Welcome to December! More importantly, welcome to the second Women’s Hoops Heat Check.
Since we last tapped in about a week ago, the women’s college basketball season has gotten even more interesting. So of course, we’ve got to chime in.
As we turn the page on Feast Weak and inch closer to the end of non-conference play, our NCAAW team of Cole Huff and Mitchell Northam give a rundown of which players and teams recently had noteworthy moments (for both good and not-so-good reasons), while circling a few upcoming games and matchups that we suggest tuning in to.
Let’s (Heat) check it out.
Standout Players
Cole: Aaliyah Edwards, UConn
There’s a lot of talk about what Azzi Fudd is doing for the UConn Huskies this season in the absence of superstar guard Paige Bueckers, which is undoubtedly warranted. However, another Husky deserving of flowers is Aaliyah Edwards, who has essentially doubled her sophomore season stats to become one of the premier post players in the nation. If you’ve failed to take note of her 16.4-point, 11.2-rebound averages, I’d advise you to flip on her tape.
After putting up 20 points and 12 rebounds vs. NC State earlier in the season, Edwards followed up her outstanding showing in the marquee matchup with an even more impressive one last week against Iowa. She showcased the full offensive arsenal, which included sinking several mid-range jumpers to bust Iowa’s zone defense, burying and then burning every Hawkeye defender in the post when the double didn’t arrive, and even getting out in transition to generate some offense. The result was 20 points, 13 rebounds and an important UConn win over another national championship-contending team.
Simply put, Edwards has evolved in ways that make her somewhat matchup-proof, which deserves recognition.
Mitch: Maddy Siegrist, Villanova
Siegrist came into this season facing some big expectations. She was the Big East Player of the Year last season and led Villanova to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. This summer, she earned a spot on the United States U23 3×3 team.
And all Siegrist has done since this season started is blow those expectations out of the water. Seven games into Villanova’s season, she leads the nation in scoring with 27.4 points per game. She’s shooting 52.2% from the field and 40.7% from 3-point land – both of which are career-high marks. The advanced stats like Siegrist too. According to HerHoopStats, she’s fourth in the nation in PER (49.5), second in win shares (3.6) and seventh in field goals made per-40 minutes (12.1).
Siegrist is a big reason why Villanova is ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll for the third straight week. In the past week, she averaged 25.3 points and six rebounds per game against Belmont, Baylor and USF – three NCAA Tournament teams last season. If Siegrist keeps this play up, Villanova should be dancing deep into March again.
With a jump shot at the 3:46 mark of the third quarter…@20sMaddy scores 𝟮,𝟬𝟬𝟬 career points! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/YjPHyLhB8x
— Villanova WBB (@novawbb) November 28, 2022
Trending Teams
Mitch: UCLA
A lot of folks are going to look at the final score from the Bruins’ 73-64 loss at South Carolina on Tuesday and handwave it away as no big deal; just another ranked team the Gamecocks took care of without a problem.
But take a closer look at that contest. UCLA led by as many as 10 points – in Columbia. That doesn’t happen to the Gamecocks very often on their homecourt. UCLA also held South Carolina to 1-of-14 shooting from behind the arc, a 7.1% clip – the worst the Gamecocks have shot from deep since an NCAA Tournament game against Oregon State on March 23, 2021. The Bruins trailed the reigning national champs by just two points with 3:38 to play on Tuesday. Then, UCLA made some mistakes and Dawn Staley’s side pounced on them.
Still, we should consider UCLA as a team to reckon with this season. The Bruins are 7-1 with wins over South Dakota State and Marquette, and a blowout triumph over Tennessee. Get familiar with the names Charisma Osborne, Gina Conti and Kiki Rice. They just might have a say in the race for the Pac-12 title this year.
Cole: Michigan
Was Michigan supposed to be this good this quickly? I certainly figured that Wolverine icon Naz Hillmon’s departure to the WNBA would take a while for the program to recover from, needing enough games and reps to figure out a new identity and plan of attack. But no, the Wolverines are just fine. Losing an all-time great doesn’t hurt as much when you return three starters and four pivotal players that surrounded her, especially when one of the returners (Emily Kiser) does her best Hillmon impression.
At 7-0, with a huge victory over Baylor this past weekend, the Wolverines remain without a blemish on their 2022-23 resume and have a chance to keep it that way ahead of their big showdown with North Carolina just a little before Christmas.
We Have Concerns
Cole: South Carolina
Let me start by saying that I still believe South Carolina will go back-to-back as national champions. So maybe “concern” is too strong of a word to use. Let’s just say I have some uneasiness about the Gamecocks’ offense. I know, I know, that’s kind of who they’ve been for a while, as their defense and size lead the way to success. However, without someone like Destanni Henderson running the show, it’s taking me a lot longer to get used to how funky it can get offensively. Evidently, it might also be taking the SC players a little time, as the team has narrowly escaped Stanford and UCLA.
Dawn Staley is one of basketball’s premier coaches and the Gamecocks players are some of the best in the sport, so I don’t think the halfcourt offense is something that won’t get better. I just hope it comes sooner than later and that it doesn’t cost them a game or two in the process.
Mitch: Louisville
The Cardinals fell out of the top 10 in the AP Poll this week for the first time in five years. And it doesn’t seem like they’ll be ranked any higher next week after collapsing on Wednesday at home against Ohio State. Louisville led by as many as 14 points, then got outscored 31-14 in the fourth quarter and lost by 19. It was a loss that snapped a 40-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents for the Cardinals.
Louisville now has three losses this season. Under Jeff Walz, the Cardinals have not lost this many games this early since the 2015-16 season. To be fair, Louisville’s slide has come against teams that are ranked or should be – Gonzaga, South Dakota State and the Buckeyes. More programs aspiring to be contenders should schedule as tough as Walz does in November (looking at you, LSU).
