A top-10 matchup tips off Wednesday in the Big Ten, here’s what you need to watch
With the expansion of the Big Ten to 18 teams, the landscape of women’s basketball in the conference has changed. After years of the Maryland Terrapins, Indiana Hoosiers, Iowa Hawkeyes and Ohio State Buckeyes taking their turns at the top of the conference, the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins came in and took over the conversation.
Chosen to win the conference in preseason voting was the No. 4 Trojans. Led by reigning National Freshman of the Year JuJu Watkins, USC’s has one blemish all season in a loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Now, the fun of traveling from coast-to-coast in conference play is in full swing for the Trojans, who travel to the Mid-Atlantic Wednesday night to face the No. 8 Terrapins.
Does Maryland continue their undefeated start to the season or does USC get one game closer to filling preseason prophecy? Here’s three things to watch for when the two college basketball powers collide on FS1 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Take a cursory look at the Terrapins schedule and there are close wins over ranked opponents and expected routs over some mid-major programs. Dissect the narrow margins of victory and there’s a trend for the Terps — when they get a big lead they let their guard down.
To the Terps credit, they’ve entered this season as a team full of new names from the transfer portal. Before the season began, Frese posted daily dancing AI video on Twitter celebrating a new name on the roster, like former Rutgers Scarlet Knights young phenom Kaylene Smikle and Saylor Poffenbarger who averaged a double-double in the SEC with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Against the then No. 11 Duke Blue Devils on Nov. 10, Maryland held a 15-point lead going into the fourth quarter, only to have the ACC side cut it down to a two-possession game with head coach Brenda Frese’s side holding on late.
As the season continued, so did the trend. In Big Ten play, Maryland led leads dwindle against the then No. 19 Michigan State Spartans and most recently a 25-point lead over the No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes with less than a minute left in the second quarter that ended with an eight-point Terrapins win.
Maryland has home court advantage Wednesday night, and are facing the Trojans in their second game of a two-game East Coast trip. Frese has rest and a strong roster, but her team needs to play a full 40 minutes to have a chance against the Trojans. Should they get a lead, and extend it, it will only motivate a team that has the firepower to not need extra motivation.
Head coach Lindsey Gottlieb’s Trojans aren’t strangers to playing on the other side of the country this season. While a lots been made about travel, USC has shown that it can prevail over the circumstances. On Dec. 21, the Trojans discounted those worries when they travelled to Connecticut to face the then No. 4 UConn Huskies.
Like Maryland, the Trojans grew a big lead in the third quarter, going ahead 18 points right out of halftime, but Paige Bueckers wouldn’t let the Huskies stay down long. Bueckers scored 15 points in the second half and led UConn to a lead with 4:34 remaining in the game.
The sophomore Watkins, facing double-team pressure all throughout the second half, fought through to score six of the Trojans last eight points, including the final three free throws to secure the win.
This season, Watkins scoring is down slightly to 25.1 points per game, but it’s still good enough to be the best in the Big Ten and third highest in the nation. It’s made up with the sophomore’s assists increasing by nearly an assist per game, from 3.3 in her debut season to 4.1 this campaign.
Shyanne Sellers, the four-year Maryland senior guard will have her hands full with Watkins, because every time Watkins steps onto the court she becomes one of the focal points of the game. However, this season it isn’t only the Los Angeles native leading the Trojans. Former Stanford Cardinal Kiki Iriafen’s created a duo that’s tough for any team to handle.
Iriafen is averaging nearly a double-double this season with 17.9 points and nine rebounds per game. Continuing that level of performance is key against a Maryland team that’s strong on the boards.
Maryland is first in offensive rebounds per game (15.6) and second in defensive (30.1), behind No. 1 ranked UCLA. A matchup to watch for is if Iriafen can stifle the rebounding of Poffenbarger who’s averaging 10.3 rebounds per game since joining the starting lineup six games ago. In that span, the 6-foot-2 “guard” has four double-doubles.
Coach Frese will need Poffenbarger, who’s the strongest defender on the team with a defensive rating of 73.4, and forward Christina Dalce on their game to stop Iriafen on the boards and the USC guard’s ability to shoot efficiently midrange when defenders try to clog lanes in front of her.
The Maryland defense can’t lack focus against this duo, but there is a way to stifle the Trojans.
In two games this season, the Trojans gave up more than 20 turnovers per game, and in both of those games USC struggled. The first came in the first game of the season, in Paris, France taking on Ole Miss. USC gave the ball away a season high 25 times, but came away with a 68-66 win.
The other game was against the Fighting Irish, who forced 21 turnovers and defeated the Trojans 74-61 on USC’s home court.
Maryland forces 18.4 turnovers per game, sixth highest in the conference. The Terps have to find a way to keep that kind of defensive intensity without it impacting their offense negatively.
USC forces 22 turnovers per game, so if Maryland makes the most of their offensive possessions and try to annoy the Trojans defensively, there’s a chance for this game to go down to the wire.
Frese’s side isn’t known for forcing an abundance of turnovers per game, but they play a tough half court defense. Both teams allow under 60 points per game from their opponents this season, so Wednesday night could be a story of which defense makes the least amount of mistakes.
In conference play, USC and Maryland are No. 1 and 2 respectively in opponent shooting percentage. The Trojans’ opponents are shooting 33 percent in four conference games, while the Terps hold teams to 38.3 percent per game.
It might not be the highest scoring game Wednesday night in College Park, but the matchup has enough intrigue and excitement to build momentum for the remaining Big Ten schedule.
