USC ended UCLA’s dream of an undefeated season on Thursday night behind an all-time classic performance from JuJu Watkins. With the Trojans’ upset, there are no more undefeated teams in women’s college basketball. In addition to the Bruins’ loss, four other top-10 teams — South Carolina, UConn, Kentucky and Ohio State — suffered losses last week. It’s going to be a wild final stretch to the NCAA Tournament.
Here is the up-to-the-minute report on whose stock is up and down in women’s hoops.
Women’s Offseason Report: Seven Storylines You Need to Follow
TCU and South Carolina reload, USC and UCLA lose star freshmen and Notre Dame loses nearly its entire team
JuJu Watkins: Up
USC did something on Thursday night that no other team could do, taking down previously undefeated UCLA 71-60 and snapping the program’s 23-game winning streak. The explanation behind the Trojans’ success against the Bruins in the Battle for Los Angeles can be summarized into two words: JuJu Watkins. The sophomore star produced a sizzling performance, lighting up UCLA for 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks and 5 assists. Although some people will focus solely on her scoring prowess, Watkins’ blocks came in critical moments and were part of a Trojans’ defense that held the Bruins to a season-low 60 points (and a season-low 35.5 percent from the floor). Watkins’ performance increased helped USC register its first win against an AP No. 1 ranked team since 1983.
Ohio State: Down
Although Ohio State picked up an overtime victory on Thursday night against Minnesota, it dropped two critical games on the road to UCLA (65-52) and USC (84-63) last week. With USC giving UCLA its first loss of the season and overtaking the Bruins in the conference standings, the Buckeyes are now two games out of first place and 1 1/2 behind the Bruins for first. Now, the Buckeyes must continue to take care of business on their end and hope either or both UCLA and USC slip up over the next couple weeks before the two teams meet again in the second rendition of the Battle for L.A.
Texas and LSU: Up
The Longhorns added another notch to their series of statement wins with a convincing victory against Kentucky. The win came four days after Texas took down reigning national champion South Carolina and shattered the Gamecocks’ 57-game SEC win streak. With the win, Texas has registered eight wins against ranked teams including five within the AP top 10. Thursday’s victory came with a heavy dose of sophomore sensation Madison Booker and Kyla Oldacre (both scored 19 points respectively) as well as strong post play from Taylor Jones (15 points), who played a big part in the Wildcats inability to score points in the paint. Now, the fourth consecutive midseason test in LSU awaits the Longhorns. LSU pulled off the win against Tennessee, a team that was seeking to build momentum following its Quad 1 victory against UConn. Kim Mulkey’s squad will seek to register its sixth consecutive win, its fifth against a top-25 opponent this season and its third victory against a ranked foe in the last 17 days when it goes on the road to face Texas in what should be a raucous environment inside the Moody Center on Sunday afternoon.
Louisville and North Carolina: Up
While much of the attention in the ACC has gone to Notre Dame and NC State, these two teams are quietly building their resumés. Though currently unranked, the Cardinals have won three consecutive games that include a victory against previously ranked California and a win on Thursday against Florida State behind another strong performance from leading scorer and freshman Tajianna Roberts (13.4 points per game). Louisville head coach Jeff Walz is no stranger to his teams playing well this time of the year. With three ranked matchups in their final four games, keep an eye on the Cardinals over the next couple weeks. As for North Carolina, the Tar Heels have ripped off four consecutive wins, although they came against teams within the ACC’s middle of the pack. But North Carolina’s contest on Sunday at home against NC State will tell a lot about whether the Tar Heels truly are among the ACC’s best teams.
Kentucky and Vanderbilt: Down
The Wildcats have dropped games to Ole Miss and Texas after navigating the first half of their four-game stretch. Still, Kentucky, now with three conference losses, remains in fourth in the SEC standings. However, the Wildcats sit only a half-game ahead of Mississippi and a game ahead of Alabama. It will be interesting to see how Kentucky responds after back-to-back losses for the first time this season and a final slate that still includes contests against LSU,Tennessee and South Carolina. After a loss to the Longhorns last week, the Commodores dropped a double-overtime contest on Thursday to Mississippi State, a team that now sits only a half game behind Vanderbilt in the standings. It will be interesting to see how Vandy and its prolific scorers — Khamil Pierre, Mikayla Blakes and Iyana Moore — respond in the final weeks of the season.
Florida State: Down
The Seminoles have the nation’s leading scorer in Ta’Niya Latson, who is averaging 26.9 points per game. Despite Latson’s heroic contributions, FSU only has one ranked win against AP top-25 teams this season and missed out on chances to bolster its résumé with a Quad 1 loss on Sunday to NC State and a Quad 2 loss — its lowest scoring output of the season — on Thursday to Louisville. However, the Seminoles still have a chance to improve its position in the ACC standings as well projected seeding in this year’s tournament with three of their final five games against Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Duke. But to pull off any of those upsets, it will take more consistency from players not named Latson in the process.
Hannah Hidalgo and Aziaha James: Up
There aren’t many teams hotter in women’s college basketball than the Fighting Irish and the Wolfpack. Notre Dame has won 17 consecutive games with all three coming by at least 30 points. Much of Notre Dame’s success starts with Hannah Hidalgo as well as Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron, the Irish’s “Big Three” in South Bend. Offensively, Hidalgo has continued to make her mark as one of the nation’s top five scorers while also being a menace on defense. Hidalgo’s impact, along with Miles’ growth following the injury and Citron’s consistency have wreaked havoc on the ACC and the nation this season. No player has had more to do with NC State’s success than leading scorer Aziaha James (17.8 points per game). The Wolfpack have won nine straight and a big reason why is because of James’ ability to score in multiple ways. The two ACC forces appear to be on a crash course for their game on Feb. 23.
West Virginia: Down
In a Big 12 that has been dominated by Kansas State, TCU and Baylor, the Mountaineers failed in their recent chance to take a leap in the conference, losing 75-65 to Baylor on the road earlier this week. A win against the Bears would have given West Virginia its first Q1 win of the season. Let’s see if WVU can maximize on its opportunities to finish the season strong with three of its final five games of the season against the Wildcats, Horned Frogs and Utah, which is riding a six-game winning streak. The Mountaineers’ success begins with the play of Ja’Naiya Quinerly (19 points per game).
Mississippi and Tennessee: Up
The Rebels upset Kentucky, giving Ole Miss its second top-10 win in head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s tenure. That win, along with Thursday’s win against Arkansas, certainly helps Ole Miss stay within reach of its goal to become one of the SEC’s top four teams. Currently, Ole Miss sits a half game behind Kentucky after the Wildcats’ loss to Mississippi State. Tennessee bolstered its tournament résumé with a win against UConn and the Vols’ first win against the Huskies since 2007. When it looked like Tennessee was ready to turn the page on some of its old problems (i.e. rebounding late in critical moments, maintaining strong play in transition), those things lingered in the loss to LSU. However, the Vols bounced back with a dominating win on Thursday against Auburn, setting up their pivotal Sunday showdown against the Rebels.
Maryland: Down
The Big Ten was already crowded before the arrivals of this year’s heavyweights in UCLA and USC. But combining the emergence of new threats with familiar foes in the conference, Maryland finds itself sixth in the standings. Although sitting at No. 17 in the latest AP rankings, the Terrapins suffered a Quad 2 loss (91-71) on Thursday to Nebraska. But even more, this is also a Terrapins’ team that has dealt with injuries as well as losses to the league’s top four teams last month and the beginning of February. With Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State among its final four games of the season, it will be interesting to see how the Terps respond leading up to the Big Ten Tournament.
