A Roaring Upset

Forget everything I have said about him online, Ryan Day is good in fact! I would certainly enjoy a win over Michigan soon but I will stop yelling about you for now my man, thank you for my first national championship as a student or alum.

Also thank you to Jeremiah Smith forever and always XOXO <3

Midseason Hoopla 40:

It has been a wild week of results for the Big Ten, but none was more surprising than the final score out of State College on Sunday.

Penn State was 0-7 in Big Ten play entering the afternoon. Ohio State was 16-0 for the season. Neither record mattered as the Nittany Lions defended their home court in a 62-59 stunner of the Buckeyes.

While Ohio State was without star freshman Jaloni Cambridge, Penn State still deserves significant credit for pulling the upset. The Nittany Lions outrebounded the Buckeyes 39-21 on the day, and far outpaced their undefeated foe in both points in the paint (34-22) and second chance points (12-4) despite Ohio State having their starters on the interior.

Both teams shot well from three on the day, but both teams also suffocated each other’s attacks in the fourth quarter. Ohio State and Penn State were tied entering the fourth, then combined for 19 total points on 6-of-27 shooting (22.2%) in the final 10 minutes.

Considering how hard any points were to come by down the stretch, Gabby Elliott’s two layups that made a tie game a three-point Penn State lead with 1:45 to play were critical in getting the Nittany Lions over the hump. Penn State’s lead was still 3 when the Buckeyes got a pair of looks to tie in the final seconds, but both missed the mark to get the Nittany Lions their first conference win of the season in the most dramatic of fashions.

Elliott led Penn State with 14 points, followed closely by Jayla Oden (13), Moriah Murray (12) and Gracie Merkle (12). Cotie McMahon (19) and Chance Gray (18) had solid scoring days in the losing effort, taking on a large volume without Cambridge available. I’d also argue Taylor Thierry and Madison Greene combining for seven field goal attempts in 76 total minutes is not particularly helpful for spacing the Ohio State attack.

Cambridge will be back (she was out with an illness), and Ohio State had quite literally not had a misstep until now, so this is no time to panic for the Buckeyes. Instead, I’m focusing on the significance of this for the Nittany Lions, who are now 10-9 on the year. I had this unit picked among the worst in the conference, and they’ve shown more promise overall than I had anticipated. Merkle has been a terrific addition, and a win like this can help the program tremendously as it starts trying to build back up again.

Huskers, Ducks Scrap Out Iowa Victories

Last Monday (1/13), Iowa, Nebraska and Oregon were ranked Nos. 33, 35 and 36 in the NET. All three were just above the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, but each of them could really use signature wins to feel some safety.

Well, what a coincidence, Iowa played both Nebraska and Oregon last week! The result? Two games that were separated by a combined one point after both regulations.

These two games proved the NET correct as far as having the teams right next to each other, which makes it all the more unfortunate for the Hawkeyes that both decisions ultimately went against them. It took overtime, but Nebraska pulled out an 87-84 win in Iowa City, then the Ducks held off Iowa at home 50-49 three days later. Nebraska is now No. 30 in the NET, Oregon stayed at No. 36 and Iowa fell to No. 37.

The Iowa-Nebraska game was one of the best I have seen all season. Both teams had the lead for large patches of the game, and Nebraska’s surge back in the fourth quarter was truly remarkable. The Hawkeyes led 64-53 with 6:05 to play, but Nebraska went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to get most of that deficit cleared. Iowa still held a small lead until there were 49 seconds to go, when true freshman Britt Prince hit a step back three to tie the game for Nebraska.

Prince continued to demand the ball late for the Cornhuskers down 2, and when she was fouled with two seconds to go, she calmly sunk both free throws to send it to overtime.

Free throws were a critical stat in this game. Iowa shot 16 of 29 from the line, while Nebraska was 18 of 22. More specifically, Iowa was 6 of 15 (40 percent) on free throws in the second half. Nebraska was 6 of 6.

Prince led Nebraska with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. It was a showcase performance in a tough environment for a clear star in the making. Alexis Markowski had 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and was a game-high +18 in 30 minutes before fouling out. Because of that foul trouble, Amiyah Hargrove had a larger role and was brilliant with 10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench. Iowa had six players in double-figures, led by 16 points and 16 rebounds from Hannah Stuelke.

Unfortunately for Iowa fans, this was not the only loss that would sting on the week.

The Hawkeyes looked in real control of the Oregon game. They jumped out to an 11-0 lead immediately, and the lead was as high as 15 points in the second quarter. Iowa had multiple double-digit leads in the third quarter as well, but the Ducks slowly chunked away at the deficit in this extremely low scoring affair.

After Ava Heiden’s layup to put Iowa up 41-31 with 3:52 to go in the third quarter, the Hawkeyes failed to score again for more than nine full minutes of game action until Heiden hit free throws to break the spell with 4:44 left in regulation. In that time, Oregon went on a 13-0 run and took its first lead of the contest on an Elisa Mevius three.

