The Guru Report: Rutgers Wins Ugly While Drexel Upset at Bucknell

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers tucked away another win Sunday afternoon though the manner the 67-53 triumph was achieved over Towson here in the Rutgers Athletic Center was not exceptionally to Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer’s liking while in the only other game involving one of the Guru’s local D-1 squads Drexel tripped on the road up at Bucknell, falling 60-49 in Lewisburg, Pa.

Nationally, it certainly wasn’t like old times at No. 4 Connecticut where the unbeaten Huskies smashed Notre Dame 81-57 with relative ease on campus in Gampel Pavilion in Storrs while a pair of Southeastern ranked teams were taken down at home with Texas edging No. 17 Tennessee 66-60 in Knoxville while West Virginia came up with a 71-65 win  over No. 10 Mississippi State in Starkville.

Both Texas (5-4) and West Virginia (6-1) of the Big 12 had been  in the Associated Press rankings previously this season while Tennessee (7-1) had recently returned to the poll after an 11-week gap across two seasons and Mississippi State (8-2) had stayed in the top 10 but lower from where it had been a national contender with an ongoing ranking in the Top Five.

The results were part of the annual Big 12/SEC challenge over a five-day span won by the Big 12 with a dominating first-ever 8-2 advantage.

In the Rutgers win junior Mael Gilles had a career-high 17 points, including 13 in the second half to help the Scarlet Knights (8-1) push away from a rally by the visiting Tigers (3-6), the reigning champions of the Colonial Athletic Association.

It’s Rutgers best start in five seasons matching the 2014-15 start when the Scarlet Knights went on to a 23-win effort that ended in a second-round loss in the NCAA tournament.

Arella Guirantes, who last Monday picked up her second Big Ten player of the week citation, also scored 17 points, while Jordan Wallace grabbed 11 rebounds.

Kiona Jeter had a game-high 23 points for Towson, which moved to a 36-34 lead with 6:09 left in the third period.

But Rutgers then moved the momentum back in its direction, exploding on an 18-6 run to end the period.

Nukiyo Mayo added 14 points for Towson.

After a bit of a wait Stringer arrived and called the result “an ugly win, not consistent with how we played this year.

“But let’s give credit to Towson, that’s a good team, but we didn’t play Rutgers basketball.”

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers tucked away another win Sunday afternoon though the manner the 67-53 triumph over Towson here in the Rutgers Athletic Center was not exceptionally to Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer’s liking while in the only other game involving one of the Guru’s local D-1 squads Drexel tripped on the road up at Bucknell, falling 60-49 in Lewisburg, Pa.

Nationally, it certainly wasn’t like old times at No. 4 Connecticut where the unbeaten Huskies smashed Notre Dame 81-57 with relative ease on campus in Gampel Pavilion in Storrs while a pair of Southeastern ranked teams were taken down at home with Texas edging No. 17 Tennessee 66-60 in Knoxville while West Virginia came up with a 71-65 win  over No. 10 Mississippi State in Starkville.

Both Texas (5-4) and West Virginia (6-1) of the Big 12 had been  in the Associated Press rankings previously this season while Tennessee (7-1) had recently returned to the poll after an 11-week gap across two seasons and Mississippi State (8-2) had stayed in the top 10 but lower from where it had been a national contender with an ongoing ranking in the Top Five.

The results were part of the annual Big 12/SEC challenge over a five-day span won for the first time by the Big 12 with a dominating 8-2 advantage.

In the Rutgers win junior Mael Gilles had a career-high 17 points, including 13 in the second half to help the Scarlet Knights (8-1) push away from a rally by the visiting Tigers (3-6), the reigning champions of the Colonial Athletic Association.

It’s Rutgers best start in five seasons matching the 2014-15 start when the Scarlet Knights went on to a 23-win effort that ended in a second-round loss in the NCAA tournament.

Arella Guirantes, who last Monday picked up her second Big Ten player of the week citation, also scored 17 points, while Jordan Wallace grabbed 11 rebounds.

Kiona Jeter had a game-high 23 points for Towson, which moved to a 36-34 lead with 6:09 left in the third period.

But Rutgers then moved the momentum back in its direction, exploding on an 18-6 run to end the period.

Nukiyo Mayo had 14 points for Towson.

After a bit of a wait Stringer arrived and called the result “an ugly win, not consistent with how we played this year.

“But let’s give credit to Towson, that’s a good team, but we didn’t play Rutgers basketball,” Stringer noted.

Gilles, a native Canadian from Montreal, said vibes in practice during the week indicated there might be some trouble.

