January 6, 2022 

Daily Briefing — Jan. 6, 2022: Texas < Tech

A Tobacco Road showdown kicks off the real meat of the ACC season

Happy Thursday — the workweek’s almost passed! Welcome to The Next’s Daily Briefing, featuring the W Roundup, daily Watch List, and Yesterday’s Recap! Day 57 of college basketball is here — following a big ol’ Tech upset of Texas and Iowa State battle over Oklahoma, a top-20 Tobacco Road showdown headlines an extensive slate of conference battles.

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W Roundup

Atlanta: Extended qualifying offers to big Monique Billings and Jaylyn Agnew, per Rachel Galligan. Your memory is correct — Agnew did not play this past year.

Washington: Extended qualifying offers to combo forward Myisha Hines-Allen and center Megan Gustafson, per Galligan. For Gustafson, this is a resounding win, earning a contract after being a midseason acquisition for the Mystics.

(All times in Eastern)

Watch List, Thursday, Jan. 6

Must-watch

#19 North Carolina @ #5 N.C. State, 8 p.m., ACC Network 

Good games

#1 South Carolina @ #13 LSU. 8 p.m., SEC Network+

#15 Georgia @ #21 Kentucky, 7 p.m., SEC Network+

Northwestern @ #22 Iowa, 8 p.m., BTN

Gonzaga @ Portland. 10 p.m., WCC Sports

Also watchable

#25 Texas A&M @ #7 Tennessee, 6:30 p.m., SEC Network

Green Bay @ IUPUI, 7 p.m., ESPN+

Sickos games

Wake Forest @ Miami, 7 p.m., ACC Network Extra

Syracuse @ Boston College, 7 p.m., ACC Network Extra

Pac-12 or Big Ten on national television (or national streaming)

Penn State @ #10 Maryland, 6 p.m., BTN

Wednesday, Jan. 5 recap

#6 Indiana: 76-53 win over Wisconsin. Shot 46.3% from the field, 42.1% from three, and 85.7% from the line. Combo guard Ali Patberg scored a game-high 18 points on 4-for-5 from three (1-3 from two) with four rebounds and three assists; center Mackenzie Holmes had 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting (0-1 3pt.), eight rebounds (three offensive), and two turnovers; point guard Grace Berger came close to a triple-double, finishing with nine points (4-9 FG), eight rebounds, and 11 assists against a lone turnover; big Aleksa gulbe notched 13 points on 4-for-10 from the field (1-3 3pt.), seven rebounds (three offensive), and two steals.

TDB Indiana Bench Scoring Watch: 9 points (8.0% of team total), 8 attempts (13.8%) today; 102 points (10.0%), 86 attempts (10.6%) for the season.


#9 Texas: 74-61 loss to Texas Tech, a team needed overtime to beat Lamar and only beat UNLV by seven. The Raiders led from 41 seconds in through the final buzzer. The Longhorns shot just 29.2% from the field, 30.4% from three, and 63.2% from the line; allowed 50.0% shooting overall and 34-for-44 (forty-four!!) from the line — the fourth-most free-throw attempts in a Power 5 game in the past seven seasons, per Her Hoop Stats; forced 26 turnovers and 24 fouls, but committed 34 fouls — eighth-most in a P5 matchup during the HHS era. Off-ball guard Aliyah Matharu led Texas with 12 points off the bench on 5-for-17 from the field and 2-for-9 from three with five rebounds (three offensive), three turnovers, and four fouls in 22 minutes; wing Joanne Allen-Taylor fouled out in 18 minutes, with seven points on 3-for-8 shooting (1-3 3pt.); big DeYona Gaston fouled-out in 20 minutes, finishing with eight points on 3-for-8 FG, four offensive rebounds, and three blocks; off-ball guard Audrey Warren had 11 points on 3-for-7 shooting (2-4 3pt., 3-6 FT) and five steals against committed four fouls. Texas Tech point wing Vivian Gray and point guard Bre’Amber Scott combined for 44 points on 10-for-16 from the field (Scott 2-3 3pt.) and 22-for-27 from the line.

Note: in previous version sent out, we incorrectly included the headline “Texas > Tech”. The Next regrets the error.

