NCAA women’s basketball continued to surprise in week two. Top-25 teams fell to both ranked and unranked opponents, a new team emerges out of Texas and the Buckeyes almost fall to a mid-major. Here are the current rankings and what stood out in week two:
Others receiving votes: Iowa 88, Michigan 38, Michigan St. 15, Vanderbilt 14, Stanford 9, Florida St. 5, Miami 4, South Dakota St. 3, Tennessee 3, Richmond 2.
The first ranked game of week two came in North Carolina. Playing in Greensboro, NC, part of a neutral site home-and-home series after the two sides played at the Mohegan Sun arena in 2023, the No. 2 Huskies started strong and didn’t relent on their way to a 69-58 win in their first ranked matchup of the season, over the No. 14 UNC Tar Heels.
Guard Paige Bueckers had 19 first half points, including a buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter, followed by a skip back towards her bench, and went on to score 29 points in the win. Plus, a double-double by fellow No. 1 overall freshman prospect Sarah Strong who had a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds.
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It was a complete win for the Huskies, one of 1,216 wins for legendary head coach Geno Auriemma, celebrating his 40th season leading UConn. The victory ties former Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer for the winningest coach in either men’s or women’s college basketball, an honor that VanDerveer achieved last season in her final season coaching NCAA basketball.
Auriemma’s new accolade joins multiple trophy cabinets of other honors for the 11-time National Championship-winning coach with 30 conference titles and 28 conference tournament trophies.
Now, Auriemma and the Huskies can secure the record all to themselves Wednesday, when Fairleigh Dickinson University comes to Storrs, CT.
UConn’s top-25 matchup is one of potentially five before the end of the calendar year. The Huskies face the Louisville Cardinals, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Iowa State Cyclones and USC Trojans before the calendar flips to 2025.
In that time, the Huskies will get stronger with the return of a third No. 1 overall freshman prospect Azzi Fudd, who hasn’t played since Nov. 12, 2023.
For nine years, the Louisville Cardinals owned the Battle of the Bluegrass. Jeff Walz’ Louisville team beat two head coaches in nearly a decade of rivalry victories, but the Kentucky Wildcats regrouped in the offseason by the way of a new head coach, top transfer and a solid group of underclassmen.
Saturday night, first year Wildcats head coach Kenny Brooks’ Kentucky side defeated the Cardinals at home in the ninth game between the two teams when both teams were ranked in the top-20. The last four of the ranked editions went to Louisville, and it took overtime for Kentucky to overcome their in-state rivals.
Graduate senior Georgia Amoore, who followed Brooks to the Wildcats from Virginia Tech, lived up to her All-American status, leading all scorers with 19 points and nine assists but Louisville wasn’t ready to give up too easily.
In the final minute of regulation, Merissah Russell received a pass in the corner. The guard half-faked a three-point attempt before dribbling around her defender and hitting a layup to tie the game with 26 seconds remaining.
Russell kept Louisville in a game that the visitors led through three quarters, but Brooks’ starters played all 10 minutes of the fourth quarter to get the game to overtime. From there, the Wildcats took over and won the commonwealth for the season, defeating Louisville 71-61.
Even though Kentucky won this round, each side features strong underclassmen who showed that the rivalry is in a good place. Wildcats sophomore Clara Strack is playing a Elizabeth Kitley-like role that Brooks excelled with in Blacksburg, with the 6-foot-5 center leading the team in points (16.3) and rebounds per game (10.8).
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For Louisville, true freshman Tjianna Roberts averages 14.3 points and 3.0 is Walz star for the future already playing like one.
Kentucky and Louisville is a game to watch for the foreseeable future if Saturday is any indication of what’s to come.
Indiana has already been the home for multiple ranked upsets in only two weeks of the NCAA season.
Last week, it was then No. 25 Indiana falling to the Harvard Crimson. The Ivy League side won 72-68, with the Hoosiers shooting 34.7 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from beyond the arc.
That defeat and a perfect start to the season for the Stanford Cardinal kicked the Hoosiers out of the weekly rankings and put the now-ACC side in their place.
Sunday, Indiana turned the tables.
Indiana guard Chloe Moore-McNeil, known for her team leadership and defense, added offensive efficiency. The graduate senior led the Hoosiers with 21 points and four steals, along with four shots from deep for Yarden Garzon and 19 points from Penn State transfer guard Shay Ciezki.
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The two sides traded leads five times in the first quarter, but from then on it was all Indiana. The Hoosiers looked like they were over the post-Mackenzie Holmes hangover and found offense on the perimeter with nine total three-point shots to lead for the last three quarters and stifle the start of the season for Stanford.
A Hoosier victory didn’t put Indiana into the top-25, considering they followed up the loss to Harvard with another upset against in-state Butler University. However, if this is a sign of Teri Moren’s side figuring things out, Indiana will be in a good position heading into Big Ten play at the end of December.
For No. 24 Stanford, sophomore forward Nunu Agara led the way with 15 points and showed the Cardinal are going to play physically, outscoring Indiana in the paint 34-28. Even so, the defeat shows that first year Stanford head coach Kate Paye had more adjusting to do.
Both upsets in the top-25 came Sunday, along with one game that was too close for comfort for a Big Ten side.
After Indiana’s win, the TCU Horned Frogs pulled out a win of their own against a top team, defeating No. 13 NC State 76-73. Sedona Prince, a 6-foot-7 senior was too much for the Wolfpack to handle. Prince scored 31 points and added 16 rebounds with former LSU Tiger Hailey Van Lith adding a double-double of her own with 18 points and 10 assists.
For two straight weeks, TCU’s earned the second most votes outside of the top-25, but the win over NC State put them into the rankings for only the fifth time in 15 years. It’s the second loss for NC State this season, but each game was against top teams in the country. On Nov. 10, it was a 71-57 defeat to the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks.
Elsewhere, the Duke Blue Devils and Ohio State Buckeyes had near upsets.
No. 16 Duke had theirs against a team that doesn’t get the national attention until March in South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits have only missed the NCAA tournament four times since 2009, and have even been ranked in the past three years.
Playing in South Dakota, the Blue Devils held a lead for the entire fourth quarter, but South Dakota kept coming at the ACC side. Vanessa De Jesus helped keep the Jackrabbits at bay with seven fourth quarter points to come away with a 75-71 victory.
In Tennessee though, No. 12 Ohio State cut it close. Known for needing comebacks over the past few seasons, head coach Kevin McGuff’s side didn’t envision needing one against the Belmont Bruins Sunday.
Last season, the Buckeyes dispatched the Bruins 84-55. With 5:21 remaining Sunday, Ohio State was down nine points on a shooting efficiency day where bad doesn’t start to describe it.
The Buckeyes went 5-for-8 to end the game, and their defense forced nine straight misses for the Bruins to give Ohio State a 67-63 victory. Cotie McMahon was the lone consistent offensive threat with 21 points, but freshman Jaloni Cambridge scored them when they counted. Cambridge had seven of her 10 points in the final 2:09 of the game.
That play included a layup in the paint with the game tied 63-63 that became a three-point play from the free throw line. Then, on defense, Cambridge took contact on the perimeter to get two more free throws to ice the win.
