Daily Briefing — Feb. 5, 2022: Does Phoenix need another hero? Tina, Turner, Griner, Taurasi, Diggins-Smith.

But first: Do you recall the Offseason Matrices I’ve been plugging? Well now they’re live at The Next Hoops dot com! For all your offseason needs, please check out our brand-spanking-new page for signings, reported interests, trades, updated cap sheets, coaching changes, and more!

W Roundup

Free agency

• Lindsay Allen: Re-signed with Indiana on a one-year deal.
• Emma Cannon: Re-signed with Indiana on a multi-year deal. The Fever now had 13 players under contract, and will have to cut either a quality second-year player or Temi Fagbenle, who they just extended a qualifying offer to. No, I have no idea what the team thinks it’s doing either.
• Tina Charles: Signed with Phoenix for one year and $108,000, per Rachel Galligan. The 2021 scoring leader, she of the second-highest usage rate in league history coming off a career-high in that area, is joining the 11th- and 13th-highest-usage players (Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi, respectively) and pushing the league’s best defensive-help big out to the perimeter. Then again, this is what you have to do when you spend a decade trading away next year’s draft pick and trading away quality youth and handing out inadvisable contracts. To be fair, the team’s top six is far better in a vacuum than any other top six across the league. It’s just going to take an all-time playbook from their recently-at-high-school head coach to win a couple playoff rounds.
• Stephanie Talbot: Re-signed with Seattle on a one-year veteran minimum, per, uh, me.

(All times in Eastern)

Watch List, Saturday, Feb. 5

Must-watch

None

Good games

South Dakota @ South Dakota State, 3 p.m, ESPN+ — Round 2 of the Summit League regular-season championship

BYU @ Gonzaga, 5 p.m., SWX

Also watchable

None

Sickos games

Brown @ Dartmouth, 4 p.m., ESPN+

Friday, Feb. 4 recap

#8 Arizona, #19 Oregon: The Wildcats beat the Ducks 63-48, evening the season series at 1-1. The teams were tied in the mid-second quarter. Arizona shot 9.7% better from the field and 21.4% better from three; Oregon committed 21 turnovers; the Wildcats committed 18 fouls. Big Cate Reese led Arizona with 13 points on 6-for-10 from the field (1-2 3pt.), three rebounds, and two assists in 20 minutes; center Lauren Ware had nine points on 4-for-8 FG (1-1 3pt.) and three rebounds; big Koi Love notched eight points on 3-for-6 shooting (0-1 3pt.), nine rebounds, and three assists against two turnovers in 23 bench minutes.The Ducks were led by point guard Endyia Rogers’ 17 points on 4-for-10 from the field (1-5 3pt.) and 8-for-8 from the line, seven rebounds, and five turnovers; big Nyara Sabally had 15 points on 6-for-13 FG (0-1 3pt.), five rebounds, and four blocks against two turnovers; the other three starters — point guard Te-Hina PaoPao, wing Maddie Scherr, and off-ball guard Sydney Parrish — combined for seven points on 3-for-14 from the field and 1-for-8 from three.

#9 Baylor, #13 Texas: The Bears beat the Longhorns 75-63, never trailing in a matchup of teams that lost to Oklahoma on Liz Scott game-winners. Baylor shot 49.0% from the field while holding Texas to 37.3%; the Longhorns made five threes on only eight attempts; the Bears had 19 assists on 24 buckets; Baylor notched 11 steals, part of a combined 39 turnovers; the teams combined for 46 fouls.

Big NaLyssa Smith led the Bears with 25 points on 10-for-12 FG (1-1 3pt.), eight rebounds, and five assists; combo guard Sarah Andrews had 17 points on 5-for-11 shooting (1-3 3pt.), seven rebounds, eight assists, and five steals against six turnovers; off-ball guard Ja’Mee Asberry notched 15 points — all in the first half — on 4-for-10 from three (1-2 from two) and four rebounds; center Queen Egbo fouled-out in 14 minutes — the center has committed more fouls than 93% of players in DI, per Her Hoop Stats. Texas was led by off-ball guard Aliyah Matharu’s 17 bench points on 18 minutes on 5-for-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from three and four rebounds against five turnovers and four fouls; point guard Rori Harmon had 10 points on 5-for-14 shooting, three rebounds, six assists, and three steals against two turnovers; center Lauren Ebo fouled-out in 21 minutes.

TDB Baylor 3-Point Shooting Watch: 6-for-18, 33.3% today; 146-for-417, 35.0% for the season (89th percentile in accuracy and 79th in volume, per Her Hoop Stats).

RV* DePaul: 77-68 loss to Creighton. Led as late as the early fourth quarter, before the Bluejays went on a 13-5 run. DePaul was held to 37.8% from the field and 29.4% from three, while allowing 50.0% shooting; committed 18 fouls. Big Aneesah Morrow led with her 16th-straight double-double, with 21 points on 8-for-21 FG (0-1 3pt., 5-6 FT) and 12 rebounds (five offensive), plus four steals and two blocks; off-ball guard Deja Church had 17 points on 7-for-15 from the field and 2-for-7 from three, eight rebounds, two assists, and two blocks against two turnovers and four unintentional fouls; point guard Lexi Held notched 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting (2-4 3pt.), four assists, and three turnovers.

Southern Illinois: 65-49 win over Missouri State. The Salukis stand alone atop the MVC standings with a 7-1 conference record, a full game ahead of — *checks notes* — Illinois State? Who leads by half-game over third-place… Northern Iowa??

Missouri State’s third conference loss here all but guarantees the Bears will not three-peat as regular-season champions. The three MVC titles prior to Missouri State’s, by the way, belonged to a Drake three-peat — Drake, who now sits third-to-last in the conference. What a weird year!

Oregon State: 67-57 loss to Arizona State. Trailed by just two with possession and 17 seconds left, but turned it over, then of course intentionally fouled — then head coach Scott Rueck got nailed for two techs (an ejection). The Sun Devils hit all six free-throws.

Delaware: 103-79 win over Charleston. Wing Jasmine Dickey set the school’s record for points in a game — not just the program record, which she did by passing Elena Delle Donne’s 41 points from 2012, but the school record, passing John Holland’s 42 from 2010 — with 52 points (fifty-two!) on 18-for-33 from the field (3-5 3pt.) and 13-for-14 from the line, plus 18 rebounds (10 offensive), four assists, and three steals against three turnovers — career-highs in total and offensive rebounds and shots attempted and made. Oh, and that’s also the ninth-highest single-game scoring mark since the turn of the century.

TDB Jasmine Dickey Scoring Watch: 52 points today; 25.5 points per game (100th percentile), 34.7% usage rate (99th percentile among guards, per CBB Analytics).

Cancellations

• #10 UConn vs. Butler
• UIC vs. Detroit Mercy

*Receiving Votes