The Guru Report: Tennessee Shocked by Auburn While Locals Rutgers, Penn State and Rider Swept in Continuing Struggles

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Early Thursday night, Tennessee had reclaimed the pinnacle of success and the glory years of the late Pat Summitt, being named a No. 1 seed in the first of the three NCAA women’s basketball tournament committee promotional reveals of the top 16 of selection day was at the moment as opposed following the conclusion of all the conference tournaments.

Less than a few hours later it all fell apart in a shocking 71-61loss at unranked Auburn, (9-10, 1-7 SEC)  whose triumph was the first in the Southeastern Conference this season, and first under new coach Johnnie Harris.

The big moment for the Auburn women came just after the men’s team on Monday earned its first-ever No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press poll.

The Vols (18-2, 7-1) arrived at Auburn Arena with a No. 4 ranking, only recently returned to Top Five status in the AP women’s poll.

When time came to head back to Knoxville, perhaps the real winner of the night for the moment was South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, whose No. 1 Gamecocks just before the Tennessee game beat No. 24 Ole Miss 69-40 at home in Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

Huh?, you say.

Follow the disruptive COVID protocol ball.

Earlier this month on Jan. 2 due to positive tests the Ole Miss/South Carolina game was postponed due to individuals who came up with positive tests.

That date came just after the Gamecocks suffered a rarity, a No. 1 team falling to an unranked team in the AP women’s poll, when on Dec. 30 Missouri clipped the visitors 70-69 in overtime.

Saddled with an SEC loss, since then as Tennessee kept winning, South Carolina was in catch-up mode one game down in the conference standings.

Originally Thursday night, the Gamecocks were to step out of conference and host No. 10 UConn, though by chance of a common appearance in the Battle for Atlantis in the tropics in November, they met in the title game and Staley’s bunch gave Geno Auriemma’s then No. 2 squad quite the whipping, 73-57 off play in the fourth quarter.

Cut to the present where Ole Miss, who this week returned to the AP Poll for the first time in 15 years, made Staley aware the Rebels had Thursday available to knock out their postponed affair onto the log of completed games.

The Hall of Fame coach then parlayed Auriemma, also a Hall of Famer, about putting this one off for a future year, to which he agreed.

That move actually then enabled the Big East to do its own postpone makeup Wednesday night when UConn zipped to DePaul in Chicago, playing a thriller in which the host Blue Demons were deprived in the closing seconds of handing the Huskies their first loss in a conference game since 2013.

So now with her win and Tennessee’s loss the Gamecocks are on equal footing on a course that leads to their season matchup on Feb. 20.

With the implication story out of the way, back to the game details of the War Eagles’ upset as well as South Carolina’s win.

Auburn’s Aicha Coulibaly had a game-high 26 points, while Sania Wells scored 13, Jala Jordan scored 11, and Annie Hughes scored 10 points.

Tennessee’s Jordan Horston had 21 points and eight rebounds, and graduate Jordan Walker scored 17, tying her personal best of the season.

In the opening quarter Tennessee had runs of 8-0 and 7-0 but the Tigers launched a 9-0 run ending the period down a point 17-16.

A free throw tied it for Auburn in the first minute of the second period. 

The Tigers then took advantage of Lady Vols shooting that was as cold as the outdoor temperatures can be this time of year and the half ended with a 39-28 home team lead.

In the third a 12-0 Tennessee run regained the lead which was then exchanged twice and the game stayed close until the score had the visitors up 51-50 heading into the final ten minutes.

Auburn off closing near in the third kept going in the fourth to build a five-point lead of which Tennessee then shaved off four.

However, points by Coulibaly and a three-ball from Annie Hughes made it a six-point Auburn lead with 2:27 left in regulation. The Tigers then went into lockdown mode, completing an 11-0 run to the finish before Tennessee scored a meaningless basket just before time expired.

Auburn won despite being out-rebounded 43-30.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed in the outcome of the game,” said Tennessee coach Kellie Harper, who played for the Lady Vols under the late legendary Summitt. “Our players got a lesson, you got to see everyone’s best effort. They’ve (Auburn) been knocking at the door, here, recently in some games but just hadn’t been able to close it out. The teaching moment  is you got to play every night and you got to play well every night. Winning’s hard.”

This was Auburn’s third game in five days.

“We’ve been right there in so many ballgames and we’ve been talking to them about finishing,” said Harris, who previously was with Vic Schaefer at Texas and Mississippi State. “Once we got in that locker room tonight, I asked them if they were tired. No, nobody was tired.

“We talked about, you need to bust through that wall, you need to finish.”

Until that last meaningly basketball, Tennessee went six minutes without a field goal in that final quarter.

“(Auburn) played with great aggressiveness all night,” Harper said.

The Tigers’ Precious Johnson did not play.

