The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Temple Tumbles to Tulane While No. 17 Texas Tech Still Unbeaten

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA – When a team goes off the rails, media members awaiting the arrival of the coach for postgame comments and questions, including several dealing with an approaching deadline, can find the moment become a time for anxiety.

Back in her day, it was enough of an adventure after wins, let alone losses even more so, waiting for Hall of Fame Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer to appear.

On one such occasion after a home loss by the Scarlet Knights to Temple, the broadcast contingent from the Owls had made it back to their home in South Jersey before Stringer arrived, the wait considered an informal NCAA record by those who used to keep track.

There was also the time at Villanova that Muffet McGraw, the Hall of Fame coach and Saint Joseph’s graduate, had one of her superpower Notre Dame contingents get surprisingly bedeviled by Harry Perretta’s Wildcats that even had the legendary coach of the home team stunned with his team up double digits and significant minutes still existing on the clock.

McGraw afterwards went into her own game of monopoly going directly to the team bus without stopping at the media session.

A week later after the Irish had gotten back on the winning track and seeing a Philly writer at the game afterwards, McGraw smiled and commented, “Hi. I guess I missed you at ‘Nova last week.”

The mention of these days of yesteryear involving the two who have been longtime friends comes in the wake of Tuesday night ‘s 71-58 Temple (7-9, 1-3) loss here in the Liacouras Center to Tulane (7-10, 2-3) in an American Conference game that has the Owls quickly under water early on the league schedule.

Despite Temple’s performance against a Green Wave group that’s not exactly a tsunami this season, coach Diane Richardson took a media first approach, quickly arriving friendly and personable as always.

 With the early era of cookies and tea postgame in this sport long gone, Richardson opened offering a few comments that required a for mature readers only alert.

“That was a piss-poor performance,” she said calmly of what was the only local game on Tuesday’s card. In fact, the national card was also extremely light.

“It was terrible and not Temple basketball at all. It’s got to be fixed,” Richardson continued.

“We have to play hard, and each person has to step up and do what their job is and not look around for somebody else to do it. I think today, we just kind of sat back and looked around to see who else was gonna do something or, ‘It wasn’t my fault because she didn’t do this.’ That is not playing together, and we have to play together in this conference. This conference is no joke.”

Going to wast was Jaleesa Molina’s career night with 20 points and 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. Drew Alexander added 11 points while Kaylah Turner and Saniyah Craig each scored 10.

“They played harder and wanted it more,” Richardson said of Tulane, whose Kanija Daniel scored 19 points, Mecailin Marshall shooting 4-for-9 from deep, added 17 points, reserve Shiloh Kimpson collected 11 points and Dylan Hannah grabbed 10 rebounds.

Noted Richardson when asked of the moment Temple had fought back in the third period to take a one-point lead lasting 12 seconds before then losing control the rest of the way, she smiled and said, “Yes, but then we didn’t close it.”

Matters didn’t help either from beyond when preseason favorite South Florida (8-3, 4-1) won 70-53 over visiting UTSA (8-7, 3-1) in Tampa.

The conference is jumbled in front of the Owls enough, only Rice at 3-0 is perfect in early league play, that competing in the upper portion has paths but the first step in that direction must be taken Saturday when Temple visits East Carolina at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) before returning here Tuesday night to host South Florida at 7 p.m.

Locally on Wednesday, in Atlantic 10 action, La Salle hosts a morning game at 11 (ESPN+) at the John E. Glaser Arena trying to bounce back from Sunday’s loss at Saint Joseph’s, while the Hawks will try to make it two straight wins when they visit St. Bonaventure at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) in Olean, N.Y.

In the Patriot League, Lehigh hosts Boston U. at 6 p.m. at the Mountain Hawks’ Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., while at the same time Lafayette visits Bucknell is Lewisburg, Pa., both airing on ESPN+.

In the Big Ten Penn State is at No. 14 Ohio State in Columbus at 6:30 p.m. on the subscription B1G+. The Lady Lions meet the Buckeyes still seeking their first conference win, something their next opponent and longtime rival visiting Rutgers on Sunday is also without.

The National Scene

Just two ranked games occurred on Tuesday and Monday, on Tuesday in the Big 12, No. 17 Texas Tech (19-0, 6-0) remained one of three teams unbeaten along with No. 1 UConn and No. 5 Vanderbilt after winning 71-59 over visiting Houston (6-11, 0-6) as Bailey Maupin, the reigning Big 12 and one of five USBWA players of the week, scored 12 of her 19 points in the second half, while Jalynn Bristow scored 14 points in the game in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Horned Frogs tied the program win-streak record at 19 and are one of three Big 12 teams to start the season 19-0, joining Baylor (40-0) the NCAA champion in 2011-12, and Nebraska (30-0), now in the Big Ten, in 2009-10.

It’s the first 6-0 Big 12 start since 2000-01.

Texas Tech next hosts Kansas State on Saturday.

On Monday, No. 21 Alabama (17-1, 3-1), which entered The Associated Press women’s poll, which is now 50 years old, earlier in the day for the first time this season, in the only overall game of note, won the Crimson Tide’s Southeastern Conference matchup 74-63 at Missouri (12-7, 0-4) in Columbia as Karly Weathers scored a career-high 23 points.

It’s Alabama’s best start in program history and next up is an in-state visit to Auburn on Thursday.

Another Tuesday games of note saw Georgetown (10-7, 3-5) at home in the nation’s capital beat St. John’s 59-34 in a Big East contest as Destiny Agubata scored 15 points with four boards for the winning Hoyas and Brooke Moore scored 11 for the Red Storm (14-5, 4-4).

On Wednesday, in the Big Ten, No. 3 UCLA is at Minnesota at 8 p.m. (B1G+) while in the Big 12 all on ESPN+, No. 10 TCU is at West Virginia at 7 p.m. in Morgantown, No. 18 Baylor is at Utah in Salt Lake City at 9 p.m., while at the same time No. 19 Iowa State, on a three-game skid, is at Colorado in Boulder.

In other games of note, Marquette is at Seton Hall at 7 p.m. in the Big East (ESPN+), Fairfield is at Marist at 11 a.m. in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (ESPN+) and Holy Cross is at Army at 5 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Patriot League.