Sunday, December 8
Piscataway, N.J.
2:00 PM (ET)
Rutgers University
vs
Towson
Game 9: Women's Hoops vs. Towson
Dec 07 | Women's Basketball
Scarlet Knights are 18-0 over the past three seasons in non-conference home games
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Dec. 7, 2019) - Rutgers women's basketball (7-1) continues a four-game homestand on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. against Towson (3-5) at the RAC. Three games remain on the non-conference slate before Big Ten play begins at Wisconsin on Dec. 28.
The Scarlet Knights are looking to protect a flawless 4-0 home record this season. Over the past three seasons under head coach C. Vivian Stringer, Rutgers is 18-0 in non-conference home games.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED: Rutgers defeated Virginia, 73-63, on Thursday at the RAC in the 13th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The victory helped the B1G top the ACC for the first time by a score of 9-5. The ACC now holds a 9-1-3 record against the Big Ten.
JAMMIN: Rutgers defeated Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech to claim the 2019 Junkanoo Jam championship on the island of Bimini in the Bahamas during Feast Week, led by Tournament MVP Arella Guirantes and All-Tournament Team selection Tekia Mack. It marks Rutgers' second Junkanoo Jam title in as many tries, joining the 2005 trophy obtained by C. Vivian Stringer and Tournament MVP/future WNBA superstar Cappie Pondexter.
B1G HONORS: Redshirt junior guard Arella Guirantes has been honored by the Big Ten in three of the first four weeks of the season. Guirantes is the reigning Big Ten Women's Basketball Player of the Week after earning Junkanoo Jam MVP honors averaging a double-double of 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game during the title run. She earned the first Big Ten Player of the Week honor of the season in November, making her the first Scarlet Knight to earn multiple Big Ten weekly awards since 2014. Guirantes followed that up with a mention on the Big Ten Honor Roll in Week 2 with 21.5 points and nine rebounds per game. Guiratnes leads the Big Ten in scoring with 19.3 points per game, nearly two points per contest more than the runner-up.
#KKTOP10: Graduate student guard Khadaizha "KK" Sanders shifted the momentum in the Vanderbilt victory by hitting a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer to cut the Commodores' lead from four to one. The play was featured at No. 4 in ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays on the Thanksgiving evening edition of the flagship program.
HOME COOKING: Since the 2002-03 season, the Scarlet Knights have gone 209-48 (.813) at the RAC. RU is 49-5 over the last two seasons at home, finished out 2018-19 at 13-2 and started this season 4-0. RU is 18-0 over the last three season in non-conference games at home.
D-FENCE: The Scarlet Knights start 7-1 for the first time since 2014 behind stifling defense. RU ranks No. 4 in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .292 and sixth in the nation in scoring defense at 49.8 points allowed per game. Rutgers leads the Big Ten in those crucial defensive categories, along with its 30.5 defensive rebounds per game. RU has held all seven opponents under its scoring average, and have done the same in 37 of its last 39 dating back to the start of last season.
NEW-LOOK KNIGHTS: Rutgers women's basketball enters the 2019-20 season without four of the top five leaders in games started from last winter, while returning 45% of its points and 35% of its rebounds. The eight returning Scarlet Knights (seven letterwinners) make up 29 percent of last year's games started. The first six starting lineups 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. Blue Star Basketball ranks the class No. 5 in the nation.
• Mack is one of just 50 players nationally to post three or more double-doubles this season.
• Rutgers is 7-0 when scoring more points in the paint and more points off turnovers than its opponents.
• Rutgers has held all eight opponents under 40 percent shooting this season.
• The Scarlet Knights have held 37 of its last 40 opponents under their scoring average. Since the beginning of 2017-18, RU has held 65 of its last 71 opponents under their scoring average.
• The victory over Georgia Tech marked Rutgers' third comeback for a win after trailing by six points or more this season after erasing an eight-point deficit against Harvard and an 11-point disadvantage to Vanderbilt.
• Maori Davenport established an early career high with six rebounds at LSU, the first time she led Rutgers in rebounding.
• Arella Guirantes and Tekia Mack have each scored in double-figures in all eight contests.
• Against Harvard, three players recorded double-doubles in the same game for the first time since the 2018-19 season opener against St. Francis. It was Arella Guirantes' fourth career double-double (19pts, 11reb), Tekia Mack's second (10pts, 10reb) and Jordan Wallace's first (14pts, 10reb).
• Playing in her 97th career game, Sanders' six steals vs. Harvard were a career high and the most by a Rutgers player this season.
Rutgers, as a team, is ranked in the Top 25 in the nation in five statistical categories through games played on Dec. 3, including a pair of Top 10 marks in key defensive figures..
• Team: FG% defense (4th - .292)
• Team: Scoring defense (6th - 49.8)
• Team: 3FG% defense (19th - .238)
• Team: Defensive rebounds/gm (23rd - 30.5)
• Team: FG% (25th - .462)
Rutgers continues a four-game home stand leading up to Christmas on Thursday, Dec. 12 against Southern at 7 p.m. at the RAC.
