The Guru Report: No. 15 Villanova Holds Off DePaul Rally While No. 4 UConn Upset By St. John’s; No. 7 Maryland Handles No. 6 Iowa Making No. 2 Indiana Big Ten Champs

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. — Down the stretch Tuesday night, in a game featuring the top two scorers in the Big East, Maddy Siegriest provided the key shots to offset a DePaul rally by Aneesah Morow along with Darrione Rogers to rebound from Saturday’s loss to No.; 6 UConn and defeat the Blue Demons 67-64 for a season sweep.

“We showed a little toughness, I thought, after a tough one here on Satuday,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “They came back ready to play, ready to get a big win with their backs against the wall. A little hard down the stretch, but we found a way.”

Having held a 19 point lead in the third quarter, these were the kind of games the No. 15 Wildcats (24-5, 15-3 Big East) might have lost in an earlier stage of development when the other side comes thundering back.

But with Siegrist, the nation’s leading scorer, keeping her perfect 20+ scores in every game this season to date, with a nice supporting cast, those kind of total meltdowns are less likely to happen.

The native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was just a hair off her 29.1 pre-game average, scoring 28 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, her 15th double double on the season and 52nd of her career.

Siegrist has now scored more career points at 2,659 than any male or female at the Philly Six Division I schools except for La Salle’s Lionel Simmons, who finished with 3,217.

The Villanova star senior did not have a monopoly on busting records, however, as she has since last month when she broke Shelly Pennefather’s 33-year-old ‘Nova men’s and women’s career mark and quickly started claiming more such as Penn’s Diana Caramanico’s 22-year-old Big Five record, the Big East games career mark, the 50-point individual game performance, and the overall Philly Six women’s career mark that was held by Drexel’s Gabriela Marginean.

During the climb she passed all the men’s greats totals except for Simmons.

In this game, sophomore Christina Dalce, continuing to make her case for most improved locally and perhaps in the Big East, had 11 points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots, which earned her the single-season Wildcats record with 66 blocks.

“Just having someone as a rim protector in that sense is key,” Dillon said of her 6-foot-2 post star. “Seeing her progression from last year to this year gives you that sense that her career will be enhanced with some offseason development.”

Lucy Olsen continued to provide support from the backcourt with nine points, six rebounds, and four assists.

DePaul (15-14, 8-10) has had an unusual down year after losing two starters at the outset of the season. But the Blue Demons can still be lethal in spots, evidenced by Morrow’s 29 points and 19 rebounds together with the 17 points contributed by Rogers. 

A 16-3 run sliced the ‘Nova once comfortable lead minutes earlier to a single point but these Cats play defense, got a few stops, Bella Runyon took a big charge, and Olsen got a key steal to get the lead back up to seven, enough to hang on to the win.

“DePaul basketball is pretty great,” Dillon said. “They don’t go away, they can score so quickly.

“Rogers got hot and that was tough. I felt Bella Runyon was doing a nice job on her and then she knocks down a crazy three. She started feeling it a little bit so I thought the charge that Bella took was crucial.”

The win moved the Wildcats closer to a second place finish and No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament, which opens at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., Friday, March 3, with three first round games, of which Villanova will be one of five teams with a bye to the Saturday quarterfinals.

Two hanging questions did come into play following the win.

With Villanova given a No. 4 seed and No. 15 placement, meaning being a host for the first two rounds, in the first reveal from the NCAA committee, does Dillon think the Wildcats did enough to hold the spot when the second and last one is revealed Thursday night on ESPN at halftime of the South Carolina/Tennessee game, which tips at 7 p.m.

“I think so,” Dillon said. “But I don’t know what some other teams that didn’t get one have done since or how much they will hold losing to UConn against us.”

Villanova’s NET ranking is only one spot lower from 10 to 11 since the UConn game and in Monday’s Associated Press women’s poll, the Wildcats fell one spot from 14 to 15.

Technically, it was more a case of being passed by Arizona, which beat then-No. 4 Utah and No. 21 Colorado in two PAC-12 weekend games.

Charlie Creme’s mock bracket on ESPN since the game retained the Wildcats in a fourth seed slot.

As for the other, Villanova’s next game is back here Friday night at 7 p.m. hosting Providence, which will be Senior Night, before finishing Monday at Seton Hall.

The Wildcats lose just two who will be making their farewell appearance — Siegrist and Mullin.

Way back on Big East Media Day it was just assumed that Siegrist was WNBA bound, especially along the way since the way her stature has gown.

But after she scored the 50 points, M.A. Voepel’s interview for ESPN left the door open a crack of possible returning for one more year. Mullin also has a Covid year should she choose.

“We’re going to celebrate our seniors,” Dillon said. “We did it twice for (Brianna) Herlihy, and have no problem doing it again if need be and then the other discussions will continue.”

Certainly, the WNBA rookie money is such that if a nice NIL package could be put together, that could be tempting.

Villanova would certainly be celebrated as a super team, nationally, and Siegrist’s NCAA career scoring average, that has a chance to make the all-time Top 25 when the season ends, could land much  higher.

Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne, now with the WNBA Washington Mystics, who missed a bunch of games for various reasons, in her four-year career, finished with 3,039 points.

