Friday (Feb. 1) games (Big East / Pac-12 / Big 10)

[Plebe]

In a midday game earlier today, Michigan upset #13 Iowa, 90-81. Michigan got career games from Deja Church (19 pts) and bench player Akienreh Johnson (20) to overcome strong performances from Megan Gustafson (27 pts, 9 rebs) and Kathleen Doyle (22 pts, 6 steals). This win propels Michigan back into the at-large bid conversation.

Ongoing and upcoming:

7pm ET

• Providence @ Villanova (Fox Sports Go: Live). Villanova leads 31-8 (!) at the half. The Friars upset Nova on Jan. 6, but face an uphill 2nd half.
• Butler @ St. John's (Fox Sports Go: Live). Tied at 32 at the half. Butler is tied with DePaul for 2nd in the Big East but has lost 3 of their last 4 games.

8pm ET

• Arizona @ #21 Arizona State (Pac-12 Network). The Sun Devils are looking for revenge for their Dec. 30 loss in Tucson.

10pm ET

• #14 Utah @ #4 Oregon (Pac-12 Network). Fresh off their upset of Stanford, Utah now faces its most difficult road games so far in their trip to the Oregon schools.
• Colorado @ #9 Oregon State (Pac-12 Oregon). If Kennedy Leonard is still injured, this shouldn't be even close.
• Washington State @ UCLA (free live stream: Washington State at UCLA). The Bruins are coming off a huge road sweep of the Arizona schools.
• Washington @ USC (free live stream: Washington at USC)

 

[nwhoopfan]

Arizona @ #21 Arizona State (Pac-12 Network). The Sun Devils are looking for revenge for their Dec. 30 loss in Tucson.

9-7 ASU at the end of Q1. It's gonna be one of those kinds of game. Ugly.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Washington State @ UCLA (free live stream: Washington State at UCLA). The Bruins are coming off a huge road sweep of the Arizona schools.

UCLA is 4-1 on the road and 0-3 at home so far in Pac 12 play. That is beyond bizarre. If they can't manage to win some home games this weekend...

 

[Plebe]

Kianna Ibis hit the 1,000 point mark. Considering she played so sparingly her first two years, that's pretty impressive.

 

[nwhoopfan]

ASU waking up. Up 21-11, forced Barnes to call a TO. 6:42 left. Ekmark has 8, just hit a 3 that prompted the TO.

 

[nwhoopfan]

In a midday game earlier today, Michigan upset #13 Iowa, 90-81. Michigan got career games from Deja Church (19 pts) and bench player Akienreh Johnson (20) to overcome strong performances from Megan Gustafson (27 pts, 9 rebs) and Kathleen Doyle (22 pts, 6 steals). This win propels Michigan back into the at-large bid conversation.

Rutgers now 2+ games up on everybody other than Maryland in the Big.

Gustafson was 11-14 from the floor. Iowa was 54% from the floor and 88% from the FT line. Michigan had a crap ton of O boards (24), so had more FGA and FTA. Giving up O boards is one of the surest ways to lose a game, even if you outperform your opponent in just about every other conceivable statistic.

 

[nwhoopfan]

An ASU player just fell into McDonald's knee, she walked gingerly off the floor. That's not good. UA without McDonald isn't nearly the same team.

edited--oh good, McDonald has returned to the floor

 

[Plebe]

ASU waking up. Up 21-11, forced Barnes to call a TO. 6:42 left. Ekmark has 8, just hit a 3 that prompted the TO.

Ekmark had a nightmare shooting game in Tucson (3 pts on 1-10 shooting). She's already far exceeded that in just the first half.

 

[nwhoopfan]

25-13 ASU at halftime. Devils only scored 39 in the first meeting between the teams, looks like they are returning the favor with interest.

 

[Plebe]

25-13 ASU at halftime. Devils only scored 39 in the first meeting between the teams, looks like they are returning the favor with interest.

The big difference is they're somewhat containing McDonald this time. In Tucson she had something like 15 points in the 1st half; tonight she has 7.

