Gophers Open Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday with Rutgers

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's basketball team (15-14, 5-13 B1G) is set to begin the 2024 Big Ten Tournament with a first round matchup with Rutgers (8-23, 2-16 B1G). The entire Big Ten Tournament is set at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., with Minnesota's first round game set for 25 minutes after game one on Wednesday night on Peacock while Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist will broadcast the game on KFAN+.

GAME INFORMATION
TV/Stream: Peacock
TV Talent: Zora Stephenson, Megan McKeown and Caroline Pineda
Tip Time: 25 Minutes After Game 1 (Northwestern-Purdue starts at 5:30 p.m. CT)
Radio: KFAN+ (96.7 FM) and the iHeartRadio app (Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist)
Bag Policy: As a reminder, Target Center is not a clear bag facility. The policy is based on bag size: https://www.targetcenter.com/plan-your-visit-1/know-before-you-go

ABOUT THE RUTGERS GAME

Minnesota and Rutgers are meeting for the 15th time, with the Scarlet Knights holding a 9-5 advantage in the series that started in 1982. Rutgers won the matchup earlier this season in Piscataway, 81-73.
Minnesota dropped its only test against Rutgers earlier this season in Piscataway, N.J., at Jersey Mike's Arena by a score of 81-73. Grace Grocholski led the way for Minnesota with 23 points, including a career high seven threes on 12 attempts. Sophie Hart had 17 in that game while Mallory Heyer added 12, all coming from beyond the arc.
Rutgers dropped its final four games of the regular season, most recently against Northwestern at home, 72-61. Rutgers has been without leading scorer in sophomore Kaylene Smikle (16.1) who has not played since December.
Without Smikle the Scarlet Knights have run much of their offense through Destiny Adams, who has a season average of 15.1 points per game. She also averages a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game while also leading the team in steals, blocks, offensive rebounds and free throw attempts. This season Adams is No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 24 nationally at total free throw attempts at 168.
As of March 2, Rutgers is one of the top teams in the Big Ten at free throws made per game at 13.8. That rate is good enough for No. 4 in the Big Ten and No. 56 nationally. Last time against the Golden Gophers, Rutgers shot 26-of-28 from the free throw line, which included a perfect 10-of-10 in the fourth quarter.

GOPHER NOTABLES

The Big Ten announced the 2024 All-Big Ten awards on Tuesday, with Minnesota earning three nods for their play with Mara Braun and Amaya Battle earning All-Big Ten Honorable Mention while Grace Grocholski was on the conference's All-Freshman Team. Maggie Czinano was also named as Minnesota's representative for the Sportsmanship Award.
Minnesota closed out the regular season dropping its final four games, including its most recent game at Penn State on Sunday, March 3. The Nittany Lions defeated Minnesota 90-34 with true freshman Brynn Senden leading the way off the bench with a career high 10 points and added a team high three steals. Fellow freshman Grace Grocholski added eight points, with a pair of triples, and brought down a Big Ten career high seven rebounds.
True freshman Grace Grocholski has claimed three Big Ten Freshmen of the Week honors this season. The Wisconsin native has 18 games this season where she's scored in double figures, which is tied for the most in the Big Ten among freshmen. Against Penn State Grocholski hit her 69th three of the season and sits second on the single-season freshman threes all-time list and is 22 away from breaking that record.
University of Minnesota head women's basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit announced on Jan. 29, that sophomore guard Mara Braun suffered a foot injury against Illinois that will require surgery and will be out indefinitely. This season Braun has been one of the Big Ten's top scorers at 17.8 points per game, which is fourth in the conference, while shooting a career high 37 percent from three.
Without Mara Braun in the lineup Janay Sanders has slid into the starting lineup for the Gophers the past eight games and has upped her scoring average from 5.3 to 12.2 points per game. Since joining the starting lineup Sanders has shot 44.7 percent (34-of-76) from the floor.
Last season the Gophers were ranked 291st in the NCAA and 13th in the Big Ten in turnovers per game (17.7) per game but through 29 games this season are ranked 55th in the country at 13.7.

BY THE NUMBERS
11 - Among freshmen, Grocholski leads the Big Ten in overall scoring (11.4) and scoring during conference play (11.3).
22 - Amaya Battle is 22 assists away from breaking into the program's all-time top 10 assists list.
4 - During conference play Janay Sanders has averaged 4.4 drawn fouls per game, which leads the team.
28 - The most points scored by a Gopher in any Big Ten Tournament game is 28 by Gadiva Hubbard and Jamie Broback.
109 - The Big Ten is expecting an attendance of around 109,000 fans that will attend the Big Ten Tournament from March 6-10.

For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's basketball on Twitter (X.com), Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2023-24 season.

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Players Mentioned

Amaya Battle

Mara Braun

Maggie Czinano

Grace Grocholski

Sophie Hart

Mallory Heyer

Janay Sanders

Brynn Senden