Arella Guirantes emerging as Rutgers’ go-to option
5–11 wing blends power, finesse leading Scarlet Knights to 10–1 start
Last season’s late surge wasn’t a mirage for Arella Guirantes.
The promise shown in that stretch has been actualized. Guirantes leads 10–1 Rutgers in scoring. The Scarlet Knights enter conference play with just one loss for the first time this decade.
The toughest stretch to date included a 10-point home victory over Virginia on the heels of wins at the Junkanoo Jam over Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. Rutgers fell in their second of two non-conference road tilts at LSU and will open Big Ten play Saturday at Wisconsin.
Guirantes is a matchup nightmare. Her power and size driving to her right lay the foundation. Opposing perimeter players of all sizes struggle to cut off those strong-hand drives. Guirantes only needs the slightest edge, holding onto the advantages she creates with her physical style.
The spin move has become a perfect counter. Defenders have to sell out to completely wall off those strong-hand drives. Guirantes capitalizes in those moments with one quick spin, immediately generating an advantage situation driving in the other direction.
Her 19.1 per game scoring average this season leads the Big Ten. Additionally, Guirantes is capitalizing on all the help she draws, assisting 22.4 percent of her teammates’ makes — up from 12.4 last season.
Guirantes lives in the lane. Paint touches come naturally with such a bruising style of play, and her size makes life much easier setting teammates up for open looks when help arrives.
Finding one thing to do extremely well is a goal every player can prioritize. Guirantes has it. Keeping her off her right hand is hard work, and the stakes are high every time. Guirantes is getting to the rim if you fail.
In comes the counter: Cut that off and the spin move is coming. Even when defenders dodge those first two punches, Guirantes is still in her comfort zone. Her physical style makes for a mean post-up game.
Defenders run into the same issues when Guirantes goes back to basket. Most players will be too small, too slow — or both — to take everything off the table.
Teams will try giving her a cushion, encouraging more jumpers and hoping enough of them won’t fall. Guirantes shot 18-of-67 from deep as a freshman, 24-of-100 last season and 12-of-32 to date. Hope is a fitting word choice for that approach. Guirantes knows exactly how to attack it, creating the same advantages to twist a defense in knots.
Guirantes attacks ‘cushions’ of open space extremely well. One hard dribble into a sagging defender often results in a stalemate.
Not for Guirantes.
The same urgency is required to cut off the strong-hand drives with the spin looming. She can attack those same players with her back-to-basket game to draw help or overpower her original matchup at the rim.
Finding enough shooting, or simply setting Guirantes up enough to attack off the bounce, is a season-long challenge Rutgers must overcome against a zone defense. Zones keep helpers nearby; Guirantes will run into crowds more often before getting deep into the lane.
Rutgers will likely lean on their star to make plays from the elbows. This one-legged fadeaway becoming a staple would be terrifying.
Guirantes isn’t just putting up these numbers by overpowering smaller guards. The skill level has ascended, too, seen most often in her ability to create and convert midrange looks.
More of a one-legged fadeaway may not be in the cards just yet, but a mean right-to-left cross has to be front of mind when defending Guirantes. No one wants to get dropped by this:
A quick first step and comfort attacking the smallest advantage unlock the hard drives to the rack. Guirantes’ patience, knowing getting from point A to B as quickly as possible at all costs isn’t the only way, is also beginning to shine through.
Guirantes might be best without a screen as a walking mismatch for so many opposing guard-types. At times, Rutgers will need to lean more on their ball-screen offense against teams that come ready to help and recover to keep Guirantes out of the lane.
The same threat to get right or spin apply in pick and roll, where she can keep a defender on her back, get downhill in a hurry or rise up for a pull-up jumper.
Guirantes has started putting the pieces together in becoming a well-rounded No. 1 option. Meanwhile, her effort level, even with a usage rate climbing over 30, hasn’t waned on the other end. Guirantes has been just as eager to make maximum-effort defensive plays as she has been to take on this increased scoring load.
Fellow junior Tekia Mack has also capitalized on the opportunity to produce in a larger role, nearly tripling last season’s scoring average.
More Guirantes-Mack actions will put opponents in a bind; both players have the power and quickness to attack bigs or smalls off the bounce.
But now the competition intensifies. Guirantes and the Scarlet Knights will be tested. Rutgers can’t point to a resume-building win over South Carolina like upcoming opponent No. 14 Indiana can.
While some skepticism toward Rutgers’ 10-win start would be fair, one thing is for certain. This level of play from Guirantes is real, giving their future opponents plenty to worry about.
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