Michael Voepel is a senior writer covering the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\nMarch Madness is the big picture of the college basketball season, but January’s daily challenges are crucial to putting that picture together. Especially in the talent-laden SEC, which currently has nine AP-ranked teams fighting for supremacy, while trying to stifle offensive efforts.<\/p>\n
Another such powerhouse meeting comes Thursday: Texas — coming off its first loss of the season, at LSU — travels to South Carolina (ESPN2, 7pm ET). But these teams have already met this season in a game that was not ranked in the SEC standings. That was in November’s Players Era championship game in Las Vegas, a 66-64 Longhorns victory.<\/p>\n
The Gamecocks then avoided a losing streak by holding off Louisville 79-77 on Dec. 4, and have gone nine games since then. The closest victory came by 11 points at Florida on Jan. 4. Senior guard Ta’Niya Latson (sprain) was out for three games, but returned Sunday in a 65-43 win at Georgia.<\/p>\n
South Carolina has been a dominant force in the SEC for the past decade\u2014once again as the No. 1 seed. 1 in the NCAA tournament. A win over the Longhorns this week would put the Gamecocks on even firmer ground.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 1The next seven days:<\/strong> vs. Villanova (Jan. 15), vs. Notre Dame (Jan. 19)<\/p>\nIn last week’s victory over St. John’s and Creighton, sophomore forward Sarah Strong led the Huskies with 42 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists and 11 steals. The Huskies have now won 55 games in a row against the Big East. However, this week could be a bit more challenging, as they will face the second best team in the Big East, Villanova, and former Big East rival Notre Dame, who has been in the ACC since 2013-14.<\/p>\n
\nEditor’s Choice<\/h2>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 4The next seven days:<\/strong> vs. Texas (Jan. 15), @ Coppin State (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nTa’Niya Latson played 20 minutes in her return to action on Sunday, finishing with 9 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds. She is expected to make a big impact for Texas, along with Madina Okot and forward Joyce Edwards. Okot has 13 double-doubles this season, including a combined 29 points and 20 rebounds in last week’s win over Georgia and Arkansas. Edwards, meanwhile, leads the Gamecocks this season in scoring (20.7 PPG) and steals (1.9 SPG).<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 3The next seven days:<\/strong> @ Minnesota (Jan. 14), vs. Maryland (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nCenter Lauren Betts has led the team in scoring and rebounding in each of the last four games, with 18 points and 10 rebounds in last week’s 83-61 win over Nebraska. The Bruins had six players score in double figures against the Huskers and continued to dominate the boards (43-28 advantage).<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 2The next seven days:<\/strong> @ South Carolina (Jan. 15), vs. Texas A&M (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nAfter a 97-36 blowout of Auburn on Thursday, the Longhorns had a rough Sunday at LSU. Their offense was inconsistent through the first three quarters, leading to Rori Harmon being benched in the fourth. After a 70-65 loss to the Tigers, coach Vic Schaefer criticized the SEC for having his team play LSU and South Carolina back-to-back. However, Texas is still considered the NCAA’s No. 1 seed, and probably needs a loss to refocus.<\/p>\n
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play<\/span>\n1:14<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Highlight: No. 12 LSU upsets No. 2 Texas in a fourth-quarter thriller<\/p>\n
Mikaylah Williams paced the offense with 20 points and seven rebounds as the Tigers broke the Longhorns’ run with a 70-65 victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 6The next seven days:<\/strong> @ Mississippi State (Jan. 15), vs. Michigan at Newark, New Jersey (Jan. 19)<\/p>\nThe Commodores matched the 1992-93 Vandy team’s best start to the season, advancing to the women’s Final Four. This past week, they beat Missouri 99-68 and Texas A&M 91-51 behind 45 points from Mikayla Blakes and 24 rebounds from Sacha Washington. Vanderbilt will depart SEC play on Monday for a top-10 matchup with Michigan in the Coretta Scott King Classic.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 8The next seven days:<\/strong> @ Notre Dame (Jan. 15), @ NC State (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nThe Cardinals are 6-0 in the ACC, along with Duke. They beat Miami 77-68 and Pittsburgh 86-46 last week and continue to show that having so many similar threats offensively makes them really tough to guard. Their biggest ACC challenge is coming, however, with four of the next five on the road.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 7The next seven days:<\/strong> vs. Florida (Jan. 15), @ Mississippi State (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nThe Wildcats had their worst game of the season in their 64-51 loss at Alabama, where they shot 31% from the field. But they rallied to beat Oklahoma 63-57 on Sunday, holding the Sooners scoreless in the game’s final four minutes. Kentucky guard Tonie Morgan had a combined 36 points, 17 rebounds and 9 assists in those games.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 9The next seven days:<\/strong> @ Oklahoma (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nAfter starting SEC play 0-2, the Tigers roared back last week with an 80-59 win at Georgia and an upset over visiting Texas. The latter is LSU’s signing so far this season, led by Mikaylah Williams’ 20 points. Rebounding was an issue for LSU in its SEC-opening losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt, but the Tigers outrebounded the Bulldogs and Longhorns 87-70 combined.<\/p>\n
