The Guru Report: Rutgers Still Winless in Big Ten; UConn Visits Villanova; Saint Joseph’s Visits Loyola, Chicago; Penn State at Minnesota; Temple Hosts Wichita State

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

While one of the two local Big Ten reps has been skyrocketing out of Happy Valley at Penn State, the other continues to struggle at Rutgers where the Scarlet Knights remained winless in conference play Tuesday night losing at home to Michigan State 82-64 in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

 

Part is due to the absence of leading scorer Kaylene Smikle for unspecified medical reasons though the team (6-17, 0-10) hasn’t been totally deficient given Destiny Adams had 28 points and 10rebounds against the Spartans (16-5, 6-4).

 

Kassondra Brown scored 12 points and Jillian Huerter scored 10.

 

Antonia Bates matched a career-high seven assists.

 

Michigan State (16-5, 6-4) had five players score in double figures, two off the bench, led overall by Julia Ayrault with 19 points.

 

The three ranked teams are dominating the top of the conference all 8-1 in league play in No. 3 Iowa, No. 8 Ohio State, and No. 10 Indiana.

 

Penn State is next at two games off the pace.

 

There are a few names down below as Northwestern and Purdue that have been higher not all that long ago but Rutgers is at the very bottom in 14^th place at 2.5 games behind the team directly above.

 

Consider if the teams coming from the Pac-12 next season in UCLA, Southern Cal, Oregon and Washington were already there the Scarlet Knights would be looking at 18^th.

 

Next up is a visit to Nebraska, Saturday, at 3 p.m., and then back home Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. to host Maryland on the Big Ten Network.

 

On what was a very light schedule elsewhere – Rutgers was the only local — No. 23 West Virginia at home in Morgantown completed a 2-0 sweep of new member UCF, formerly with the AAC, winning 84-43.

 

The 41-point differential was the widest on the winning side since the Mountaineers (18-2, 7-2) came to the Big 12 from the old Big East.

 

JJ Quinerly, one of five USBWA women’s players of the week announced earlier in the day, scored 26 points, shooting 10-14 from the field.

 

Looking Ahead: It’s a busy day and night for the locals highlighted by the annual Big East visit to Villanova from Connecticut, which fell from a No. 8 ranking to 11 after losing at home to Notre Dame.

 

As of Tuesday, ticket sales were already in the 5,000-6,000 range nearing a sellout. The game tips at 6:30 p.m. on SNY. 

 

In the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s, tied for first, is at Loyola, Chicago, at 7 p.m., on ESPN+, the Hawks are tied for second (19-2) for best-ever start in program history. La Salle will be at Massachusetts in Amherst for a morning 11 a.m. tip on ESPN+.

 

Temple will look to move closer to the very top of the American when the Owls go for a series sweep, hosting Wichita State at 7 p.m. on ESPN+in the Liacouras Center.

 

In the Big Ten, Penn State will look to extend its win streak to six games visiting Minnesota at 8 p.m.

 

In the Patriot League Lehigh visits Navy in Alumni Hall at 7 p.m. in Annapolis, Md., while at the same time Lafayette visits American U. in Bender Arena in Washington, D.C., both on ESPN+.

 

On Thursday, Rider in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference hosts one of the hottest teams in the nation when Fairfield visits the Broncs in Alumni Gym inLawrenceville, N.J., at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Nationally, on Wednesday, Marquette visits No. 22 Creighton in the Big East at 7 p.m. on FloHoops.

 

In the Big Ten, No. 3 Iowa is at Northwestern at 8 p.m., on Peacock, the visiting Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark, the nation’s scoring leader, is close to moving into second on the NCAA career scoring list.

 

In the Big 12, No. 2 Kansas State, which has now made the highest climb in AP Poll history, moving from unranked in the preseason, visits conference leader Oklahoma at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

And that’s the report.