The Guru National Report: Stanford’s VanDerveer Becomes All-Time Collegiate Hoops Win Leader; More Upsets Flood The Weekend Landscape

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Guru’s note: Due to a local transit situation Saturday night and given short turnaround between arriving home and back to a noon Villanova game plus all that occurred we’re combining Saturday and Sunday outcomes and splitting the roundups in two for local and national.

 

Look for major realignment once more when the new Associated Press women’s basketball poll for the week ahead arrives at noon on Monday in the East as a result of more upsets.

 

But we start the national roundup for Sunday with some added action from Saturday with the standard of long-running stability at No. 8 Stanford where the completed Pac-12 weekend sweep of the Oregon duo, a 65-56 home win over Oregon State in Maples Pavilion, carried Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer to the top of all collegiate hoops coaching at career victory number 1,203.

 

The triumph snapped a brief two-day tie reached Friday night when the win over Oregon enabled to match the 1,202 total held by retired Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski.

 

Keeping pace and soon to also pass the former Duke mentor is Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma, who reached No. 1,196 on Saturday when his No. 9 UConn squad on its Storrs campus Gampel Pavilion trounced DePaul 88-51 for the injured Huskies’ 12^th straight victory to stay atop the Big East with an unbeaten conference record.

 

Freshman Ashlynn Shade scored 21 points for UConn (16-3, 8-0 Big East) while Paige Bueckers scored 20 and Aaliyah Edwards scored 18 as Auriemma temporarily closed the gap between him and VanDerveer to six.

 

But that didn’t last long on Sunday when the Cardinal lengthened it to seven despite missing Cameron Brink, who suffered a lower left-leg injury in the first quarter of Friday’s game.

 

Not to worry with the continued play of Kiki Iriafen, who had a career-high 36 points, shooting 16-for-26 with 11 rebounds, while Talana Lepolo had 14 points and six assists for the Cardinal (17-2, 6-1 PAC-12), who played before a near-sellout of 7,022 spectators, about 200 short of totally filling the arena.

 

Overall, VanDerveer, who played at Indiana before Title IX became federal law but was hired as a head coach at age 24 at Idaho, is 1,203-267, including her time at Ohio State, before spending the last 38 years on The Farm, where she is 1,051-216.

 

VanDerveer in her overall 45 years on the sidelines also has the most appearances in the coaching category in the Associated Press women’s poll at 648 after passing the late Tennessee legend Pat Summitt, who was at 618 when she retired, missing just 14 in the poll’s history at that time.

 

Next week she will tie Summitt for most appearances with one program, who achieved her entire number guiding the Lady Vols.

 

Auriemma on Monday will be at 608, all at Connecticut, which has him third in both categories.

 

Following the conclusion of the game, VanDerveer addressed the crowd, who chanted “Tara!Tara” as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

 

“I’m overwhelmed,” she said. “I’m not usually lost for words but it’s pretty impressive, all these people here, all the former players coming back.”

 

Krzyzewski issued a statement, which Stanford relayed to the media.

 

“This is a tremendous accomplishment for Tara VanDerveer, who is already one of the most accomplished coaches in the history of basketball,” he said. “This is yet another milestone to add to an amazing legacy.

 

“More important than all the astounding numbers and career accomplishments, she’s positively impacted countless lives as a coach and a mentor. Tara remains a true guardian of our sport.”

 

He also was shown on a video collection of congratulations that included messages from Billie Jean King, Steve Kerr, and Dawn Staley.

 

The United States Basketball Writers Association put out a congratulatory note mentioning it launched its women’s division with a luncheon in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1990 where VanDerveer received her first coach of the year award from the organization and won the first of three NCAA titles.

 

She repeated the championship title in 1992 and then went 29 years before No. 3 came in 2021 when the entire men’s and women’s tourneys — the women in San Antonio, Texas — were played in bubbles because of the onset of Covid-19 which forced the cancellation of both tourneys in 2020.

