Guru’s WBB Report: Villanova Stays Perfect Off Winning Big East Opener at Saint John’s While Nationally No. 4 Baylor Victimized at No. 16 Arkansas

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Villanova, a preseason pick for seventh among the Big East women, opened conference play on the road Sunday, beating Saint John’s 74-65 in a game that was more lopsided in the third quarter than the final outcome to stay unbeaten at 4-0 while local success was also obtained by Delaware, winning 85-79 at Pittsburgh.

 

Penn State, however, fell at No. 22 Syracuse 82-72, for the Lady Lions’ first seasonal loss, while Temple improved in differential from Wednesday’s ‘Nova rout but came up short, losing 78-69 to Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers.

 

Nationally, what a day it was off what a week it was, as another Top 10 team was upset with No. 16 Arkansas upending No. 4 Baylor 83-78, at home in Fayetteville, following No. 1 South Carolina’s home loss Thursday night to No. 8 North Carolina State, and No. 6 Mississippi State’s overtime loss at South Florida on Saturday night.

 

Unranked South Dakota State edged No. 18 Gonzaga 75-72 at home in Brookings in overtime.

 

And it could have been worse as No. 11 Kentucky rallied at home in the fourth quarter to edge No. 13 Indiana 72-68 in Lexington, while No. 7 Arizona held off Southern Cal 78-77 and No. 9 UCLA held off Arizona State 63-59 in a pair of PAC-12 games in the desert.

 

In a reunion between Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair and his former assistant Vic Schaefer, no longer a Southeastern Conference rival at Mississippi State, it was Blair’s No. 12 Aggies over the No. 25 Longhorns 66-61 in the Longhorns’ Erwin Center in Austin.

 

Elsewhere among the rank teams, however, it was thump city as South Carolina took out its loss last week by blasting host No. 23 Iowa State 83-65, while No. 5 Louisville came home from its one-side Friday win over No. 20 DePaul at the Mohegan Sun to wipe out Tennessee-Martin 85-67 at the Yum Center.

 N.C. State did not let down from the Gamecocks to beat Coastal Carolina 98-46, No. 10 Oregon completed a weekend PAC-12 sweep beating visiting Utah 85-43 in Eugene, No. 19 Ohio State nailed Northern Kentucky 96-63 in Columbus, No. 17 Oregon State kept pace with its sister PAC-12 school cruising over Colorado 70-53 in Portland.

 

Playing away from home due to the lockdown in Santa Clara County, No. 2 Stanford followed up on Saturday’s non-conference romp over UNLV by returning to Thomas and Mack to grab its PAC-12 opener, beating Washington, 83-50.

 

The win brought Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer within one of tying the all-time women’s Division I career mark of the late and legendary Tennessee’s Pat Summitt at 1,098, but it may take a while longer to reach the milestone and surpass it since the next game against Washington State is postponed with the Cougars sidelined by the coronavirus.

 

Three other ranked squads were among the pile of teams involved in 16 games Sunday postponed or canceled resulting from coronavirus tests and protocols, in the Big East, DePaul in Chicago lost out meeting Xavier, No. 3 Connecticut, scheduled to begin formal Big East play again for the first time in eight seasons, stayed idled while host Seton Hall has also been waylaid.

 

The Huskies may finally start soon. No. 15 Northwestern’s home game with Bradley was off as the host Wildcats are still waiting a season start.

 

Notable games among unranked teams, saw host West Virginia in Morgantown beat visiting Tennessee 79-73 in overtime in Morgantown, while CAA favorite James Madison hosted and beat the Atlantic 10’s George Mason 89-70 in Blacksburg, Va.

 

Valparaiso upset host Purdue 52-47, host North Dakota State beat Green Bay 82-66, Old Dominion beat A-10 favorite Va. Commonwealth 81-76 at home in overtime in Norfolk, while Notre Dame topped IUPUI 65-58 at home in South Bend, Ind., Dayton fell at home to Akron, 77-74, Minnesota fell at home 99-66 to Drake, and North Carolina stayed unbeaten holding Charlotte off 81-75 at home in Chapel Hill to improve to 5-0.

