Houston on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus with Lou Brogno and Jared Smith and also air on the Rutgers IMG Radio Network with Ralph Bednarczyk and Mark Peterson on the call.

PROMOTIONS
- Game Six of "Seven Games of Giving" - Visa Giftcards
- Free Admission with MBB vs. Seton Hall Ticket Stub
- Halftime: Rutgers Irish Step Dancing Club

NONCONFERENCE COMES TO A CLOSE
The Rutgers women's basketball team, a squad who crept back into the Associated Press Poll this week, rounds out nonconference competition with the Cougars.

The Scarlet Knights boast a 7-0 record at home and have won six-straight entering game seven of an eight game homestand.

RU is coming off a 70-50 victory over its third consecutive New Jersey opponent in Princeton. Redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife produced 24 points in 23 minutes to move up into third in scoring "On The Banks" just behind Scarlet Knight greats Cappie Pondexter and Sue Wicks.

Rutgers also saw double figure scoring from senior guard Jazlynd Rollins with 12 points, while junior forward Caitlin Jenkins grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and redshirt sophomore Ciani Cryor dished out a career-high nine assists.

ABOUT HOUSTON
The Cougars come to the RAC at 8-2 overall riding a six-game win streak. Houston's losses on the season came in an opening season setback to Texas A&M (83-65) and at Boston College (79-74).

Houston last took to the court last Sunday for an 88-69 victory over East Tennessee State paced by sophomore guard Jasmye Harris with 28 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the year. The Cougars' 88 points were the most for the team since 2011.

Harris leads Houston at 18.2 points per game and a team second-best 6.5 rebounds per contest. She is followed by sophomore guard Angela Harris at 14.2 points per game and sophomore forward Dorian Branch at 11.8 points per game. Junior guard Serithia Hawkins meanwhile rounds out the Cougar double figure scorers at 11.4 points per outing to go along with a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game.

WELCOME BACK TO THE BANKS
Two members of the Rutgers coaching staff have Rutgers ties.

Head coach Ronald Hughey served as an assistant on C. Vivian Stringer's staff in 2009-10 helping RU to a 19-15 record and NCAA Tournament appearance.

Assistant coach Vicky Picott played for the Scarlet Knights from 1987-1991 guiding RU to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances and an Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship in 1988. During her time "On the Banks," she compiled 1,792 points (currently sixth all-time) and 1,029 rebounds (currently fourth all-time). She was the 1988 Atlantic-10 Freshman of the Year, a Second Team All-A-10 selection as a sophomore and first team pick as both a junior and senior. Picott also won a silver medal at the 1989 Olympic Festival and played for the 1988 U.S. Junior National Team.

QUICK TAKEAWAY
Rutgers currently leads the nation in steals with 170. The Scarlet Knights are ninth nationally at 13.1 thefts per game.

Meanwhile, Houston leads the American Athletic Conference in steals and ranks seventh nationally with 125 total this season. The Cougars are tied for 12th in the country at 12.5 takeaways per contest.

The Scarlet Knights are #1 IN THE COUNTRY in steals on the season. Through 13 games, we've recorded 170 steals. That's a +61 difference from this point last season. @ncaawbb @B1Gwbball pic.twitter.com/nCDuAdxn7d
— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) December 15, 2017

STRINGER MILESTONE NUMBERS TO REMEMBER
Rutgers head coach Stringer has compiled a 988-392 career record in 47 seasons and is 12 wins away from joining the elite 1,000 career victories club in women's basketball.

SCAIFE MILESTONE NUMBERS TO REMEMBER
Tyler Scaife's game-high 24 points in 23 minutes against Princeton on Dec. 13 propelled the redshirt senior into third place on the Rutgers all-time scoring leader list past former teammate Kahleah Copper (2012-16).

Scaife now has 1,884 career points and needs 116 points to become the third Scarlet Knight to collect 2,000 career points and 328 more to move into second place on the all-time list past Cappie Pondexter (2002-2006).

Scaife has scored 273 points this season and kicked off the 2017-18 campaign 10th all-time in scoring.

GETTING THE POINTS
Rutgers is enjoying one of its highest scoring averages under C. Vivian Stringer's 23-year tenure "On the Banks"

Top RU Scoring Averages Under C. Vivian Stringer
1. 70.3 (13 games) 2017-18 - 11-2 - Current Season
2. 70.0 (35 games) 1998-99 – 29-6 – Elite Eight
3t. 68.7 (32 games) 2014-15 - 23-10 - 2nd Round
3t. 68.7 (32 games) 1997-98 – 22-10 – Sweet 16
5. 67.3 (29 games) 2002-03 – 21-8 – 2nd Round
6. 66.2 (37 games) 2013-14 – WNIT Champions
7. 65.6 (31 games) 2000-01 – 23-8 – 2nd Round

PROTECTING HOMECOURT
Since the 2002-03 season, the Scarlet Knights have gone 186-43 (.812) at the RAC.

Rutgers is currently riding a seven-game home win streak. It is RU's longest home win streak since putting together eight-straight RAC wins between Nov. 22, 2015 to Jan. 13, 2016.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
As a team, Rutgers appeared in the top 25 in nine categories including leading the nation in total steals (170), and ninth in steals per game (13.1).

Individually, redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife leads the nation field goals attempts (213) and field goals made (107) and is second total points (273).

NONCONFERENCE TURNAROUND
Rutgers went 1-6 last year against nonconference opponents that appear on this year's slate While RU was outscored by these opponents by a margin of 8.7 points last season, this year the Scarlet Knights are avenging those losses and winning by an average of 16.3 points per game.

Team:                2016-17           2017-18
JMU                L, 76-82 (-6)      W, 76-63 (+13)
Temple            L, 37-48 (-11)    W, 84-67 (+17)
Wake Forest   L, 43-55 (-12)   W, 65-51 (+14)
Virginia            L, 54-62 (-8)     W, 52-43 (+9)
Seton Hall       W, 53-45 (+8)   W, 70-45 (+25)
Princeton        L, 34-64 (-30)   W, 70-50 (+20)

INTO THE DEEP END
All 14 members of the available roster have appeared in 11 of the first 13 games of the 2017-18 season.

Through 13 games, the Scarlet Knight bench is averaging 35.0 points per contest.

D-D-D-DEFENSE
The defense has turned up the pressure in the last four games. Against Virginia, Seton Hall, Fairleigh Dickinson and Princeton, the opposition has averaged just 43.3 points per game

Team:        Avg. Entering Game:        vs. RU:
Virginia         63.2                                43
Seton Hall    81.1                                45
FDU             63.0                                35
Princeton 65.8                                50

RUTGERS - THE STATE BASKETBALL TEAM OF NEW JERSEY
The Scarlet Knights made it 3-for-3 against the New Jersey schools on the schedule.

Over the span of the three victories over Seton Hall, Fairleigh Dickinson and Princeton, Rutgers averaged 80.3 points while outscoring the Garden State rivals by 37 points.

RU also averaged 19.3 assists and 15.3 steals per game in the three wins.

UP NEXT
Following Saturday's game, the Scarlet Knights will break for the holidays and return to close out its current homestand by opening the Big Ten slate with Purdue on Thursday, Dec. 28.

Follow Rutgers women's basketball at www.ScarletKnights.com and (@RutgersWBB) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all of the latest news and updates.

- RU -