The Guru Report: Sunday Shockers See LSU, Stanford, and UCLA, Among Others, Fall; Owusu Debuts in Penn State 1000th Win Routing Rutgers

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Raise your hand if back in late October, you thought Dawn Staley with a major roster revamp at South Carolina would end up with the last unbeaten team in Division I, repeating a nearly perfect season that lasted until the upset loss in the national semifinals to Iowa.

 

But like a game of musical chairs the crowd of teams that was having a perfect run with the Gamecocks as 2024 arrived on the calendar have all been struck down in the last two weeks.

 

After Chaos Sunday three teams have beaten every school on their schedules and still have a loss – UCLA and Southern Cal playing each other while likewise out conference the same with Iowa which got revenge in a Thanksgiving event playing Kansas State after being upset by the Wildcats a few weeks earlier.

 

Meanwhile, get ready for another shake, rattle and roll experience when the next Associated Press women’s poll rolls out Monday at noon after the current one had five of the Top 10 lose over the last week.

 

Baylor skyrocketed a week ago into the top four in territory the Bears had a long residency under Kim Mulkey before she left for LSU only to lose twice in the Big 12 being upset by unranked Kansas and Iowa State, which took down No. 10 Texas on Saturday.

 

In the Southeastern Conference on Sunday Mulkey and her reigning NCAA champion Tigers, which had been stuck at No. 7 during a 16-game winning streak after an opening day loss to Colorado in Las Vegas got stunned at unranked Auburn 67-62.

 

In another SEC game between now unranked rivals that were regular top 10 and top five occupants, Texas A&M routed visiting Tennessee 71-56, while in still another Vanderbilt, having just made the coaches’ poll and bound to end an AP drought, faded at the finish at home in Nashville, and were edged by Missouri 65-63.

 

Over in the lame-duck PAC-12, which might exist in name-only for a while, a victim of conference realignment, No. 5 Colorado at home in Boulder pulled another attention-getting upset, defeating No. 8 Stanford 71-59 thus temporarily depriving Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer of her 1,202^nd career victory which would tie retired Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski for the NCAA record of total wins.

 

The upside, though, is VanDerveer could now tie and break the record at home this weekend when the Cardinal hosts the Oregon schools Friday and Sundaÿ in Palo Alto, Calif.

 

And in the highly anticipated PAC-12 rematch, No. 9 Southern Cal avenged its lone loss coming at the hands of No. 2 UCLA, winning 73-66, in front of a sellout crowd at the Galen Center and removing the Bruins from the shrunken two-team list of unbeaten teams. 

 

Two weekends ago UCLA, with a regular-season sellout program record crowd in Pauley Pavilion in the Westwood side of Los Angeles, took down then-No. 4 and unbeaten USC.

 

Elsewhere, nationally, Sunday, Richmond at home beat preseason favorite Rhode Island 71-67 to take over sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Ten with a perfect 5-0 record in league play.

 

Grace Townsend had 26 points for the Spiders (15-3) in the Robins Center while Katie Hill scored 19 and Cardinal O’Hara grad Maggie Doogan scored 16.

 

Sophie Phillips had 26 points, including five makes from deep, and Maye Toure had 16 for the Rams (11-7, 3-2).

 

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 21 Florida State, which beat No. 20 North Carolina earlier in the week, toppled visiting No. 11 Virginia Tech 89-81 in Tallahassee.

 

Sarah Bejedi had a career-high 31 points while Ta’Niya Latson, last season’s top freshman, had 20 for the Seminoles (14-4, 5-1 ACC) while the Hokies (13-3, 4-1) got 30 points from Elizabeth Kitley, her fourth this season.

 

No. 18 Notre Dame (12-3, 3-2) stayed out of trouble at home in South Bend, Ind., beating Miami 70-59 as freshman Hannah Hidalgo had 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven steals against the Hurricanes (11-5, 1-4).

 

UNC bounced back from the loss to Florida State as the Tar Heels (12-5, 4-1 ACC), at home in Chapel Hill, N.C., beat Virginia 81-68 led by Deja Kelly, with 27 points against the Cavaliers (8-8, 0-5).

 

  After Maryland was forced to postpone its Big Ten game with Purdue last weekend due to a leaky roof, the Terrapins (11-5, 3-2) came back and trounced the Boilermakers 88-66 as Bri McDaniel scored 25 points Jakia Brown-Turner scored 18 and grabbed nine rebounds.

 

The opposition fell to 9-7 overall and 2-3 in the league.

