The last time No. 19 Rutgers women’s basketball faced Iowa, the Hawkeyes couldn’t do no wrong in Iowa City.
Iowa started rolling midway through the first quarter and led by 16. That lead increased to 20 early in the second before Rutgers charged back. The end result, though, was a 90-84 loss, one of only three the Scarlet Knights have endured this season.
Thursday night at about 9:00 p.m., the third-seeded Scarlet Knights get a rematch with the sixth-seeded Hawkeyes in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, IN.
“The three losses that we have, those still stick,” senior Tekia Mack said.
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Rutgers has won nine games in a row since coming back from a five-week COVID-19 pause and it is playing with confidence.
“We have a team that can flat-out get it done. We have eight starters. We instill trust in each other,” Mack said. “We’re always talking. It may look like we’re going back and forth, but we’re always saying ‘shoot the ball, and make people respect you’. We have our own secret society. Only we know what we know. Coach gives us an opportunity to give our opinions on what we should do. The past couple years since I’ve been there, that wasn’t a thing. We know what it takes to win. We knew we had to pull it together in order to get into the tournament. I don’t think anybody believed that we would win eight straight games after the whole COVID pause and we lost three games even before that. We haven’t lost since.”
The confidence stems from the ability to play sellar, pressure defense and the fact that Rutgers is scoring a lot more this season as it is getting the job done on both ends of the court.
Rutgers ranked first in the Big Ten with 56.2 points allowed per game and on the streak, it scored 70 or more point in five consecutive games for the times sinc joining the conference and in any league since 1978-98 when it strung together 70-plus in seven games in a row. The Scarlet Knights averaged 76.4 points per game and they are on pace to be the highest scoring team since C. Vivian Stringer took over the team in 1995.
Rutgers, when down, has fought back in every game as well.
“We were down in three of those games. We put our trust in each other,” Mack said. “Michigan State, we were down in the fourth quarter and won by 10. At Penn State, we went down, but ended up winning. Today, we were down 11-0 in the first quarter and everyone probably thought we were dead and gone. It was like 21-11 at another point in time. Like I always tell my team, nobody is more conditioned than us. Nobody can outrun us. I don’t care if a team goes on a (14-0) run like Iowa did against us. We only lost by five. I’ll do anything it takes for this team to win. If we make that extra pass, they’ll make the shot. Even if we’re having a bad game, we’ll pull together and get stops. We’re a defensive team. We trust each other so much that our guards can swift on fours and fives and we know we’ll have help. That’s how much confidence I have. Like coach said, it’s not cocky, we just know what we’re made for.”
Rutgers (14-3, 10-3) finished third in the Big Ten, tying its best finish in the conference in 2017-18. Stringer and the Scarlet Knights had the No. 8 recruiting class in 2020 led by Diamond Johnson, Sakima Walker, Chyna Cornwell, and Liz Martino.
Stringer has opted for a shorter bench of late, keeping the starters in as long as possible, but Johnson is one of them, who right now would be second all-time in average scoring in program history for a freshman. Johnson, redshirt sophomore Tyia Singleton, and seniors Arella Guirantes, Mael Gilles, and Mack have gotten the most playing time, but the aforementioned freshmen have seen time. Martino, when her name is called, has come in and drained timely 3-pointers.
After the Senior Night win over Ohio State, Stringer talked about her group of seniors and the job they did and continue to do with the freshmen and leading this team.
“It was our seniors’ last game. We were all very emotional before we came out there. It hurts a lot to even think about them leaving. Without question the mark that has been left by Arella, and T-Baby, and Mael is beyond the vast majority of things that have been done since I was a coach. They truly were exceptional.
“They had to bring along for seven, eight freshmen, and that's tough. They were very patient and understanding and eager to teach and took the task of keeping everybody in check every little thing. In chat. I can't even express it. Seniors are always special to us, but this was different. They made our freshmen better and taught them our standards. I can't believe the time has passed so quickly. I'm grateful for what they've given us.”
“To me it was just another game. I understood the work and how much time, me and other girls have put in. Of course we did all the emotional stuff before the game, but then we were just focused on winning the game. I went in with the same mindset I would go in with any other game,” added Guirantes. “But it was special just to share this moment. It wasn't a traditional senior night, but I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful for everyone around me and my teammates and the coaching staff. I never would have pictured myself like this the way I am three, four years ago. I've just blossomed into somebody. I'm just a totally different person, and I can't thank them enough.”
During the winning streak, Rutgers didn’t play No. 8 Maryland, No. 10 Indiana, or No. 12 Michigan (it lost its only game against Maryland earlier this season at home by four), but it has the formula to make a run in the Big Ten Tournament and even the NCAA Tournament. The Scarlet Knights lead the conference with just 56.2 points per game allowed and a 20.2 average scoring margin. With their vaunted stifling defense, they led the league with 12.7 steals per game (fifth in the nation), and has held opponents under their scoring average in 16 of the 17 games this season and 103 of its last 112 games dating back to 2017-18.
The Big Ten quarterfinal game is Rutgers sixth in seven years.
“I think the only thing that intensifies is the focus,” said Guirantes, who is nominated for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award, a candidate for the Wooden Award's Most Outstanding Player, the Wade and Naismith Trophies for National Player of the Year, the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award, and a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award bestowed for excellence in classroom, community, character and competition. “We have to just continue to be ourselves within our environment, regardless of the circumstances and how intense the game or the moment may feel. It's March, and you can feel a change of energy going into this month, and you know the postseason, sometimes the hoop just gets bigger, and everybody's playing off adrenaline.
"But that's when you have to be the most focused and the most disciplined. Being calmer will help you in the long run. So I think that as we go into this postseason, if we focus on the details and staying disciplined and being within ourselves, we're going to be fine. We'll be perfectly fine.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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