Weekly Reflection: Blakes, Betts and Brawls

While winter brought cold, conference play turned up the heat!

Jan 05, 2026

Greetings, Congregation!

That’s pretty much how I felt too, Hannah.

The heat was up this weekend, whether it be upsets, scoring, tempers or just over all exhaustion. Welcome to conference play! As the weekend comes to a close and we must shut off our Vespers Jumbotron and get back to work after a wonderful holiday season, let’s reflect the recent action!

In Case You Didn’t Witness:

Basically, here is a quick review of the weekend events in case you missed it.

WBB: Vanderbilt 65 - #5 LSU 61: Blakes cooks while Mulkey gets grilled.

Mikayla Blakes scores 32 points but it was freshman Aubrey Galvan who hit the 3 that pushed the Commodores ahead of LSU with 2mins to go. LSU coach Kim Mulkey has been criticized recently for her weak non-con schedule and when asked about in the postgame presser, she said, “…cuz, if we played anything tougher, we might be sitting here with a lotta losses.”

MBB: #21 Virginia 76 - NC State 61: Look ‘Hoos’ back!

Both Virginia and NC State have new coaches this season, but it’s Ryan Odom’s Cavalier squad who are off to a 12-2 start on the season. They started ACC play dropping one to their cross state rival, Virginia Tech…ahem, that would be cross conference rival. Cross state would be VCU since Virginia is technically a commonwealth. The Hoos have not played a particularly tough schedule on the year so far, but have had some wins against Texas, Maryland, Dayton and now NC State. Last season, they didn’t have their 12th win until mid February when they were able to beat Georgia Tech to reach .500. Ryan Odom is showing he can win wherever he calls home.

WBB: #4 UCLA 80 - #17 USC 46: Always Betts on the state school!

2 for 20. That is the stat line. No, not the stat for poor shooting, but the number of Betts sisters it takes to score 20! Actually, that is not fair. Lauren Betts scored 18 of the 20 but was on the floor for double the time. The elder Betts also pulled down 12 boards for the 34 point shellacking of their cross town rival.

…and then there were 4

3 of the remaining 7 undefeated WBB teams were upset this weekend. Strangely, they were all from the same conference - the Big XII. More info in The Infoulable below.

The Infoulable!

Tracking the remaining teams who have yet to commit the ultimate sin...of losing.

MBB: Three teams made it to the other side…even lil Miami.

#1 Arizona Wildcats (14-0 overall, 1-0 Big XII):
- ✅ Saturday: Arizona 97 - Utah 78: Wildcat offense spread evenly as 5 players reach double-digits to secure the win over Utah.
- Next: Weds 1/7 vs. K-State (9p, FS1)

#2 Michigan Wolverines (13-0 overall, 3-0 B1G):
- Next: Tuesday 1/6 at Penn State (7p, FS1)
#3 Iowa State Cyclones (13-0 overall, 1-0 Big XII):
- Next: Weds 1/7 at Baylor (8p, Peacock)
#11 Vanderbilt Commodores (14-0 overall, 1-0 SEC):
- ✅ Saturday: Vandy 83 - South Carolina 71: Tyler Tanner’s 19 pts/14 assists carry the Commodores over the lower-Carolina to keep perfection.
- Next: Weds 1/7 vs. #14 Alabama (9p, ESPN2)
#13 Nebraska Cornhuskers (14-0 overall, 3-0 B1G):
- Next: Mon 1/5 at THEE Ohio State (6:30p, FS1)
NR…but getting votes - Miami of Ohio! (15-0 overall, 3-0 MAC!):
- ✅ Saturday: Miami 76 - Akron 73: The RedHawks pass their MAC midterm.
- Next: Tues 1/6 vs. Western Michigan (7p, ESPN+)

WBB: There was some shake up this weekend as three teams from the Big XII were voted off Infoulable Island.