The coach and player referenced Towson’s length as a hinderance.

Stringer acknowledged sluggishness could be attributed in part that it is now final exam period.

A key statistic was the home team’s rebounding strength with a 48-31 advantage that translated into a lopsided 21-4 ruling in second chance points.

Rutgers next stays right here hosting Southern U. at 7 on Thursday and then Sunday hosting Marshall at 2 p.m.

Then it’s time for a holiday break before opening the Big Ten slate on the road at Wisconsin on Dec. 29 at Wisconsin. 

Drexel Upset at Bucknell

Though there is a new coach at Bucknell after Aaron Roussell moved on to Richmond, former Division III Scranton coach Trevor Woodruff repeated the previous magical feat of having Drexel coming into Sojka Pavilion and disappearing after impressive victories.

The last time when it had occurred, Drexel had Just upset then-No. 11 Syracuse, which had advanced to the Women’s Final Four the previous season.

The Dragons had beaten the Orange at home on a late three-pointer from Meghan Creighton only to be taken down up in Central Pennsylvania in the Dragon’s next game, visiting Bucknell in November 2016 four seasons ago.

On Sunday on the heels of a win at Saint Joseph’s and Wednesday’s late overtime win at home against Villanova, the Dragons returned to the scene of that past disaster and history repeated, this time the Dragons lost 60-49 to the Bisons (6-3), who have won four straight.

Bailey Greenberg had 16 point for Drexel (5-4), shooting 6-for-11 from the field, and she also had six rebounds. Maura Hendrixson had 12 points, all coming off of four 3-pointers, while Aubree Brown dealt seven assists.

Bucknell capitalized at the foul line, shooting 15-of-19 while Drexel was just 4-for-4. The Bisons also had a 33-22 rebounding advantage off a Dragons season low.

Ally Johnson had 15 point for the home team, while Ellie Mack had 13 points, nine rebounds, and  six assists for the P, and Tessa Brugler had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Patriot League representative.

One of Woodruff’s assistants, by the way, is all-time Penn State scoring leader Kelly Mazzante, who played in the WNBA.

Drexel now goes on a break before hosting La Salle on Dec. 17 at 11:30 a.m.

Nationally Noted: No. 4 Connecticut Stays Unbeaten After Demolishing Notre Dame

Continuing to struggle and seek small victories in the wake of five starters graduating, the latest moral triumph for Notre Dame’s last season national runners up was outscoring the Huskies 32-29 in the second half of UConn’s overall 81-57 triumph in the annual Jimmy V game victory on campus at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs.

A turnover-filled second quarter saw the Irish (5-6) drop from a 29-13 deficit at the start of the period to a deeper 52-25 crater.

Megan Walker had 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Huskies (8-0) while Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 16 points and 10 rebounds, along with three blocked shots.

 Crystal Dangerfield returned from the injured list where she had been placed due to back spasms and scored 10, and Christyn Williams scored 12.

Notre Dame’s Anaya Peoples had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Kathryn Gilbert scored 15, and Marta Sniezek scored 14.

The Huskies had a 48-32 rebounding edge and a whopping 21-5 score on second chance points.

“It’s a great experience for all of them, particularly the freshman,” said Notre Dame Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw, who starred at Saint Joseph’s. “It’s about continuing to battle, which we did.

“It’s about the little things we can do better in practice, that we can control. You can’t control the ball going into the basket, but you can control rebounding and setting screens.”

It’s the first time in 16 seasons Notre Dame has a losing record since being 3-4 in December 2003.

The Irish now must host No. 16 DePaul Wednesday and on Dec. 16 the Huskies play their next game visiting past and future Big East opponent DePaul in Chicago.

UConn is likely to move up a spot in the poll in the wake of No. 2 Louisville’s loss at Ohio State. The Huskies need to make the Top 5 three more polls after Monday to have spent the entire decade in that position.

Meanwhile in Knoxville, Lashann Higgs and Sugg Sutton each scored 19 points to lead Texas to its 66-60 upset of Tennessee (7-1), handing the Lady Vols (7-1) their first loss.

Jada Underwood had 13 for Texas (5-4).

Rennia Davis had 15 points and Jasmine Massengill scored 10 for Tennessee, which soon will be playing top-ranked Stanford, currently on break for finals.

In the other big upset, freshman Kirsten Deans had a career-high 17 points for West Virginia in the 71-65 win by the Mountainers (6-1) at No. 10 Mississippi State (8-2), who got 19 points from Jordan Danberry.

And that’s the report.