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
Grace Sullivan
Off to the best start in her career, Grace Sullivan is showing no signs of slowing down. Sullivan is averaging 24.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game to start the season, which are both more than double her career best in each category. Northwestern is relying on her quite a bit, as evidenced by her 27.8% usage rate this year. She has done everything asked of her at a high level and will be relied upon heavily throughout the entire season. Northwestern has a tough matchup with Utah on Sunday, and it'll be fun to see how Sullivan plays against a team that runs out a small ball lineup.
Eleonora Villa
Eleonora Villa has started to heat up as the season has gone along, as she has scored 23 or more points in three of her last four games for Washington State. She is getting her points in nearly every way, as she is shooting 63% near the rim and is scoring at a 58.3% clip in the mid-range. She has the ability to knock down shots from the perimeter as well. Villa is also producing her highest assist rate of her career at 21.7%. Her ability to score the basketball at an efficient rate is going to allow her to perform in nearly every game.
Katie Fiso
Katie Fiso has made quite the jump into her sophomore year, as she is having a great season thus far. Her usage rate is near 30%, and her effective FG% is almost 20% more than what it was last year. Her assist rate has climbed over 50%, and she is averaging 7.8 assists per game while adding 15.5 points per game in just 28 minutes of play. She's played her best this year against the toughest competition this season, and if the last three games are any indication, the Oregon guard might be one of the best sophomore guards in the Big Ten.
Zoe Borter
UC Santa Barbara is off to an 8-1 start to the season, and a lot of their success to begin the year can be attributed to Zoe Borter. She has scored in double figures in each of the last five games and has shown no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Her offensive rating is 125.5, and all the underlying statistics point to that not falling much lower than that for the rest of the season. She is shooting over 50% from the perimeter and is getting to the line over three times per game, where she is nearly automatic. Borter has the experience to take over as their go-to player, and she's already shown this season that she is capable of doing so.
Candy Edokpaigbe
One of the quieter seasons being put together this year is by San Francisco's Candy Edokpaigbe. She is scoring the ball at an extremely high clip at just over 18 points per game, but she has drastically cut down on her turnovers from her freshman season. This is making her more dynamic with the ball in her hands and giving her the confidence to make plays with the ball. While her usage is up this season, all of her metrics are also on the rise as she's turning the ball over less, dishing out more assists, and shooting the ball better from the floor. Edokpaigbe will look to continue her good play against a rock-solid Colorado State squad.
5 Teams to Watch This Week
Arizona State
Arizona State is 10-0 for the first time in school history, and now the schedule starts to get a bit tougher. They head onto the road for just the second and third time this season to play their toughest competition yet as they meet up with Penn State and Oregon State. If they are able to nab two road victories this week, people might start to take a second look at Arizona State and start to give them credit for their good start. It all starts on Tuesday by notching a win on the road over Penn State.
Iowa State
Similar to Arizona State, Iowa State has started 10-0 on the season but has racked up eight Quad Four wins in the process. Their toughest test this year has been Indiana, whom they needed to score 105 on to beat. It is time to face the music as they welcome Iowa into Hilton Coliseum for what is shaping up to be the best game of the week on Wednesday. The result of this game won't make or break their season, but it is an excellent chance to prove themselves that they are worthy of a Top 10 ranking. Iowa has beaten Iowa State in their last three meetings.
Xavier
Xavier is looking for a little momentum into the rest of their Big East slate as they welcome LIU and Saint Francis into town this week. Xavier sits at 1-1 in Big East play and has won two in a row against Providence and Cincinnati. Keeping up their winning streak should be no problem this week, but LIU could be a sneaky upset threat. For Xavier, they need to continue racking up wins when they can, and this week provides a great chance to notch two more onto their total and move to 8-3 at the conclusion of their conference schedule.
Missouri
Missouri is 8-2 on the year under first-year coach Kellie Harper and is building some program momentum. In the past two weeks they've added wins over Northwestern and California, which show a bit of a raising of the floor in Columbia. Despite having two Quad 3 losses, Missouri has shown signs of progress so far this season. Illinois comes into town on Wednesday, and it will be a true litmus test to see exactly where they stand early in December. Missouri also faces off with Saint Louis on Sunday, but all eyes will be on the midweek matchup Wednesday.