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play<\/span>\n1:37<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mikaylah Williams explains LSU’s resilience in the win over Texas<\/p>\n
Williams recaps his 20-point performance as he explains that No.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 10The next seven days:<\/strong> @ West Virginia (Jan. 14), vs. Arizona (Jan. 17), vs. Ohio State at Newark, New Jersey (Jan. 19)<\/p>\nFrogs are one area of \u200b\u200bdefense to be invincible. On Jan. 3, gave Utah a late lead but gave up a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left, then fell in overtime. But those losses seemed to motivate TCU last week, with victories against Oklahoma State (69-61) and Arizona State (77-46) where the Frogs’ defense dominated again. The next week offers big challenges to see if they can keep up, including a non-conference matchup with Ohio State in the Coretta Scott King Classic.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 15The next seven days:<\/strong> vs. Kansas State (Jan. 17)<\/p>\nIt’s been a big week for the Lady Raiders, who fought off a tough win at West Virginia, beat a Cincinnati team that just upset Iowa State, and then ignored Houston. The scores were remarkably similar (71-66, 71-60, 71-59) with the same leading scorer: guard Bailey Maupin, who totaled 63 points. The team’s 19-game winning streak tied the Texas Tech record set by the 1992-93 NCAA title-winning team. That streak began in late January and spanned the national championship game.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 12The next seven days:<\/strong> vs. Illinois (Jan. 15), vs. Vanderbilt in Newark, New Jersey (Jan. 19)<\/p>\nThe Wolverines hit the century mark for the fifth time this season — and second against a Big Ten foe — with their 105-65 victory over Penn State last week. They followed that up with an 86-60 win over Wisconsin. But next come two games against ranked opponents, including a big non-conference meeting with Vanderbilt in the Coretta Scott King Classic that could have long-distance NCAA tournament implications.<\/p>\n\nImproved ESPN app<\/h2>\n
Watch your favorite events in the newly improved ESPN app. Learn more about which program is right for you. Register Now<\/b><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> NRThe next seven days:<\/strong> @@ Georgia (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nThe Rebels picked up their best win of the season Thursday: 74-69 against then-No. 5 Oklahoma. They then crushed in-state rival Mississippi State 93-68 on Sunday, and moved back into the Power Rankings. Forward Cotie McMahon had a combined 43 points in those victories. Considering Ole Miss also nearly upset Texas last week, falling 67-64 on the road, the Rebels are off to a strong start in SEC play.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 5The next seven days:<\/strong> vs. LSU (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nSome franchises in the SEC are brutal, and the Sooners are one now. Their 13-game hitting streak ended with a 74-69 loss at home to Ole Miss last week, followed by a 63-57 loss at Kentucky as the Wildcats took on Oklahoma’s high-scoring offense. In the next nine days, the Sooners will face LSU and South Carolina, so they will need to correct the mistakes that have hampered their scoring in the last two games.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> NRThe next seven days:<\/strong> vs. Penn State (Jan. 14), vs. TCU at Newark, New Jersey (Jan. 19)<\/p>\nThe Buckeyes move into the Power Rankings after their best week of the season, with wins at Illinois (78-69) and Maryland (89-76). Ohio State lost McMahon, who transferred to Ole Miss after three years, but guard Jaloni Cambridge is on the rise in his sophomore season. He had a combined 69 points and 14 assists against the Illini and Terps. A non-conference win for TCU could push Ohio State into the top 10.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 14The next seven days:<\/strong> vs. Oregon (Jan. 15), vs. Michigan State (Jan. 18)<\/p>\nThe Hawkeyes have looked shaky at times against two teams that are currently a combined 1-11 in Big Ten play. After a 67-58 victory Jan. 5 Northwestern, Iowa pulled out of Indiana on Sunday, winning 56-53 after trailing by 16 at halftime. The Hawkeyes are tied for the lead in the Big Ten at 5-0, but will face four ranked foes in the next six games, including UCLA.<\/p>\n
Previous level:<\/strong> 16The next seven days:<\/strong> @ Utah (Jan. 14), @ BYU (Jan. 17)<\/p>\nLast week could have been tricky for Baylor after getting two big sweeps earlier in Oklahoma State and Iowa State. But the Bears managed to stay on track, beating Colorado 56-52 and Kansas 79-64. They face the challenge of a two-game road trip to Utah this week. But senior hitter Darianna Littlepage-Buggs is playing well, with doubles in her last three games.<\/p>\n
Imported into:<\/strong> Ole Miss Rebels, Ohio State BuckeyesOut:<\/strong> Maryland Terrapins, Iowa State Cyclones<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael VoepelJan 14, 2026, 08:00 AM ET Shut up Michael Voepel is a senior writer covering the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996. March Madness is the big picture of the college basketball season, but January’s daily challenges are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1920,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions\/1920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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