#12 Iowa State, #23 Oklahoma: The Cyclones beat the Sooners 81-71. Iowa State won the middle half 46-31. Oklahoma shot 3.9% better from the field, but took 14 fewer attempts thanks to committing 17 turnovers and 20 fouls and the Cyclones’ +9 rebounding margin. Point guard Emily Ryan led Iowa State with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting (2-4 3pt.), four rebounds, and eight assists against five turnovers; wing Ashley Joens had a 17-point, 13-rebound double-double on 5-for-25 from the field and 3-for-11 from three with five offensive boards and two steals against two turnovers; backup center Beatriz Jordão notched 15 points on 7-for-13 FG and seven rebounds (four offensive); combo guard Lexi Donarski struggled to five points on 1-for-12 from the field and 0-for-7 from three. Sooner wing Madi Williams scored a game-high 26 points on 10-for-22 shooting (3-9 3pt.) with nine rebounds, two assists, and three blocks against five turnovers; combo guard Taylor Robertson was held to a 9.3% usage rate — the fourth-lowest of her career and second-lowest since her freshman season.

#24 South Florida: 61-46 win over Cincinnati. Won the first quarter 23-4. Out-rebounded the Bearcats by 47, including only three offensive boards allowed; drew 24 fouls. Point guard Elisa Pinzan did not play, for some reason. Combo guard Elena Tsineke scored a game-high 21 points on 9-for-20 from the field and 0-for-4 from three (3-6 FT) with six rebounds (four offensive) and five assists against four turnovers without sitting; combo forward Bethy Mununga had a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double on 4-for-7 FG and 6-for-9 FT against four turnovers and four fouls in 36 minutes; point guard Maria Alvarez notched 13 points on 4-for-11 from three and seven assists against two turnovers without subbing out.

RV* FGCU: 88-57 win over North Florida. The Ospreys drew within five in the mid-third quarter, but the Eagles had a 31-13 fourth. Shot 44.8% from the field and 41.5% from three on 41 attempts; allowed 45.3% shooting and 46.2% from deep, but forced 25 turnovers and 19 fouls; committed only seven turnovers and seven fouls. Big wing Kierstan Bell led with 27 points on 9-for-24 from the field and 6-for-15 from three with 11 rebounds for a double-double, plus four steals and two turnovers; point guard Tishara Morehouse notched 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting (2-5 3pt., 5-7 FT) and eight assists against two turnovers.

The Daily Briefing Kierstan Bell Watch: 26.8 points per game — 100th percentile; 10.5 field goals — 100th; 21.6 attempts — 100th; 63.6% 2P% — 98th; 2.8 threes — 99th; 9.5 3-point attempts — 100th; 4.5 free-throw attempts — 96th; 9.3 rebounds — 98th; 2.1 assists — 79th; 1.7 steals — 91st; 1.4 blocks — 97th; 4.0 fouls drawn — 95th; 40.2% usage — 100th; 1.03 points per play — 95th; 9.2% TO% — 96th

Bucknell: 57-55 loss to Navy, which combined with Sunday’s 69-62 loss to Army achieves the exceedingly rare “sweep to the services academies.”

Buffalo: 82-66 win over Bowling Green. Point guard Dyaisha Fair set a career-high with 40 points on 14-for-22 from the field, 6-for-10 from three, and 6-for-8 from the line, plus three rebounds, four assists, and three steals against two turnovers without hitting the bench.

Cancellations

  • #11 UConn @ Georgetown
  • #14 Baylor vs. TCU
  • Rhode Island vs. UMass
  • Fordham vs. Saint Louis
  • Kansas vs. West Virginia
  • UMBC v. Stony Brook
  • Temple vs. SMU
  • Binghamton vs. Albany
  • Lafayette vs. Holy Cross
  • NJIT v. Umass-Lowell
  • Davidson vs. St. Joe’s
  • Kennesaw State vs. Jacksonville
  • Linscomb v. North Alabama
  • Winthrop vs. USC Upstate

More than half of both yesterday’s and today’s games weren’t/aren’t cancelled!

*Receiving Votes

Written by Em Adler

Em Adler (she/they) covers the WNBA at large and college basketball for The Next, with a focus on player development and the game behind the game.

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