Guru’s WBB Report: UConn Tops Georgetown To Become Poised For No 1 While Delaware Repulses Drexel to Snap 11-Game Losing Streak to Dragons

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

UConn standout newcomer Paige Bueckers admitted to being human in terms of hitting freshman walls after the No. 2 Huskies shook off another slow start and then got in gear to trounce Georgetown 64-40 in the Hoyas’ McDonough Arena in the nation’s capital Friday night to sweep their Big East series and await the likelihood of being ranked No. 1 for the 246th time in the 45-year history of the Associated Press women’s poll when the new rankings are released early Monday afternoon.

Asked if he had advice for the national media voting panel, Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma quipped, “Just vote your conscious and vote what you see, whatever that is, and then after the vote,  don’t let anybody come from another state and challenge your vote. Stand by your vote.”

Bueckers, who arrived as the top recruit in the nation, had 19 points and nine assists, following 31 points, her third-straight 30 plus game, in Monday’s overtime win against South Carolina, and 23, including 17 in the second half, in Wednesday’s home win over Seton Hall.

Auriemma, who has a load of freshmen in addition to Bueckers talked about the younger players eventually hit walls later in the season.

“Paige has done it, though she hides it well,” he said.

The star newcomer, who made dean’s list first semester, admitted as much.

“I’ve hit a wall,” she said. “There was a couple of practices, I just wasn’t there mentally, and it kind of make me take a few steps back and realize, I need to check back in. It was a tough time. But I try not to show it on my face and show it in my emotions, just ‘cause my team needs me and my coaches need me and I can’t be in my own head about things. I just have to stay confident.

“But the pressure, I try not to focus on it, really. Like I said before, I’m just trying to do what my coaches want me to do, what my teammates want me to do. And all the other outside noise, it doesn’t bother me, because I don’t need to focus on what anybody else’s opinion is. I’m not going to be perfect for everybody. Somebody is always going to have something to say.  But the voices I care about, those are the people I listen to.”

The Huskies have now beaten the Hoyas 30-straight in their series, last losing in 1993.

With no ranked teams between now and the end of the regular season a month from now on the UConn schedule, barring shutdowns or cancellations under COVID-19 protocols, the Huskies are also likely to stay there and finish at the top for the 16th time. 

The next closest team with total No. 1s is no surprise with Tennessee at 112 and final No.1s  behind the leaders is Tennessee and Louisiana Tech with five each followed by Texas with four and Baylor with three.

UConn (16-1, 13-0 Big East)  with another Top 5 appearance will move within three of Tennessee all-time at 461.

Meanwhile, the only thing this season similar to those that have come before in recent decades is the Huskies once again hitting the top as they have in binge-style ever since the 1 vs. 2 Tennessee-UConn affair won by the Huskies from the underside in 1995 that flipped them into the penthouse and on the way a month later to the first of a record 11 NCAA titles.

On Monday this week, it was another 1 vs 2 game that was claimed also by UConn from the underside, beating South Carolina at home in overtime only hours after the Gamecocks had returned to the top of the current poll, No. 800, after previously perched there in early December.

With the victory, Auriemma increased his career total, all at UConn, to 1,107, second all-time among NCAA Division I women’s head coaches behind Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, who is at 1,111 and scheduled to play the Oregon trip in the PAC-12 Saturday and Monday.

The late and legendary Hall of Famer Pat Summitt was at 1,098 and the leader when she retired in 2012 fighting Alzheimer’s Disease that ultimately claimed her several years later. VanDerveer, also a Hall of Famer, took the record in early December and Auriemma moved into second last month.

The coming poll change this season will be the fifth, involving four teams, topped only by seven changes in 2003-04, involving four teams — UConn, Duke, Tennessee, Texas, UConn, Tennessee, and Duke  — equaled by five changes involving three teams in 2004-05, and five changes involving three teams in 2005-06.

UConn, whose only season loss was late last month at Arkansas in a game scheduled on relatively short notice, reached this point having played five games in ten days, including hosting Seton Hall Wednesday and traveling to Georgetown Friday night after Monday’s South Carolina game this week.

“You just need to be consistent,” Auriemma said of dealing with the current workload.

“Hopefully, we can have two days off now — Saturday and Sunday — and then two days before we play St. John’s to kind of get back into what seems like a normal college basketball routine,”Auriemma said.

He noted that the players had been on campus since August and that the time frame normally would now put the program playing in the NCAA tournament.

“Nothing is easy. Everything has been a slog. So where are we going?

“I don’t know. We could be going to a pause next week. We played today, we figured out a way to win. We do so many things that just boggles your mind.

“No one this year is going into the NCAA tournament thinking we got everything put together. 

“Now, it’s just win and go onto the next,” he said while adding “what `the next’ is is a constant unknown. “Will it be a shutdown or not.

