Women’s basketball rankings: USC falls on Caitlin Clark’s jersey retirement game…

The theme from last week’s college basketball games was honoring the past. In the SEC and Big Ten, two names who have shaped the future of the sport had their jersey numbers immortalized in their respective school rafters. These ceremonies represented how the past impacts the present day of women’s college basketball, as Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson were honored over the weekend.

Below we break down the latest ranking and other highlights from week 13 of the NCAA women’s basketball season.

AP top 25 women’s college basketball rankings:

1. UCLA
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. Texas
5. UConn
6. LSU
7. USC
8. Ohio State
9. TCU
10. Duke
11. Kentucky
12. Kansas State
13. North Carolina
14. NC State
15. Oklahoma
16. Maryland
17. Georgia Tech
18. West Virginia
19. Tennessee
20. Michigan State
21. Cal
22. Florida State
23. Alabama
24. Vanderbilt
25. Oklahoma State

Others receiving votes: Creighton 30, Baylor 24, Illinois 13, Utah 12, Mississippi 11, Michigan 7, Minnesota 6, South Dakota St. 6, Harvard 5, Columbia 2, Richmond 1.

Caitlin Clark Jersey Retirement Upset

On Sunday, the No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks and unranked Iowa Hawkeyes took advantage of the “2/2” date on the calendar to honor their famous No. 22 jersey bearers.

The Gamecocks honored former National Champion and WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson. Despite already having a statue outside of Colonial Life Arena, Wilson’s jersey number wasn’t hanging from the rafters until Sunday.

In a ceremony full of emotion, Wilson stood at center court with her family and head coach Dawn Staley as a spotlight shined on her newly retired number. Wilson cried during the once in a lifetime moment. On the court, there was a lot less emotion as the Gamecocks cruised to a 17-point win over the 11-11 Clemson Tigers.

In Iowa City, it was a different story. Not that it lacked emotion — far from it. The formerly ranked Hawkeyes welcomed the No. 4 USC Trojans to Carver-Hawkeye Arena and after one quarter it looked like the Iowa of Caitlin Clark’s day, with Iowa surging ahead to an 18-4 lead.

As guard JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans surged in a second quarter where the West Coast side outscored Iowa 25-10, you couldn’t help but think that USC winning was the foregone conclusion. With Clark sitting in the stands, awaiting her own jersey retirement after the game, it was a livelier crowd than usual on campus and Iowa didn’t let the game slip.

Instead, the Hawkeyes put 48 on the scoreboard in the second half to pick up a 76-69 upset victory over the Trojans, which is the first in-conference loss for USC this season. Iowa transfer guard Lucy Olsen scored 15 points in the fourth quarter and the Hawkeyes defense held Watkins to nine second half points.

After losing five games in a row, and falling out of the top-25, the Hawkeyes are on a three-game winning streak. Following the win, and after students got back into the stands after storming the court, Clark had her No. 22 placed in the rafters too, and two college basketball legends received proper immortalizing.

Terrapins Continue Tumble

On Jan. 20, then No. 8 Maryland lost big to the No. 7 Texas Longhorns and in the process lost guard Shyanne Sellers to injury. That came after the school announced losing guard Bri McDaniel due to an ACL tear.

That loss started a three-game losing streak to No. 12 Ohio State and No. 1 UCLA, but this week Sellers returned and so did getting on the winning side of the box score. Traveling to Penn State, an unranked side that already upset the Buckeyes in previous weeks, Sellers returned to score 10 points in 20 minutes.

Maryland won 82-73 and looked like they were back to building up the chemistry and momentum that got them to the top 10 in the first place.

Fast forward to Sunday and the Terrapins welcomed the unranked Illinois Fighting Illini, playing without starting guard Makira Cook. The two sides went back and forth to the tune of 14 lead changes, but with 13.9 seconds remaining Sellers showed how she makes the Terps such a dangerous team and put the home side up a point with a midrange jumper.

It was two of Sellers’ 14 points in 25 minutes as she returns from a right knee injury, but two less than Maryland hoped. Illinois guard Genesis Bryant, who led all scorers with 20 points, earned a trip to the free throw line with the game on the line and hit both in a high pressure situation to give Illinois a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. On the final inbound, Sellers had a midrange attempt from the baseline, but it bounced off the rim to give the Illini their fourth win in a row.

It shows that the McDaniel absence is going to take more time for the Terrapins to get over as the regular season comes to a close over the next four weeks.

UConn Cruising, SEC on the Horizon

With the No. 6 UConn Huskies playing in the Big East, a conference featuring only one ranked team (the Huskies), it’s expected that UConn will win the conference title. In the last four seasons, UConn swept the regular season and tournament trophies and this year looks no different.

Head coach Geno Auriemma’s side is on an 11-game winning streak, all against conference opponents, after losing at home to the USC Trojans. Not only are the Huskies winning but they’re demolishing all competitors.

In 11 games, UConn is outscoring opponents by 33.6 points per game. Against Xavier, UConn held the Musketeers to 27 points. When the Huskies welcomed Seton Hall, they sent them home with a 96-36 defeat.

This week, the Huskies dispatched DePaul and Butler with relative ease, due in part to UConn finally being healthy and having their best players available at the same time. Sunday against the Butler Bulldogs, six players reached double-figure scoring, with guards Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd scoring 18 and 13 points respectively.

Freshman forward Sarah Strong had 22 points in two games this week, amassing an impressive first season in the Big East. Strong won Freshman of the Week eight of the 12 weeks of the campaign, and three of those times Strong paired it with Player of the Week honors.

However, due to the less than exciting conference schedule, UConn hasn’t grabbed national attention day in and day out, until this month. In the next 15 days, the Huskies travel to two hostile SEC environments, starting this week with a trip to Knoxville to play the Tennessee Volunteers Thursday night.

Then, on Sunday the 16th, it’s a trip to the No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks. How has the conference schedule prepared the Huskies for the two non-conference challenges to help usher in the postseason? That question will get answers this week.

Other Stories of the Week

• The No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners fell twice this week to ranked SEC opponents. First it was a Thursday trip to Baton Rouge, falling to the No. 7 LSU Tigers 107-100. Then, on Sunday, the Sooners welcomed the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats, falling 95-86. The Sooners are on a stretch of three losses in their last four games.
• Sticking with the SEC, the No. 18 Tennessee Volunteers fell to the No. 2 Gamecocks in a close home game on Jan. 27, with the big story coming on the bench with Vols head coach Kim Caldwell returning to the job one week after giving birth to her son.
• Since upsetting the then No. 13 UNC Tar Heels, the No. 25 Florida State Seminoles are on a tear, defeating Boston College and Wake Forest last week by over 20 points in each game. Guard Taniya Latson scored 46 combined points in the two victories.