After NCAA basketball stars Ashlyn Watkins and Paige Bueckers exited their respective games with injuries last Sunday, South Carolina and UConn updated the media about their injured players on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, Watkins will miss the rest of the 2024/25 season after tearing her left ACL in Sunday's 96-68 win over Mississippi State.
At 6-foot-3, Watkins was a key rotational component for South Carolina in their undefeated 2023/24 run. She has subsequently notched significant minutes off the bench this season. The junior averaged 7.2 points, 1.9 blocks, and a team-leading 6.4 rebounds prior to injury.
"I know her sisters will rally around her injury, and know she will be sorely missed," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley told a local radio station. "I know [Watkins] will want us to go on and compete and try to win another national championship."
Watkins will undoubtedly be missed this weekend, as the No. 2 Gamecocks take on No. 5 Texas in Sunday's must-watch SEC battle.
Bueckers expected to return for UConn after injury scare
Last weekend's other injury scare has taken a less severe turn. Unlike Watkins's ACL tear. UConn senior Bueckers suffered a more minor knee sprain, with the prospective 2025 WNBA Draft No. 1 pick returning to play as soon as next week.
Sunday's knock is just the latest knee injury for Bueckers. The 23-year-old sat out the majority of the 2021/22 season with a tibial fracture and meniscus tear. The year after that, she missed all of UConn's 2022/23 campaign with a torn ACL.
"I think she's pissed more than anything about having to miss any time at all," UConn boss Geno Auriemma told ESPN. "The thing that happens, I think, to a lot of athletes when they've been through something in the past, is the fear of 'Do I have to go through something again?' That's the initial reaction...[but now] she's in great spirits."
Just five teams remain undefeated in NCAA Division I basketball, after an eventful weekend showcased how thin the margins can be in conference play.
In their first season in the SEC, No. 10 Oklahoma followed up last week's loss to No. 5 Texas with a narrow victory over their previously undefeated new conference rival, No. 16 Tennessee, on Sunday. The Sooners led by as many as 19 points before the Vols mounted a furious comeback, but Oklahoma managed to overcome 31 turnovers to eke out the 87-86 road win.
With Tennessee conceding their season's first loss, only No. 1 UCLA, No. 6 LSU, No. 8 Maryland, No. 9 Ohio State, and No. 13 Georgia Tech stand unbeaten entering the 10th week of the 2024/25 NCAA campaign.
The top-ranked Bruins took down unranked Indiana 73-62 on Saturday, silencing the Hoosiers behind UCLA center Lauren Betts's game-leading 25 points and 12 rebounds.
On another Big Ten court, Maryland snapped No. 23 Iowa's 21-game home win streak 74-66 on Sunday, handing the Hawkeyes their first loss at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since February 2022.
Injuries rattle NCAA teams
While undefeated teams continues to impress this weekend, college basketball fans held their collective breath for a very different reason on Sunday, as two of the NCAA's biggest names exited their respective games with apparent injuries.
UConn superstar Paige Bueckers left the court after suffering a knock to the leg during the No. 7 Huskies' 83-52 win against Villanova, later returning to the bench without assistance.
"It's not the worst that we can imagine," UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said of Bueckers's tumble after the game. "So, that's great news considering how awkward it was."
Elsewhere, No. 2 South Carolina forward Ashlyn Watkins suffered a non-contact knee injury in the first half of the Gamecocks' 95-68 win over Mississippi State. Unlike Bueckers, Watkins failed to return to the bench after exiting.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley didn't provide a postgame update on Watkins's status, but did confirm that the junior was not taken to a local hospital.
"Obviously, we feel for Ashlyn and her injury, and her not being able to finish the game," said Staley. "But her teammates had her back. And they did take it to another level on both ends of the floor."
How to watch this week's top-ranked college basketball games
While UConn and South Carolina face unranked Xavier and Texas A&M this week, the college court's top-ranked action returns to full force on Wednesday.
