This is a look at the week ahead in women's college basketball. Each week Skim Milkey will be providing five players to keep an eye on, five teams to watch this week, five stats, five games you wouldn't think to keep tabs on, and five tweets.
5 Players I Have My Eye On
Delaney Gibb
Gibb is an extremely important player to the success of BYU, and after coming back from injury, she was very good for eight games. Over the past few games, she has struggled a bit, but there is a great opportunity for her this upcoming week to come out of her mini slump. BYU takes on Iowa State and Colorado this week, and BYU will need Gibb to play solid minutes if they hope to win both of those games. She is averaging 15.9 points per game this season even while being held to 11 points or less in the last four games. Gibb is too good of a player, and too important to BYU, to not recover and end the season on a hot stretch.
Lee Volker
Volker has been Marquette's best player this season and has continued to get better as the season has gone on. She's put forth excellent performances against Georgetown, Providence, and Creighton in the past week. In her last game against Creighton, she put forth a 168.0 offensive rating, which was her third highest of the season. She has a 9:2 assist-to-turnover ratio in the past three games and has helped her team to a 2-1 record in those games. Volker isn't a main cog in the Marquette offense, as noted by her usage rate never being higher than 25.2, but she's the most impactful piece on the floor with her ability to defend and keep the ball moving.
Bella Pucci
Pucci has been a bright spot this year for Binghamton and has taken her game to another level since starting conference play. Her two most recent games have featured offensive ratings of 145.7 and 168.3, which are her two highest marks of the season. Last week, she had 23 points and five assists against UMBC and followed it up with a 31-point performance against NJIT. She has been a huge reason why Binghamton sits at 9-1 in America East play and in control of their destiny to win the conference. This upcoming week, Pucci will look to lead Binghamton to two critical wins in games that they are not favored in against Vermont and Albany, both on the road.
Grace Grocholski
Grocholski has been a steady presence this season for Minnesota, and whenever the team needs a big shot, it has seemingly been Grocholski to step up and hit it. She has shot the ball at a 46 percent clip this season from behind the arc and can't be left alone. She doesn't need a ton of touches on the floor to be effective because she's just always in the right spots at the right times. If you leave her open, she's going to make you pay. She has knocked down multiple 3-pointers in 15 of the 24 games that Minnesota has played this year. Grocholski is going to be a big reason if Minnesota makes a run to the second weekend this season in the NCAA tournament.
Grace Kingery
Kingery is a smart player who is deadly when coming off of handoffs. If the defender goes under, she's rising up to knock down a shot. If the defender goes over the screen, she makes a quick decision and makes the extra pass. She is a key piece to this Ball State team, which looks to score a ton of points. She has scored 17 or more points in each of her last three games while knocking down 18 of 31 3-point attempts over those games. She has the ability to affect the game in so many ways, and that's why she fits in with this squad so well. She's gotten better in every facet of the game this season and has shown to be able to make the big plays when needed.
5 Teams to Watch This Week
Murray State
Murray State is at the top of the Missouri Valley with a record of 11-1 so far this season. They are one game clear of Belmont, who sits in second place, and then there is a two-game gap. So, the MVC winner will likely be one of these two teams. It might come down to the team that doesn't trip over themselves in the last couple weeks. Murray State has the tiebreaker over Belmont, as they are 2-0 against them this season, so Murray State has the ability to lose one additional game if Belmont wins out. They don't want that to happen this week when they face off with Valparaiso and Illinois Chicago. Look for two convincing wins from the odds-on favorite to win the conference.
Vanderbilt
This is the week where we find out if Vanderbilt is a legitimate Top 10 team in the country or if they are just on the outside. They run the gauntlet this week with Oklahoma, Texas, and Georgia on the schedule. The week will not be easy for them, but luckily both the Oklahoma and Texas games are on their home floor. Vanderbilt recovered well after losing to both South Carolina and Ole Miss with wins over Florida and Kentucky last week. If Vanderbilt's still having their defensive struggles this week, they might be in for a tough week.
Washington
Washington is one of those teams in the Big Ten that shows some flashes of being able to be very good but then loses a game that they shouldn't. They are coming off of an overtime thriller but had lost two in a row prior to that with losses against Illinois and Ohio State, both of which were at home. Washington does have the ability to make two statement wins this week with Iowa on the road and at home against Oregon. If Washington can put together a run to end the season, then they will be in line for a 5/6 seed come March.
