A Rise of Crimson and Scarlet
Indiana and Ohio State look as we first expected, while Iowa gets revenge
The Big Ten had a jam-packed Thanksgiving week in women’s basketball, and Definitely Not In Football. There were tournaments all over the place, and a long list of intriguing results throughout the conference.
Let’s talk about some of them.
Judging Books By Covers, etc.
After Week 1, I voiced some concern over what I saw in Ohio State’s opening loss to USC, and much more concern about Indiana’s defeat to Stanford.
While, yes, neither the Buckeyes or Hoosiers have faced another team quite at the level of those two, they each had opportunities against stronger opponents this week and took full advantage.
Ohio State has now won five straight by 18 points or more after big wins this week against East Carolina, Oklahoma State and Cornell. The Oklahoma State win is the most impressive of the bunch, as that is a program that won 21 games last season.
Yes, Oklahoma State has two other losses this season, but they are to a very good Colorado team and to Penn State, who I will talk more on later. Ohio State had the largest margin of victory of any of those three, winning 75-57 by holding Oklahoma State to 33.3-percent shooting.
Jacy Sheldon (22 points), Taylor Thierry (16) and Cotie McMahon (14) nearly outscored Oklahoma State on their own in the win, and remain among the most lethal trios in the country. Sheldon in particular has started this season on fire, averaging 17.8 PPG and 2.5 SPG with 55.1/46.2/95.0 shooting splits. McMahon and Thierry are also well hovering around 15 PPG while shooting well over 50 percent from the field.
I feel it’s a matter of when, not if, for Celeste Taylor breaking out of this early scoring slump, as she’s much better offensively than the 32.5 percent she is shooting from the field. Regardless, her playmaking (3.8 APG) and defense (2.0 SPG) have made the impact that was promised, and the Buckeyes have looked the part of a top 10 team since the opening defeat.
Indiana was the team I was more concerned about early, and the Hoosiers are also the team that has proven the most since.
Like Ohio State, Indiana sits at 5-1 getting there thanks to two excellent wins against Tennessee and Princeton. Tennessee was without star Rickea Jackson, but it was still a great battle for a Hoosiers team that looked so outmatched against the Cardinal that opening week.
Most importantly, this felt like a breakout performance for sophomore Yarden Garzon, who scored a game-high 23 points, along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. It was the type of performance I thought we would get from Garzon in her second season, and it was nice to see her take such a strong initiative on offense.
Against Princeton, it was the Sara Scalia-Mackenzie Holmes duo that did the heavy lifting with 48 of the team’s 72 points in a 9-point victory. Scalia had possibly her best game for the Hoosiers to date: 28 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals on 10-of-17 shooting. If she is back in Minnesota form, Indiana is going to be a very dangerous team.
Both these games showed Indiana’s best strengths as a team. The Hoosiers had 20 assists in both contests, and found different players to lead the way to strong wins. Holmes was the consistent in both games (37 points total), but having multiple guards that can help her is huge. The more time goes on, the more it looks like we, as a nation, underestimated this Stanford team, and the more Indiana looks like it is just fine.
Iowa’s Redemption
Rarely do teams get an opportunity for a revenge game against a non-conference opponent at any point in the year, let alone within two weeks. But that was exactly what happened when Iowa and Kansas State faced off on Sunday, 10 days removed from the Wildcats’ stunning road upset to give the Hawkeyes their only loss this season.
This was yet another close game between these two teams, only this time it was Iowa, led by 32 Caitlin Clark points, that earned the 77-70 victory. It was not a perfect game for Clark — she shot 10 of 25 — but she was significantly more efficient from deep, hitting 7 of 16 from behind the arc.
She was helped early by Molly Davis, who had 11 of her 13 points in the first half, and got a solid boost from Kate Martin, who lived up to her nickname of “The Glue” with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
This was the second of two games without forward Hannah Stuelke, which made the task of covering forward Ayoka Lee even harder. Lee finished with a solid 18 points, but was held completely off the offensive glass compared to the 4 offensive rebounds she earned in the prior victory.