“We came out kind of complacent,” Tennessee’s Horston said, “which I feel like we’ve never done before. They played harder than us tonight. I feel like they played their best game tonight.”

Tennessee’s last loss was back on Dec. 18 to defending NCAA champion Stanford in Knoxville.

Auburn’s triumph was the first over an AP Top 5 team opponent since 1997 when the school beat No. 4 Georgia. Joe Ciampi was then the long-time coach and on Thursday night he was the analyst for the SEC Network telecasting the game.

Meanwhile, the details of note from South Carolina’s (19-1, 7-1 SEC) win, Aliyah Boston had 22 points and 12 rebounds for her 13th straight double double.

“I think the crowd is double double watching,” Staley quipped in her postgame zoom press conference.

The double double streak is the longest in the program’s history, bringing admiration from past super star and WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson.

“She’s just killing it in her own fashion,” Wilson said.

Shakira Austin had 15 points for Ole Miss (17-3, 5-2).

The win was the Gamecock’s ninth over a ranked opponent, best in the nation.

“We’re moving with our bench and it’s a pleasure to see,” Staley said.

The Tennessee-Auburn game wasn’t the only upset out of the SEC with unranked Arkansas at home in the Bud Walton Arena surprising No. 12 LSU 90-76.

The upset was the first over a ranked squad for the Razorbacks (14-6, 4-3 SEC) since a year ago in February.

Coach Mike Neighbors also beat opposing LSU coach Kim Mulkey a year ago in an upset when she was handling the then No. 4 Baylor squad.

Amber Ramirez had 25 points for Arkansas, while the backcourt duo of Makayla Daniels and Samara Spencer each scored 20.

“I just thought we didn’t shoot the ball well,” said LSU coach Kim Mulkey. “They were sagging in the paint.

“It wasn’t like Florida were they were up in us and really guarding us hard. We had some really easy, good looks that we normally make and we just didn’t make them.”

Alexis Morris got all 22 of her points in the second half for LSU (17-4, 5-3).

The NCAA Reveal

As to the NCAA Reveal referenced at the top of this report, first the top 16 in order.

1. South Carolina, 2. Stanford, 3. NC State, 4. Tennessee

5. Louisville, 6. Indiana, 7. Texas, 8. Arizona

9. Michigan, 10. Iowa State, 11. UConn, 12. LSU, 

13. Baylor, 14. Oregon, 15. Georgia, 16. Kansas

Here they are by region:

Bridgeport, Conn.: 1. NC State 2. Indiana 3. LSU 4. Baylor

Greensboro, N.C.: 1. South Carolina 2. Arizona 3. Michigan 4. Kansas State

Spokane, Wash.: 1. Stanford 2. Texas 3. UConn 4. Georgia

Wichita, Kansas.: 1. Tennessee 2. Louisville 3. Iowa State 4. Oregon

Not going to make a lot of comment on this go-round because the next one on Feb. 10 will be far different. Tennessee’s loss is not factored here but will next time. UConn will be healthier next time. A year ago doing the actual bracket in terms of principals and procedures was a piece of cake because a lot of the differentiation rules from the men didn’t have to be followed because of the one-site bubble for the entire tournament.

Thus, a pure 1-64 seed distribution was laid into the bracket without regard to travel, home courts, were put aside for the event in San Antonio, Texas.

Also this for the first time will be a 68-team field because of the expansion of the first four like the men’s tourney.

That all said, back to the nightly roundup.

The Locals: More Big Ten Losses for Penn State and Rutgers While MAAC Woes Continue for Rider: With just three teams on tap it seemed easier to just bundle the whole night for them together.

If Rutgers had won its first Big Ten game of the season at No. 17 Maryland Thursday night, it would have been a major shock under any scenario, even with the host Terrapins falling from potential No. 1 seed material to 17 and not even listed among the NCAA’s first Top 16 reveal. 

Had it been playing someone in the low-rent district of the league standings that would have been greeted with “finally.”

And so it was that bobblehead night at the XFINITY Center in College Park was about likeness tribute and not performance, which was outstanding for Australian Chloe Bibby in front of her parents as she scored a game-high 22 points to lead Maryland to a 72-55 win over the Scarlet Knights (7-14, 0-9 Big Ten).

A year ago the pandemic had Rutgers sidelined over a month between testing on the team or opponents causing postponements. When the team returned, they roared to the regular season finish though once in the NCAA field, they got upset in the first round.

This season, the only missing member is Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer, who had justifiable fears of catching the disease and for the season handed the team over to associate head coach Timothy Eatman who is on the record for wins and losses.

In this one Destiny Marshall had 10 points as did Osh Brown, who got another double double with 12 rebounds.