#1 UConn Huskies (15-0 overall, 6-0 Big East):
- ✅ Saturday: UConn 84 - Seton Hall 48: The Kids in the Hall had no answers for the Strong-Fudd Show as UConn rolls to a reciprocal score.
- Next: Weds vs. St. Johns (7:30p, TruTv)
#2 Texas Longhorns (17-0 overall, 2-0 SEC):
- ✅ Sunday: Texas 67 - #15 Ole Miss 64: Cotie McMahon’s 12 in the 4th just not enough for the comeback.
- Next: Thurs 1/8 vs. Auburn (8p, SECN+)
#8 TCU Horned Frogs (14-1 overall, 2-1 Big XII):
- ❌ Saturday: Utah 87 - TCU 77: It took extra minutes to do it - and 25 pts from Lani White - but the Utes pulled off the upset.
#10 Iowa State Cyclones (14-1 overall, 2-1 Big XII):
- ❌Sunday: #22 Baylor 72 - Iowa State 70: Baylor needed that one.
#12 Vanderbilt Commodores (15-0 overall, 1-0 SEC):
- ✅ Sunday: Vandy 65 - #5 LSU 61: The Mulk is spilled. No use crying.
- Next: Thurs 1/8 vs. Mizzou (7:30p, SEC+)
#21 Texas Tech Lady Raiders (16-0 overall, 3-0 Big XII):
- ✅ Saturday: Texas Tech 80 - Arizona 49: Tech raided 3pt-land with 73% shooting
- Next: Weds 1/7 at West Virginia (7p, ESPN+)
NR - Arizona State Sun Devils (15-1 overall, 2-1 Big XII):
- ❌ Saturday: BYU 71 - Arizona State 62: This sets up for a fun TCU matchup

CoB Saturday School!

What did we learn from the weekend that will help us win the office pool?

Kansas Needs Peterson!

Jayhawk freshman, and #2 recruit in last year’s class, guard Darryn Peterson is the real deal. When he is on the floor, he is shooting just over 50% from the floor, just under 50% from 3 and averaging 20.6 ppg. The problem is that he is not on the floor due to various injuries. He has only played in 5 games this season, including Saturday’s loss to UCF. Peterson scored 23 of his 26 pts in the first half before getting benched due to a minutes limitation. This Jayhawks team can win without him, but looking up at the top part of the BigXII will be a challenge without him down the stretch as his production will need to fall on others. If he can’t get steady, don’t expect Kansas to make a long run in March.

Hannah Hidalgo is tired!

And speaking of resting, Hannah looks tired. Visibly tired. Like I have never seen before (and you know I watch a lot of Hannah games). In Sunday’s game against Duke, during the timeout between the 3rd and 4th qtrs, she bent right over to pound the floor in frustration as she was trying to psych herself up for the stretch. Hannah has averaged 35 minutes per game as coach Niele Ivey has relied on her ‘energizer bunny’ to be the majority of the offense all season with a depleted squad. And, she has produced 332 total points out of the team total of 1121 (just under 30%). However, she also leads the nation in steals, which if you have seen her play, brings a certain level of pesty determination. She might just be getting worn out. The timing is not ideal as ACC play has begun. Don’t tell me that opposing coaches are not telling their teams to make her run around .. a lot.

Turn it down, gentlemen!

Is the pressure of modern day college hoops getting to coaches? There were two incidents of coaches going after other coaches or even refs??

Quinnipiac’s Tom Pecora charged at Manhattan’s John Gallagher after a hard foul was committed on one of his players. Gallagher said something that teed off Pecora and the refs had to get in the middle. Pecora said no one from his team went to check on his player after going down, so he had to say something. He also clearly forgot that Manhattan College is actually in Da Boogie Down Bronx so he should watch his step.
New Rumble in the Bronx
Notre Dame’s Micah Shrewsberry showed he is a true ‘fighting Irish’ as he charged a ref after a late foul put California guard Dai Dai Ames at the line for a free throw that sealed a 1pt win for the Golden Bears. Shrewsberry was reprimanded by the ACC and apologized for his actions. You see something new everyday in the world of college hoops.
Micah Shewsberry, True Fighting Irish