“There are things happening every day that when I watch, in my younger years I would be losing my mind on the sidelines.”he said.

“Now I just sit down and worry about my next warning for not having my mask on. 

“That’s my biggest stress right now, is how many warnings I get from the Big East and from our fans back home, who tell me you’re setting a bad example not wearing your mask. They don’t know I get tested every day. They should just worry about themselves and not worry about me, I’m fine.”

The visit to Georgetown (1-10, 1-10) was also the start of a five-game road stretch that will include stops at St. John’s in Queens, Wednesday, Xavier, Creighton, and Butler in the Midwest, along the way with some returns to campus on the front end before finishing hosting Marquette on March 1 ahead of the Big East tournament at the Mohegan Sun near New London, Conn.

It’s the longest stretch in terms of 5,300 miles, according to veteran beat writer Carl Adamec of the Journal Inquirer, though it matches on schedule count a five-game New England swing to Southern Connecticut State, Brown, Providence, New Hampshire, and Springfield by bus in February of 1980.

“Generally good road teams are pretty mature,” Auriemma said. “They know how to prepare. They know how to travel. They know what the hotel deal is. And they prepare accordingly. And they understand the other team is not going to just roll over because Connecticut is in town. So they take it serious.”

Meanwhile in terms of the Friday night’s game, the good news for UConn fans was Christyn Williams emerging from her recent scoring slump and pouring 19 points for the visitors while grabbing seven rebounds.

“It felt really good,” she said. “It felt good just to see the ball go in. I’ve really been struggling a bit shooting the ball, just getting into a good groove.”

It’s the Huskies’ sixth straight win since the narrow loss at Arkansas.

“I just took the opportunities. I was wide open. I just shot it. I feel like the other games I was just really passive, just not very confident in myself,” Williams continued. “I just went into this game telling myself, `Here we go.’”

Kelsey Ransom had 15 points for Georgetown.

Delaware Stops Drexel Rally: Down 17 points in the second quarter, the Dragons rallied all the way back within four of the Blue Hens, riding Hannah Nihill’s career-high 32 points before Delaware regained control to finish out the game with a 68-60 win in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Though in working through dealing the coronavirus with the conference setting up the schedule for teams to play some opponents on the weekend back-to-back on the road and others at home, the geographical proximity of the two longtime local CAA rivals allowed this weekend have each team get a home on Friday and then moving to Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center on Sunday.

The triumph snapped an 11-game losing streak to Drexel by Delaware (15-2, 12-1), which is having a standout season to date leading the CAA in the fight for the No.1 seed for next month’s tournament at Elon in North Carolina.

The home team poured 41 points in the first half while Nihill’s 13 were half of Drexel’s 26 points before the Dragons (9-5, 6-3) reasserted their defense to hold the Blue Hens in the third and get back into contention.

Nilhill kept it going with 19 in the second half with freshman Jasmine Valentine getting career marks for Drexel with six points and nine rebounds.

Mariah Leonard grabbed 10 rebounds for the visitors.

Drexel did not play last weekend due to COVID-19 issues preventing Hofstra from visiting on what was to be homecoming.

That event will be tied to Sunday’s contest on Valentine’s Day at 1 p.m. on what will also be senior day with the game to air on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Delaware, meanwhile, used a balanced attack, prevailing for the first time in the series since the CAA quarterfinals in 2015 and keeping the Blue Hens perfect at home at 9-0.

Ty Battle, who leads the conference with 11 double doubles, had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Lizzie Oleary and Jasmine Dickey each scored 11 points.

The Blue Hens controlled the boards 48-36.

La Salle and Saint Joseph’s Split A-10 Travels: Continuing their role as Philadelphia partners in the Atlantic 10 setup for the season, the duo headed for weekend road games with La Salle winning 55-46 at Davidson in North Carolina but Saint Joseph’s had not much of an offense in losing 51-36 at Rose Hill Gym to Fordham in the Bronx.

The Explorers (10-10, 6-7 A-10) snapped a four-game losing streak to Davidson (6-10, 3-7)  in the Friday matinee affair as Claire Jacobs scored 27 points, with five rebounds and five steals, while Kayla Spruill had 17 points off  7-of-11 from the floor and nine rebounds. Kate Hill dished four assists without any miscues.

In this one, La Salle was able to dominate in the paint 28-16 and had a season-high 15 steals.

In the Saint Joseph’s game, Kaliah Henderson matched her personal best with 14 points for the Hawks (5-6, 3-6) A-10, but no one else got into double digits against the host Rams (11-3, 8-2), coached by former Villanova star and Saint Joseph’s coach Stephanie V. Gaitley.

Twice in the fourth quarter, however, the Hawks moved within  five points, though Fordham countered with an 8-0 run the second time to seal the outcome.

Kaitlyn Downey scored 15 and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Rams, while Anna DeWolfe scored 13, and Kendell Heremaia scored 12.

