NCAA women’s basketball: 5 things we learned from the SEC-ACC Challenge

The yearly in-season competition exceeded expectations and highlighted some of the best in basketball.

The SEC-ACC Challenge is the perfect event to follow the many Thanksgiving tournaments we saw last week. This year it exceeded even the highest expectations for on-court competition, intrigue and building the foundation for the rest of the season.

These matchups not only feature many ranked teams facing off, but are often looked at by the NCAA tournament selection committee for strength of schedule and tournament seeding come March.

Here are five things we learned from the SEC-ACC Challenge games this week:

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Notre Dame never left

Arguably the most star-studded game over the two days took place Thursday night when the No. 4 Texas Longhorns traveled to South Bend, Indiana to face the No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Entering the game, the Fighting Irish were on the ropes. Last week, then-No. 3 ranked Notre Dame lost both of its games. The first was against a TCU Horned Frogs team that’s one of the hottest in basketball, led by point guard Hailey Van Lith who’s added high distribution numbers to an already impressive scoring ability.

A loss where no one could fault the Irish, but then the unranked Utah Utes beat Notre Dame and it looked like the Irish were caught in a slump after defeating No. 3 USC the weekend prior.

On Thursday, Rori Harmon and Madison Booker led the Longhorns to a five-point lead after one quarter and it looked like Notre Dame’s woes might continue, but the Irish didn’t waver.

The Notre Dame defense picked up the intensity, holding Texas to their lowest point total in a quarter this season (12) and set up a second half worth the price of admission. The lead changed four times in the final 10 minutes, and in the 10 seconds both sides’ leaders took center stage.

First up was Harmon, who gave time to her Texas teammates to run a play but the Notre Dame zone was too much for the SEC side. Harmon took matters into her own hands, took on a double team and hit a midrange jumper to tie the game.

Olivia Miles wouldn’t be outdone, and the senior guard attacked the rim and made a move midair around 6-foot-6 forward Kyla Oldacre to hit what looked like the game-winning layup with two seconds remaining.

That was just long enough for Harmon to turn minor contact into a whistle and two free throws.

All those free throws did though was stall the inevitable, with Hannah Hidalgo scoring five of Notre Dame’s 12 points in overtime to beat the Longhorns 80-70. Hidalgo led the Irish with 30 points, eight rebounds and four assists, eliminating any doubt towards the ACC side who held outstanding sophomore Booker to 7-of-21 shooting and six points from Harmon.

After a brief ACC stint against Syracuse, it doesn’t get easier for the Irish when they welcome the No. 2 UConn Huskies to South Bend on Thursday.

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LSU can battle

In Baton Rouge, the No. 5 LSU Tigers hit a three to start the scoring on Thursday. They wouldn’t lead again until overtime against the unranked Stanford Cardinal.

Stanford entered the always loud PMAC with only one blemish to their record when they lost to the Indiana Hoosiers in Assembly Hall last month. Maybe its something with passionate home environments, but after amassing a 15-point lead to start the second quarter, the Tigers slowly chipped away until the final possible moment.

With less than a minute remaining, the visitors had a two possession lead and many of the LSU “faithful” took to the exits. However, the game wasn’t over, especially for guard Mikaylah Williams.

Williams scored five of LSU’s final eight points, including the shot that sent the game into overtime.

The junior guard received a pass at the free throw line, moved like she was going to push towards the basket, stopped and hit a midrange fadeaway jumper with four seconds remaining.

It was two of Williams’ game-leading 32 points, and after Stanford missed a last second heave, all the momentum laid with the Tigers who powered through overtime to a 94-88 victory.

What made the extra period reassuring for Tiger fans was the absence of Flau’Jae Johnson. With 1:05 remaining, the leader of LSU on the court fouled out of the game with the Tigers up four points. With their top scorer out, the Tigers went ahead and increased their lead to seal the victory.

Up to this point of the season, LSU had fans looking at their strength of schedule and wondering if this team was really worth the top-five ranking. After Thursday’s win over Stanford, and wins over the Washington Huskies and NC State Wolfpack in the past two weeks, it’s getting harder to question the strength of head coach Kim Mulkey’s squad.

