PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The No. 21/19 Rutgers women's basketball team returns home and looks to return to the win column when the Scarlet Knights meet Minnesota on Saturday at 2 p.m. in front of the BTN cameras. Former Rutgers play-by-play announcer Ed Cohen along with Christy Winters-Scott will be on air for the Big Ten Network while Ralph Bednarczyk and
Mark Peterson will provide the call on the Rutgers IMG Radio Network.
PROMOTIONS
- Pregame:
Tyler Scaife 2,000-point ball presentation
- Music Knights
- Raffle: Medieval Times Gift Card
- Students: Winter Break 4 Friends - Allows for Four (4) Guests with Student Ticket
- Halftime: Junior Knights Dance Team
KEEPING THE HOME STREAK GOING
The No. 21/19 Rutgers women's basketball team will look to turn things around after Wednesday's 47-33 setback at Purdue and concentrate to keeping it's current home win streak alive when they host Minnesota on Saturday in front of the BTN cameras.
The loss to the Boilermakers snapped an 11-game win streak dating back to Nov. 30. Redshirt senior guard
Tyler Scaife led Rutgers with nine points, only the 19th time in her career she has reached only single digits. Redshirt junior forward
Stasha Carey contributed seven points and seven rebounds while junior center
Victoria Harris set a new career-high with six steals.
The game also saw Scaife become the third Scarlet Knight in Rutgers women's basketball history to eclipse the 2,000 career point mark, She joins former greats Sue Wicks and Cappie Pondexter as the only other Scarlet Knights to accomplish the feat.
The Scarlet Knights enter Saturday's contest with an 11-0 home mark, which includes three wins against Big Ten opponents.
ABOUT MINNESOTA
The Golden Gophers make their way to New Jersey with a 14-4 overall mark and 3-2 Big Ten record. Minnesota has won two straight which includes a dominating 91-71 win at Penn State on Wednesday, as well as an 83-77 home win over Michigan State.
Redshirt junior guard Kenisha Bell, who is sixth in the league in scoring, is the Golden Gophers top scorer at 20.2 points per game.
Senior guard Carlie Wagner, who joins Scarlet Knight
Tyler Scaife as one of the top leading active scorers in the country, checks in as Minnesota's second-leading scorer at 17.8 points per game.
Freshman guard/forward Destiny Pitts leads the Golden Gophers on the boards at 8.0 rebounds per game while adding in 13.2 points per outing. Pitts has been named Big Ten Rookie of the Week five times so far in 2017-18. Last week she averaged 18.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting .474 from 3-point range against Michigan State and Ohio State.
Sophomore guard Gadiva Hubbard rounds out the Minnesota double figure scorers at 12.9 points per contest.
The Golden Gophers are one of the top scoring offense in the Big Ten averaging 86.2 points per game, but rank last in scoring defense allowing opponents to net an average of 71.2 points per contest.
BACK IN THE TOP 25
Rutgers has returned back to the Top 25 for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
The Scarlet Knights cracked the top 25 of the Associated Press Poll on Monday checking in at No. 21. It was RU's first appearance in the AP's rankings since March 2, 2015.
Last week, Rutgers came in at No. 25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and moved up this week to No. 19. It was the Scarlet Knights first appearance since ranking at No. 23 in the final poll of the 2014-15 season.
STRINGER MILESTONE NUMBERS TO REMEMBER
Rutgers head coach Stringer has compiled a 993-393 career record in 47 seasons and is seven 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).
With nine points at Purdue on Wednesday, Scaife became the third Scarlet Knight to collect over 2,000 career points joining Rutgers greats Sue Wicks and Cappie Pondexter in the club.
She needs 205 more to move into second place on the all-time list past Cappie Pondexter (2002-2006).
Scaife has scored 396 points this season and kicked off the 2017-18 campaign 10th all-time in scoring.
Scaife is also among the active leading scorers in Division I:
1 Kelsey Mitchell , Ohio St. 2,998
2 Katelynn Flaherty , Michigan 2,431
3 Jasmine Nwajei , Syracuse 2,135
4 Victoria Vivians , Mississippi St. 2,013
5 A'Ja Wilson , South Carolina 2,013
6 Tyler Scaife , Rutgers 2,007
7 Kolby Morgan , Tulane 1,986
8 Tyra Buss , Indiana 1,968
8 Kahlia Lawrence , Mercer 1,966
10 Carlie Wagner , Minnesota 1,918
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. 70.0 (35 games) 1998-99 – 29-6 – Elite Eight
2t. 68.7 (32 games) 2014-15 - 23-10 - 2nd Round
2t. 68.7 (32 games) 1997-98 – 22-10 – Sweet 16
4. 67.7 (19 games) 2017-18 - 16-3 - Current Season
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 190-43 (.815) at the RAC.
Rutgers is currently riding an 11-game home win streak. It is RU's longest home win streak since winning 20-straight RAC wins between Nov. 16, 2007 and Dec. 29, 2008.
MOST IMPROVED TEAM
Rutgers is on pace to become the NCAA Division I Most Improved Teams in 2017-18.