 

Villanova Keeps Rolling: “It was a ragged start, then it got pretty good, then it was a little bad at the end, but it was a win, which is what you want when the day is over,” said new Wildcats coach Denise Dillon from the bus returning from Saint John’s and gaining her first Big East win on her first try after spending 17 seasons at Drexel.

 

“But these kids will do whatever it takes for the love of the game,” said Dillon, who played at Villanova. “Like taking the trip to Quinnipiac (in central Connecticut last week), you get on the bus the same day, ride a couple of hours, fortunately traffic is lighter in these times so it’s smoother and a little quicker, get off, play the game and then get back on and spend a couple more hours coming home.”

The games in the conference opened this past weekend on a one-year deal with FloSports off the new subscription TV streaming network contract airing the Big East Digital Network package on its FloHoops lineup, which also will air a features show in the conference.

“We’re very excited to partner with FloSports, a dynamic and fast-growing player in live sports event streaming to supplement our existing network,” said Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman as part of Friday’s release announcement. She said the deal with FloSports “will offer even wider distribution of our games and significant additional promotion of our student-athletes and coaches.”

FOX Sports also has a national TV men’s and women’s deal with the Big East, while FloHoops also airs a package out of the CAA, including games involving Drexel and Delaware.

Sophomore Maddy Siegrist, the reigning conference rookie of the year and also player of the week, topped the Wildcats (4-0, 1-0 Big East) again, scoring another double double of 19 points and 15 rebounds, her best boardwork of the young season.

Villanova trailed for the first time this season while playing the Red Storm (2-1, 1-0) but by the half led 33-28 and then launched a booming 18-4 run to lead by 19 late in the third quarter before the home team got back to within 11 several times only to get repulsed by the visitors.

But the Red Storm persisted in the final quarter and on an 11-0 run in which Leilani Correa had nine of her game-high 21 points moved close at 71-65.

However, Siegrist plugged the rally with a three-ball with 35 seconds left in regulation.

On the Villanova side beyond Siegrist, Sarah Mortensen, the Miami transfer eligible this season, also had a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Brianna Herlihy scored 13. 

Freshman Lior Garzon, an Israeli who was coached in the Mideast overseas by former Wildcats great and three-point shooting ace Liad Suez, scored 12 for her best in her young career in a game the Wildcats connected on 11 three-balls.

Raven Farley added 12 for the Red Storm.

“Obviously I am not too pleased with how we played,” Saint John’s coach Joe Tartamella said of his first game since going his whole career against Harry Perretta in the series between the two schools, Sunday’s one being played at Lou Carnesecca Arena in Jamaica on Long Island. “I thought Villanova did a nice job of playing their style and I thought we looked tired and fatigued through the game.

“We didn’t really follow what we had tried to accomplish. I am certainly pleased that we fought back and didn’t give up towards the end, but we just didn’t do enough today,” Tartamella added. “To be able to claw back into the game was a positive, but a great player (Siegrist) made a great shot for them off a broken play and put the lead away for good as we were trying to come back.”

Villanova, which swept the Red Storm last season, now returns to local wars, hosting Big Five rival La Salle Wednesday at 4 at Finneran Pavilion in game that doesn’t involve a trophy this time due to the lack of a complete round robin, highlighted by the Ivy League cancelling winter sports at member schools that include Penn here and multi-defending champion Princeton.

Then next Sunday comes the reunion when Drexel visits at 1 p.m. now led by Amy Mallon, who spent 17 seasons under Dillon as her top assistant. A year ago, the Dragons won the series game down at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on the last play in overtime. 

“I’m not looking forward to that one,” Dillon said, “but for now until Wednesday our mind will be on La Salle.

Delaware Downs Pitt: The Blue Hens got their first win over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in seven years with the 85-79 road triumph that kept them unbeaten at 2-0 as Paris McBride had a career-high 29 points dropping the Panthers to 2-1. The junior shot 9-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. 

The previous win over an ACC squad was on Nov. 15, 2013, a 71-61 triumph over Wake Forest at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, following the previous season final home game and career farewell of Ellena Delle Donne, who poured in 33 points in an NCAA second-round win over ACC member North Carolina.