 

In the American Athletic Conference preseason pick South Florida was upset on the road by new member Rice 67-64, the Bulls (11-7, 3-2 AAC) wasting a 26-point effort from Italian freshman Vittoria Blasigh. The home team (9-6, 3-1) got 23 points and 13 rebounds from Malia Fisher.

 

The Carnage and the Glory

 

Going further into the outcomes that were led off, down in Alabama Honesty Scott-Grayson had 21 points for Auburn (12-5, 1-3 SEC), which forced 15 turnovers and held the NCAA scoring offense leaders (93.8) to LSU’s season-low in points. 

 

The game was sealed over the Tigers (16-2, 3-1) when JaMya Mingo-Young stole the ball from LSU’s Angel Reese as 10.4 seconds remained in regulation and then hit two free throws.

 

“We guarded that play all week,” said Auburn coach Johnnie Harris. “We knew, from the way she caught the ball, what she was going to do.

 

“We knew that she was going to drive it in that situation. Once she put it down, we knew she was going to score. She wasn't going to pass it.”

 

Mingo-Young had 13 points and five assists.

 

Continuing the explosion of large crowds, Auburn’s 7,720 spectators set a record in Neville Arena.

 

“Honestly, I don't know if they were there for us, or if they were there just to see LSU,” Scott-Grayson said. “But we knew we had to go out there and put on a show, either way we weren't backing down from LSU just because of the name.” 

 

Reese finished with 24 points, reaching double digits in all 50 games at LSU after transferring from Maryland.

 

The only other player with the same combination in LSU history was retired WNBA great Seimone Augustus.

 

Aneesah Morrow, the transfer from DePaul, had 12 points and 15 rebounds, while Flau’jae Johnson scored 12 points.

 

The game had 17 lead changes after the visitors erased an eight-point lead with a 10-0 run at the outset of the second quarter.

 

“We knew Auburn would get in lanes and pressure you and make it hard to complete a pass,” Mulkey said. “Energy and enthusiasm, (Auburn) just came at us. Their effort was better than our effort.”

 

Meanwhile, Texas A&M (14-3, 2-2 SEC) at home in College Station, got 19 points from Aicha Coulibaly of Mali, while Endiya Rogers and Sahara Jones each scored 15 points and Lauren Ware grabbed 12 boards in a 43-34 rebound domination of Tennessee (10-6, 3-1), which was led by Sarah Puckett with 12 points, while Jewel Spear was held to 11 points and Rickea Jackson, shooting 5-15 from the floor, held to 10. The Lady Vols had a six-game win streak.

 

“We knew we were going to be in for a challenge, wish we would have been more competitive in several areas,” said Tennessee coach Kelly Harper.

 

“Yeah, the second quarter, especially AC, did a good job of getting out and getting hands on passes,” said Aggies coach Joni Taylor. “We anticipated really well, some of the things they were running, our guards got some steals. 

 

“Our team is going to be a team that defends and because we're capable of it, that's gonna give us a chance when we decide to do that.”

 

At Vanderbilt (16-2, 3-1 SEC), which had led by six points early in the fourth period, Missouri tied it midway in the quarter, went up five with a shot from deep and a follow up shot from Grace Slaughter 63-58 under the 3-minute mark, and the host Commodores made just one field goal the rest of the way.

 

Out in the PAC-12 a strong third quarter enabled Colorado (15-1, 5-0) to win its ninth straight and snap a six-game losing streak in the series with Stanford (15-2, 4-1), which hosts Oregon Friday night in VanDerveer’s next chance to tie Krzyzewski.

 

“We definitely wanted to win this one for her,” said Stanford forward Kiki Iriafen, who had 19 points and 17 rebounds. Cameron Brink added 12 points and 12 rebounds, including her 1000th off the boards.’’

 

VanDerveer got her 1,000^th Stanford victory against Colorado, which, despite weather conditions, drew the ninth largest crowd in program history at 9,111 spectators.

 

“So fun to play in front of a crowd like that,” said Colorado coach JR Payne.

 

“We just wanted to win,” said the Buffs’ Jaylyn Sherrod, who had 13 points. “That was the focus.”

 

Quay Miller had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Colorado, which had five players scoring in double figures.

 

Colorado will be hosting UCLA Friday.

 

In the big showdown between the Bruins and USC, this time rookie sensation JuJu Watkins’ scoring performance did not go to waste, tallying 32 points for the winning Trojans (13-1, 3-1 PAC-12).

 

“She just goes all out, all the time,” USC coach Lindsey Gottlieb said of her prized newcomer.

 

 “As a team we just were so eager on defense,” Watkins said. “I fed off my teammate's energy. You just want to be a part of that. On the defensive end, we played a great game. The whole team did it.”