Dayton, though, in beating Richmond 72-54 at home, continues to lead the conference at 11-1 overall and 10-0 in the league, two ahead of Fordham, which will host La Salle at 2 p.m. on Sunday, while Saint Joseph’s will visit Davidson at noon. Both games will be on ESPN+

Ranked Quartet Triumph: Besides the Connecticut win, the three other ranked teams who played all won.

No. 25 Missouri State won 69-52 in the Missouri Valley Conference in the first of two at Illinois State in Normal as Jasmine Franklin scored 16 points for the Lady Bears (12-2, 8-0 MVC) in Redbird Arena.

The home team, who will host again Saturday at 5 p.m., fell to 10-5 overall and 7-5 in the conference.

The Lady Bears had not played since Jan. 31.

In the PAC-12, No. 8 UCLA won 69-58 at Utah, while No. 10 Arizona downed visiting Washington State 60-51.

In the victory by the Bruins (12-3, 10-3 PAC-12) t complete a sweep of the Utes (5-12, 4-12), playing in the Jon M. Huntsman Center as Michaela Onyenwere scored 25 points.

With the previous meeting postponed, UCLA travels to Boulder, Colo., Sunday at 3 p.m. for its first meeting with Colorado.

No. 10 Arizona, meanwhile, avenged an earlier loss at Washington State in Pullman by beating the Cougars 60-51 through separating from a slim two-point lead after three quarters to finish on a 16-9 run over the final 10 minutes in Tucson.

Cate Reese had 17 points for Arizona (13-2, 11-2 PAC-12 while Aari McDonald scored 14 against the visitors (9-8, 7-8), who got 19 points from freshman Charlisse Leger-Walker out of New Zealand, 11 points from her sister Krystal and 9 points and 10 rebounds from Ula Moruga.

The Wildcats host Washington Sunday at 3 p.m. in the McKale Center.

Postponements: In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 3 Louisville’s trip to Syracuse Sunday is off due to a positive test within the Louisville program, while Monday night’s game with No. 4 N.C. State hosting Notre Dame is off due to similar results among the Irish.

Still Unbeaten: The two programs with perfect records in Division I remain as such for different reasons.

Bucknell (8-0) of the Patriot League remains in pause mode though the Bisons are due to resume play next weekend.

Cal Baptist did play Friday night, winning 82-61 in a Western Athletic Conference game at Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg as Caitlyn Harper scored 24 for the Lancers (17-0, 9-0 WAC).

The Lancers, who return at 2 p.m. Saturday to play a second game, have won 20 straight, exceeded by Princeton, who’s 22-game streak is currently inactive with the Ivy decision to not field winter sports, which shut down the Tigers and Penn among the six other Ancient Eight and 18 other teams who have stopped or previously cancelled their seasons.

First NCAA Reveal:  Some things are proceeding as business as usual and that includes the NCAA women’s basketball tournament committee on Monday night making the first of two reveals of the top 16 seeds if the event were to begin next weekend. They’ll take one more stab before the real 16 are part of the 64-team field on Selection Monday next month.

But there are some difference caused by the virus. Normally, being a Top 16 gets you a home site for the first two rounds and then there’s the region seedings.

Since the whole tourney will be played in the San Antonio region in Texas, the entire field will be on a true S curve not moved for geography and of course there will be no home court advantage.

Looking Ahead: The local lineup for the rest of the weekend first looking at Saturday has Temple hosting East Carolina in McGonigle Hall at 1 p.m. in the American Athletic Conference at noon on ESPN+ on a day that conference frontrunner No. South Florida after a long shutdown will be hosting Tulsa at 4 p.m. on ESPN+

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Rider hosts Niagara on ESPN3 at noon inAlumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J. and again Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

In the Big Ten, Saturday, Penn State hosts Michigan State in the annual Play4Kay game to combat breast cancer in the Bryce Jordan Center at noon on the Big Ten Network while on Sunday Rutgers visits Purdue at 2 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

Villanova remains in pause mode.

Nationally, on Saturday, No. 5 Stanford is at Oregon State in the PAC-12 at 9 p.m, while No. 19 West Virginia hosts Oklahoma at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

On Sunday, of note, No. 9 Maryland is at Nebraska 5 p.m. in the Big Ten as visiting Terrapins coach Brenda Frese goes for her 500th win with the program, which would break the tie with her predecessor Chris Weller.

No. 21 Northwestern in the Big Ten is at No. 11 Ohio State at 12:30 p.m., the visiting Wildcats looking for a season sweep with both teams coming off losses.

In the Southeastern Conference coming off a loss No. 16 Tennessee is at No. 6 Texas A&M, which has one loss all season. The tip is at 3 p.m. on ESPN, while in the Big 12 No. 7 Baylor hosts Texas at 5 p.m. on ESPN2.

And that’s the report.