STANFORD, Calif. — During this see-saw ride of a basketball season, C. Vivian Stringer has been wary of highs.
“Because I don’t know how soon they’re going to be dropping me back down,” the Rutgers coach reflected this week. “It’s like dressing you up to go to the prom and, as soon as we walk out the door and get in the limo, my date drops me off at the McDonald’s and asks me if I have 35 cents to spare.”
But in the games that led her Scarlet Knights here to California for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, she did see something that gave her encouragement. Particularly in Rutgers’ double-overtime win over Georgetown in the Big East Tournament, she sensed a proud relentlessness as her team played its exhausting full-court press for much of the game.
She’s hoping that attitude persists tonight, when ninth-seeded Rutgers (19-14) meets eighth-seeded Iowa (19-13) at 8:16 in Stanford’s Maples Pavilion. When it comes to tournament time, being able to impose a harassing defense on opponents can be a trump card for Stringer’s teams (see: last year’s 80-52 win over Auburn).
“During the postseason, that’s when we really look at the details of our defense, and we try to be a lot more intense,” senior guard Brittany Ray said. “And we use that to actually transition into offense. We rely on that a lot more during the postseason. ... If you can’t play defense, then you’re not going to go far.”
At times this season — the blowout losses to Connecticut, 73-36, and Syracuse, 76-45 — Stringer wondered how well her team could play defense. Beyond those blemishes, the numbers are above satisfactory — fourth in the Big East in scoring defense (55.8 points per game) and second behind only Connecticut in opponents’ field-goal percentage (.345).
But Stringer didn’t see her team embracing the all-in defensive mentality, the firm foundation for her team — until recently, when she said the veterans took charge. In Rutgers’ past five games, four of which were wins, the team didn’t surrender more than 56 points, including that pivotal Georgetown game.
“I liked the attitude, and as I said to them, ‘I think it’s going to last a long time,’” Stringer said. “It’s going to last in their memory, because you know what, we didn’t back down when things got tough.”
Things may get tough this weekend against an Iowa team that is excellent beyond the arc, sinking 252 three-pointers this season — 46 more than the next closest Big Ten team.
Guard Khadijah Rushdan said Iowa compares to Villanova in that respect, except Iowa also has more players who can drive the ball inside. But Rutgers is hoping it can throw off the Hawkeyes with the kind of press Iowa coach Lisa Bluder admitted her team hadn’t seen anything comparable.
“I think we can catch them off guard,” sophomore guard Nikki Speed said. “I saw them play against Ohio State, and that was a great game for them, but watching film, we all noticed nobody got up on them defensively. I think it will be a different impression — an element of surprise.”
Jenny Vrentas may be reached at jvrentas@starledger.com