The holidays are here and it’s a time for reflection, especially in NCAA women’s basketball who doesn’t play again until Friday. Here is how the latest AP Top 25 poll looks after Week 7 of the season.
AP top 25 women’s college basketball rankings:
- UCLA
- South Carolina
- Notre Dame
- USC
- Texas
- LSU
- UConn
- Maryland
- Oklahoma
- Ohio State
- TCU
- Kansas State
- Georgia Tech
- Duke
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- North Carolina
- West Virginia
- Michigan State
- Alabama
- Cal
- NC State
- Michigan
- Iowa
- Ole Miss
Others receiving votes: Nebraska 26, Vanderbilt 19, Utah 18, Illinois 8, Oklahoma St. 7, Harvard 3, Baylor 1, Florida St. 1.
Blockbuster Top-10 Battle Lives Up to Billing
Saturday night, the No. 7 USC Trojans had a tall task, leaving the warmth of California for the cold of Connecticut in December for a game against the No. 4 UConn Huskies.
It wasn’t only a battle of two teams ranked in the top-10, but a head-to-head between the two top players in NCAA women’s basketball, featuring USC’s JuJu Watkins and UConn’s Paige Bueckers.
The Huskies, complete with guard Azzi Fudd in her first game back following a knee injury, hoped to replicate previous success against the Trojans. On April 1, 2024, UConn defeated the young Trojans soundly 80-73 in the Elite Eight, but that looked like a distant memory early Saturday night.
USC started flying from the jump, going on a 9-0 run where they allowed only three shots from the home side in the first 3:48 of the game. Watkins accounted for five of those points, leading all scorers in the first quarter with 10 points, giving the Trojans a 24-15 lead after 10 minutes.
UConn’s scoring couldn’t keep up in the first half. Fudd returned, but played only eight minutes off the bench, with no points on 0-of-4 shooting and USC defended Bueckers well, holding the star to seven first half points. The Trojans extended their lead to 13 entering halftime in front of a stunned crowd in Hartford’s XL Center.
Coming out of halftime, Watkins kept up her standout performance with a highlight reel block in the first minute. Bueckers attempted her first three-point shot of the quarter when Watkins flew in from Bueckers’ right to swat the ball away and drive down the court. Watkins finished off the play under three-on-one pressure inside the paint, which was foreshadowing for the rest of the game.
In the final 20 minutes, UConn didn’t give Watkins much room to breathe. Anytime the sophomore touched the ball, two defenders closed in. Even so, Watkins still managed to lead the Trojans with 10 points in the second half on 3-of-6 shooting. A byproduct of the pressure was three assists for the Los Angeles native.
Bueckers, however, found her stride. Teaming up with freshman forward Sarah Strong, the two put UConn back into the game. The duo combined for 13 points in the third quarter, matching the Trojans whose offensive output slowed with Watkins subdued.
After going down 18 points, UConn cut the lead to two possessions entering the fourth quarter, eventually overcoming the Trojans with 4:34 remaining thanks to a seven-point run.
That’s when Watkins, who didn’t score a basket since the 8:01 mark of the third quarter took back over.
Watkins scored six of the Trojans last eight points of the game, holding off Bueckers and Strong. The freshman forward had a career day, scoring 25 points with 13 rebounds and five assists, showing her class at the top of the 2024 recruit rankings, but missed two key shots at the end of the game that could’ve sent the game into overtime.
Down three with five seconds remaining, Strong went up for a three-point shot and Watkins fouled her, earning three shots from the free throw line. After making the first shot, Strong missed the next two. Strong had another try with one second remaining, but missed the game-winner to give USC a 72-70 marquee victory before Big Ten play.
Watkins scored 25 points with six rebounds and five assists, while Bueckers had 22 points with three rebounds.
USF gets big win over ranked opponent
USF Bulls head coach Jose Fernandez is not afraid when it comes to scheduling tough opponents for his program. Saturday, the Bulls welcomed the No. 9 Duke Blue Devils down to Tampa Bay. It was the seventh game against a power conference side, out of 13 games to start the season.
Of those matchups, Duke was the fifth ranked team to play USF. Previously, the Bulls lost to the South Carolina Gamecocks, TCU, Louisville and UConn.
Saturday, it all came together for Fernandez’ side.
