The Guru Report: Temple Holds First in AAC With Fifth Straight Win; Drexel Handles UNCW; Upsets Strike ACC and Pac-12

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA — While it was another day of national upsets on Sunday, here at Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center, the Dragons got back on the winning track in the Coastal Athletic Association beating UNCW 63-39.

 

Reversing the way it went Friday night for the two CAA local teams, Delaware fell at preseason favorite Towson 70-57.

 

But while getting back to this duo in a bit, the story of the moment is one nobody saw coming a month ago.

 

If Temple was beginning to get hot at the time, the Owls are really on fire now after beating one of two other Owls contingent in the American Athletic Conference in their first ever meeting.

 

Completing a Texas Two Step sweep, the current win streak is five straight after downing Rice 75-66 to stay in first with three games remaining in the regular season.

 

Holding a one-game lead Temple (17-10, 11-4) under second-year head coach Diane Richardson, seems likely to clinch one of four double-byes for a top four finish that could come by beating Tulsa Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Liacouras Center (ESPN+).

 

It’s almost certain the Owls are close to knowing their season will not end early and if it means falling just short of the NCAA but playing in the new 32-team WBIT or reduced 48-team WNIT, it will still be a major growth step for a squad picked ninth in the preseason poll from the conference coaches.

 

Against Rice (15-12, 9-7) in the host Owls’ Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Tarriyona Gary was 5-5 from long range and finished with 20 points, while Tristen Taylor was 4-4 from deep.

 

Freshman Taylor from nearby Duncanville, Texas, scored 14 off the bench, Tiarra East had 12 points and 10 boards, while Aleah Nelson and Rayne Tucker each scored 10 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

 

“We called her a fearless freshman in the beginning of the season,” Richardson said. “We saw that today. We were in her home state, so I think she is pretty confident playing in Texas.”

 

All of it offset Malia Fisher scoring 24 with eight boards for Rice.

 

The streak is the longest since the December portion of 2019-20, while it’s the longest in conference since 2016-17. Temple last reached 17 wins in 2015-16 when the Owls won 23, and the last time the Owls were leading a conference this late was. Back in 2011-12 as a member of the Atlantic 10.

 

Temple went 3-0 in the past week, a feat helpful when beginning likely in the quarterfinals of the AAC  Tourney in Fort Worth.

 

“to prepare for that,  we’ve got to do that when we get to the tournament,” said Richardson, who several years ago led Towson on a run to the CAA title at Delaware.

 

“We want to stay focused on each game.”

 

“The game the other day was not typical Temple offense,” Richardson said on the zoom call afterwards. “They got in the gym and worked on their shots, and I could kind of tell it was going to be one of those games.

 

“It was just the confidence factor. I knew it was a tough game coming in and our ladies shot the lights out.”

 

Here at Drexel, it was all Dragons (12-13, 7-7) getting close to back above .500 to draw potential postseason interest.

 

Right now, coach Amy Mallon said the concentration is just trying to get better each game.

 

Villanova transfer Brooke Mullin was 4-5 from three and finished with 16 points, Amaris Baker scored 14 points on 7-15 from the field.

 

Laine McGurk scored seven and drew several charges by the opposition (5-20, 3-11).

 

The Dragons next finish the season home stand hosting CAA leader Stony Brook at 6 p.m., Friday night, and. Campbell Sunday at 2 p.m., both games on FloHoops.

 

Delaware (10-16, 6-8) meanwhile struggled at Towson (16-9, 8-6), which is in sixth place a game ahead of Campbell and Drexel.

 

Chloe Wilson had 23 points for the visiting Blue Hens, while Ande’A Cherisier scored 12. With seven boards.

 

The Blue Hens will host Campbell Friday night at 7 on FloHoops in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark and then greet Elon at 1 p.m. on Sunday, both games on FloHoops.

 

The National Scene: Some held firm. Others did not.

 

This time next week a bunch of conference tournament fields will be set to pursue the first group of NCAA automatic bids. It’s been wild all season and it’s likely to continue.

 

In the Big Ten it was recent business as usual for No. 2 Ohio State which clinched a tie and top seed for next week’s action by winning 79-66 at Maryland as Celeste Taylor scored 20, Jacy Sheldon scored 17and three others were also in double figures for the Buckeyes (24-4, 15-1) with their 14^th straight victory.