First, No. 9 Ohio State's unbeaten season will be tested by NCAA conference rival No. 25 Michigan at 7 PM ET, live on BTN+.
Then at 8:30 PM ET, undefeated No. 8 Maryland will host one-loss No. 4 USC for the first time as conference foes, with live coverage on FS1.
No. 7 USC took down No. 4 UConn on Saturday, winning 72-70 in a battle between two bonafide NCAA basketball championship contenders still figuring out a consistent flow of play.
USC led by as many as 18 in the first half. However UConn came storming back, briefly pulling ahead in the fourth quarter before the Trojans outlasted the Huskies to secure the narrow victory.
JuJu holds on to secure USC win
With UConn superstar Paige Bueckers tight on her heels, USC standout JuJu Watkins registered a game-leading 25 points, alongside six rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.
Bueckers and Huskies freshman Sarah Strong split scoring duties for UConn, notching 22 points each with Strong adding 11 rebounds.
After opening the season at No. 2, this highly touted UConn squad has dropped pivotal games against Notre Dame and now USC to go 0-2 in Top 10 matchups. It's a pattern legendary coach Auriemma will hope to correct before the Huskies face their next ranked opponent in early February.
"I thought the execution part in the first half was just as bad as I've seen in a few years here in Connecticut," Huskies boss Geno Auriemma said after the loss.
"This is a really significant win, and it's a really significant win because of the stature of UConn's program and what Geno Auriemma has done for our sport," commented USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb.
Weekend upsets shake top-ranked NCAA basketball teams
Elsewhere, upsets dominated the NCAA basketball conversation this weekend, with Top 25 contenders falling short as this season's undefeated list continues to shrink.
No. 15 Michigan State saw their first loss on Friday, falling to unranked Alabama 82-67 in a low scoring matchup. Afterwards, No. 9 Duke suffered their own unranked loss on Saturday, ceding a tough defensive battle to USF 65-56.
Seventeenth-ranked Georgia Tech remains undefeated with Saturday's ranked win over No. 23 Nebraska, while No. 14 West Virginia lost to unranked Colorado later that day.
Parity is the name of the game this season, with conference realignment, the transfer portal, and other recent shifts impacting a number of programs across the NCAA. And with conference play looming, teams will rely on regional rivalries and schedule strength to prepare them for heightened competition in the new year.
Last week's blockbuster Top-10 matchup between No. 2 UConn and No. 8 Notre Dame scored ESPN their highest ratings of the young NCAA women's basketball season, averaging 847,000 viewers while peaking at 915,000 during the Thursday evening broadcast.
Notre Dame's big 79-68 win also marked the largest viewing audience for a pre-January NCAA women's basketball game on ESPN since 2011.
College basketball's record-breaking growth continues
Breaking viewership records is nothing new on the college basketball court. Later rounds of the NCAA tournament draw millions, with last year's national championship game scoring 18.9 million viewers to become ESPN's most-watched college basketball game ever, men's or women's.
That said, recent years have seen significant growth in regular-season play, too. The 2022-23 campaign averaged audiences of almost 200,000 across ESPN's platforms, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Last season upped the ante, averaging 272,000 viewers in regular-season play for a 37% increase over 2022-23. That bump made the 2023-24 season ESPN's most-watched in 15 years.
Even more, 2023-24 regular-season play on ESPN and ABC garnered 476,000 viewers per game, with 13 games drawing over 500,000 — the most to ever surpass that mark in a single season.
With Thursday's tilt between the Irish and the Huskies drawing 78% more viewers than last season's ESPN and ABC average, college basketball isn't slowing down — it's ramping up.
Top stars fuel NCAA basketball viewership records
The NCAA's Caitlin Clark era is over, but stars like Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and UConn's Paige Bueckers are fueling the demand for college basketball. These individual players' talent and skills, combined with massive recognition birthed by the NIL era across college sports, have allowed top athletes to build brands and fan followings that rival the pros.
