Michigan
Rutgers
Michigan Will Conclude Regular-Season Play at Rutgers on Sunday
2/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
» U-M is looking for its third straight win in the game against Rutgers. Michigan has won five of its last six games heading into the season finale.
» With a win, Michigan will be the No. 6 or No. 7 seed for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
» Sophomore Katelynn Flaherty is third in the Big Ten and seventh nationally in scoring at 22.3 points per game. She is second on the Michigan single-season list with 85 three-pointers.
• TV: Big Ten Network | Live Audio | BTN2Go
• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
The University of Michigan women's basketball team (17-11, 9-8 Big Ten) concludes the regular season at Rutgers (16-13, 7-10 Big Ten) on Sunday (Feb. 28) at 2 p.m. The contest can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.
• Michigan is playing its season finale at Rutgers, the only time the teams are meeting this season. Michigan enters the game tied with Purdue for sixth in the Big Ten at 9-8. It is just the eighth time in school history that Michigan has won at least nine conference games. With a win, it will be the sixth 10-win Big Ten season for Michigan and the first since the 2010-11 season. In its previous five 10-win seasons, Michigan made the NCAA Tournament in four of those seasons (1989-90, 1997-98, 1999-2000 and 2000-01).
• Michigan enters the weekend tied for sixth place with Purdue at 9-8 in the Big Ten. U-M can only be the No. 6, No. 7 or No. 8 seed for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. With a win at Rutgers, Michigan can lock up the No. 6 or No. 7, depending on the outcome of the Purdue-Wisconsin game. With a Michigan win and Purdue win, Purdue will win the tiebreaker over Michigan after going 1-0 against both Minnesota and Indiana. With a Michigan win and a Purdue loss, U-M will be the No. 6 seed for the tournament. If Michigan loses and Nebraska defeats Northwestern, U-M will be the No. 8 seed.
• Michigan has won five of its last six games to propel its name back into the national conversation for an NCAA bid. U-M is 17-11 with an RPI of 62 entering the weekend.
• The Wolverines are heading back to New Jersey for Sunday's game, taking on Rutgers for the only time this season. Sophomore Katelynn Flaherty hails from New Jersey, while head coach Kim Barnes Arico lived in New Jersey before taking the Michigan head coaching job in 2012. U-M also features a pair of New York natives in freshman Boogie Brozoski and sophomore Maria Backman. In Michigan's only other trip to the state of New Jersey this season, Flaherty dropped a then-career high 33 points at Princeton (Dec. 6).
• Sophomore Katelynn Flaherty has reached double figures in all but one game this season. She has topped 30 points six times and has scored at least 20 points 17 times as one of four players in the Big Ten averaging 20 points per game. She is seventh nationally in scoring (22.3 ppg) and became the second sophomore in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark after scoring a career-best 36 against Illinois (Feb. 7).
Flaherty's 625 points is already the second-best total on the single-season list. Jennifer Smith holds the season record for points, scoring 659 as the only other Wolverine in school history to surpass 600 points in a season. Flaherty now holds the sophomore scoring record at Michigan and is already up to 1,124 career points to rank 20th all-time. She has hit 85 three-pointers this season, tying Carmen Reynolds (85) in 2009-2010 for second. Kate Thompson hit 110 in 2012-13 to hold the single-season record.
• Freshman Hallie Thome has been a dominant force inside for Michigan this season, averaging 14.6 points per game on 65.0 percent shooting from the floor. She has reached double figures 20 times, has eight 20-point games and scored a career-best 31 points against Minnesota (Jan. 31). She became the eighth freshman in school history to reach 400 points after scoring 22 at Northwestern (Feb. 23), joining Siera Thompson and Katelynn Flaherty as current Wolverines to accomplish the feat. She is third nationally and in the Big Ten in field goal percentage and is on pace to become Michigan's single-season leader.
• Rutgers (16-13, 7-10 Big Ten) enters the season finale on a three-game skid after dropping a 74-68 overtime game at Purdue on Thursday (Feb. 25). The Scarlet Knights feature a pair of double-figure scorers in Tyler Scaife (17.4 ppg) and Kahleah Copper (17.2 ppg). Rutgers scores 62.4 points per game on 44.4 percent shooting while holding opponents to 59.4 points on 37.8 percent shooting. Rutgers leads the all-time series, 3-0, with two of those wins occurring last season as a Big Ten team.
• Junior Siera Thompson leads Michigan in assists this season, handing out 147 for a 5.3 assist per game average. Thompson is currently seventh all-time at U-M in career assists with 344 and is now fourth on the season assists list. Jenny Ryan set the season record in 2012-13, dishing out 167 assists. The Wolverines have 489 assists on the season, averaging 17.5 per game. Michigan's single-season record for assists came last year as the Wolverines totaled 570.
