Road Woes Continue as Rutgers Blown Away in Evanston

Rutgers women’s basketball dropped their fifth consecutive road game on Wednesday night, an 82-65 loss to No. 18 Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois. The Scarlet Knights have now lost six of their last nine outings. This time out, it was an inability to control the Wildcats offense that led to the one-sided defeat.

Defensive Struggles

While the Scarlet Knights have been consistently solid on the defensive end all season, they were unable to keep the Wildcats in check on Wednesday night. The 82 points scored by Northwestern were the most that Rutgers has allowed all season. The Scarlet Knights were unable to contain the Wildcats, both from the field and from three. Northwestern ended the night shooting an outstanding 58.8% from the field and 50% from downtown.

The Wildcats were led by Lindsey Pulliam, who tallied 27 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. Veronica Burton added 23 points for Northwestern as well. The Scarlet Knights’ inability to contain these two was their downfall. Pulliam shot 58.8% from the field, while Burton ended with an astounding 88.9% field goal percentage. The Scarlet Knights had no answer for these two or the Northwestern offense as a whole. As a team built on defense, Rutgers can hardly afford to allow another performance like this if it hopes to succeed in the near future.

Rutgers Inconsistency

The Scarlet Knights have been incredibly inconsistent in the latter half of the season. Rutgers started the season with an excellent record of 13-2. Since the midway point, however, the Scarlet Knights have gone just 5-6. Rutgers has been unable to put together any type of winning streak or consistent stretch since the beginning of January. These issues stem from the Scarlet Knights’ inability to win on the road. Since the midway point of the season, Rutgers is 4-1 at home and only 1-5 on the road.

Looking Ahead

Fortunately for the Scarlet Knights, they will return home for three consecutive games to close out the regular season. Rutgers holds an 11-2 record at home and will look to improve on that this weekend. The Scarlet Knights open the homestand on Saturday afternoon when they match up with Ohio State at 2 p.m. at the RAC.