3 games to watch in women’s college basketball for Week 14

The women’s college basketball schedule is absolutely stacked this week, including matchups for control of the Big Ten and SEC.

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 14th week of the women’s college basketball season!

All stats from Her Hoop Stats unless otherwise noted.

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

3. No. 6 Iowa @ No. 4 Indiana

Thursday, Feb, 9, 6:30 p.m. ET — Big Ten Network

The Big Ten has kind of cannibalized itself lately, with two teams peaking out above the fray: Indiana and Iowa, which both enter the week with just one loss in conference play. Indiana has won 10 in a row. Iowa has run eight in a row. This game has a good chance of deciding which team will win the Big Ten regular-season title.

We’ve talked a lot about Iowa this year—that happens when a team has one of the nation’s top players in Caitlin Clark, who just had the ninth triple-double of her career on Sunday in a win over Penn State, posting 23 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds in the 95-51 win. Clark has helped Iowa lead the nation in scoring offense.

The problem for Iowa is that the team is 155th in defensive rating. In the team’s four losses, the Hawkeyes have allowed 84, 86, 90 and 94 points. That could be a problem against Indiana.

The Hoosiers — led by Mackenzie Holmes’ 22.0 points per game — rank ninth in Division I in scoring offense and third in field goal percentage. Iowa has had some trouble defending at the rim, ranking in the 47th percentile in field goal percentage allowed in that zone, while the Hoosiers are shooting 77.2 percent at the rim. Overall, Indiana is fifth in 2-point field goal percentage. (Iowa happens to be first in that stat.)

This game should feature a ton of scoring on both sides. Indiana has the edge on paper because of better defensive production, but there’s a chance that this game will end up featuring almost no defense. If you like offense, tune in.

2. Washington @ No. 7 Utah

Friday, Feb. 10, 9:00 p.m. ET — Pac-12 Networks

On the surface, this seems like a weird one to highlight, as Washington comes into the week just 5-7 in conference play. But the Huskies are on a three-game win streak, which includes a 72-67 win over then No. 2 Stanford. Can they keep that momentum going on Friday against another ranked team, Utah?

It’ll be tough, mainly because of how hard it is to slow down Utah. The Utes average 84.9 points per game, the fourth-best mark in the country, and rank third in offensive rating. Alissa Pili has been arguably the biggest surprise in the country — if there was a Most Improved award, she’d be a great candidate. Pili averaged 7.8 points per game for USC last year; she’s averaging 20.9 points per game for Utah this season, and Gianna Kneepkens is averaging 14.8. Both players shoot over 50 percent from the floor and over 40 percent from 3.

But if there’s a team that can slow Utah down, it might be Washington, considering the Huskies already did it once. When these teams met on New Year’s Day, the Utes won, but were held to 61 points in the win, the team’s lowest score of the season.

The Huskies haven’t done much offensively this year, but they rank in the top 50 in scoring defense, and the team has found some scoring in the last two games, topping 70 points in back-to-back contests for the first time since the team’s first two games of the year, which were against Utah Tech and UC Davis.

Washington definitely shouldn’t win this one. But it shouldn’t have defeated Stanford either, and the last meeting of these two teams was an eight-point game. If Dalayah Daniels can score in double figures for the fourth game in a row, and Lauren Schwartz can get a little better three-point luck, then Washington has a shot.

1. No. 3 LSU @ No. 1 South Carolina

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2:00 p.m. ET — ESPN

For the second week in a row, South Carolina plays a top-five opponent on Sunday afternoon. Last week, it was UConn, with the Gamecocks taking down the Huskies 81-77. This week, it’s LSU.

This is the game that we’ve all been waiting for. There are two undefeated teams left in the country, and after Sunday, there will just be one left standing.

This is a matchup of two teams that come in with very different resumes. South Carolina’s played a tough schedule, with wins in non-conference against Stanford, UCLA, Maryland and the aforementioned UConn team. The Gamecocks have played the best and keep coming out on top. Despite a tough schedule — the team’s opponent average winning percentage of 57.8 percent ranks 54th in the country — the Gamecocks have Division I’s best scoring defense, as well as the second-best offensive rating in the country.

As for LSU, the Tigers have similar numbers to South Carolina, ranking first in offensive rating and second in defensive rating. But the Tigers rank 206th in opponent average win percentage, and while SEC wins over Arkansas and Tennessee have shown that the team’s success isn’t a fluke, this is the big one that determines how good LSU really is. A win for the Tigers combined with what the rest of their season looks like probably means LSU gets a No. 1 seed.

Other games of note

• No. 13 Virginia Tech @ No. 15 NC State — Monday, Feb. 6, 6:00 PM — ESPN2
• No. 20 Oklahoma @ Baylor — Tuesday, Feb. 7, 8:00 PM — ESPN+
• No. 23 Florida State @ Miami — Thursday, Feb. 9, 6:00 PM — ACC Extra
• No. 2 Stanford @ No. 22 Arizona — Thursday, Feb. 9, 9:30 PM — ESPN
• Baylor @ Oklahoma State — Saturday, Feb. 11, 3:00 PM — ESPN+
• Illinois @ No. 8 Maryland — Sunday, Feb. 12, 1:00 PM — B1G+
• No. 23 Florida State @ No. 13 Virginia Tech — Sunday, Feb. 12, 2:00 PM — ACC Network