That event was attended by future U.S. president Joe Biden, the former U.S. Senator from Delaware who was then Barak Obama’s vice president. Biden also has ties to the university.

Besides McBride’s effort, Sunday night, Jasmine Dickey scored 20 points and had nine rebounds, while Tee Johnson scored 13, fueled by 4-of-7 on three-point shots.

Following a 75-74 tie at the end of the third quarter, an 8-0 run in the next and final period enabled Delaware to seal the win.

Jayla Everett had 23 points for the Panthers, while a double double was registered from Rita Igbokwe on 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Delaware defense produced 25 points from forcing 24 turnovers.

“Obviously, I am really disappointed in the loss,” said Pitt coach Lance White. “I think that was a game that we should have won. You turn it over 24 times and they get 25 points off that and you can’t compete.” 

The Blue Hens had not played since their win at home on the first day of the season on Nov. 25 against Salem (W. Va) due to Wednesday’s game at Delaware State called off because of Covid-19 issues.

Next up barring interruptions is a visit from Georgetown on Thursday at 6 p.m. Delaware coach Natasha Adair had coached the Hoyas prior to succeeding now-interim UNCW coach Tina Martin several seasons ago. 

Temple Falls Short at FGCU: Recovering from Friday’s season and home-opening wipeout by Villanova, the Owls built a 24-17 lead at the end of the opening quarter in the game played in the Eagles’ Alico Arena in Fort Myers, Fla., before being outscored by Florida Gulf Coast the rest of the way to a 78-69 win.

Matters didn’t help that the Eagles (3-2) shot 10 three-pointers and made a defensive stand forcing 20 turnovers worth 21 points. Furthermore, the 0-2 Owls were 12-for-23 from the line for 52.2 percent.

On the positive side was a career-high 34 points from WNBA prospect Mia Davis, who completed the double double with 12 rebounds, though as coach Tonya Cardoza said after the loss to Villanova, the senior can’t be forced the carry the team on her back.

Junior Alexa Williamson had nine points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore Asonah Alexander had a career-best 14 rebounds, a game-high. She also dished a game-best seven assists.

Emani Mayo also scored nine.

The Owls are off until Dec. 17 when they resume the on-going rivalry with their former coach, this season traveling to South Carolina to face Cardoza’s former Virginia teammate Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks, whose No. 1 status will likely be no more for at least a while after Monday’s next Associated Press poll is released.

Penn State Drops First - Brought Down at Syracuse: The Lady Lions fell down the stretch, dropping their first contest of the season in an 82-72 road loss at No. 22 Syracuse (3-0) in the Orange’s Carrier Dome.

Freshman Tova Savbel scored a career-best 15 points, all coming off five connects from beyond the arc., while senior transfer Johnasia Cash had 13 points and 10 rebounds for her first double double as a Lady Lion. 

Former Villanova star Kelly Jekot had 13 points and seven rebounds, while Makenna Marisa, who had the game-winner at the buzzer in the previous Penn State game, just missed a triple double getting nine points and getting career marks in rebounds with nine and rebounds with 11.

 The third quarter came up big for the host Orange, tearing off on a 22-7 run on the back end.

However, a 14-7 spurt in the next period got the visitors (3-1) within four at 71-67 with 4 minutes, 24 seconds left within regulation before Syracuse rode its own surge helped by four points each from Kiara Lewis and Tiana Mangakahia.

The visitors connected on 10 three-balls, their most in two seasons in a contest. 

Lewis had a monster game for Syracuse with 26 points, while Mangakahia scored 14, as did Digna Strautmane.

“Our veterans did a good job of coming and stabilizing the game,” said veteran Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman, who went to a lineup of upperclasswomen to start the second half. “Lewis was amazing. She made some shots and got us going.

“At the end of the day, a win is a win and we’ll take it, but we’ve got some work to do,” he said with an eye to the rugged ACC slate just over the horizon.

Penn State is off a bit before opening the Big Ten slate, hosting Purdue, Dec. 20, though there is a chance in the coronavirus shuffle involving schedules that the Lady Lions might add one more non-conference matchup between now and then.