 

[nwhoopfan]

ASU-UA is just too ugly. Neither team hitting much of anything in Q3. I think I'm checking out of that game.

 

[Plebe]

Showdown in the Missouri Valley Conference between two 7-0 teams:
Missouri State rides the wave of a 32-16 fourth quarter to upset Drake on the road, 85-79.

In the Big East, Butler survives at St. John's, 73-68 in OT.
Villanova exacts its revenge on Providence, 53-33.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Missouri State rides the wave of a 32-16 fourth quarter to upset Drake on the road, 85-79.

Wow, Drake hadn't lost a conference game in a quite some time. Two straight undefeated campaigns prior to this season.

edit--47 straight regular season wins by my count. Finished '15-'16 w/ 4 Ws in a row. 36-0 combined '16-17 and '17-'18, and 7-0 prior to tonight. Not everybody can be like UConn and never, ever lose a conference game. 47 in a row is pretty darn impressive.

 

[Plebe]

Wow, Drake hadn't lost a conference game in a quite some time. Two straight undefeated campaigns prior to this season.

edit--47 straight regular season wins by my count. Finished '15-'16 w/ 4 Ws in a row. 36-0 combined '16-17 and '17-'18, and 7-0 prior to tonight. Not everybody can be like UConn and never, ever lose a conference game. 47 in a row is pretty darn impressive.

Nice find there. That is really impressive. I don't care how weak a conference is; that's not easy to dominate like that.

I wonder if that was the nation's 2nd-longest conference winning streak?

And is this the resurrection of Kellie (Jolly) Harper as a viable coach for Tennessee?

 

[nwhoopfan]

I wonder if that was the nation's 2nd-longest conference winning streak?

Without doing the research, I would think it has to be.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Man, I shouldn't have quit watching the game. Arizona has come storming back, down 5. McDonald has 21 now.

edit--McDonald dishes to the corner to local product Nixon for a 3 to close to 39-35 at end of Q3.

 

[Plebe]

The ASU-UA game has completely heated up and the momentum has switched. Arizona "exploded" for 22 points after scoring only 13 in the entire first half, with McDonald scoring 14 of those 22 points.

Arizona State giving UA lots of help: missed plenty of bunnies and just not making smart decisions on defense to let McDonald get going.

 

[Plebe]

ASU has somewhat steadied the ship. They have a 9-point lead at the 4Q media TO.

Ibis has been a rock: 19 points on 8-13 shooting and 9 rebounds.
McDonald has been explosive in the 2nd half. She now has 25 points in the game. None of her teammates have more than 3 points!

 

[nwhoopfan]

McDonald has been explosive in the 2nd half. She now has 25 points in the game. None of her teammates have more than 3 points!

Yeah, they've had a few games with some balance, but her teammates are doing nothing tonight. She can't do it alone.

 

[nwhoopfan]

ASU pulling away up 58-43 under a minute left. Ekmark has 18 to go along w/ Ibis 19.

McDonald is 11-12 from the FT line but only 7-21 from the field. Still nobody else for the Cats w/ more than 3. That's just unbelievable.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Wow. UW has jumped out to an 11-2 lead on USC less than 3 minutes into the game. Didn't see that coming.

 

[Plebe]

Good lord. Arizona is fouling when they're down 15 and only 35 seconds to play. <eye roll>

 

[nwhoopfan]

Oregon St. going w/ 4 guards + Corosdale. Goodman getting her first career start. Maddie Wasington not available tonight. Corosdale, Grymek and Morris are it for their front court now.

edit--starting is agreeable w/ Goodman; 2-2 behind the arc to start

This is not good if they are going to be even more shorthanded against Utah on Sunday

 

[nwhoopfan]

60-47 final ASU. Ekmark had 20 points and 7 rebounds. McDonald finished w/ 28.

 

[nwhoopfan]

LA schools cannot afford anything other than 2-0 this weekend, but UW and Wazzu have come to play tonight.

OSU is mucking about and letting Colorado hang w/ them. 24-18 at the end of Q1. More combined scoring than Q1 and Q2 OF ASU-UA.