 

Watkins has had six 30-point games to date. She did not shoot well in this one but was 16-16 on the line with 10 rebounds.

 

 “I felt like this was going to happen,” Gottlieb said. “Our preparation and mentality was going to give us a chance to win the game.”

 

Former Penn star Kayla Padilla had 13 points, and Harvard transfer McKenzie Forbes scored 18, ending the nine-game series losing streak to the Bruins (14-1, 3-1), who got 25 points from Charisma Osborne, all in the second half.

 

A sellout crowd of 13,659 set a program record as the game at UCLA did.

 

 “We showed so much what we're capable of, not just to fans but to ourselves,” Forbes said.

 

The Local Scene: lt was a 2-2 split at local games: here at Temple in front of an array of program alums the Owls in the Liacouras Center lost their recent momentum falling 59-57 to Memphis in an AAC game in which a finishing rally fell short.

 

Down at Delaware, the Blue Hens led most of the way in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark but were overcome by Stony Brook 79-67, now the sole team in the Coastal Athletic Association without a league loss after two weekends of play.

 

In another CAA contest, however, Drexel on the road recovered from Friday’s setback at Charleston to win at UNCW 59-45, while up north in the Big Ten, in a game actually between two longtime local rivals, Penn State won its 1,000^thgame in program history routing host Rutgers 94-80 in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

 

Temple (9-8, 3-2) committed committed 22 miscues and shot just 33 percent from the field, but closed a double-digit deficit existing in the third quarter to take a shot for a win or overtime on the final play of the game.

 

“I am truly embarrassed at our effort today,” said second year coach Diane Richardson. “To be quite honest with you, I think quite a few people should have stepped up today.”

 

Aleah Nelson had 19 points but was the only Owl in double figures.

 

Temple was also in foul trouble and the loss to lowly Memphis (5-10, 1-4) was a missed opportunity given South Florida’s loss.

 

The Owls are off until Sunday hosting new member Charlotte (11-5, 4-0) visits at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

The 49ers were a Temple league rival when both played in the Atlantic Ten.

Likewise Delaware (6-9, 2-1) had a chance to move into the league lead in the CAA before allowing Stony Brook (14-1, 4-0) to rule over a slew of teams right behind with one loss.

 

A 27-13 fourth quarter win by the visitors was the ticket to the top.

 

Klarke Sconiers had 16 points and seven rebounds while Sydney Boone and Rebecca Demeke each added 10 for the Blue Hens, who next visit William & Mary Friday at 7 p.m. in Williamsburg, Va., at the Kaplan Center on FloHoops.

 

Drexel (8-7, 3-1 CAA) benefitted from the first double-double of Amaris Baker’s career, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against UNCW (2-13, 0-4).

 

Villanova transfer Brooke Mullin had 18 points, five rebounds, and five assists, while Hetta Saatman had 14 points.

 

The Dragons next host Hofstra at the outset of homecoming weekend Friday at 6 p.m. in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

 

Penn State (11-5, 2-3) against Rutgers finally got to be the team anticipated beyond improved play as transfer all-American Ashley Owusu debuted with 18 points and Mckenna Marisa, the leading scorer, was back in the starting lineup after returning as a substitute in the previous game after being sidellined by a leg injury in December’s overtime loss at Ohio State

 

The program which launched in 1965 is now 1000-565.

 

Rutgers, meanwhile, continues to struggle, 6-13 overall and still winless at 0-6 in the conference.

 

Owusu for the Lady Lions in 25 minutes also had five rebounds and five assists.

 

Marisa and Tay Valladay each scored 17, while Alli Campbell scored 11.

 

Next up Purdue visits the Bryce Jordan Center Thursday at 7 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

 

Rutgers got a career-high 33 points from Destiny Adams and nine rebounds, being matched on the boards by Chyna Cornwell, whille Kassondra Brown and Mya Petticord each scored 12, and Lisa Thompson scored 11.

 

Next up for the Scarlet Knights is a visit to Illinois Wednesday at 7 p.m.

 

Looking Ahead: Saint Joseph’s Goes for the Local Gold: La Salle brings a three-game win streak to Hawk Hill in a women’s/men’s doubleheader between the two schools at Hagan Arena beginning at noon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday, as the hosts seek to win the the Big Five outright and also keep pace in the A-10 behind Richmond.

 

Penn hosts Cornell at 2 p.m. in The Palestra while Princeton visits Dartmouth at 6 p.m. in Ivy League action on ESPN+.

 

Top-ranked South Carolina hosts Kentucky at 7 p.m. on the SEC network.

 

And that’s the report.