Rutgers women’s basketball now has its Big Ten map for the 2026-27 season, and the first league slate of the Gary Redus II era brings a heavyweight home date with the defending national champion.
The conference announced home-and-road designations on June 8, giving Rutgers an 18-game schedule built around eight single-play opponents at home, eight single-play opponents on the road and one team the Scarlet Knights will see twice. That repeat opponent is Penn State, which gives Rutgers nine conference games in Piscataway and nine away from home.
The biggest name on the home side is UCLA, fresh off the 2026 NCAA championship and the first national title in program history. USC is coming to Rutgers, too. The Scarlet Knights went out to face both Los Angeles schools in the 2025-26 season, and now both return trips land on Rutgers’ home floor in 2026-27.
The rest of Rutgers’ home list includes Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue.
On the road, Rutgers will head to Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Scarlet Knights also make a trip to the Pacific Northwest to meet Washington and Oregon, two teams Rutgers hosted in 2025-26. That included Rutgers’ first home meeting with Washington and its first home game against Oregon in 35 years, dating back to the 1990 matchup.
Rutgers and Penn State will square off twice in the regular season for the third straight year. Penn State is the only Big Ten opponent Rutgers will play both home and away before the postseason.
The full schedule still has pieces to come. Rutgers’ announcement did not include game dates, tipoff times or television information, and those details will arrive once the complete 2026-27 schedule is finalized.
It will also be Redus’ first conference schedule since he was named the fourth head coach in Rutgers women’s basketball history on March 9.
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