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Scarlet Knights are looking to protect a flawless 4-0 home record this season. Over the past three seasons under head coach C. Vivian Stringer, Rutgers is 18-0 in non-conference home games.
| PROMOTIONS |
- Kids' Corner! The first ever Kids' Corner will be open to those who have purchased a Kids' Corner package. Activities will include Build Your Own Poster, inflatables, face paint, crafts and more!
- Halftime: SAAC Teddy Bear Toss. Bring a teddy bear to toss on to the court at halftime. SAAC will deliver them to children in need during the Holidays.
| THE SCOUT |
- The Tigers (3-5) are playing their third Big Ten team during non-conference play, having lost to Penn State 73-67 and Iowa 100-72.
- Kionna Jeter leads the Tigers in scoring with 17.9 points per game and in rebounds with seven per game, while three more players are posting double figures. Nukiya Mayo is posting 14.4 points per game, Myasia Jones is averaging 10.6 and Q. Murray is averaging 10.3.
- As a team the Tigers are third in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in scoring, averaging 66.8 points per game.
| HEAD-TO-HEAD |
| KNIGHT NOTES |
JAMMIN: Rutgers defeated Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech to claim the 2019 Junkanoo Jam championship on the island of Bimini in the Bahamas during Feast Week, led by Tournament MVP Arella Guirantes and All-Tournament Team selection Tekia Mack. It marks Rutgers' second Junkanoo Jam title in as many tries, joining the 2005 trophy obtained by C. Vivian Stringer and Tournament MVP/future WNBA superstar Cappie Pondexter.
B1G HONORS: Redshirt junior guard Arella Guirantes has been honored by the Big Ten in three of the first four weeks of the season. Guirantes is the reigning Big Ten Women's Basketball Player of the Week after earning Junkanoo Jam MVP honors averaging a double-double of 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game during the title run. She earned the first Big Ten Player of the Week honor of the season in November, making her the first Scarlet Knight to earn multiple Big Ten weekly awards since 2014. Guirantes followed that up with a mention on the Big Ten Honor Roll in Week 2 with 21.5 points and nine rebounds per game. Guiratnes leads the Big Ten in scoring with 19.3 points per game, nearly two points per contest more than the runner-up.
#KKTOP10: Graduate student guard Khadaizha "KK" Sanders shifted the momentum in the Vanderbilt victory by hitting a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer to cut the Commodores' lead from four to one. The play was featured at No. 4 in ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays on the Thanksgiving evening edition of the flagship program.
HOME COOKING: Since the 2002-03 season, the Scarlet Knights have gone 209-48 (.813) at the RAC. RU is 49-5 over the last two seasons at home, finished out 2018-19 at 13-2 and started this season 4-0. RU is 18-0 over the last three season in non-conference games at home.
D-FENCE: The Scarlet Knights start 7-1 for the first time since 2014 behind stifling defense. RU ranks No. 4 in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .292 and sixth in the nation in scoring defense at 49.8 points allowed per game. Rutgers leads the Big Ten in those crucial defensive categories, along with its 30.5 defensive rebounds per game. RU has held all seven opponents under its scoring average, and have done the same in 37 of its last 39 dating back to the start of last season.
NEW-LOOK KNIGHTS: Rutgers women's basketball enters the 2019-20 season without four of the top five leaders in games started from last winter, while returning 45% of its points and 35% of its rebounds. The eight returning Scarlet Knights (seven letterwinners) make up 29 percent of last year's games started. The first six starting lineups 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. Blue Star Basketball ranks the class No. 5 in the nation.
| TRENDING |
• Rutgers is 7-0 when scoring more points in the paint and more points off turnovers than its opponents.
• Rutgers has held all eight opponents under 40 percent shooting this season.
• The Scarlet Knights have held 37 of its last 40 opponents under their scoring average. Since the beginning of 2017-18, RU has held 65 of its last 71 opponents under their scoring average.
• The victory over Georgia Tech marked Rutgers' third comeback for a win after trailing by six points or more this season after erasing an eight-point deficit against Harvard and an 11-point disadvantage to Vanderbilt.
• Maori Davenport established an early career high with six rebounds at LSU, the first time she led Rutgers in rebounding.
• Arella Guirantes and Tekia Mack have each scored in double-figures in all eight contests.
• Against Harvard, three players recorded double-doubles in the same game for the first time since the 2018-19 season opener against St. Francis. It was Arella Guirantes' fourth career double-double (19pts, 11reb), Tekia Mack's second (10pts, 10reb) and Jordan Wallace's first (14pts, 10reb).
• Playing in her 97th career game, Sanders' six steals vs. Harvard were a career high and the most by a Rutgers player this season.
| NATIONAL RANKS |
• Team: FG% defense (4th - .292)
• Team: Scoring defense (6th - 49.8)
• Team: 3FG% defense (19th - .238)
• Team: Defensive rebounds/gm (23rd - 30.5)
• Team: FG% (25th - .462)
| UP NEXT |
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
F/G
/ Women's Basketball
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