New Mexico
It has been an up-and-down season so far for New Mexico this season, but they grabbed their biggest win of the year Sunday after going on the road to defeat Arizona. They'll look to keep that momentum going as they have another Big 12 team as they take on Houston on Saturday. This time they'll have a home-floor advantage, as Houston is making the trip to The Pit. New Mexico has had a very good non-conference slate that has prepared them well for conference play, and they'll look to stick another resume-enhancing win on paper after Saturday.
5 Stats to Know
70.3
The best defense in terms of defensive efficiency resides at UConn. They lead the nation in defensive efficiency, and it's not particularly close, as the next best team comes in at a defensive efficiency of 74.1. UConn is using an excellent offense and a stifling defense to their advantage this season so far.
57.1%
LSU is rebounding the ball at an extremely high level this season. So well that they are grabbing 57.1% of their missed shots thus far this season. That number is nearly 10% higher than the next highest team this season, and it's a key factor in LSU being able to score so many points so far this season. When you're getting at least two shots on nearly every other missed basket, you're going to put up gaudy numbers.
36.4%
Utah Valley is forcing opponents to turn the ball over at an extremely high rate. 36.4% of their opponents' possessions end in a turnover, which leads the country. When you're able to force this many turnovers, it generally will lead to good things for your team. This number has a chance to be very important as they get into conference play this season.
26-26
This is a look at Aniah Alexis and how well she has shot free throws so far this season. She has not missed a single one and currently is the only player who has shot over 25 free throws and made them all this season. The Rice sophomore was 34-for-48 last year from behind the line, which makes this quite an improvement.
0
Emma Shumate has not turned the ball over in nine games this season. She is the only player in the country who plays more than 14 minutes per game and hasn't turned the ball over in the NCAA. She's on the floor 45% of the time and has done an excellent job of protecting the ball thus far this season for Michigan State.
5 Games to Monitor
12/9 - Columbia @ Seton Hall
Columbia has seemingly started to hit their stride over the past few games, as they've notched their four best game scores in the last four games. They are 3-1 in those games with a very good win over South Dakota State and a loss to North Carolina. This is another good test for Columbia against a tough Seton Hall. The Pirates of Seton Hall sit at 5-2 this season with close losses to Princeton and NC State. They have been very good so far this season, and a game against Columbia gives them another excellent chance to notch a win.
12/12 - UT Arlington @ Rice
A sneaky good mid-major matchup that should provide a low-scoring game. Both of these teams rate outside of the Top 100 in offensive efficiency, while they are both in the Top 75 in defensive efficiency. They both defend the perimeter well and use their length to chase shooters off the arc. Both of these teams have been on an upswing over the past few games, making this a tough test of two teams who are starting to hit their stride.
12/13 - UConn @ USC
Two of the best defenses in the country clash late on Saturday afternoon. This is going to be a battle of two teams who use their length to their advantage to the highest degree. UConn has not been slowed down yet this season, and it will be up to USC's defense to do so. This game cannot be won in a shootout, and USC will need to hold UConn to less than 65 points to have the best chance to win the game. UConn has been held in the 70s just twice this season, but USC will be the best defensive team they've faced all season.
12/13 - Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State
This is just a good old-fashioned in-state rivalry game with bragging rights on the line. The story to watch in this game for me is going to be how well Oklahoma State can shoot the ball. Oklahoma State shoots a ton of them and has the 18th-highest 3-point percentage in the country, while Oklahoma allows teams to shoot 3-pointers nearly at will against them. This is likely going to be a game where Oklahoma State doesn't try to test the interior defense for Oklahoma but will be happy to shoot 30-40 3-pointers and try to win that way.
12/14 - Ball State @ South Dakota State
In terms of plain fun matchups this week, this game is certainly up there between two excellent mid-major programs that just reload every season. Both of these teams sit at 8-2 at this point in the year with big wins on their resumes. South Dakota State has beaten five Top 100 opponents, while Ball State has knocked off a pair of Power 4 opponents with a chance at a third before this game. This is going to be a fun matchup between two teams who have an excellent shot at dancing.
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