UConn Ends Road-Trip at a Sold-Out Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, NJ (February 13) – The second-ranked Connecticut women’s basketball team will take to the road for the second time this week when the Huskies face Rutgers on Saturday night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Game time is set for 7:00 pm and will be shown on Madison Square Garden (MSG) Network and Fox Sports New England.

The Huskies are on top of the BIG EAST Conference with a league record of 9-1 and a 19-2 overall mark. The Scarlet Knights own an overall record of 14-8 and are 6-4 in the league.

Tonight’s game will mark the fourth advanced sellout at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in Scarlet Knight women’s basketball history. Two of the three previous sellouts have been against Connecticut, while the third was versus Notre Dame.

Connecticut owns a 15-1 record in the all-time series against Rutgers and is 5-1 while playing in Piscataway. Rutgers only win of the series came on February 10, 1998, a slim 74-70 Scarlet Knight victory in Piscataway. Earlier this season, Connecticut overpowered Rutgers at the Hartford Civic Center on January 19. Senior All-American Diana Taurasi led the team with 27 points in the 72-47 victory.

The Huskies are 8-1 on the road this season and have won 37 of the last 38 away games. The team’s only loss this season was at Notre Dame on January 13. The Huskies have also won 52 of the last 53 BIG EAST games. With UConn’s win at Syracuse on Wednesday night, it marked the 16th time in the last 19 games that UConn has won by 10 or more points.

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma owns the best win percentage among active NCAA Division I coaches with a 520-101 record for an .837 percentage. He was neck-and-neck with Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt but edged ahead of her percentage when the Huskies went to Knoxville and defeated the Lady Vols on February 5.

Reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week, senior Diana Taurasi leads the team in scoring with 17.3 points per game. Taurasi continues to lead the team in assists (91), blocked shots (19) and steals (38). Also shooting in double-figures this season are sophomores Barbara Turner, averaging 12.9 points per game and Ann Strother with 11.9 points per game. Junior Jessica Moore is grabbing 6.6 rebounds per game.

Rutgers is a perfect 11-0 at home and the streak is in jeopardy when the Scarlet Knight’s face the Huskies on Saturday night. Rutgers has allowed opponents to score 49.8 points per game at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) and is shooting 44.2 percent on their home floor. Rutgers is 4-5 against ranked teams and seven of RU’s losses have been at the mercy of ranked team or teams receiving votes and all eight have been on the road.

“Whenever we play against them at the RAC, they are really, really good at home,” said UConn senior Maria Conlon. “Their crowd gets into it for them; anytime you play on your home court it makes is tough for the opponent. It is one of the tougher places in the BIG EAST to play.”

Most recently, Rutgers took a win at Pittsburgh on February 11. Junior Cappie Pondexter scored a game-high 21 points in the win.

Pondexter leads the Scarlet Knights with 18.2 points per game and 4.6 assists per game. She has scored in double-figures in 20 of Rutgers’s 22 games this season. Junior Chelsea Newton has an 11.2 points per game average and senior Dawn McCullouch is adding 10.9 tallies per contest. Senior Shalicia Hurns leads the team with 6.6 rebounds per game.

C. Vivian Stringer is 668-235 in her 32 seasons as a head coach. Stringer is in her ninth season at Rutgers and owns a 168-100 mark leading the Scarlet Knights to five NCAA Tournament berths.

“I think they feel comfortable at the RAC and it is not an easy place to play if they get a good crowd in there which I am sure they will for us,” said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. “Sometimes teams just get into that mode where they play well at home and they feel like they are invincible. That’s how they feel right now.”