The teams traded baskets from that point on, but Oregon held the lead the rest of the way to the one-point win. Iowa outrebounded the Ducks 40-26 and held Oregon to one single free throw attempt, but 19 Hawkeye turnovers and 3-of-13 shooting in the fourth quarter gave Oregon just enough room to make the comeback and earn the key win.

For now, these results created slight shifts in the NET. But in the big picture, Iowa’s now 2-6 in the Big Ten and the losses are starting to pile up. The Hawkeyes play Washington (No. 46 in the NET) next, which feels remarkably important after the week they’ve had.

Minnesota 87, Northwestern 82

Surely nothing to see here right? Yeah, a little closer than I would have thought, but road games are hard in the Big Ten and the Gophers were fresh off a tough loss to Maryland earlier in the week.

But, in the end, the Gophers moved to 17-2 and 5-2 in the Big Ten. Northwestern moved to 7-10 and 0-6. What’s the big deal then?

Ah, right.

Northwestern had Minnesota dead to rights. It was 76-61 with 6:56 to play, and the Wildcats were in the midst of a 19-8 run. All the momentum was headed the home team’s way, and Minnesota was going to end the week 0-2.

Minnesota’s 26-6 Closeout Run, By The Numbers:

• Field Goal Percentage: 87.5% (7 of 8)

• Three-Point Percentage: 100.0% (1 of 1)

• Free Throw Percentage: 84.6% (11 of 13)

• Scorers:

  • Amaya Battle, 8 (1/2 FG, 3/5 FT)

  • Niamya Holloway, 6 (3/3 FG)

  • Grace Grocholski, 5 (1/1 FG, 3/3 FT)

  • Annika Stewart, 4 (1/1 FG, 2/2 FT)

  • Tori McKinney, 3 (1/1 FG, 1/1 3PT)

• Northwestern Shooting: 20.0% FG (2 of 10), 50.0% FT (2 of 4)

• Turnovers: Minnesota, 0 | Northwestern, 3

The Gophers were nearly as efficient as they could have been, avoided any costly turnovers and suffocated Northwestern’s attack all at the exact right time to find a way to win a game that felt lost. Niamya Holloway’s six points and block down the stretch were *massive.* Four of her points took the game from tied at 80 to an 84-80 advantage Minnesota would not give up the rest of the way. Grace Grocholski also had 27 points and 10 rebounds in a massive performance that gave the Gophers a chance in the first place.

On the other end, this loss has to sting for the Wildcats. That being said, there’s still so much to like with how Northwestern has played as of late. The Wildcats dished out 29 assists with just five turnovers against it. It’s the most assists with five or less turnovers in any game across the country this season, and it came against a defense that had forced 13+ turnovers in every other game so far this year. It was also the first team to lose with 27+ assists and five or less turnovers since at least the 2009-10 season.

Also worth noting, three of those turnovers were in the final 6:56, along with two of the assists, meaning Northwestern held a 26:2 assist-to-turnover ratio against Minnesota for more than 33 minutes of game action. Moral victories can only mean so much, but the Wildcats absolutely should take one from that because that is truly unbelievable ball movement.

Mercy for Maryland

This was always going to be an extremely difficult portion of Maryland’s schedule, but it has gotten so much harder for reasons out of the team’s control.

In back-to-back games, the Terps have lost key pieces of their roster. First, it was Bri McDaniel, who went down against Minnesota with what we now know is a torn ACL that will have her miss the rest of the season. Maryland won that game, but followed that up with a neutral-site loss to Texas that had Shyanne Sellers go down with a contact knee injury. There is no current update on her timetable for return.

Maryland lost in not-close fashion to the Longhorns which is a bummer, but without Sellers, this team just does not function the same way. After ranking her 10th in my Hoopla 40, I immediately felt like I undersold her stardom as she went for 27 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists on 9-of-11 shooting against Minnesota. Sellers only played 14 minutes against Texas, and Maryland finished the game with nine assists and 27 turnovers.

Hopefully, Sellers can return soon, as Maryland still has UCLA and Ohio State to deal with in this stretch. Regardless, losing McDaniel for the season is not a blow to be taken lightly. McDaniel is a good shooter, excellent defender and a massive spark plug for the Terps who can ignite the entire team on the right night. It’s a real bummer to see Maryland again lose key rotation pieces in the midst of what has been such a promising season thus far.

What to Watch

(Times are listed in EST)

• 1/22

  • Michigan at Minnesota, 8 p.m., B1G+

  • Iowa at Washington, 9 p.m., Peacock

• 1/23

  • Maryland at Ohio State, 6 p.m., BTN

• 1/24

  • Indiana at Oregon, 9 p.m., B1G+

• 1/25

  • Michigan State at Michigan, noon, BTN

• 1/26

  • UCLA at Maryland, 2 p.m., NBC

  • Ohio State at Nebraska, 3 p.m., B1G+

Photo Credit: Penn State Women’s Basketball (@PennStateWBB), Twitter/X

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