Games to Watch Week 4
The United States Virgin Islands are, in fact, paradise for basketball fans this week…
In addition to food and family, hopefully you’re making some time for basketball during your Thanksgiving week(end), as the annual tournaments feature a number excellent matchups. Due to some tournaments, such as the Gulf Coast Showcase, playing bracket-style, there will be some great games that we couldn’t even consider for this article, but that will be worth watching. Keep an eye on the HHS Twitter feed for updates, and check out our full Feast Week Cheat Sheet here.
#17 Indiana vs. #5 South Carolina — 11/28 at 8:00 p.m. ET (Paradise Jam, USVI; FloHoops*)
This will be a battle of young teams far from home, as the Hoosiers only have one senior, while the Gamecocks have two. Indiana has seven freshmen, while South Carolina has five.
Among Indiana’s freshmen, Mackenzie Holmes has been a standout. She is shooting 75% in field goals, which is good for 13th in the country. The 6-foot-3 forward has taken all of her shots from inside the 3-point line. As a team, the Hoosiers are excellent on both ends of the floor, with their 51.5% field goal percentage ranking fifth in the country, while holding opponents to only a 30.3% field goal percentage, good for 16th. Their 37.8-point margin per game ranks sixth in the country. After notching 23 in the Hoosiers’ Friday night 73–49 win in Gainesville against Florida, sophomore Grace Berger took the team lead in points per game from Holmes. They will need contributions from even more players if they want to defeat the Gamecocks.
So far this season, South Carolina, like Indiana, has a freshman leading the way. Aliyah Boston, the №3 recruit in the 2020 class, is first in points, blocks, and rebounds per game. Fellow freshman Brea Beal is second on the team in rebounds, while one of their two seniors, Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan, is second in both points and blocks. Also similar to the Hoosiers, the Gamecocks have played a relatively easy schedule so far, with one glaring exception, their road win at then №4 Maryland. The Gamecocks were ranked eighth at the time, but the 63–54 win springboarded them up the poll.
#7 Oregon State at #19 Miami — 11/29 at 2:00 p.m. ET (ACCNX)
Both Oregon State and Miami have taken on DePaul this season. The Beavers won a Preseason NIT semifinal over the Blue Devils, 98–77, while the Hurricanes lost a close game 89–83. This is a rare opportunity for coaches to review common opponent film in non-conference play.
Besides DePaul, the Beavers have had arguably the only true test either team has faced this season, winning the Preseason NIT 80–69 over Missouri State. Oregon State ranks second in the country in field goal percentage, at 52.9% and fourth in defensive rebounds per game with 36.2, an impressive pair of numbers that are no doubt contributing to its undefeated record. The Beavers are also first in the country in effective field goal percentage, at 61.6%, and points per scoring attempt, with 1.27. Individually, OSU is led by senior Mikayla Pivec, who leads the squad in all three rebounding categories, plus assists per game. She is second only to freshman Taylor Jones in points per game, who Pivec only trails by 0.2. Stopping Pivec will be key if the Hurricanes want to pick up the big win at home.
Miami is led this season by Preseason All-American and hometown girl, senior Beatrice Mompremier, who returned to the Hurricanes after some speculation she would leave a year early to enter the WNBA Draft. Her 20.2 points per game lead the team, as do her 10.2 rebounds per game. As a team, Miami is scoring quite efficiently, as their 45.7% field goal percentage is 41st in the country, while their 52.2% effective field goal percentage is 34th and their 1.10 points per scoring attempt is 36th.
#1 Oregon vs. #8 Louisville — 11/30 at 3:15 p.m. ET (Paradise Jam, USVI; FloHoops*)
The glass will be important in this battle of the birds, as Louisville is second in the country in Offensive Rebounding Rate at 47.5%, while Oregon is 11th at 45.3%. The teams are also only separated by one total rebound per game, as the Ducks’ 47.8 rebounds per game is good for 13th in the country, while the Cardinals’ 46.8 is 20th.
Oregon is top-10 in a number of categories, but the most impressive one may be that they’ve only had TWO shots blocked all season, one by Texas Southern’s Ciani Cryor and one by Syracuse’s Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi. In addition to the previously mentioned rebounding stats, their 1.04 points per play is No. 1 in the country, as is their 26.8 assists per game, and 2.02 assist-to-turnover ratio. Ruthy Hebard is tied for third in the country in total rebounds per game with 13.2, while Sabrina Ionescu’s 9.5 assists per game are second in the country, only trailing North Alabama’s Ivy Wallen by 0.2.
In addition to rebounding, one of Louisville’s strongest suits is opponent assist-to-turnover ratio, where their 0.48 mark is good for 27th in the country. The combination of Oregon’s impressive ratio and Louisville’s strong opponent ratio will certainly be another point to watch in this game. Individually, the Cardinals only have three players averaging double figures in points. Leading scorer Dana Evans’ 18.6 PPG are good for a tie for 69th in the country.
#2 Baylor vs. #5 South Carolina — 11/30 at 8:00 p.m. ET (Paradise Jam, USVI; FloHoops*)
Going into this week, South Carolina and Baylor have each only played one ranked team. As mentioned above, the Gamecocks defeated then №4 Maryland 63–54, while Baylor defeated №22 South Florida 58–46. Other than those two games, no team has come close to either team, as Baylor defeated their other four opponents by 274 points, or 68.5 per game, while South Carolina has won by 42.2 points per game, a total margin of 244. Both the Lady Bears and the Gamecocks will have to take on №18 Indiana in the USVI before they face off in the final game of the tournament.
One good thing about blowing out opponents is it gives coach Kim Mulkey a chance to see what she has on her roster, all the way down the bench. Every player who has seen time this season for the Lady Bears has seen at least a game’s worth of minutes and has scored at least an average of 3.2 points per game. Baylor’s leading scorer so far this season is NaLyssa Smith, with 17.6 points per game. Her 8.8 rebounds per game are good for second on the team behind the injured Lauren Cox. Baylor also excels at keeping their opponents from scoring, as their opponent field goal percentage is 22.4%, which leads the country, 1.5% ahead of South Carolina.
As indicated by their second-best nationally opponent field goal percentage and some of the individual stats noted above, South Carolina is excellent on defense. Led by Boston’s impressive numbers, their 11.5 blocks per game and 22.7% block rate are both first nationally.
#6 Texas A&M vs. #12 Florida State — 12/1 at 8:30 p.m. ET (Maggie Dixon Classic, Fort Worth, TX; Fox Sports Southwest)
This whole week will be quite fun for defense enthusiasts, and our last game is no exception. Both Florida State, who is third, with 61.0% and Texas A&M, who is fifth, at 60.5% and are top-five in the country in total rebounding rate.
For the Aggies, junior N’dea Jones leads the rebounding way, leading the team in defensive and total rebounds per game, while senior Cheah Rael-Whitsitt leads in offensive rebounds per game. Junior Chennedy Carter leads the team in scoring, and her 24.0 points per game rank fifth in the country.
Florida State doesn’t have any individual scorers with Carter’s numbers, but as a team they are 16th in the country in field goal percentage, connecting on 48.2% of their shots. They are able to score so well partially thanks to the fact they are excellent at getting their own misses; their 44.8% offensive rebounding rate is 15th in the nation, while their 61.0% total rebounding rate is third.
We know it’s hard to keep track of all the Games to Watch, especially the midweek ones, so we’ve started a Google Calendar. You can find it here, with the iCal link here. You can also follow Her Hoop Stats on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for your women’s basketball coverage.
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All stats (from Her Hoop Stats) are for games through November 24. AP rankings are up to date as of the November 25 poll.
