The Guru Report: No. 8 UConn Handles No. 20 Maryland; No. 2 Iowa Stunned at Home by Kansas State; Penn State Rallies at St. John’s

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Eighth-ranked UConn and its superstar Paige Bueckers were back on track Thursday night at home on the Storrs campus in Gampel Pavilion handing No. 20 Maryland an 80-48 whipping, but another top five team got derailed in the Midwest where Kansas State shocked No. 2 Iowa 65-58 in the Hawkeyes’ own building.

 

That’s twice within three days that a Big 12 school defeated an occupant in the Associated Press penthouse portion of the poll after No. 21 Baylor at home surprised No. 4 Utah.

 

It’s the first time the Big 12 has picked up two AP Top 5 non-conference wins in the same regular season week. And it’s also the first time two same conference members over a three-day span collected non-conference wins against separate top-five opponents since 1999-2000.

 

In the only local action, Penn State went to 4-0 by rallying in the second half to win at St. John’s 69-53 on the road in Carneseca Arena in Queens, N.Y.

 

Maryland (1-2) has now lost two straight routs to Top 10 teams, having been handled Sunday at then-No.6 SouthCarolina, enabling the Gamecocks to reclaim their No. 1 spot they held 38 weeks until the preseason poll last month.

 

The Terrapins’ second best 251 straight weeks current appearance run over 11 seasons in the AP Poll is in jeopardy as they will host Syracuse Sunday at noon on the Big Ten Network.

 

The leader is Connecticut (2-1) which set a record with this week’s vote at 566 but lost a chance to return to the top when the Huskies on Sunday got ambushed 92-81 at then unranked North Carolina State, as a result falling from second to eighth and the Wolfpack setting a record by moving in from nowhere to as high as 14^th.

 

Bueckers, the 2021 national player of the year as a freshman, missed last season with a knee injury.

 

She had 24 points and six steals in the win over Maryland.

 

“Just as a collective unit, we never want to show effort like that on the defensive end,” Bueckers said about Sunday's loss. “It started with us older guys and then the younger guys brought it — the intensity on defense.”

 

KK Arnold, a freshman, and Aaliyah Edwards each scored 12 points for UConn, while freshman Ashlynn Shade collected 10 points and Aubrey Griffin scored nine and grabbed 13 rebounds.

 

Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers scored 16 and Jakia Brown-Turner scored 13 In a game in which the Huskies gained 29 points off 27 turnovers.

 

“Obviously, this team is still a work in progress,” Maryland coach run Brenda Frese said. “Our starters have played three games together in their careers.”

 

Starting guard Azzi Fudd, who has missed time in recent seasons, did not play after suffering a knee injury in practice this week.

Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said more will be known from MRI and other tests she’ll undergo after the swelling subsides.

 

Auriemma still trails Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer by seven with 1,182 career victories after her No. 6 Cardinal (3-0) later Thursday night at home in Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif., beat Cal Poly 86-32 to extend her women’s career record to 1,189.

 

She is now within 14 of passing retired Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski’s total of 1,202 triumphs to become the winningest coach in college basketball history.

 

It was Stanford’s ninth straight win in the series as Elena Bosgana equaled her personal best with 15 points and seven rebounds.

 

Kiki Iriafen scored 13 and grabbed four rebounds while Jzaniya Harriel connected with four from deep and tallied a career-high 14 points.

 

Stanford hosts Duke Sunday at 3 p.m. on ABC, the Blue Devils on the way to the first series meeting since 2012 got surprised at home in Cameron Indoor Stadium by Atlantic 10 member Davidson 69-62 in Durham, N.C.

 

The outcome left both teams 3-1.

 

Elle Sutphin had 19 points for the Wildcats, Suzi-Rose Deegan scored 18, and reserve Charlise Dunn scored 15 with six rebounds.

 

Duke reserve Oluchi Okananwa had 15 points and nine rebounds, while Camilla Emsbo scored 11.

 

But Thursday’s outcome few saw likely possible happened in Iowa City as reigning national player of the year Caitlin Clark had a poor shooting night and Iowa went scoreless the closing three minutes.

 

Clark was 9-for-32 and just 2-for-16 on 3-point attempts, though finishing with 24 points.

 

“There are going to be nights I don't shoot the ball very well,” Clark said. I don't think I helped myself, not getting to the basket and taking advantage of fouls when I needed to.”

