This last week of women’s college basketball saw some of the nation’s best teams hit some bumps in the road. No. 4 South Carolina lost an SEC game for the first time in 58 outings against No. 3 Texas. Then on Thursday, No. 1 UCLA dropped its first game of the year to rival No. 6 USC, led by a career performance from star sophomore JuJu Watkins.
Though the results obviously don’t discredit the Gamecocks or Bruins, they do stand to show that there’s still a handful of other programs that can contend for a national championship. An even clearer picture will emerge this week when the selection committee reveals its top 16 teams for the first time this season.
But the top-10 shakeups likely aren’t over. South Carolina has a chance to avenge its loss when No. 7 UConn comes to town. The Longhorns will try to keep the momentum going with a visit from No. 5 LSU. Plus, eye-popping matchups in the ACC, Big Ten and even the Ivy League are worth watching this weekend.
Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, ABC/Disney+/ESPN+
It’s difficult to make sense of South Carolina’s loss to Texas last weekend. The Longhorns made zero threes on just four attempts, but managed to bully the Gamecocks on the inside, winning the rebound battle 42–35 and coming up with 19 second-chance points on 15 offensive boards. Sophomore Madison Booker and junior Kyla Oldacre scored enough and South Carolina emerged with its first loss since November. Credit to Dawn Staley though for throwing her team right back into the fire against UConn this weekend. The Huskies have dismantled their last two Big East opponents, winning by a combined 75 points and getting significant contributions from the backcourt duo of Azzi Fudd (51 points across those two games) and Paige Bueckers (36 points, eight steals). Something to note: South Carolina has won the last four meetings between these two programs, three of which came by 15 points or more. If UConn wants to prove itself as a real title contender, Sunday’s game must be, at the very least, kept close.
Sunday, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN
NC State is coming on strong at the right time, blowing out Florida State on the road last weekend just a few days after earning a top-10 win against Duke. However, the Wolfpack seemed to take a step back toward the form they’ve displayed for most of the season against a middling Miami team, scraping out a two-point win Thursday. The difference was the lack of scoring outburst, particularly from Aziaha James, so NC State will need to turn the jets back on beginning with the Tar Heels before entering a stretch against Georgia Tech and Notre Dame. With only four Quad 1 wins, the Wolfpack’s résumé would benefit from winning at least two of those three outings. UNC would present the most favorable matchup given that the Tar Heels have struggled to score over their last four games, averaging 63.5 points and failing to hit the 70-point mark all four times.
Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+
There’s little rest for the Longhorns after a pair of top-10 wins over South Carolina and No. 8 Kentucky last week. But after welcoming in Kim Mulkey & Co., Texas has a relatively undemanding close to the regular season. That also makes Sunday the last chance for the Longhorns to shore up their standing in the race for a No. 1-seed, with only six or seven teams left in the running for four spots. LSU is another one of those programs and has the luxury of only having a single loss on the road against South Carolina. However, with only five Q1 wins of their own, the Tigers may need to beat Texas, Kentucky and Alabama on the road in their final five games to get in the mix. Junior Kailyn Gilbert, who scored 23 points in 22 minutes during LSU’s win over Tennessee last weekend, may be the key to rounding out a deep group of scorers for the Tigers.
Monday 6 p.m. ET, ESPN
The Fighting Irish have been unbeatable since December—and continue to go untested. Last week, Notre Dame polished off then–No. 21 Cal by 39 points before going on the road and dispatching Pittsburgh by 31. The last time a team came within 10 points of the Irish was in the second week of January, so there’s no denying this team’s legitimacy, even if the ACC is weaker than the SEC and the Big Ten. Duke also rolled over bottom-tier conference teams by a combined 76 points last week, but could find itself left off of the No. 2-seed line without a marquee ACC win. All five of the Blue Devils’ losses have come on the road this season, but if freshman Toby Fournier continues to score in bunches like she has in her last three games (20.3 points in 21 minutes per game), they might make things interesting in South Bend.
Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. ET, Peacock
What Watkins did to UCLA on Thursday night will, without a doubt, be remembered as one of the most iconic moments in her career. She made 12 of USC’s 21 made shots, six of eight made threes and scored 38 of the team’s 71 points to hand the Bruins their first loss of the season. Just for good measure, she tacked on 11 rebounds, five assists and eight (!!!) blocks. The performance is the kind that will tie pundits in knots when it comes to selecting player of the year, but more so, it’s a reminder that Watkins and the Trojans are worth watching every night. The victory keeps USC on the cusp of earning a No. 1 seed, a battle that may come down to a rematch with UCLA in the season finale. But for now they’ll square off with a Michigan State team that has to face both L.A.-based powerhouses this week. Good luck Spartans—you’re going to need it.
Sunday, 12 p.m. ET, ESPNU/ESPN+
Outside of the Power Four conferences (Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12), the Ivy League (yes, that Ivy League) may end up with the most teams in the NCAA tournament. The road will be difficult and there’s a world in which two of the three teams squeak by on the bubble, but that’s what will make the final stretch of this season so interesting for Princeton, Harvard and Columbia. Each of the three teams will play one another once in the final three weeks of the regular season, beginning Sunday when the Crimson head to New York City to take on the Lions.
Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network+
In this week’s designated bubble game, the Golden Gophers will try to get back on track against the visiting Ducks. Minnesota has lost four of its last six, but may still find itself in the field as of mid-February. The issue is that it seems improbable for the Big Ten to get 12 teams into the bracket. With one conference game separating eighth from 12th in the league, neither of these teams will want to end up in that last spot come Selection Sunday.
Monday, 2 p.m. ET, Fox
Kansas State remains one of the winningest teams in the country this season, but got a rude awakening in Stillwater last weekend with a 30-point loss to Oklahoma State. The Wildcats just need to hold on long enough to potentially get leading scorer Ayoka Lee back from injury and garner some momentum for the postseason. Grabbing another Q1 win over West Virginia would be a good start.
Thursday, 6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+
The Vols haven’t been able to hold on against the SEC’s best this season, but by testing themselves more than the Tide in the nonconference (especially against UConn), they get the slight edge at home. Both teams have losses to Texas, Vanderbilt and LSU, all of which took place before the start of February. This Sunday’s top 16 reveal will show exactly how the selection committee feels about the depth in the SEC, but the winner of this game may need to make the committee reconsider its position the following weekend.
Thursday, 9:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
How will UCLA rebound from its first loss of the season? Chances are pretty well, considering nothing went right for the Bruins on offense against their crosstown rivals. UCLA went 2-of-13 from deep and turned the ball over 20 times, resulting in the worst performance of the season. Games back at home against talented Michigan State and Illinois teams give the Bruins a chance to get right back on the horse—or perhaps see their year take a wrong turn right before March.