The key change between the two games was turnovers, specifically with Iowa. The Hawkeyes went from 16 turnovers in the first game to just six in the rematch. They were also helped by Kansas State converted on 36.4 percent (4 of 11) of its free throws.
It was a huge, huge win for Iowa, who now can look at the one loss on its résumé much differently. It’s a relatively easy remainder of the non-conference slate, but you never know what can happen in a rivalry game against Iowa State.
Quick Hitters
Penn State remains impressive. As said above, the Nittany Lions beat a solid Oklahoma State team, but followed that up with a nail-biter of a defeat to USC. This was the best game I’ve watched all year, and it took true heroics from JuJu Watkins (31 points, 12 rebounds) to keep the Trojans undefeated. After another win against Providence, the Nittany Lions are 6-1 and might deserve some consideration by the AP Poll. As a reminder: this program hasn’t ended with a winning record since 2016-17. What a start for Carolyn Kieger and co.
Michigan State and Wisconsin deserve praise, too. The Spartans dominated a solid James Madison team, then ultimately fell to Creighton by 14 after holding a halftime lead. This team is getting scoring from a variety of players, and they hold immense potential heading into conference play. The Badgers suffered their second loss in a close one to Arkansas, then bounced back with a good win over Boston College. Those are the type of wins that fell to the wayside in Marisa Moseley’s first few years, so they are absolutely worth celebrating. I’m curious how what has basically been a six-player rotation will hold up over the course of the season, but that rotation has given this Badgers team a real spark.
I am glad that Maryland is done with this stretch. Usually, the Terps play all these good teams and come out with some wins, or at least a few close losses. Instead, three defeats by 20-plus points. This is the most unproven Maryland roster in awhile, and hopefully these early struggles will lead to some big wins later on. I just think the roster needs to stack up some easier victories to get confidence back.
What To Watch
There’s a two-day gap before games kick back up on Wednesday, but there are still plenty of interesting matchups to look out for. This is also the last week without any in-conference battles. We are almost there.
Minnesota Battles The Extremes
Minnesota vs. Norfolk State, 11/29 (Wednesday), 8 p.m., B1G+
Minnesota vs. Drake, 12/2 (Saturday), 2 p.m., B1G+
Not sure if this was intentional, but it is very funny. Minnesota will play a team allowing 51.9 PPG while playing with the sixth-slowest pace in the nation on Wednesday, then will battle the Drake Bulldogs, who average 80.3 PPG with the 32nd-fastest pace. The constant with both opponents? They are good teams with a combined record of 11-3. Two great, completely different tests for this young Gophers squad.
Michigan State at DePaul, 11/30 (Thursday), 7 p.m., CBS Sports
The Spartans travel to face a solid DePaul team that flies up and down the court. The Blue Demons are led by three great transfer players, two of which (Kate Clarke, Michelle Sidor) come from Michigan. Could be some added energy to this one.
Indiana at Maine, 11/30 (Thursday), 7 p.m., ESPN+
A sneaky fun Thursday double feature. Maine is an OK opponent, but the big storyline here is Mackenzie Holmes’ homecoming. That alone will make this a good one to watch.
Purdue at Dayton, 12/1 (Friday), 7 p.m., ESPN+
Dayton had a rough first season without Shauna Green, but the Flyers start this year 4-3 and get a big one here at home. Above all, I’m looking for Purdue to use this to gain some momentum after a tough start to the season.
Nebraska vs. Georgia Tech, 12/2 (Saturday), 3 p.m., B1G+
Potential banger here. Both of these teams share a similar defeat to Creighton, but Georgia Tech is a solid team with a great duo in Kayla Blackshear and Tonie Morgan. Nebraska should be favored at home, but this is an exciting matchup that makes me sad that the Big Ten-ACC Challenge is no more.
Ohio State at Tennessee, 12/3 (Sunday), 5 p.m., ESPN
Ending the week on the biggest matchup for the conference. Ohio State will get a chance to pickup another big win here on the road, and all eyes will be on Rickea Jackson’s availability. The Buckeyes are gaining momentum quickly, and I like their chances here regardless, but Jackson is so, so pivotal for Tennessee’s success.
Feature Photo Credit: Indiana Women’s Basketball, Twitter/X
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