NCAAW Update: More History for VanDerveer

In any other week, there would be more discussion of Ohio State handing Iowa its first Big Ten loss of the season. North Carolina State and Colorado were the other top-five teams to lose.

That leaves No. 1 South Carolina as the last remaining undefeated team. The Gamecocks have a huge game coming up against SEC rival LSU.

The Gamecocks are still listed by our NCAA women’s basketball futures lines with the best odds of winning the national championship. After South Carolina’s +325 championship odds are defending national champion LSU at +450 and Iowa at +900.

Passing Coach K

Stanford junior guard Kiki Iriafen made sure that her coach didn’t have to wait for her latest date with destiny.

Iriafen had a season-high 36 points to lead Stanford to a 65-58 win over visiting Oregon State as head coach Tara VanDerveer won her 1203rd career game. She passed the NCAA Division I record of 1202 wins set by Mike Krzyzewski during his time as the men’s basketball coach at Army and Duke.

VanDerveer tied the record with a 25-point win over Oregon on Friday and set the mark two days later.

“It is a big number and I’m very appreciative of the great players I’ve coached and the great places I’ve been and the attention it’s brought to women’s basketball,” VanDerveer told the media following the game

VanDerveer began her coaching career at Idaho and Ohio State. However, since arriving at Stanford in 1985, she put together one of the top programs in women’s basketball history.

VanDerveer won three national titles and led the Cardinal to 13 Final Four appearances.

In 2020, she passed former Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt to become the all-time winningest coach in women’s Division I basketball history.

Kiki Iriafen vs Oregon State:

36 PTS
12 RBS
16-26 FG (61.5%)

Iriafen is on FIRE, averaging (25.3) points, and (15.5) rebounds in her last four games! 🫣🌲@StanfordWBB | @kikiiriafen | #NCAAW pic.twitter.com/3AzOVBC1jI

— I talk hoops 🏀 (@trendyhoopstars) January 22, 2024

TCU Losing the Numbers Game

Texas Christian has lost its last six games and in the last two, the Horned Frogs had to forfeit as a result of a lack of available players. Ranked Kansas State and Iowa State teams picked up forfeit victories.

TCU had 12 players appear in games this season but the number of available players has been dwindling.

TCU’s fourth-leading scorer Jaden Owens and forward Daija Turner, one of five Horned Frogs to appear in every game this season, both suffered season-ending injuries.

The Horned Frogs added volleyball middle blocker Sarah Sylvester to the roster. Since TCU joined the Big 12, Sylvester will become the first player to suit up for both the women’s volleyball and basketball teams.

TCU held open tryouts with the hope of finding players who can be added to the roster so that the Horned Frogs don’t need to continue to forfeit games.

TCU began the season with 14 wins in a row.

The next scheduled game is against UCF on Tuesday.

A Look at the Polls

UCLA and Kansas State both moved up three spots with the Bruins now at No. 2 and Kansas State coming in fourth in the Associated Press poll.

South Carolina remains the unanimous No. 1 team with Colorado remaining at No. 3.

Iowa dropped three spots to No. 5 while North Carolina State went from fourth to seventh. They remain among the teams to beat according to the NCAA women’s basketball betting lines.

With Stanford moving from eighth to sixth, three of the top six teams hail from the Pac-12.

It wasn’t all good news for the Pac-12 as USC tumbled out of the top 10.

Ohio State made the biggest jump, going from 18th to 12th following the win over Iowa.

Game of the Week

No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks at No. 9 LSU Tigers

Thursday, Jan. 25, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)

It doesn’t get much bigger than the top-ranked team in the country traveling to meet the defending national champions.

South Carolina is the last remaining undefeated team in the country while LSU joins Tennessee in a tie for second place in the SEC heading into this week.

After losing at Auburn, LSU won by 20 points at Alabama and then beat visiting Arkansas by 31 points. Angel Reese averaged 18 points and 16.5 rebounds in those two games.

South Carolina has seven players averaging more than nine points per game, led by 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso, who is putting up 13.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

Player of the Week

Cotie McMahon, Ohio State

After a quiet 14-point effort in a win over Maryland, McMahon went off for a career-high 33 points as Ohio State withstood 45 points from Caitlin Clark to upset visiting Iowa 100-92 in overtime.

McMahon had five of her points in overtime as Ohio State handed Iowa its first Big Ten loss of the season.

She is averaging 12.8 points this season. In her last four games against ranked teams, she is averaging 21.5 points per game.

Cotie McMahon vs #2 Iowa:

33 PTS
12 RBS
2 AST
2 BLK
1 STL
12-23 FG

#18 Ohio State defeats #2 Iowa in overtime, 100-92!@OhioStateWBB | @cotiemcmahon23 | #NCAAW pic.twitter.com/5NagWhUzHJ

— I talk hoops 🏀 (@trendyhoopstars) January 21, 2024

Team of the Week

UCLA Bruins

It is tempting to go with Ohio State here as well but in an attempt to spread the wealth, let’s go with UCLA after the Bruins won a top-5 battle against Colorado.

Charisma Osborne had 22 points and Lauren Betts added 20 points and 12 rebounds in a 76-68 win at Colorado. The win had to be extra special to Betts as she is a native of Centennial, Colo.

Betts is now 2-0 playing in her home state as she had 14 points and eight rebounds in the overtime win at Colorado as a freshman when she played at Stanford.

Nationally Televised Top 10 Games

• No. 2 UCLA at No. 16 Utah, Monday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
• No. 4 Kansas State at No. 13 Baylor, Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
• Oklahoma at No. 10 Texas, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
• No. 1 South Carolina at No. 9 LSU, Thursday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
• No. 8 Stanford at Arizona State, Friday, 8 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)
• Washington at No. 2 UCLA, Friday, 10 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)
• Nebraska at No. 5 Iowa, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network)
• No. 15 Notre Dame at No. 8 UConn, Saturday, 8 p.m. ET (FOX)
• No. 6 Stanford at Arizona, Sunday, 2 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)
• Vanderbilt at No. 1 South Carolina, Sunday, 3 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Washington State at No. 2 UCLA, Sunday, 4 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

CHECK OUT OUR WEEK 10 TOP 10 NCAA WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL HIGHLIGHTS 2024 #ncaawbb #ncaawhttps://t.co/aqLhyPLioM via @YouTube

— The Brookes’ Bench (@thebrookesbench) January 15, 2024

Questions Of The Day