 

Ayoka Lee, who missed most of last season injured, had 22 points for Kansas State.

 

“We knew that this one would be won in transition,” she said after scoring 10 of her points in the fourth quarter. “We had to have transition (defense). It fell apart some times, but we did a good job of picking it back up when it fell apart.”

 

Prior to holding Iowa scoreless, the Wildcats trailed 58-53 with 2:42 left in regulation.

 

“It really came down to the fourth quarter,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “They beat us in the fourth quarter. They beat us in crunch time.”

 

When Jaelyn Glynn missed two foul shots for the Wildcats holding a three-point lead with 23 seconds left, Iowa had a chance to tie but Clark missed a 3-point shot at 19 seconds and another with 11 remaining.

 

Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said the plan was to swarm Clark, defensively. “We weren’t going to guard her with one player,” he said.

 

His team gave the Hawkeyes their first loss a year ago when they were fourth in the AP poll.

 

On Sunday Iowa will welcome in-state rival Drake while Kansas State hosts Wisconsin.

 

There were some surprises elsewhere nationally Thursday in either the size of the outcome or the outcome itself as the Duke game.

 

Alabama (4-0) greeted American Athletic Conference favorite South Florida (3-1) by blasting the Bulls 70-41 as Sarah Ashlee Barker scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

 

Green Bay (2-1) felled No. 23 Creighton 65-53 riding a 22-9 first quarter on the host Bluejays of the Big East as Maddy Schreiber scored 14 points and Callie Genke had 11 in Omaha, Neb. 

 

It was the first win over an AP ranked team in five seasons.

 

Lauren Jensen scored 21 for Creighton (2-1) and Emma Ronsick scored 15 points.

 

The two teams hadn’t met since 1995.

 

Harvard on the road beat in-state rival Umass 78-57 as Lola Mullaney scored 23 with eight rebounds for the Crimson (3-1) and Harmoni Turner scored 22. The Minutewomen fell to 1-3.

 

Columbia (2-2), which opened with a loss at Coastal Athletic Association contender Stony Brook last week, took down the CAA favorite Towson 80-57 off Broadway as Kitty Henderson scored 23 on the Tigers (1-1).

 

On the high-end top-ranked South Carolina won its 13^th straight in the series with Clemson at home in Columbia with a third straight offensive explosion 109-40 setting a program record with three wins in a row in triple digits.

 

“They’re different because they can shoot,” Clemson (3-1) coach Amanda Butler compared Dawn Staley’s squad with the ones at three straight recent Final Fours.

 

It was Staley’s 200^th win coaching the Gamecocks (3-0) following her stay at Temple.

 

MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 18 for the home team while Kamilla Cardosa had 15 points and 13 rebounds.

 

Host Grambling topped visiting Arizona State 7067.

 

Michigan State set a program record shooting 70.9 percent from the field (39-for-55) in a 105-44 win at home over Detroit Mercy.

 

Penn State Rallies at St. John’s: TheLady Lions’ first road excursion was a winning one outscoring the Red Storm 46-27 in the second half shooting 60.6 percent across the third and fourth quarters for a 69-53 victory.

 

Ali Brigham had 14 points and six rebounds, Makenna Marisa had 13 of her 15 points in the second half, and Chanaya Pinto scored 12.

 

The Lady Lions head to the tropics Monday and Wednesday playing Oklahoma State at 9 p.m. and then future Big Ten rival Southern Cal at 9 in the Baha Pink Flamingo championship in Nassau, Bahamas.

 

Looking Ahead: The local weekend card begins Friday with Princeton playing at No. 3 UCLA at 2:30 p.m. on the PAC-12 network, while Lehigh hosts Yale at 6 p.m. in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem on ESPN+.

 

On Saturday Rutgers hosts Saint Francis (Pa.) at noon at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., Rider hosts Boston U. at 2 p.m. at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J. on ESPN+, and at 2 p.m. Lafayette is at Long Island U.

 

Sunday has Penn at Siena in suburban Albany, N.Y. at 2 p.m on ESPN+, Princeton at the University of San Diego st 5 p.m. on ESPN+, while here in the city Villanova hosts Temple in a Big Five game at 2 p.m. in Finneran Pavilion while at 4:30 p.m. Drexel hosts Saint Joseph’s in the Daskalakis Athletic Center, both games on FloHoops.

 

And that’s the report.