On the side of Maryland (14-6, 6-3), which still must be feared, ranking notwithstanding, behind Bibbly’s numbers, Angel Reese had 14 points and 12 rebounds for a double double, while Ashley Owusu had 17 points.

Rutgers said close to the half, trailing 30-26 but the Terps controlled the rest of the game on the high end of scoring each quarter to a 42-29 second half.

Maryland coach Brenda Frese noted after her team’s opening burst, “I don’t know if we relaxed and obviously, Rutgers was going to compete and fight for 40 minutes.

“You see that in conference now, whether you’re the top of the league or the bottom of the league, these teams are going to compete and come after you for 40 minutes.

“(Rutgers) is a team that hasn’t won a game in conference but I thought battled really, really hard, but loved our response coming out in the third quarter, second half, we started playing Maryland basketball,” she continued. “Moving the ball being really, really unselfish.”

Maryland goes to Penn State Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College on the B1G+ network.

The Lady Lions lost Thursday night, falling at home to Michigan State, 79-58.

Makena Marisa had 19 points, Ali Brigham scored 11, and Leilani Kapinus had 10 points for PSU (9-10, 3-6 Big Ten).

Five players for Michigan State (1-8, 4-4) scored in double figures, Nia Clouden had 16, Matilda Ekh and Taiyier each scored 15, DeeDee Hagemann scored 13, and Alisia Smith scored 12.

Rider, meanwhile, dropped a game 63-53 at nearby Monmouth in central New Jersey in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

Holding a slim 31-26 lead at the half, the Broncs (5-13, 3-6 MAAC) were outscored in the third and fourth quarters for a combined 37-22 second half at OceanFirst Arena.

Just one player scored in double figures for Rider. Jessika Schiffer had 11 points.

Monmouth (10-6, 5-2) got 18 points from Stella Clark, 12 from Belle Kranbuhl, and 11 from Ariana Vanderhoop.

“I thought we did some good things, both offensively and defensively tonight, but we just didn’t sustain it,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan.

“It really came down to them making some big plays.

“It’s a game of details, and I think we had each had our breakdown individually, and if each person breaks down one time, that’s ten points and that was the difference today.

Rider departed with a seven-game win streak in the series.

The Broncs on Saturday in a MAAC game will host Iona at 5 p.m. in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

D2 Chestnut Hill College Still Winning: Accidentally omitting their game from Wednesday night, Chestnut Hill was back in conference play in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) where the Griffins in the Southern Division topped Northeast Philadelphia’s Holy Family 68-62.

The Griffins (16-3, 9-0 CACC)  in the game at home in Sorgenti Arena won their ninth straight.

Bri Hewlett had 23 points and 12 rebounds, while Cassie Sebold and Lindsey Lane had 12 points each. Sebold also dealt nine assists.

Ava Morrow had 12 points for Holy Family (10-10, 5-6) while Jenn Kokolus had 10 rebounds.

Chestnut Hill’s 22-7 second quarter made the difference for the Griffins in a tough fight from the visitors.

Holy Family will travel north Saturday at 1 p.m. to play Felician University while the Griffins, who have won 10 straight, will travel to Nyack Sunday at 6 p.m.

Battle of Research Triangle To North Carolina: Having been bounced from the AP Women’s Poll this week, North Carolina made a bid for a quick return, upsetting No. 21 Duke 78-62 in nearby Durham  at Cameron Indoor Stadium in an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) game.

Alyssa Ustby had 20 points for the visiting Tar Heels (16-3, 6-3 ACC), while Kennedy Todd-Williams scored 15, and Carlie Littlefield, who played under UNC Coach Courtney Banghart at Princeton, had nine points.

Elizabeth Balagon and Miela Goodchild each scored 14 for the Blue Devils (113-5, 4-4), while freshman Shayeann Day-Wilson scored 10.

Second-year coach Kara Lawson was away from the squad due to Duke’s health and safety protocols.

Goodchild had missed the previous game for the same reason.

Duke assistant Winston Gandy said the team learned in the morning Lawson would not be on the sidelines but added she was with the team “from a virtual standpoint. She was with us every step of the way and as we game planned through the week, she was present.

“Obviously, she wasn’t here, but she did have an impact.”

Noting the loss to Georgia Tech previously, Banghart said, “We really worked on offense over the last two days, and I couldn’t be prouder for them. It’s really fun to be their coach and I was just enjoying them.”

The No. 14 Yellowjackets won an ACC game 68-49 at home in Atlanta against Boston College, while No. 20 Notre Dame home in South Bend, Ind., defeated Syracuse 83-62. Pittsburgh in overtime won at Clemson 78-73 in overtime, while No. 5 Louisville, which hosts Duke Sunday, beat Florida State 75-62.

In the Big Ten No. 7 Michigan won at No. 22 Ohio State 77-58, and No. 6 hosting  Indiana was postponed.

And that’s the report.