But still, this is a Cardinals team that was picked to win the ACC this season, garnering 31 of 60 first-place votes. Louisville brought back its leading scorer from a team that went to the Final Four last season in Hailey Van Lith. Through the transfer portal, Walz added a former Big 12 Freshman of the Year in Chrislyn Carr and an All-ACC talent in Morgan Jones. So, what’s the problem?
Perimeter defense seems to be one of them. The Cardinals are allowing opponents to shoot 37.2% from behind the arc so far this season, a mark that is the 28th worst among all Division I teams. Louisville is fouling an awful lot too – 20.6 times per-game – and has sent teams to the line 75 times this season, which is the 18th-most in Division I. Oh, and Louisville is coughing up a slightly-worse-than-mediocre 16.6 turnovers per-game.
Worst, mediocre, awful – these are typically not a collection of words one would use when talking about a team coached by Walz. Louisville has some things to fix before ACC play begins.
Noteworthy Moments
Mitch: Nika Muhl’s no-look dime vs. Duke
Nika Muhl is doing things that no UConn player has ever done before. It’s hard to believe – considering the Huskies’ storied history and penchant for developing WNBA all-stars – but that statement is not hyperbole. With 15 assists against N.C. State on Nov. 20, Muhl set the program’s single-game assist record.
She followed that up by dishing out 10 assists against Duke and 13 against Iowa. Muhl is the only player in the country so far this season averaging double-digit dimes, with 10.8 through five games. And according to HerHoopStats, Muhl is the only UConn player since 2009 (and uh, they’ve produced some pretty good ones since then) with three 10-assist games in one season. According to ESPN, she’s the only UConn player since at least 1999 to have three consecutive 10-assist games in a single season. And again – we’re only five games into this campaign for the Huskies.
Let’s celebrate Muhl by watching this filthy pass she fed to Aubrey Griffin for an easy bucket against the Blue Devils.
Nika Muhl ( @MuhlNika ) steal and assist to Aubrey Griffin ( @agriffin44 ) pic.twitter.com/QGOKTIPNgj
— Antonio Garcia (@Iruk_WomenSport) November 25, 2022
Cole: Eva Hodgson and Deja Kelly clutch play during Feast Weak
Outside of stuffing my face with food on Thanksgiving Day, not much made me happier than watching North Carolina’s guards lead their team to fourth-quarter come-from-behind victories.
Let’s first look back at the semifinal game of the Phil Knight Invitational, when the Tar Heels trailed Oregon by eight points with under eight minutes remaining in the game. To that point, offensive production had been hard to come by and UNC’s 58 total points were indicative of such. But that’s when senior guard Eva Hodgson put the team on her back. From the 7:30 mark and beyond, she poured in 14 of her game-high 21 points, including three 3-pointers, to ignite the Tar Heel offense en route to an 85-79 win.
Junior guard Deja Kelly had an exceptional 17 points, four rebounds and seven assists in the win over Oregon, but her takeover moment came a few days later against Iowa State in the championship game of the Phil Knight Invitational. How does a 22-point second-half masterclass sound? The Tar Heels trailed by as many as 18 points before Kelly turned it up a notch.
You know what? Here, just watch:
Deja Kelly’s bag is very very deep 🔥 @dejakelly25
(via @CourtsideFilms) pic.twitter.com/hncYQx7ZVT
— WSLAM (@wslam) November 28, 2022
What To Watch
Cole: No. 13 Creighton vs. No. 25 Villanova, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. ET.
Here I am again talking about my beloved Creighton Bluejays. Sorry, I can’t help it. Creighton is playing fantastic basketball and so is Villanova. Both are looking like teams that can (maybe) challenge UConn for a Big East title. Although my unbiased eyes tell me that the Bluejays are the better team and have a more balanced starting five, Nova will clearly have the most explosive player on the floor when these two teams meet.
Maddy Siegrist is “different,” as the kids say (and as Mitch so eloquently explained earlier). Her 27.4 points per game lead the nation and her 10.1 boards per game give her a double-double average. She wasn’t quite able to will her team to win against Baylor as she did against Belmont (29 points), Temple (41 points) and Princeton (32 points), so we’ll have to wait to see if her performance against the Bluejays amounts to a Villanova win.
Nevertheless, I’m interested in seeing just how this game plays out.
Mitch: No. 9 Virginia Tech at Tennessee, Dec. 4 at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN2
Despite this sluggish start to the season for Tennessee, I still think this is a game that should tell us a lot about both teams.
For Virginia Tech – which is ranked the highest it’s been in the AP Poll since 1999 – it’s the first real test of the Hokies. Kenny Brooks’ team topped a pair of SEC teams on neutral courts during Feast Week with relative ease, but Tennessee is – on paper – a team that has talent comparable to Virginia Tech. When these teams met a season ago in Blacksburg, the Vols pulled away late as Elizabeth Kitley struggled to score against Tamari Key. Kitley shot 1-of-12 from the floor and finished with four points while Key had five blocks to go along with 11 points and 12 boards. Can Georgia Amoore, Ashley Owusu and Taylor Soule pull the Vols’ defense away from Kitley?
Or, does Tennessee finally have its act together after losing four of its first eight games and falling out of the AP Top 25 Poll? The Vols have strung two back-to-back wins together, against Colorado and Eastern Kentucky, but they also had 34 combined turnovers in those games and shot a combined 24.3% from behind the arc.
So, we should find out if the Hokies are legit. And we might also be able to determine whether or not we should stop thinking about Tennessee seriously contending for anything meaningful this season.
Have a day @Ashleyyowusu15 🙌
🦃 first 20-point game this year
💥career-high four 3FG pic.twitter.com/GPuTqMRvqK— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) November 27, 2022