The WNBA Las Vegas Aces’ Kelsey Plum at the University of Washington holds the record at 3,527, reached through finishing in the NCAA tournament after breaking the Jackie Stiles mark of 3,393.

In a recent interview on the subject, Siegrist said words similar to Candice Parker, who still had a year of eligible when leaving Tennessee.

“When it’s time to leave, I’ll know.”

Local Look: Temple Edged at UCF

There was one other game on the local card, Temple fell down the stretch, losing to UCF 57-53 in an American Athletic Conference game in Orlando, Fla.

Already short-handed following the departure of four players last month plus one other lost for most of the season with an injury, the Owls (10-16, 5-9 AAC) were hampered further when Caranda Perea got hurt in the first quarter and was gone for the entire game.

The loss to the Knights (12-13, 3-10), who are headed to the Big 12 after this season, was the fifth straight following a brief three-game win streak that came after the departures.

Aleah Nelson scored 18 for Temple, while Tarriyonna Gary, in front of fans from her nearby hometown of Brookeville, scored 12 and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.

UCF got 17 points and 11 rebounds from Anzhane Hutton.

Temple next goes to Wichita State in Oklahoma on Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

Nationally Noticed: UConn and Iowa Suffer Upsets

Though the national card didn’t have many games, the two out there were big and also each had some connection to Villanova.

After UConn survived the Wildcats on Saturday and moved up two AP Poll spots to fourth, the Huskies fell to St. John’s for the first time in 11 years in Tuesday’s Big East game in Hartford 69-64 in the XL Center.

Danielle Patterson and Kadaja Bailey each scored 20 points while Jayla Everett scored 17.

Villanova completed a sweep of the Red Storm beating them in Queens last Wednesday.

Just three days earlier the visitors (20-7, 11-7 Big East) were held to 38 points in a 23-point loss to Marquette, which plays Creighton Wednesday night.

“It’s just an unbelievable win for our program and these kids,” said Red Storm coach Joe Tartamella. “They’ve been waiting for a game like this all year and I’m just so proud of them.”

UConn (24-5, 16-2), which likely won’t have a No. 1 seed in Thursday’s reveal, got 18 points from Lou Lopez Senechal, and Dorka Juhasz and Aaliyah Edwards each scored 14.

Off UConn forced to foul at the finish, Bailey made four shots on the line to seal the triumph.

DePaul goes to UConn Saturday from here, playing at 2 p.m. on FOX.

It’s the first time since 2013-14 the Huskies have dropped multiple conference games the same season.

“St. John’s from the opening tip played like their life depends on every game for the rest of the season, that they need to win every single game out pretty much to make sure that they are in the NCAA tournament,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. “It would have been a sin if they lost that game, to be honest, with you, because they played so well and so hard and they played like they were the better team — and they were … Against a team that came out (like) we’re entitled to the Big East championship. So each team got what they deserved, 100%.

“Let’s not confuse the issue here. St. John’s played about as well as I’ve seen a team play against us.”

Thanks to No. 7 Maryland, the Big Ten regular season race is over after beating No. 6 Iowa 96-68, the Hawkeyes’ worst loss to date, resulting in idle No. 2 Indiana claiming its first outright crown instead of this weekend’s showdown that could have resulted in a shared title when the Hoosiers visit Iowa Sunday.

More reserves than starters for the Terrapins (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten), Brinae Alexander scored 24 points, including tying a personal best six from deep, while Lavender Briggs scored 19.

“When you look at our bench points, and the 43 bench points from those two, it absolutely was the X-factor,” said Maryland coach Brenda Frese. “It was the reason why we dominated that game.”

Shyanne Sellerds added 17 points with 10 rebounds, and seven assists for Maryland in the home game at the XCELLCenter in College Park.

Caitlin Clark was held to 18 points, her second lowest scoring game of the season, for Iowa (22-6, 14-3).

Clark, who had been trailing Villanova’s Siegrist (29.1) in second in the national scoring race, recently slipped to third behind Drexel’s Keishana Washington (27.7) with a 27.3 average.

Looking Ahead: Wednesday is road night for the locals — in the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s is at George Mason 7 p.m. in Fairfax, Va., while La Salle is at Dayton the same time, both games on ESPN+.

Penn State is at Purdue at 7 p.m. in the Big Ten on the subscription Big Ten plus network.

In the Patriot League, Lehigh will be at Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., at 6 p.m., while Lafayette will visit Colgate at 7 p.m. in Hamilton, N.Y., both games on ESPN+.

On the Thursday local mix, Mount St. Mary’s, a new league member, will visit Rider at 11 a.m. in Alumni Gym in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game in Lawrenceville, N.J., on ESPNU, while Rutgers will be at Michigan at 7 p.m. on the B1G+ network.

Nationally, Tennessee, which has lost to every ranked team played when the opposition was in the poll — they beat Colorado prior to the Buffs’ appearance, gets its last season shot in the Southeastern Conference hosting No. 1 South Carolina at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

NC State visits Duke at 8 p.m. in Durham, N.C., on the ACC Network, while on the Regional Sports Network in the ACC at the same time Virginia Tech visits North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

In the PAC-12 at 5 p.m. No. 3 Stanford visits No. 21 Colorado.

And that’s the report.