 

That season, Stanford spent most of it on the road away from campus, playing home games in places such as Las Vegas, because of the public restrictions in place by Stanford’s nearby community.

 

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, a Stanford alum, was among the crowd that included a slew of her many former All-Americans.

 

VanDerveer also guided the fabled ’96 USA squad to a gold medal, taking a year off from the program as the Olympic squad played exhibition games stateside and abroad before successfully chasing the gold in Atlanta.

 

Oregon State (15-3, 4-3) got 18 points from Raegan Beers.

 

“The most remarkable thing about her is she’s done it for so long and she’s remained at such a high level of excellence,” her conference colleague Scott Rueck said. “And that’s her preparation, her attention to detail is the separator.”

 

On Feb. 3, 2017, VanDerveer joined the 1,000-victory club on the women’s side, and then passed Summit’s women’s record total of 1,098, on Dec. 15, 2020.

 

That had been the all-time total for either men or women until the Duke coach surpassed it and kept winning to reach 1,202, his last game, which was in an NCAA men’s tournament and came after he had previously announced his retirement intentions.

 

Stanford hits the road next weekend, visiting Arizona State Friday night and then Arizona, the team the Cardinal barely beat for the 2021 NCAA title, before returning home.

 

PAC-12 Rumbles: With the number of ranked teams out of the conference, which is in its last year before the entire membership realigns elsewhere, once league play got under way, there was bound to upsets galore by ranking numbers.

 

Stanford, which earlier in the season lost to Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference, was downed at Colorado last weekend, delaying her tying the 1,202 number by one game.

 

The in-league carnage continued Sunday. No. 6 Southern Cal, which was upset at No. 20 Utah in Salt Lake City Friday night, became a sweep victim Sunday when No. 3 Colorado, which lost to No. 5 UCLA on Friday, bounced back to beat the Trojans 63-59, at home in Boulder.

 

Aaronette Vonleh hit a shot from deep with 49 seconds left to regain the lead for the Buffs (16-2, 6-1 PAC-12), which ended up on the high side at 2-1 in playing Top 10 opponents in the league the past two weeks.

 

A record crowd was at Friday’s game with UCLA, which had a two-day break before playing at Utah Monday night.

 

“I’m really proud of our team because we haven’t played a ton of really close games this year, where every single possession was crucial,” said Colorado coach JR Payne. “But our veterans totally led us down the stretch of the game.”

 

Quay Milller had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Colorado, which on opening night in Las Vegas, shocked preseason No. 1 and reigning NCAA champion LSU. Jaylyn Sherrod had 117 points and assisted on the Vonleh shot.

 

Rookie sensation JuJu Watkins had 20 points for the Trojans (13-3, 3-3), who lost at Utah on the current trip. Taylor Bigby scored 14.

 

“I thought the team rallied even though we haven’t played too many minutes without her,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said of losing Watkins for the first time this year on fouls with under six minutes remaining.

 

“Obviously, we want JuJu on the floor as much as possible, but when she’s not, we’ve got to make plays and I think other people did step up when they had to.”

 

Former Penn star Kayla Padilla hit a three-pointer to get USC within a point near the finish, but then Sherrod hit one of two from the line and former Harvard star Mckenzie Forbes missed a potential game-tying layup and then Vonleh sealed the outcome with two from the line.

 

Counting LSU and the wins over Stanford and USC, it’s the first time Colorado has beaten three Top 10 opponents in the same season.

 

USC will be home Friday night at the Galen Center to host Washington State, while Colorado goes to Oregon State the same evening.

 

Big Ten Big Upset: No. 20 Ohio State at home in Columbus couldn’t stop reigning national player of the year Caitlin Clark, but the Buckeyes stopped the No. 2 Hawkeyes 100-92 in overtime resulting in a court storming that resulted in an unintended collision between a home fan and Clark, who was making her way with the team to get to the Hawkeyes locker room.

