The Guru Conference Tourney Report: Battle of Owls Goes to Rice Over Temple Again in AAC Semis; Upset WCC Title to Oregon State; UNLV Upset in Mountain West

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

For the second straight year fourth-seeded Temple’s chance to advance in the American Athletic Conference tournament to the championship at Dickies’ Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, was shredded in the semifinals by ninth-seeded Rice (17-16), this time 67-49.

Instead of the revenge sought by the Owls (20-11) of Philadelphia for the ouster of a third seed by a 10th seed 12 months ago it was the wise ones of Texas delivering a pay back for the rout Temple pulled on senior night at the Liacouras Center less than two weeks ago.

In the other semifinal, preseason favorite but three-seed South Florida (22-10) topped two-seed North Texas 58-48.

Rice and South Florida will play for the title and NCAA automatic bid Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

The winning Bulls had Vittoria Blasigh (13), Carlo Brito (11), and Mama Dembele (11, 5 assists) combine for 35 points while L’or Mputu had a career-high 21 rebounds.

Tommisha Lampkin had 10 points and 14 boards for North Texas.

The Temple loss snapped a seven-game winning streak on a day when two more bids were claimed: In the Horizon League top seed Green Bay (29-5) won 76-63 over Purdue-Fort Wayne (25-8) in Indianapolis but No. 4 Oregon State (19-15) a converted Cinderella from a former mean stepsister in the defunct Pac-12 upset No. 2 Portland 59-46 for the title in the West Coast Conference at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

The losing Pilots (29-4) who in the regular season for first place tied top-seeded Gonzaga (22-10), which Oregon State nipped 63-61 in the semifinals, had upset Ivy power Princeton when the Tigers made a two-game swing to the Northwest prior to the start of play in the Ancient Eight.

In another shocker out of the Mountain West, No. 1UNLV (25-7) playing in its home city at the Thomas & Mack Arena fell to No. 4 San Diego State 71-59 in a semifinal.

The Aztecs (24-9) on Wednesday for the automatic bid at 10:30 p.m. on CBS Sports  will meet No. 2 Wyoming (22-10), which advanced with a 57-45 win over No. 6 Fresno State (19-15).

Two other sets of semifinals Tuesday set up title games.

In the ASun, chalk held as top seed Florida Gulf Coast (29-3) took a 63-47 home court victory over No. 4 Eastern Kentucky (21-12) and will stay there Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+)  as the higher seed to face No. 2 Central Arkansas (23-8), which advanced with a 70-65 home win over Lipscomb (20-11).

In the Big Sky at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, No. 1 Montana State (29-3) won easily over No. 5 Idaho State (14-17) but No. 2 Northern Arizona (26-7) was upset 71-67 by No. 6 Montana (14-17).

Wednesday’s championship between the two Montana schools will tip off 5 p.m. on ESPNU, though neither rapper French Montana nor Hall of Fame retired San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana will be on the scene as spectators.

Turning back to Temple, which leaves Drexel in the CAA and Penn in the Ivies as the remaining Big Five schools momentarily alive for automatic bids, the Owls’ lowest scoring total of the season second to only the 68-46 home loss to nationally ranked West Virginia said it all.

“Everybody’s better than they were when they first got here, and so I’m very proud of that,” said Temple third year coach Diane Richardson. “But I wish we had gone out with a championship, which was our goal for the year. I'm very proud of them, and I know that some of them are going to go on to the next level and do well.”

The Owls went 0-8 from the field coming out of the break and ended up 3-15 in the third period mired in a 15-point deficit that they were unable to overcome.

“I think they were pressuring us a little bit, fighting over screens, our ball screens, and they did a good job with that, being very physical with us,” Richardson said.

 “I think the physicality and the pressure defense was something that we normally do, and they did that today, for sure.”

Rice, which upset top seed Texas-San Antonio in the quarterfinals, was led by Malia Fisher, scoring 18 points with nine boards, while Aniah Alexis scored 14.

Temple’s Jaleesa Molina had 11 points, 10 boards, and three blocks, while Tristen Taylor scored 10, and Tiarra East had eight points and 10 rebounds.

With Temple out of the mix along with Saint Joseph’s likely a first four out from the NCAA field its possible the non-Big Five game the schools were unable to schedule when both weren’t in the same pod in the new format could happen if both land in the WNIT.

Should Temple not land there, if the Owls make the bid they could be taken in the 48-team WNIT.

The National Scene

Prior to first-round play in the MAAC tourney at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City the conference announced its postseason awards and Delran’s Tricia Sacca-Fabri out of Quinnipiac was named coach of the year while Israeli newcomer Gal Raviv in a first for the Bobcats earned both player and freshman of the year, among a select few to have gained both from a conference, Connecticut’s Paige Buecker in the Big East being one, to pull a double in conference awards.

Second-seeded Quinnipiac (26-3), which ended top-seeded and defending champion Fairfield’s two-year perfect run at home in Hamden, Conn., Saturday, will meet 10-seed Iona (11-20), in a quarterfinal matchup Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. after Fairfield opens the first half of quarters at noon against No. 8 Manhattan (16-14) both on ESPN+.

The second half on Thursday will see No. 4 Mount St. Mary’s (14-15) meet No. 5 Marist (16-14) at noon before No. 3 Siena (17-12) meets No. 6 Merrimack (13-16) at 2:30 p.m.

On Tuesday in the first round, Manhattan won 52-42 over No. 9 Canisius (10-21) while Iona won 42-40 over No. 7 Saint Peter’s (11-19).

Saturday’s championship is 1:30 p.m. which could see a Fairfield/Quinnipiac matchup after the two each won at home.

This season the MAAC cut the tournament field to ten teams which left Rider, Niagara, and Sacred Heart out of the loop.

The WCC title for Oregon State, which came over with Washington State from the Pac-12 breakout for a two-year stay before returning under a new alignment, was a sweet win considering the powerhouse downsize after a slew of players transferred after last season.

The second big share of the two-week race for 31 bids begins Wednesday and Thursday with Wednesday first-round action in the Colonial Athletic Association (Drexel has a double bye to Friday and Delaware a single bye to Thursday), Big West, Missouri Valley, andquarterfinals in the Mid-American , while first part of split quarterfinals will occur in the  Western Athletic Conference, MEAC, Conference-USA, and SWAC.

In Thursday semifinals in two conferences played on home courts, the Patriot League has top-seed Lehigh (25-6) hosting No. 5 Holy Cross (19-11), the defending champion, at 6 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., while No. 2 Army (23-6) hosts No. 6 Bucknell (17-13) at the West Point, N.Y., at 6 p.m., both on ESPN+.

The Northeast Conference has No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson (27-3), coached by former Villanova star Stephanie Gaitley, hosting upset winner No. 6 Chicago State (7-25) at 7 p.m., and No. 2 Stonehill (16-14) hosting upset winner No. 5 Le Moyne (7-23) at 7 p.m., both on NEC Front Row and ESPN+.

The coaching carousel spun again Tuesday with Arkansas’ Mike Neighbors resigning and making it the third SEC opening alongside Missouri and Auburn.