Gonzaga
Gonzaga, similar to Murray State, holds the fate of their conference title hopes in their own hands. They are 10-2 in the WCC and have a single-game lead over Oregon State. If Gonzaga wins the rest of their games this season, they will have locked up the top seed in the conference tournament, which will be very important since you only need to play two games to win the conference title in March. They have two games this week on the road as they play San Diego and Loyola Marymount. The San Diego game shouldn't be an issue, but LMU already took Gonzaga to double overtime this season. Look for Gonzaga to be focused this week as they pursue a conference championship.
Arkansas State
The Sun Belt is extremely competitive this season, and Arkansas State sits at the top of the conference with an 11-1 record, and their schedule doesn't get any easier. They start a road trip of four road games in a row with their toughest two this week. They play Georgia Southern on the road first and then will face off with Marshall, giving them two opponents who are in the Top 4 of the Sun Belt. If Arkansas State can escape this week unscathed, then they'll feel pretty good about themselves. They will need to avoid a 0-2 week, which, with their schedule, could happen.
5 Stats to Know
67.7%
This is the percentage that Olivia Kulyk is shooting 3-pointers in transition at. This season she has gone 21-for-31 so far on shots from behind the arc in transition and leads the country in shooting percentage with a minimum of one attempt a game. This just shows that you always need to find her in transition. Interestingly, Kulyk is shooting just 29.5% in half-court 3-point attempts.
100%
Staying with the 3-pointer for a minute, this 100 percent signifies the percentage of shots that Purdue's McKenna Layden has taken from behind the arc this season. Of Layden's 31 shot attempts, 31 of them have come from behind the perimeter. She's knocking them down at a 48.5 percent clip, though, so there is no reason for her to stop shooting them.
37.5%
Presbyterian is allowing opponents to hit 37.5 percent from behind the arc, which would tie the worst mark from last year. Despite giving up the best shooting percentage from the perimeter, they have only allowed 29.5 percent of their opponents' shots to come from behind the arc, which is a direct reflection of how they want their defense to run.
149.2
This is Emma Shumate's offensive rating so far this season. We have talked about the Michigan State senior before this year, but I just wanted to once again point out the season she is having. She's graded as one of the best players in college basketball with less than a 10 percent usage. She still never turns it over (one percent) and knocks down 43 percent of her shots. Shumate is a big-time player.
3
Unfortunately, there are still three teams who have not won a game this year. Central Connecticut, Niagara, and Valparaiso each are winless through most of their season. Central Connecticut does have some winnable games coming up in NEC play over the next few weeks. Niagara only has one game that should be close to a single-digit game the rest of the year, and Valparaiso had their two chances this past week and couldn't convert. It seems like we are charging into a season of a few winless squads.
5 Games to Monitor
2/12 - Santa Clara @ Oregon State
This game is nearly an elimination game for the conference regular season title for Oregon State, as Gonzaga just doesn't seem like they'll end up dropping multiple games. Bigger picture, this game is important in the conference tournament seeding race because the top two seeds only need to win two games to win the conference title, while seeds #3 and #4 both would have to win three games in a row. These two teams will be fighting over the #2 seed in the conference tournament with Loyola Marymount and Portland, so this game is paramount for both squads.
2/12 - UC San Diego @ UC Davis
UC Davis is looking to play spoiler in the race for the Big West title, while UC San Diego is looking to hold on for dear life. UC San Diego holds a one-game lead in the conference race, but they still have to play the four teams directly behind them in the standings. If UC San Diego is able to notch a win in this one, they will start to feel a bit better going into the last six games of the season. If UC Davis wins, things will start to get very interesting in the Big West.
2/13 - Princeton @ Columbia
Columbia handed Princeton their first loss in the last meeting between these two teams. They'll be looking to knock them off again and pull even in the Ivy League standings with them. Once again, it seems like it's a three-team race for the Ivy crown between Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton. This result will go a long way in determining who has the upper hand over the last few weeks.
2/14 - Fairfield @ Quinnipiac
The rematch between the two best teams in the MAAC is upon us. Last time, Quinnipiac came away with the big win, and Fairfield will be looking to reverse that fortune as they try to keep their regular season conference title hopes alive. They'll have to win this game to get those hopes alive.
2/14 - South Carolina @ LSU
Not too much to say about this one. It's going to likely be one of the best regular season games of the year with huge conference title implications. Tune it and enjoy it—it's a standalone game, so there is no reason to miss it.
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