 

Ohio State (15-3, 6-1 Big Ten) trailed by 12 points in the fourth period before rallying to force the game in overtime and then control the Hawkeyes (18-2, 7-1) the rest of the way to end the visitors’ 15-game win streak.

 

Iowa’s only loss was early in the season to Kansas State of the Big 12 but the Hawkeyes came back soon thereafter to avenge the defeat after both advanced to the title round of a tournament on Thanksgiving weekend.

 

Clark fell to the floor in the postgame collision but stated she was fine, and she also received apologies from athletic director Gene Smith as did Buckeyes coach Kevin McGuff before opening his part of the press conference.

 

A crowd of more than 18,000 watched the game in which Ohio State’s Cotie McMahon had a career-high 33 points and 12 rebounds. Jacey Sheldon added 24 points and seven rebounds. 

 

“It’s a huge win for the program,” McGuff said. “We beat an incredible team with one of the best players to ever play our sport, and we did it in front of 18,000 people. So hopefully the significance is we can really build on that with the momentum. 

 

Clark had a season-high 45 points, including all nine of Iowa’s points in overtime.

 

“I don’t think we were tenacious, and I think we were a little lackadaisical in all areas,” said Clark.

 

Ohio State started the season in the Top 10 but fell to Southern Cal, then No. 21, on opening day, causing an eventual change of status for both.

 

Elsewhere in the conference, not counting the locals who are part of the other report, No. 16 Indiana on the road won at Purdue, 74-68, in West Lafayette, Ind.

 

Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sara Scalia each had 20 points, while Makenzie Holmes had seven of her 15 points in the fourth quarter for the Hoosiers (16-2, 7-1).

 

Scalia had a productive 7-15 from the field, including 6-9 from deep, while Moore-McNeil was 7-14 from the field, including three makes on three-point attempts. She also had four assists. Holmes was 6-7 and grabbed six rebounds.

 

Yarden Garzon, who’s sister Lior played for Villanova before transferring to Oklahoma State, was 5-8 from deep and finished with 17 points.

 

The host Boilermakers (9-9, 2-5) losing four straight going for the deep end of the poll in terms of Big Ten opponents, got 18 points from Caitlyn Harper.

 

More Shockers in the ACC: The week-long victims list continued, or in the case of No. 15 Florida State at home, repeated as Virginia won on the road 91-87.

 

Freshman Kymora Johnson in Virginia’s first conference win of the season gave a vintage performance the Cavaliers (9-9, 11-6) of yesteryear once gave, scoring a career-high 35 points makings the league’’s Blue Ribbon committee think about a newcomer other than Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo in their weekly awards voting.

 

The visitors rallied from an eight-point deficit to tie game heading into the fourth period. 

 

Johnson personally closed out the Seminoles (14-6, 5-3) who got within a basket at 85-83 with 39 seconds left before she she hit a shot to extend the narrow lead and then scored four straight from the line.

 

Besides Johnson’s work for the visitors, Camryn Taylor scored 11 with 10 rebounds, Olivia McGhee had 12 points, and London Clarkson and Jillian Brown each scored 10.

 

Ta’Niya Latson, last season’s national freshman of the year, scored 22 with six assists for Florida State, while Makayla Thompson had 21 points with seven rebounds, while O’Mariah Gordon scored 17, and Sara. Bejedi had 10.

 

Meanwhile, No. 23 North Carolina knocked No. 13 Louisville from the conference unbeaten lead, winning 79-58 at home in Chapel Hill as Deja Kelly scored 23 with 19 rebounds, while Alyssa Ustby had had 10 points as did Indya Nivar, but Ustby also had 12 rebounds and a personal best seven blocks for the Tar Heels (14-5, 6-1), off to their best ACC start in nine seasons.

 

Kelly has exploded with 100 points in UNC’s last four games.

 

Louisville’s Myla Harris had 16 points for the Cardinals (16-3, 5-1), while Olivia Cochran and Jayda Curry each scored 14.

