Geno Auriemma one win from tying all-time record as UConn faces UNC; USC, LSU also in action

A marquee matchup kicks off the weekend in women's college hoops with four straight nights of blowouts. Ranked teams are 25-0 this week, with 25 wins by double-digits and an average margin of victory of 35.6 points per game.

Thursday's slate had one promising matchup between preseason ranked teams with Creighton at No. 10 Kansas State. However, a 22-9 deficit after a quarter and Ayoka Lee's return after missing the previous game were too much for the Jays to handle. K-State's star center had 28 points on 13-for-18 from the field, while three other 'Cats finished in double-figures as well. 

Here's everything you need to know for Friday, November 15:

Geno Auriemma enters Top 25 showdown one win from VanDerveer

No. 2 UConn (2-0) vs No. 14 North Carolina (3-0) (in Greensboro, NC)

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma enters with 1,215 career wins during his legendary career, one shy of tying the recently retired Tara VanDerveer for the most by a coach in either men's or women's Division I basketball. Auriemma is in his 40th season as UConn head coach, having led the Huskies to 11 National Championships, 23 Final Fours and an astonishing 29 straight Sweet 16 appearances while earning Naismith Coach of the Year honors eight times and AP Coach of the Year nine times.

On the court, the Huskies have scored exactly 86 points in each of their first two games while allowing only 81 combined. They're coming off an 86-49 win over South Florida behind 22 points from Paige Bueckers on 9-for-10 from the field, the most accurate shooting game of her career. This is the 15th time Bueckers has played a top 15 opponent in her career, averaging 20.9 ppg (13+ points in all 14 games) and 3.4 apg, while the Huskies have lost eight of 14, including six of the last seven.

The cast around Bueckers looks a bit different than last year's, but also very strong. Incoming Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen (12 points and 12 assists in two games) gives the Huskies an elite distributor with an Ivy League Player of the Year and two First Team All-Ivy selections to her name in the backcourt with Bueckers. No. 1 recruit Sarah Strong has needed no time adjusting to the college game with 30 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and eight steals so far while going 11-for-12 inside the arc. Sophomore Ice Brady is a third new starter alongside Bueckers and Ashlynn Shade after starting only three games last year. 

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On the opposite side is a North Carolina team that's held all three of its opponents to 53 or fewer points, most recently notching their slimmest win yet by a 19-point margin at North Carolina A&T Tuesday. Laila Hull led the Tar Heels over NCAT with 14 points off the bench, while Lexi Donarski led the starters with 10. UNC's holding opponents to just 32.3% from the field through three games, which would be its best mark in the Division I era, but of course it hasn't played a team near UConn's caliber yet.

Donarski leads UNC, averaging 15.0 ppg in the young season, on pace for the highest mark of her five-year career (including three seasons at Iowa State, where she topped out at 14.3 in 2021-22). Fellow fifth-year senior Alyssa Ustby hasn't gotten off to quite as fast a start after being named preseason All-ACC. She has been held to just seven points in each of the last two games on 5-for-18 from the field after scoring 18 in the opener.

UConn's won six straight meetings with UNC, most recently last December by a 12-point margin. Carolina is seeking its first win over the Huskies since January 2007 and its first win over a top five opponent in four tries, dating to a victory over No. 4 Notre Dame in January 2023.

JuJu Watkins and USC headline three other AP Top 25 games

Santa Clara (2-0) at No. 3 USC (3-0)

USC certainly did its part to boost the Top 25's margin of victory this week with an 85-point win over Cal State Northridge Tuesday. At the rate USC's point totals are increasing, they might crack 150 points in this game after going from 68 against Ole Miss in Paris to 90 against Cal Poly and, most recently, 124. They'll look to stay hot and win a 19th straight non-conference home game.

Superstar sophomore JuJu Watkins' scoring average is down 5.8 ppg from the otherworldly 27.1 she averaged last season (second only to Caitlin Clark), but she's also putting up 6.7 rpg, 4.7 apg, 3.7 spg and 4.0 bpg. Her 12 blocks are fifth-most in D-I so far and three ahead of any other player listed as a guard (UC Davis' Tova Sabel has 9, also in three games).

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Watkins' drop in scoring has as much to do with an increase in talent around her as anything else, most notably incoming Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen (16.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and freshmen Kayleigh Heckel and Kennedy Smith (10.7 ppg each). By comparison, USC's second-leading scorer last year (McKenzie Forbes) averaged 14.3 ppg, and its fourth-leading scorer (Kayla Padilla) averaged 7.8.

Santa Clara is coming off a six-point win at Fresno State Saturday after opening with a 13-point home win over UC Riverside. The Broncos went 0-2 against ranked teams last year and have lost 16 of 17 to the Top 25 dating to 2015 (win: February 2023 vs No. 17 Gonzaga).

Murray State (1-1) at No. 7 LSU (3-0)

LSU's cut through its schedule like a chainsaw through melted butter so far, holding all three opponents to 44 or fewer points while scoring 95, 95 and 117, and there's every reason to believe LSU will continue to dominate. The Tigers' first major conference opponent is Washington in the Pink Flamingo Championship opener. They'll most likely play at most two ranked opponents in non-conference play, assuming they face NC State in the Pink Flamingo title game. LSU also sees No. 24 Stanford in early December, but the next ranked opponent from there is No. 1 South Carolina in late January. Flau'jae Johnson leads the Bayou Bengals with 22.3 points per game, Annesah Morrow is averaging a double-double (17.3 ppg, 11.7 rpg), and Mikaylah Williams is just shy of 20 points a game (19.7).

Murray State is coming off a loss to Southern Indiana after opening up with a win over SIU-Edwardsville. The Racers are 0-13 against Top 25 opponents since 2002-03 (records unavailable further back).

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Texas A&M (2-1) at No. 15 West Virginia (3-0)

West Virginia couldn't hold a third straight opponent to exactly 41 points in its rout of Backyard Brawl rival Pittsburgh Tuesday, but still pulled away after halftime to cruise to an 82-54 win. That 28-point margin, large as it is, was 16 points smaller than their previous season-low margin of victory (85-41 in the opener). Jordan Harrison leads the Mountaineers, averaging 19.3 ppg, while Sydney Shaw (16.7) and JJ Quinerly (14.0) are also averaging double-figures in the early going.

Texas A&M has won two in a row since opening with a loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi but looks to be in over its head on the road against this red-hot WVU team. The Aggies have lost 16 straight to ranked teams since having a nine-game win streak over the Top 25 snapped in March 2021 vs No. 16 Georgia.