Gophers women-Rutgers gameday preview

Conference leaders visit

Gophers update: The Gophers are coming off a much-needed victory at Northwestern, which had won four consecutive Big Ten Conference games. They did it, in part, with a modified roster that essentially included four guards — Kenisha Bell, Jasmine Brunson, Irene Garrido-Perez and Destiny Pitts — with one post. It allowed the Gophers to get some spacing on offense and helped force Northwestern into 18 turnovers; the Gophers' 10 steals were their most in conference play. After averaging 9.6 points and shooting 33.8 percent over her first seven conference games, Pitts has averaged 19 points, 48.7 percent shooting overall and 52.0 percent shooting on three-pointers (13-for-25) in the past three. Pitts had 19 points, Bell 17 and Brunson 14 against Northwestern. The Gophers are 1-2 against Top 25 teams this season, with a victory over Syracuse and losses at Michigan State and against Iowa at Williams Arena. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus.

Rutgers update: The 17th-ranked Scarlet Knights are 9-1 in conference, and that includes a 2-1 mark against ranked teams. Rutgers won at Maryland (then ranked fourth) early in the conference schedule and also beat then-No. 17 Michigan State at home. Their only loss came at Iowa. Rutgers is second in the Big Ten in conference play in both scoring defense (60.5) and opponents' shooting percentage (37.6) and first in steals per game (9.6). Rutgers has only two players averaging in double figures in scoring — senior F Stasha Carey (12.0) and sophomore guard Arella Guirantes (11.0). But coach C. Vivian Stringer has a deep roster, with seven players averaging 5.2 points or more per game.

Kent Youngblood