Considering Bueckers and other college stars like USC's JuJu Watkins feature in national ad campaigns for huge companies like Nike and State Farm nearly as often as they top the NCAA's stat sheet, it's no wonder they've become household names that hundreds of thousands want to watch in action.
Behind a huge performance from sophomore Hannah Hidalgo, No. 8 Notre Dame handed No. 2 UConn their season’s first loss, defeating their third Top-5 team 79-68 on Thursday.
Even with injuries limiting Notre Dame’s depth, it was all gas, no brakes for the Irish, who spent nearly all of the game’s 40 minutes in the lead.
The Irish defense held the Huskies to an abysmal 18.8% three-point shooting rate, with UConn making just three out of 16 attempts from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Notre Dame did the opposite, sinking 55% of their 18 three-point attempts.
UConn superstar Paige Bueckers led the Huskies with 25 points in a game where guard Azzi Fudd, who’s nursing a minor knee injury, was sorely missed. While freshman forward Sarah Strong added 14 points despite getting into early foul trouble, UConn’s roster simply couldn’t put together enough clutch plays to overcome the Irish.
“Going forward, we need more contributions from more people [other than Bueckers],” assessed UConn head coach Geno Auriemma following the loss. “If you're playing at Connecticut, you have to be the kind of kid who can make an impact in a game like this."
Notre Dame has now taken three games in a row from UConn, something the Irish haven’t done since 2012-13.
"This is a major win for us," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said after the game. "Obviously, it's just one win, but I'm really grateful for this group and really proud of our effort and the way that we showed up today with such toughness and discipline."
Red-hot Hidalgo fuels Notre Dame win
Star guard Hidalgo played menace to the visiting Huskies on Thursday, putting together a near-triple-double with 29 points, 20 rebounds, and eight assists, plus draining a career-high six three-pointers. In total, the preseason All-American played a role in 48 of Notre Dame’s 79 points.
"Hidalgo is the head of the snake," UConn’s Bueckers said about her opponent. "She does a lot of great things offensively, defensively. She's a pest. I think the best thing that she does is her energy and her attitude and the way she leads that team with that and the fire that she brings."
Forward Liatu King added a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double of her own to the Irish’s total, with guard Olivia Miles also sinking 16 points.
The backcourt duo of Miles and Hidalgo continues to lift Notre Dame into this season’s top echelon, with Auriemma, the winningest NCAA basketball coach in history, commenting "I don't know if there's a better combination of guards than those two with how many different things they can hurt you with."
"Those guys are attacking you for the entire 40 minutes. And I don't know that I've seen anybody up close yet that can do that."
Ultimately, the Irish look as formidable as ever. Despite an uncharacteristic two-loss skid, Notre Dame boasts wins over then-No. 3 USC, then-No. 4 Texas, and now No. 2 UConn, becoming just the third team with a trio of Top-5 wins before January in 25 years.
"I'm hoping that the lesson [is], when we play with heart, we play with discipline, we play focused, we can be just as elite as everybody else in the country," remarked Ivey.
How to watch Sunday’s Top-25 NCAA basketball
Though both UConn and Notre Dame will face decidedly overmatched opponents in Georgetown and Eastern Michigan, respectively, there are two Top-25 tilts on deck.
First on Sunday, WNBA star Caitlin Clark’s alma mater, No. 21 Iowa, will visit an undefeated No. 17 Michigan State side off to their best start in program history. The Big Ten foes will tip off at 12 PM ET, with live coverage on BTN.
Then at 2 PM ET, undefeated No. 25 Georgia Tech will take on one-loss No. 14 UNC, airing on ACCN.
In between lies an intriguing bout between No. 22 NC State and Louisville, two teams who have suffered a slew of losses to ranked squads. The Wolfpack, who fell to No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 LSU, and No. 12 TCU, will be hungry to keep their Top-25 spot. On the other hand, Louisville, who registered losses to No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 UConn, No. 10 Oklahoma, and No. 16 Kentucky, will be eager to bounce back into the AP poll after being ousted on Monday.
NC State’s battle with Louisville will air live at 1 PM ET on ABC.