 

One triumph in two remaining games earns the regular season title outright.

 

Bri McDaniel scored 21 and Brinae Alexander had 16 for the Terrapins (16-11, 8-8), who parted with a four-game win streak.

 

No. 4 Iowa (24-4, 13-3) downed visiting Illinois 101-85 following the loss to No. 14 Indiana as Caitlin Clark earned her 16^th triple double, doing so with 24 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. She had five makes from deep.

 

The Hawkeyes and Indiana are tied for second behind Ohio State, which visits Iowa in Sunday’s wrapup after Clark’s group visits Minnesota Wednesday.

 

Consider it a sneak preview for next week’s Big Ten Tournament at the Target Center in Minneapolis, which for the first time is sold out, yet another residual from the NCAA Division I record setter.

 

Over in the Atlantic Coast Conference No. 8 Virginia Tech (23-4, 14-2) won it’s 10^th straight, beating North Carolina 74-62 as Elizabeth Kitley scored 34 to give the Hokies a share of the conference regular season title and No. 1 seed next week in Greensboro, N.C.

 

But Virginia (14-13, 6-10) won at No. 20 Louisville 73-68, the first unranked team to win at the KFC Yum! Center, snapping a 56-game win streak by the Cardinals (22-7, 11-5).  Camryn Taylor had nine of her 22 points in the fourth quarter for the Cavaliers.

 

Duke beat No. 6 N.C. State 69-58 at home in Durham, N.C. as Taina Mair had 19 points for the Blue Devils (18-9, 10-6), making it two straight upsets of ranked teams in four days.

 

The Wolfpack (23-5, 11-5) lost their second straight for the first time this season.

 

In the Southeastern Conference No. 1 South Carolina (27-0, 14-0) romped at Kentucky 103-55 to claim single ownership of the conference for Greenville, S.C., next week, already holding the No. 1 seed.

 

It’s the third straight and eighth of 11 regular season crowns for the Gamecocks.

 

No. 13 LSU (24-4, 11-3), the reigning NCAA champions, won on the road beating Tennessee 75-60 as Louisville transfer Hailey van Lith scored 26 points and Angel Reese crossed a career-milestone to get to 2,006 points combined at Maryland and with the Tigers.

 

Rickea Jackson reached 1,006 with 16 points for the Lady Vols (16-10, 9-5).

 

In the Pac-12, No. 3 Stanford bounced back from Friday’s loss to Arizona beating Arizona State 81-67 and with help else the damage was minimized as the Cardinal (24-4, 13-3) claimed a share of the conference crown, their last before joining the ACC next season.

 

It was their final Pac-12 game in Maples Pavilion.

 

Kiki Iriafen had 22 points and 20 rebounds while Cameron Brink, who missed Friday suffering from the flu, scored 14.

 

No. 7 Southern Cal at home in the Galen Center blew a chance to keep pace, losing 74-68 to No. 18 Utah in Los Angeles.

 

Former Trojan Alissa Pili had 23 points and nine boards for the Utes (20-8, 10-6), who had their highest rank opponent road win.

 

In departing from a seven-game win streak USC (21-5, 11-5) suffered its worse loss of the season.

 

Freshman sensation JuJu Watkins had 30 points for the Trojans.

 

Washington beat visiting No. 9 Oregon State 61-51 home in Seattle lessening the Beavers’ hopes to share the last Pac-12 title. 

 

Elle Ladine scored 23 points for the Huskies.

 

Leading scorer Raegan Beers missed her fourth straight game with a broken nose for Oregon State (22-5, 11-5), which got 13 points and 11 rebounds from Timea Gardiner.

 

In the Big East, No. 15 UConn may have struggled nationally on an injury-riddled roster but continue to own the conference winning 100-67 at DePaul in Chicago, the 25^th straight win over the Blue Demons (12-17, 4-12).

 

Paige Bueckers had 30 points for the Huskies (24-5, 16-0) and Aaliyah Edwards had 23 points and 17 rebounds.

 

It was Geno Auriemma’s 1204 career win, second in college basketball to Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer (1210).

 

There are no local games the next two days, but Monday night Colorado is at UCLA (9 p.m., ESPN2).

 

And that’s the report.