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South Carolina is hungry

For some sports fans, watching the mighty fall is sometimes as good as a favorite team winning. The South Carolina Gamecocks are the most successful women’s basketball team of the decade, with four consecutive trips to the Final Four, with two ending in National Championship trophies for head coach Dawn Staley. Not to mention not losing a single game during last year’s title run and dropping only nine games in the past five seasons.

So, when the UCLA Bruins got the best of the Gamecocks on Nov. 24, their lone defeat since the 22-23 season, some corners of the basketball world rejoiced at the idea of another team taking the helm.

Not so fast.

Since that defeat, the Gamecocks have been on a tear, leaving nothing in their wake. Just four days after losing to the Bruins, South Carolina defeated the then No. 15 ranked Iowa State Cyclones by 40 points. That’s not a typo.

Purdue was next, falling 99-51, a scoreline usually reserved for the first couple games of the season when top sides take on small, regional, in-state schools. Nope, it was a Big Ten team made to look like a mid-major satellite campus.

Thursday, it was the No. 8 Duke Blue Devils traveling to Columbia, South Carolina for a chance to slow down the train raging full steam down the track, and they didn’t.

Duke’s leading scorer Reigan Richardson, fresh off scoring 54 points in the last two games leading up to the SEC-ACC Challenge, got into foul trouble early and played only a minute of the first quarter. Richardson ended the game with only her second game since joining Duke where she had no rebounds, no assists and single-digit points (3).

South Carolina went at the Blue Devils for three quarters before Duke went on a run, but by then it was too late. The Gamecocks went into the final 10 minutes with a 20-point lead that Duke made look more respectable in an 81-70 defeat, but the end result was still the same.

Forward Chloe Kitts had 21 points and 11 rebounds in the victory, matching her career scoring high and notching her third double-double this season.

Up next for the Gamecocks are the No. 9 TCU Horned Frogs, who have already upset two ranked sides this season.

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Oklahoma is growing

When the No. 11 Sooners signed Raegan Beers, arguably the top transfer this summer, the expected result was that Oklahoma would hit a new level, competing with their new SEC opponents in their first year in the conference.

The Sooners first test, Nov. 27 against the Duke Blue Devils, ended in an overtime defeat where Oklahoma needed a last second three to even add another period.

Wednesday, they opened up the SEC-ACC Challenge in Kentucky, facing off against freshman star Tajianna Roberts and the No. 22 Louisville Cardinals. Louisville started strong, forcing Beers into early foul trouble, playing only eight of the first 20 minutes and entering halftime with a 12-point lead.

In the fourth quarter, Oklahoma showed it can take absorb the pressure and persevere.

Guard Payton Verhulst, who hit that game-tying three against Duke, stepped up to the spotlight again with an 11-point quarter where the guard agitated the home side, getting to the line six times and hitting all of them. Making it hurt a little more was the fact that Verhulst was once a Cardinal, transferring in December of 2022, one month into her sophomore season.

The frustration showed in Louisville’s offense. The Cardinals shot 25 percent in the final quarter, including missing all seven attempts from beyond the arc.

Verhulst’s play, along with four points and five rebounds from Beers, led the Sooners in a final quarter where they outscored the Cardinals 29-12, defeating Louisville 78-72.

For Louisville, it’s their second loss to an SEC school this season, after falling to the Kentucky Wildcats.

Oklahoma heads back to Norman with their first marquee victory in the Verhulst/Beers era. Should they continue this trajectory, their addition to the SEC might annoy more fans outside of Oklahoma than in it.

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Basketball’s fun

Sheila Swish said it best “basketball’s fun.” The SEC won the SEC-ACC Challenge after the two conferences tied in last year’s inaugural competition, but really it was basketball fans who won.

While most of the big games lived up to the hype, there are even more lessons throughout these two days of battles. Like NC State finally beating a ranked team when they traveled to Ole Miss to defeat the No. 18 ranked SEC program, or Cal upsetting a ranked Alabama team, who some saw as a dark horse side.

The SEC-ACC Challenge showed that outside of March Madness, basketball games are best served inside team’s arenas, in front of home fans who can help push a team to new heights.