 

Speaking of Hidalgo, the newcomer had 21 points, while Sonia Citron scored 18 for the Irish (14-3, 5-2) in a 75-66 win at Wake Forest (4-15, 0-7), handing the Demon Deacons their seventh straight loss.

 

Wake Forest’s Malaya Cowles had 13 points, while Alyssa Andres scored 10 at home in Winston-Salem, N.C.

 

Elsewhere in the ACC, Dyashia Fair had 22 points off six made from beyond the arc to lead Syracuse to a 72-59 win at Pitt (6-13, 0-6) leading the Orange (16-2, 6-1) to be tied with North Carolina for the conference lead, with Louisville now a half-game off the pace of the ACC new standing leaders.

 

No. 4 NC State bounced back from Thursday’s loss to win 72-57 at home in Raleigh, N.C., against nearby Duke as Aziah James tied a career-high with 33 points besides grabbing eight rebounds and the Wolfpack (16-2, 4-2) mined 24 points off turnovers by the Blue Devils (12-6, 4-3), who got 14 points from Kennedy Brown.

 

“You see that ball go through the net a couple of times, and now that goal looks like a kiddie swimming pool or something,” said NC State coach Wes Moore.

 

SEC Offensive Punch: No. 1 South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference and LSU each used 99 as the magic number to power their ways to big wins, the Gamecocks of Dawn Staley putting away host Texas A&M 99-64 to keep their overall unbeaten record in place, while the Tigers hammered visiting Arkansas 99-68.

 

Freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley had a career-high 21 points off the bench for SC (17-0, 5-0).

 

“She was confident,” Staley said. “When a player is confident some magical things can happen.”

 

LSU (18-2, 5-1) dominated the boards 60-33 against the Rzorbacks (14-6, 2-3) in the game in Baton Rouge.

 

“After the Auburn game, we said we were never going to get outplayed again,” said Mikaylah Williams, who had 21 points while Hailey Van Lith had 20. “Since then, we haven’t been outplayed. We’ve done a great job being focused.”

 

In an in-state battle in the SEC, Tennessee topped visiting Vanderbilt 73-64 in Knoxville at home as Rickea Jackson scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds for the Lady Vols (12-6, 5-1) to stay tied for second with LSU. Iyana Moore scored 19 for the Commodores (17-3, 4-2), who dropped their second straight in the conference. 

 

Mid-Major Mayhem: In two Atlantic 10 games of three played, Duquesne beat host Davidson 66-59 in North Carolina as the Dukes (10-8, 5-2) got double digit scoring from four starters led by Ayanna Townsend with 18 points against the host Wildcats (13-5, 3-4), while George Mason won 73-52 against host Massachusetts as Sonia Smith scored 15 for the visiting Patriots (14-3, 5-1).

 

In the Coastal Athletic Association, league-leading Stony Brook got clipped at new member Campbell 75-73 in overtime as Christabel Ezumah scored 28 for the winning Camels (9-8, 2-4), though the Seawolves (9-8, 5-1), who got 18 points from Victoria Keenan, retain a half-game lead.

 

In the Mid-American Conference, Ball State (16-2, 6-0) became the league’s last in-house unbeaten squad beating Toledo (12-4, 5-1) at home 65-61 as Madelyn Bischoff scored 19 points.

 

On Saturday in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, freshman Meghan Andersen scored 19 to extend the overall win streak of Fairfield (15-1, 7-0) to 13 straight by beating host Marist 60-46 and opening a two-game lead.

 

In the Mountain West, a stunning upset at home saw visiting New Mexico beat No. 25 UNLV 69-66 to snap the Rebels’ 29-game win streak in the conference as Vianne Cumber scored 22 for the Lobos (13-6, 4-2), including the game-winner, her sixth make from deep with four seconds left in regulation.

 

UNLV (15-2, 5-1) got 24 points from Desi-Rae Young.

 

And that’s the national report.