16-17: 17-18:
1. Rutgers (+10) 6-24 16-3
2t. Butler (+5) 6-25 11-6
2t. Nebraska (+5) 7-22 12-5
2t. Ala. A&M (+5) 2-25 7-8
4t. Denver (+4) 6-24 10-8
4t. Fla. Atlantic (+4) 4-25 8-6
4t. UC Irvine (+4) 5-26 9-7
7t. Kansas (+3) 8-22 11-5
7t. CSU Fullerton (+3) 4-25 7-9
7t. UTEP (+3) 8-23 11-5
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
As a team, Rutgers appeared in the top 25 in eight categories including ranking second in steals (242), fifth in scoring defense (54.1) and eighth in steals per game (12.7)
Individually, redshirt senior guard
Tyler Scaife is second nationally in field goals made (152), third in total points (396) and fourth in field goals attempted (324).
B1G SPEAKING
You can find Rutgers leading the Big Ten in
scoring defense (54.1), 3-point field goal defense (.289) and steals (12.7), second in field goal defense (.357) and turnover margin (+6.3) and fourth in blocked shots (5.2)
Among conference peers, redshirt senior guard
Tyler Scaife is fourth in scoring (20.8) and fourth in free throw percentage (.851). Redshirt sophomore guard
Ciani Cryor is tied for seventh in steals (2.1) and junior forward
Caitlin Jenkins is tenth in rebounds (8.1) and sixth in blocks (1.6).
HOME COOKING
Rutgers is currently 11-0 at home this season. It is RU's longest home win streak since winning 20-straight at the RAC between Nov. 16, 2007 and Dec. 29, 2008.
The Scarlet Knights opened the 2007-08 season with a home loss against Stanford but would finish the year out with 14-straight home wins. The streak continued into the next season where Rutgers won six-straight at the RAC before a 55-51 loss to Tennessee snapped the streak.
FUN WHILE IT LASTED
Rutgers had won 11-straight games dating back to the Big Ten/ACC Challenge with N.C. State on Nov. 30 prior to Wednesday's loss to the Boilermakers.
It was the longest win streak for the Scarlet Knights since ending the season with six-straight wins to capture the 2014 WNIT title and beginning the 2015-16 season with six consecutive victories.
D-D-D-DEFENSE
The defense has turned up the pressure this season and currently leads the Big Ten in scoring defense holding opponents to just 54.1 points per game. All 19 opponents to date have been held under their scoring average.
Avg. Entering Total Pts.
Team: Game w/ RU: vs. RU:
JMU 70.2 63
Temple 96.0 67
Charlotte 70.5 54
Wake Forest 71.7 51
So. Carolina 88.2 78
Wash, St. 69.7 64
Siena 67.3 63
NC State 71.9 53
Virginia 63.2 43
Seton Hall 81.1 45
FDU 63.0 35
Princeton 65.8 50
Houston 73.9 57
Purdue 68.8 50
Mich. St. 79.6 58
Illinois 64.8 37
Penn State 70.4 65
Purdue 66.1 47
STOP THIEF
If opponents don't watch out, their turnover could be the result of Scarlet Knights junior center
Victoria Harris.
Harris has averaged 3.0 steals since beginning Big Ten play at the end of December.
Most recently, the Georgia product had a career-high six steals at Purdue on Wednesday, while also registering four thefts in games with Illinois on Jan. 3 and the first meeting with Purdue on Dec. 28.
GREENE LIGHT
Graduate student guard
Nigia Greene has been providing a spark off the bench the last two weeks.
"Gia" as she is known to teammates, has captured double figures in three of the last five games, including a career-high 18 points in RU's 76-37 victory over Illinois on Jan. 3. She was also close to that career mark again following up with 16 points in the Scarlet Knight's 70-65 win over Penn State.
In both those games, Greene shot 4-of-7 from long range.
Since kicking off Big Ten play the Atlanta, Georgia product has averaged 10.2 points. In the last three outings, she has averaged 12.0 points per game.
HAULING GLASS
Junior forward
Caitlin Jenkins has been a monster on the boards for the Scarlet Knights this season. She is not only averaging a team-leading 8.1 rebounds per game, ranking her 10th in the Big Ten, but has registered double digit rebounds in seven contests this season.
The Shreveport, Louisiana native has not only hauled in double figure rebounds in four of the last seven games, but has averaged 10.0 rebounds in that span.
Most recently, Jenkins grabbed 10 rebounds versus Illinois on Jan. 3 and 12 boards in RU's 61-58 win at Michigan State on Dec. 31.
Redshirt junior
Stasha Carey has also been a force to be reckon with on the glass grabbing a season-high 15 rebounds in the Dec. 8 victory over Seton Hall.
Prior to the meeting with the Pirates, the Cleveland, Ohio native hauled in nine boards in three-straight games with Siena, Virginia and Seton Hall.
Carey has grabbed eight or more rebounds in eight of the last 13 contests.
UP NEXT
Rutgers hits the road again, this time to close out the season series with Penn State on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. The game will stream on BTN Plus.
Follow Rutgers women's basketball at www.ScarletKnights.com and (@RutgersWBB) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all of the latest news and updates.
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