With Saturday's 78-68 upset win over then-No. 17 Iowa, Tennessee earned their first NCAA basketball AP Top 25 nod since November 2023, slotting in at No. 19 and putting an end to the historic powerhouse's longest-ever unranked streak.
The still-undefeated Vols have featured in nearly 90% of the 870 total AP polls since the list's 1976 beginnings, but this week's Top 25 return is a triumphant one.
"The beauty of it is we earned it," head coach Kim Caldwell told reporters after the rankings dropped on Monday. "Not because the name is Tennessee. We didn’t start (ranked)."
Minor shifts pervade updated AP basketball rankings
While No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 UConn, and No. 3 South Carolina held steady atop Monday's poll, last week's elite NCAA basketball schedule caused minor shifts throughout much of the Top 25. Behind losses to the defending champion Gamecocks, Duke dropped one spot to No. 9 and TCU slid three to No. 12.
After suffering their season's first loss on Thursday, an 80-70 overtime thriller against Notre Dame, the Texas Longhorns fell two poll positions to No. 6.
The Irish used their momentum to tack on a second victory on Sunday, routing Syracuse 93-62 behind a trio of 20+ point double-doubles from Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, and Sonia Citron. Those big wins lifted Notre Dame two spots to No. 8 this week.
Behind respective losses to aforementioned Tennessee and then-unranked NC State, Iowa and Ole Miss fell the farthest, tumbling four spots each to Nos. 21 and 22.
On the other hand, undefeated Michigan State's best start in program history saw the Spartans leap seven spots to No. 17 in the poll's biggest bump.
AP basketball poll exits and newcomers
Joining Tennessee in making their 2024 AP poll debut this week is No. 25 Georgia Tech, whose 9-0 record marks the Yellow Jackets' best season start since 1977. NC State is also back, tying Ole Miss at No. 22 after a week out of the rankings.
Meanwhile, Louisville's fourth season loss by way of UConn's 85-52 Champions Classic smackdown on Saturday sent the now-unranked Cardinals packing. Joining them in leaving this week's poll are Illinois, who logged their third season loss against No. 11 Ohio State on Sunday, and Alabama, who succumbed to unranked Cal last week.
How to watch midweek Top 25 NCAA basketball
Under the new rankings, NCAA basketball has two ranked matchups on deck this week. First, No. 18 Iowa State will battle state rivals No. 21 Iowa at 9 PM ET on Wednesday, airing live on FS1.
The marquee midweek matchup, however, hits the court at 7 PM ET on Thursday, when preseason All-Americans Paige Bueckers and Hannah Hidalgo will meet when No. 8 Notre Dame hosts No. 2 UConn.
The battle between two of the nation's best guards will be broadcast on ESPN.
Week 6 AP college basketball rankings
- 1. UCLA (9-0, Big Ten)
- 2. UConn (8-0, Big East)
- 3. South Carolina (9-1, SEC)
- 4. LSU (11-0, SEC)
- 5. USC (8-1, Big Ten)
- 6. Texas (8-1, SEC)
- 7. Maryland (10-0, Big Ten)
- 8. Notre Dame (7-2, ACC)
- 9. Duke (9-2, ACC)
- 10. Oklahoma (8-1, SEC)
- 11. Ohio State (8-0, Big Ten)
- 12. TCU (9-1, Big 12)
- 13. Kansas State (10-1, Big 12)
- 14. UNC (9-1, ACC)
- 15. West Virginia (9-1, Big 12)
- 16. Kentucky (8-1, SEC)
- 17. Michigan State (9-0, Big Ten)
- 18. Iowa State (8-2, Big 12)
- 19. Tennessee (7-0, SEC)
- 20. Michigan (8-1, Big Ten)
- 21. Iowa (8-1, Big Ten)
- 22. Ole Miss (6-3, SEC)
- 22. NC State (6-3, ACC)
- 24. Nebraska (8-1, Big Ten)
- 25. Georgia Tech (9-0, ACC)