3 games to watch in women’s college basketball for Week 7

Big tests for No. 2 Stanford and No. 14 Iowa State highlight another week of must-watch women’s college basketball games.

Welcome back to FanSided’s weekly look around the women’s basketball world. Looking for some games to watch this upcoming week? We’ll be highlighting three of them that should be on your radar.

Whether you’re a long-time viewer who’s just looking for a shortcut to see what you should watch or you’re just getting into the sport and want to know about compelling storylines, we have you covered. And at the end, I’ll include a short “other games to watch” section, if you want to take your basketball watching further.

Let’s dig into the seventh week of the women’s college basketball season!

Here are the women’s college basketball games you won’t want to miss this week:

3. No. 16 Oregon vs No. 21 Arkansas

Tuesday, Dec. 20, 4:00 p.m. — FloHoops

Arkansas is now 13-0 on the season, and while the team hasn’t played the toughest schedule, they do have two wins over ranked teams, including Saturday’s 83-75 win over then No. 16 Creighton.

The thing about the Razorbacks is that they play fast and they score a bunch of points. The team is in the 94th percentile in pace right now per Her Hoop Stats, and their 78.6 points per game rank 30th in the country. This is the fourth year in a row that the team’s been top 30 in scoring offense.

On the other side, Oregon is even better this year offensively, averaging 85.4 points per game, but they do it in a slower way, ranking 202nd in pace, which is in the 44th percentile.

That, to me, is the big appeal of this one. We have two really good offenses, but they’re teams that play such different styles. Arkansas wants to get down the floor quickly and shoot — they rank in the 92nd percentile in 3-point attempt rate, per CBB Analytics.

Meanwhile, Oregon also can get out and run, ranking in the 81st percentile in fast break points per game, but the team prefers to slow things down in the halfcourt and work the ball inside. They’re in the 43rd percentile in 3-point attempt rate, and take 32.1 percent of their shots at the rim.

2. No. 16 Creighton @ No. 2 Stanford

Tuesday, Dec. 20, 10:00 p.m. — Pac-12 Bay Area

Creighton will almost certainly drop some in the rankings after losing to Arkansas, but this Bluejays team is still one of the 25 best schools in the country. They’re 8-2, and have wins over some good teams, including both South Dakota and South Dakota State, who are always good mid-major programs.

The Bluejays have shot the ball well this season, with five of the six players who’ve started games shooting over 40 percent from the floor, including Rachael Saunders, who is shooting 71.4 percent, albeit on a pretty low volume.

And then there’s Stanford. The Cardinal were in danger of losing on Sunday against Tennessee but pulled out the 77-70 win. Their only loss this season was to No. 1 South Carolina.

But here’s the thing — Stanford showed Sunday they aren’t unbeatable. Sure, they’ll have the best players on the floor, and they’re one of the best offensive teams in the country. But the defense isn’t quite at the same level as the offense right now, so Creighton could make a game of this one.

1. Drake @ No. 14 Iowa State

Thursday, Dec. 22, 6:00 p.m. — ESPN+

I’m biased here, but the state of Iowa produces some of the best basketball in the country, and when the teams in Iowa play each other, you can disregard the records. For example, Drake hosted Iowa earlier this season and took the then-No. 4 Hawkeyes to overtime.

The Cyclones beat Villanova on Sunday, moving to team to 1-2 this year against ranked opponents. The offense continues to excel for Iowa State, but the team’s defense has had some flaws. They rank outside the top 100 in scoring defense.

Emily Ryan almost earned a triple-double in Sunday’s win, finishing with 16 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. If you’re a casual women’s college basketball viewer, you probably know the name of her Cyclone teammate Ashley Joens, but Ryan’s a name that needs to be better known as well. She does a bit of everything for Iowa State.

This is going to a game of scoring. The Bulldogs rank 12th in the country in scoring offense, but 279th in scoring defense. Drake is also 15th in pace. This is going to be a fun contest.

Other Games to Watch

• San Diego at No. 23 Gonzaga — Monday, Dec. 19, 9:00 PM — WCC Network
• Middle Tennessee @ Rice — Tuesday, Dec. 20, 1:00 PM — CUSA TV
• No. 16 Oregon vs No. 21 Arkansas — Tuesday, Dec. 20, 4:00 PM — FloHoops
• No. 3 Ohio State vs South Florida — Tuesday, Dec. 20, 6:30 PM — FloHoops
• No. 19 Michigan @ No. 7 North Carolina — Tuesday, Dec. 20, 7:00 PM — ESPN2
• Seton Hall @ No. 9 UConn — Wednesday, Dec. 21, 12:00 PM — SNY
• No. 22 Kansas @ Nebraska — Wednesday, Dec. 21, 7:00 PM — B1G+
• Florida @ No. 24 Oklahoma — Wednesday. Dec. 21, 9:30 PM — ESPN2