The Guru Report: UConn Collapse Marks Night of Stunners On Lite Schedule

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

In the search for more equal treatment in men’s and women’s basketball the forces of competition came up with a doozy Thursday night to decide which is the ultimate story - A long range heaving buzzer beater at home gave the Rutgers men a Big Ten win over Purdue and first-ever triumph over a current No. 1 team in the nation.

The UConn women suffered a second fourth-quarter meltdown this season, this time at Georgia Tech and immediately thereafter the Hall of Fame coach of the Huskies, not the panic-driven fanbase quick to react on a rare loss, declared the sky is falling, not making quips over the fanbase for always doing so.

It’s right there in the headline in the Hartford Courant — Reeling Geno Auriemma not sure issues with UConn women’s basketball team can be ‘fixed’ after 57-44 loss at Georgia Tech.

If so, don’t let officials from the Environmental Protection Agency who are busy taking dust samples let loose on streak stops get too far away because in less than 24 hours from when many are reading this  there’s going to be a flood of more particles emitted into the atmosphere.

That might be what well occurs in Newark, N.J. , Saturday afternoon after the 1 p.m. tipoff in the Prudential Center when the 5-2 Huskies (How does that one sound on an early December date?) meet UCLA in the Never Forget Tribute Classic. 

True, the Bruins are not ranked nor of recent vintage, but what were the odds when over a decade plus in a span of 240 games when the time came to get really stung by a less-than eye-level foe or slightly higher the job would get done by a Yellow Jacket (7-2).

Now looms a threat of a two-game losing streak coming to a team that before Paige Bueckers went down with a knee fracture in the last minute of a blowout win Sunday at home against then-No. 24 Notre Dame many thought over the summer with the addition of Azzi Fudd would make the “Stewie” era pall in comparison.

One could quibble with the inherent unranked designation to coach Nell Fortner’s squad that was in the poll until an upset loss to Auburn and could have returned after edging Georgia.

That last loss to an unranked team had this bit of history attached on Feb. 18, 2012:

Shenneika Smith's 3-pointer from the wing with 8 seconds left lifted St. John's to a 57-56 win over No. 2 Connecticut on Saturday night, snapping the Huskies' 99-game home court winning streak. It was the Huskies' first home loss to an unranked opponent in nearly 19 years.

"It's truly unbelievable," Barnes Arico said. "There aren't many teams that can say they beat UConn in this place and now we're one of them."

Some of the memorable upsets of UConn ended that way, including the 111-game win streak cutoff at the buzzer by Mississippi State and a year later the season-ender by Notre Dame both in NCAA tournament national semifinals.

But this one was speculated to be coming off the Bueckers injury with others, including Fudd, also on the sidelines.

And for those who forecast this would never happen until hell freezes over, let it note the temperatures have been more amenable to liquidating the pitchfork storage areas.

“I don’t think it’s gonna get fixed, l really don’t ,” Auriemma let his frustrations loose afterwards. “I’ve been doing this a long, long time. Coaches are supposed to be optimistic.

“I’m too old to be an optimist. I’m a realist. I truly believe what l see. I don’t try to make up what l’m seeing and pretend it’s something else.

“And what l see is a team that’s somewhat disheveled. And that’s all me. Somehow, some way, l do not have the ability at this point in time to affect my players to make sure that we’re in a better place mentally and physically and play the kind of basketball we need to play.”

As for UConn’s point total to be limited that much, though there will be claims of self-infliction, the last to be on the upper end of that total was 16 years ago by Rutgers, which is the most positive association can be ascribed to the Scarlet Knights women who fell to Big Ten longtime rival Penn State 52-48 up at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.

Rutgers has now lost six straight and seven of eight.

The 44-point total is the offensive nadir in the Geno Auriemma era spanning his time in Storrs from youth to grandfatherly.

That digit limitation was originally delivered by retired Villanova coach Harry Perretta, which allows to say to you Wildcats fans besides too bad your first game in the Big East with the Huskies is still a month away that the news for you is Maddy Siegrist returned Thursday night from a six-game hiatus due to a hand injury and the junior promptly exploded on host James Madison for 36 points and 17 rebounds in a 76-67 victory in Harrisonburg, Va., at the Dukes’ Atlantic Union Bank Center.

The other big item from elsewhere was unranked DePaul winning 94-85 at No. 14 Kentucky.

Since this report is a package deal we’ll return to those three items.

But continuing with UConn’s “Gone With the Wind” outcome in Atlanta, continued Auriemma, “We’re disorganized, that’s the biggest thing l can tell you. We’re disorganized as a group right now, from the coaching on down, everybody.

