Top 5 Games To Watch — Week of November 12th - 18th
The first week of the 2018–2019 NCAA women’s basketball season did not disappoint. Oregon holding off a late surge by Syracuse and Baylor showing heart on the road defeating a very good team in Arizona State are some memorable events that come to mind after week 1.
Let’s take a look at the Her Hoop Stats top 5 match-ups for this week.
#20 Texas A&M at #18 Syracuse — Wednesday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m. (ET) on ACCNE
The two names to watch in this match-up will be Texas A&M’s Chennedy Carter and Syracuse’s Tiana Mangakahia. Both were named to the 2019 Nancy Lieberman Award watch list. Last season, Mangakahia led the country in assists per game (9.8) and assist rate (60.4%). Carter was seventh in the country in points per game last season, averaging 22.7.
Syracuse will have plenty of confidence heading into this game only losing to #3 Oregon by 2 points on the road.
Green Bay at #16 Missouri — Friday, November 16 at 7:00 p.m. (ET) on SEC Network/ESPN3
Missouri’s Sophie Cunningham ranked second in the country in true shooting percentage last season, shooting 68.6%. As a team, Missouri had a true shooting percentage of 56.7%, which ranked 11th in the country. They also had a total rebound rate of 56.2%, ranking 12th in the country.
Green Bay last season led the country in opponent points per game, only giving up 47.4 points per game. They also led the nation in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 8.1 per game, and had an offensive rebound rate of 23.2%.
#1 Notre Dame at #15 DePaul — Saturday, November 17 at 2:00 p.m. (ET) on Blue Demons All Access
Notre Dame entered this season as the favorite to repeat as NCAA champions. They return all their starters and also have two key players returning from ACL injuries. The Fighting Irish ranked first in defensive rating last year and third in points per game, averaging 85.1 per contest. They also return Arike Ogunbowale, who proved she can be clutch in big moments last season.
DePaul is a well coached team, led by Doug Bruno, that is excellent at the fundamentals. They love to push the ball and score at a high rate. Last season they were sixth in the country in points per game, averaging 82.9, and ranked third in the country with a 3-point rate of 48.5%. They averaged 20.7 assists per game, ranking fourth in the country, and had an assisted shot rate of 68.9%, also ranking fourth in the nation.
Oklahoma at #21 USF — Sunday November 18 at 2:00 p.m. (ET) on USF Bulls Vision
Oklahoma’s Shaina Pellington had 33 points and 9 rebounds vs Western Kentucky. Last season, Oklahoma was 26th in the country in possessions per 40 minutes.
USF averaged 42.8 rebounds per game last season and had a rebound rate of 56.3%, which both ranked tenth in the country. The Bulls return Kitija Laksa, who spent the summer playing for her native country, Latvia, at the Women’s Basketball World Cup in Spain. Last season, she averaged 21.1 points per game, which ranked 19th in the country. She also was first in free throw percentage, shooting 96.5% from the line.
#9 Maryland at #10 South Carolina — Sunday, November 18 at 5:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN
Maryland is coming off a 26–8 record last season. Our own Jenn Hatfield wrote a great preview on the Terps. They return their top player, Kaila Charles, who averaged 17.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last season. The Terps shot 38.8% from 3-point range last season, which ranked eighth in the nation.
South Carolina’s Te’a Cooper had 17 points in her debut as a Gamecock against Alabama State. Our own Cindy Smith, wrote about how South Carolina is still Elite even without Aj’a Wilson this season.
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