Nationally Noted: The Upsets Continue: Having more games under their belts may have been helpful as No. 16 Arkansas carved a narrow 83-78 victory over No. 4 Baylor (2-1)  in the Bud Walton Arena home of the Razorbacks (5-1) in Fayetteville.

Amber Ramirez had 23 points, while all-American candidate Chelsea Dungee scored 22 for Arkansas. Makayla Daniels had 16 points, while Destiny Slocum, who has previous stops at Maryland and Oregon, scored 14.

The Bears, who outrebounded the Razorbacks 51-38, got 24 points from Dijonai Carrington, while NaLyssa Smith scored 16, Moon Ursin scored 14, and DiDi Richards dealt eight assists and scored  eight points.

The outcome, one of several SEC/Big 12 challenge affairs going on, was Arkansas’ first win over a top-five ranked squad in 17 seasons dating to a win over then-No. 2 LSU on Jan. 19, 2003. That was also the last season being coached by Gary Blair, who then moved on to Texas A&M.

Baylor has lost only six games since the start of the 2017-18 season.

Technically, Baylor is still defending national champion from 2019 since the NCAA tournament was not played last spring as the coronavirus began to wreak havoc across the globe.

That makes this the first time that Arkansas beat a team with that distinction.

“It felt like something big was going to happen the last couple of weeks,” said Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors, who returned to his native state in 2017 after having guided Washington to a Women’s Final Four appearance. “Everybody just came together., and you’ve got to do that anytime you knock off a team that’s got defending national champion on it.

“What it is is validation for all of these kids (being recruited), ‘Hey, why are you going to Arkansas? They haven’t done anything.’ A win over a team like that is validation for all of us.”

On the other side, Baylor’s Kim Mulkey, a 2020 Naismith Hall of Famer, whose induction ceremony has been postponed till the spring because of the Covid-19, noted, “Mike’s come home; he grew up here in Arkansas, so he takes a lot of pride in wearing that Razorback shirt. I know that he wants to turn the program around.”

Meanwhile, the heroine of South Dakota State’s upset of. No. 18 which came in a 75-72 overtime outcome in Brookings, was Myah Selland, who had 11 of her 18 points in the final 20 seconds of regulation before assisting on Lindsey Theuninck’s three-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in the extra period to seal the ambush.

Selland also had a three-point play with 16 seconds in regulation to force the game into the overtime for the Jackrabbits in the game between two of the better known mid-majors nationally beyond the American Athletic and Big East Conferences, who are loosely associated in the women’s game with the Power 5 schools.

Jill Townsend had a career-high 29 points for Gonzaga, a perennial contender in the West Coast Conference which has been a regular in the AP rankings and previously coached by Kelly Graves prior to his moving on to build Oregon to nationally prominence.

South Dakota State (3-0) already has one other ranked team notched this season with an opening win over then-No. 15 Iowa State and overall has 13 of such takedowns to gain some previous AP Poll appearances.

The outcome gave Gonzaga (1-2) a split with the Jackrabbits, having edged South Dakota State last month with an 18-point rally while also losing narrowly to top-ranked South Carolina.

Escape Artists: In the narrow wins, No. 11 Kentucky (4-0) trailed No. 13 Indiana (2-1) by double digits, needing a 28-14 roaring rally in the fourth quarter to pull out the 72-68 win at home in Memorial Coliseum in Lexington. 

Rhyne Howard had a game-high 22 points for the winning Wildcats, whose associate head coach Niya Butts had to step in for Kyra Elzy, who was named to succeed Matthew Mitchell at the outset of the season due to health issues.

Elzy, with health issues not related to Covid-19 issues, was home viewing the game. Butts has had head coaching experience, recently at Arizona.

“It was an easy transition because I do have experience but the circumstances made it a bit tougher,” Butts said. “The good thing is that IU was my scout. I was already prepared for them at a deeper level.”

As uplifting as it was on the Wildcats’ side, it was a major letdown for the Hoosiers, who had earned a first-ever preseason No. 1 pick in the Big Ten conference.

