Guru’s WBB Report: Upsets Rock SEC While Arizona Snaps Loss Streak to Oregon and Virginia and San Jose State End Seasons

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Counting teams that played besides those did not Thursday was one of the more eventful in this pandemic-related season that even had more than a small dose of WNBA news with the sale of the 2020 runnerup Las Vegas Aces from MGM to Mark Davis, owner of the NFL Las Vegas Raiders, and the stroke of midnight release free agent release for the 2021 sunmer.

First, let’s go to the Southeastern Conference where Georgia rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat No. 23 Tennessee 67-66 for the first road win by the Bulldogs (11-1, 3-1 SEC) in Knoxville in 25 yea

No. 7 Texas A&M fell at LSU 65-61 in Baton Rouge in overtime for the first overall loss by the Aggies (12-1, 3-1 SEC), while on the road Alabama produced an 86-78 upset of No. 14 Mississippi State (8-3, 3-2 SEC)  at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville.

In the Tennessee game, Gabby Connally scored 17 points, as did  Que Morrison for Georgia (11-1, 3-1). Reserve Makayla Combs added 11 points.

Rennia Davis scored 15 points for the Lady Vols (8-2, 2-1), while Tamari Key scored 14, and Jordan Horston scored 11.

The game was the start of the annual We Back Pat Week tribute to the late Tennessee legend Pat Summitt who retired at the end of the 2012 in her battle with Alzheimer's disease that took her life several years later.

“We just went with who played the best in that first half and we rode it out,” Georgia coach Joni Taylor said of the change after the break.

On the other side, Kellie Harper said, “”It’s the SEC, and you have to olay every single night, and you have to play for 40 minutes,”

Over at LSU (5-6, 3-2 SEC),  Tiara Young had 20 points off the bench, while Khayla Pointer scored 17, and Aifuwa Faustine had a double double of 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers.

N’dea Jones had a double double 16 points and 10 rebounds, 35th in her career, while Destiny Pitts scored 12, and Ciera Johnson also grabbed 10 rebounds for Texas A&M.

The 12-1 start ties the best in Aggies history.

“I just thought we did a sloppy job handling their matchup zone,” Aggies Hall of Fame coach Gary Blair said.

In the win by Alabama (11-1, 4-1), Jordan Lewis had 22 points, double doubles of 17 points and 10 rebounds from Jasmine Walker, 11 points and 13 rebounds from Ariyah Copeland, 18 points from Megan Abrams, and 12 from Hannah Barber were recorded by the Tide.

Rickea Jackson and Myah Taylor each scored 15 for the home team while Jessika Carter scored 10.

“You can’t lose games like this, not when you have the game in control,” said first year coach Nikki McCray-Penson said.

Arizona Thumps Oregon - With the home team Wildcats (9-2, 7-2 PAC-12,), ranked 11th after Sunday’s upset overtime loss at Washington State st the buzzer, snd visiting Ducks (9-3, 7-3) ranked 10th having both been in the top 10 most of the season, ranking status would not call Arizona’s 57-41 win an upset.

But the Wildcats ended a 10-game losing streak in the series.

"From a national perspective, this was a good statement win," Arizona coach Adia Barnes said.

"A lot of people don't see the Pac-12. ... For Arizona to bounce back after a tough loss on the road and show character and not to lose our confidence was important for us."

Aari McDonald scored 16 points, Trinity Baptiste had 14 points and six rebounds and Sam Thomas had 10 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats.

Arizona blasted away at the outset, scoring 17 of the first 19 points and led by as many as 21.

"From the first quarter, I knew we were controlling the game," McDonald said. "We had them flustered, and I've never seen Oregon players flustered like that. Everybody was locked in, and everybody wanted this win bad."

Nyara Sabally had 15 points and seven rebounds and Sydney Parrish had seven points and seven rebounds for the Ducks, whose previous season low in scoring was in a 70-63 loss to No. 1 Stanford. They have lost three of four for the first time since 2016-17.

Oregon had a season-high 23 turnovers and shot 32.6%. Ducks leading scorer Erin Boley, who was averaging 12.5 points, was scoreless in 12 minutes.

"We played scared," Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. "They were the aggressor the whole game. There was very little good that came out of the game."

Elsewhere, all the ranked teams won, Maryland topped host Minnesota, 90-73, Michigan romped on host Wisconsin, 69-40, and Indiana won 66-45 at Purdue, all in the Big aTen. Host Arkansas beat Florida, 84-80, and South Carolina romped on host Vanderbilt, 106-43, in the SEC. Louisville handled visiting Boston College, 89-70, in the ACC, host Texas beat Kansas, 79-72, in the Big-12. Gonzaga took a 71-52 road win at Santa Clara in the WCC.

Locally, on Friday, La Salle is at St. Bonaventure and Saint Joseph’s is at Duquesne in the Atlantic 10.

Two More End Seasons. Virginia became the second ACC team to cancel the remainder of its season, joining Duke, while San Jose State did likewise. The entire Ivy League that includes Penn and Princeton, shut down before NCAA regular play got under way in late November in a three week delay.

“I think you’re going to see more as we get later in the season as people weigh the risks and their own  long range (NCAA) prospects,” former Georgia coach Andy Landers said during the ESPN studio show at halftime of the PAC-12 Arizona game.

“That’s exactly what everyone did last summer going into the bubble,” said Sue Bird of the WNBA Seattle Storm.

And that’s the report.