Known as a stout defensive team under head coach Kara Lawson, Duke had a taste of their own medicine in the first quarter. USF forced eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes, turning into 11 points for the Bulls.
USF held Duke to six points in the first quarter, and it didn’t get much better in the second. While the Blue Devils didn’t turn the ball over as frequently, their shots weren’t close to falling, going 3-of-14 from the floor. Fernandez’ program went into halftime holding Duke to 15 points in 20 minutes, and sitting on an 18-point lead.
In the second half, Duke started their comeback attempt, but mistakes kept plaguing the ACC program. An example came on a Duke fast break. Reigan Richardson led a 3-on-1 run to the basket. Instead of finding a teammate, Richardson turned around to slow down the possession and find a guard at the top of arc, but instead passed directly to a USF player.
It was that kind of day for Duke and despite outscoring the Bulls 21-9 in the third quarter, and going on a 10-point run that stretched from the end of the third into the fourth. USF held on with Duke sending them to the line frequently in the fourth quarter, trying to get more time on the clock. USF responded going 13-of-14 from the line and pulled away for the 65-56 victory.
Big Ten Teams Falls
Entering week seven, the Big Ten featured eight teams in the top-25, the most for any conference in the country. Following the ranking, the conference that stretches across the nation had five games against power conference opponents. USC beat the UConn Huskies, and No. 11 Ohio State dispatched the unranked Stanford Cardinals by 25 points. The other three programs didn’t have as good of a time.
First up was the No. 20 Michigan Wolverines facing the No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners at the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, NC. Led by a dynamic trio of freshman, the Wolverines went toe-to-toe with the Sooners, but couldn’t stop fouling.
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Photo by Matt Kelley/Getty Images
The two ranked sides went into the second half tied 30-30, but the size and experience of Oklahoma pushed the SEC side through. The Sooners out rebounded the Wolverines 24-18 in the second half and went to the line 18 times. Oklahoma outscored Michigan 11-6 from the line in the second half and despite Reagan Beers fouling out with only nine points on the night in 20 minutes, the Wolverines couldn’t take advantage, losing 72-62.
Included in the whistles was Michigan team leader Jordan Hobbs fouling out with 14 points in 24 minutes.
Friday, in West Palm Beach, Florida, the program-record breaking 11-0 No. 15 Michigan State Spartans took on the 11-1 previously ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. The two power conference sides traded nine lead changes in the first half, but Alabama came out fast in the second half and never turned back.
After splitting the first 12 points of the second half, the Crimson Tide went on a 14-point lead, scoring 25 of the last 30 points of the quarter. Alabama held on, giving Michigan State its first loss of the season in the 82-67 SEC victory.
The win put the Crimson Tide back in the top-25 (now ranked No. 20) for the first time in three weeks after a loss to the Cal Golden Bears pushed them out.
No. 23 Nebraska was the final ranked defeat of the week for the Big Ten. Like the Spartans, the Cornhuskers started strong but Georgia Tech overwhelmed them in the second quarter. Without sophomore forward Natalie Potts, who sustained a season-ending knee injury earlier this season, Nebraska couldn’t overcome the size and ability of the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech pulled away at the end of the first and didn’t relent. The ACC program outscored the Cornhuskers bench 39-22, including 20 points and eight rebounds by freshman Dani Carnegie in 20 minutes.
The 72-61 loss is the second this season for the Cornhuskers, both coming since Potts went down and it doesn’t get much easier from here. Sunday, Nebraska is in Los Angeles for two games in four days against the No. 1 UCLA Bruins and then a matchup with the Trojans on New Years Day.
On the other side of the result, Georgia Tech keeps adding to their program record 13-0 start to the season, becoming an early leader for surprise team of the year.
Other Stories of the Week
- Colorado welcomed the No. 14 West Virginia Mountaineers to Boulder Saturday night and came away with a 65-60 upset victory over the Mountaineers.
- The Belmont Bruins gave another top-25 side all they had this week, narrowly falling to the No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats 84-78 on Friday. Earlier this season, the Bruins held a late lead against the Ohio State Buckeyes before freshman Jaloni Cambridge pushed Ohio State to the victory.
- Before falling to the Trojans, the UConn Huskies defeated the formerly ranked Iowa State Cyclones 101-68, sending the Iowa side further into the loss column, now sitting at 9-5 with a second loss this week against unranked Oklahoma State.