“It’s disappointing because we feel like we’re a defensive minded team,” said Indiana coach Teri Moren of the outcome in the resumption of a rivalry that had long been dormant. “Shots weren’t falling tonight for Grace Burger. I thought she struggled.

Burger scored 21 to lead the Hoosiers.

“Ali Patberg struggled not necessarily because of their press, we weren’t consistent enough and we needed to be aggressive for 40 minutes and I just thought we didn’t do that.”

It’s the first time the programs met when both were nationally-ranked.

After Arizona (3-0, 2-0 PAC-12) narrowly escaped UCLA in Friday’s PAC-12 opener, it was closer yet in Sunday’s 78-77 win over Southern Cal. Aari NMcDonald had a team-high 30 points for the Wildcat while freshman Lauren Ware had a double double 12 points and 12 rebounds and Cate Reese scored 25.

“We’re not as good as everybody thinks we are right now,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. “Just to be honest, I think that we have a lot of talent, but we need to get better. Our offense is not flowing. Defensively, that was not our Arizona defense. We’re not disciplined right now.”

USC (1-2, 0-2) was short-handed by injury, including missing Alissia Pili, the reigning PAC-12 freshman of the year.

In UCLA’s triumph at Arizona State in the Sun Devils’ Desert Financial Arena in Tucson in which Cori Close picked up her 200th career win, the Bruins (2-1, 1-1 PAC-12) had to keep fighting off Arizona State (4-1, 1-1) in the fourth quarter.

Lindsey Corsaro, who hit three critical three-balls in the final period, scored 14 points, as did PAC-12 player of the week Chartisma Osbourne, while Michaela Onyenwere added 10.

Texas A&M stayed unbeaten at 4-0 with its win while the Longhorns fell to 3-1, losing their first under Vic Schaefer. 

However, it’s the Aggies’ first win over Texas since their Big 12 days when they last beat the Horns 10 seasons ago in the Big 12 quarterfinals.

Aaliyah Wilson had 17 points for Texas A&M, while N’Dea Jones had her fifth straight double double with 16 points and 10 rebounds dating to last season.

Charli Collier, who had been averaging 30 for Texas, had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

“As usual, this was good for women’s basketball between two close rivals who laid their hearts out there,” the Aggies’ Blair said. “I commend Texas for upping the juice when things were going our way early, they fought their way right back into it.”

In the win by West Virginia (4-0) over Tennessee (2-1)  in overtime, the Mountaineers’ Kysre Gondrezick led five players in double figures with 27 points, while Rae Burrell was tops  for the Lady Vols with 18, but Rennia Davis was held to eight points. 

Going Fine: In No. 2 Stanford’s win Haley Jones had a career-high 29 for the Cardinal (3-0, 1-0 PAC-12). “With my season being cut extra short last year, I’ve just been really excited to finally get back out there on the floor. I guess a little chip on the shoulder. I think I’m coming out with a little more aggressive mentality.”

Oregon went to 4-0 overall, including the  2-0 home openers against Colorado and Sunday, Utah, in the PAC-12 to run the two-season win streak to 23 games. “I’m not sure I expected the two outcomes, the point spreads,” said Ducks coach Kelly Graves. “But I was really pleased.”

Erin Boley and Te-Hina Paopao each scored 17 for Oregon.

In the bounce-back rout by South Carolina (4-1) at Iowa State (2-2) in Ames, Zia Cooke had 19 points, while Aliyah Boston and Brea Beal each scored 13 points, and Destanni Henderson scored 12. The Gamecocks are off until hosting Temple this Sunday at 7 in Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

Looking Ahead: Well, it’s quiet on the schedule and the Guru doesn’t want to get too far ahead, so what’s up is this afternoon’s next AP Poll to learn the alignment after the upsets and likely new No. 1.

Locally, the schedule is empty till the La Salle/Nova game on Wednesday, and nationally at the moment we’re showing Louisville at Duke the same day. As always, in these times keep double checking websites of schools you have interest for watching, or, if you’re lucky to be allowed, attending in person.

Information for this report was drawn on the Associated Press, ESPN.com, school email.reports and websites, and local media coverage of national teams.

And that’s the report.