“There’s just no sense of we have a plan how we’re going to execute, how we’re going to get a bucket, who’s going to get it for us.”

The last collapse yielded three in the fourth quarter with a then-healthy Paige Bueckers against South Carolina but the Gamecocks were and still remain No. 1 — the next threat is Sunday’s visit from No. 8 Maryland - and from a 39-39 tie at the end of three, UConn got just five more this time.

“…you can blame Paige for not being here. Yeah, that’s part of it. But that’s not the real story.”

Fortner joined a limited list who beat Auriemma on their first matchup - four total and two of the others were recent in Mike Neighbors at Arkansas and Adia Barnes at Arizona last season.

“I think a lot of the things that have happened to us in these kind of games are very, very, much self-inflicted,” Auriemma noted.”

The one thing temporarily avoiding UConn at the moment is a 48-hour turnaround minimizing a marathon autopsy by media and fans though Saturday’s result the wrong way for the Huskies will offer a final exam out of the classroom that will be anything but.

Siegrist Return Flips Villanova Forward

The news out of Virginia has Temple, Providence, and Creighton likely saying, “Glad we played them when we did.”

One not saying such is James Madison, which inherently Thursday night may have seen the Dukes’ NCAA aspirations reduced to a wisp by Villanova’s Siegrist, coming at a great time for the Wildcats who greet No. 23 Oregon State Sunday afternoon at the Finneran Pavilion at 1 p.m.

The Wildcat junior’s return brought her career totals to eight 30 or more points scoring games and 25 double doubles in her 57 out of the Main Line as Villanova got closer to .500 at 4-5 though still 0-2 in the Big East off the opening road trip.

Lior Garzon scored 16 in helping the Wildcats reach a season high.

Kiki Jefferson had 25 points and nine rebounds while Jamia Hazell scored 15 for JMU (3-6).

With the current record, the Dukes have little left to enter the NCAA as an at-large invite, even as a beneficiary of the expansion to 68 in the field.

JMU off the decision to join the Sun Belt Conference was recently kicked out of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament(s) and the hosting of the women’s was given to Drexel. 

At this point, the Dukes would have to pull a near sweep of the CAA regular season where as in the past the hits on a rugged non-conference allowed prep to get the auto NCAA bid out of the CAA championship.

But that door is closed.

Penn State Keeps Rutgers Sliding

Going into the second Big Ten night of the season one of the overall losing streaks between longtime rivals Penn State and Rutgers dating back to their time in the Atlantic 10 was going to end by default.

A lift from the bench  got the Lady Lions (5-5, 1-1 Big Ten) to that spot while Rutgers (4-7, 0-2) finishes winless the first week in the conference round-robin off the defensive struggle on ghe road.

Of course few back home may notice what happened in the wake of the men’s first-ever ambush of a top-ranked team. The women with unranked status once beat Tennessee in the same place and setting.

Makenna Marisa continues to shine in Happy Valley, scoring 16 points, while reserve Ali Brigham scored 13 points, shooting 6-for-10 from the field, and reserve Tova Sabel scored 10 helping the home team depth show a 29-13 differential while Rutgers also committed 22 turnovers.

A 7-0 run late  in the fourth quarter helped seal the victory.

“I thought we showed a lot of toughness, we battled,” Penn State coach Carolyn Kieger said. “It wasn’t pretty. Tonight, our offense wasn’t there, but our defense was. As we continue in Big Ten play, we’re going to have to have to find unique and different ways to win every night. So, a lot of credit to our team.”

Tyia Singleton had 12 points for Rutgers, while Osh Brown had another double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, Shug Dickson scored 10, and Sakima Walker scored 11.

Interim Scarlet Knights coach Timothy Eaton while Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer steps away out of COVID-19 concerns this season noted several losses could have been reversed. 

“I see a team playing with more purpose,” he compared to the early performance till now.”

On Sunday Rutgers hosts Delaware State in a non-conference game at 2 p.m., while Penn State does likewise hosting Youngstown State at the same time.

DePaul Snares No. 14 Kentucky on the Road

The Blue Demons atoned for the Big East setback of UConn as much as can be said by winning over the SEC’s Wildcats i4-85 at Rupp Arena as Lexi Held returned to her home state and scored 10 points and dealt 11 assists for DePaul (8-2) while Dejah Church scored 20, Aneesah Morrow double doubled with 18 points and 17 rebounds, and Darrione Rogers scored 17, and Sonya Morris scored 13.

Robyn Benton had 22 for Kentucky (6-2), Jade Walker and Treasure Hunt each scored 18, and Rhyne Howard scored 12.

And that’s the report.