Baylor and Texas both took to the national stage at the same time on Sunday afternoon, with both having a chance to make a big non-conference statement. And while both teams played well, the final results were losses for both Big 12 teams.
That leaves just one Texas school in the Big 12 undefeated, and it's Krista Gerlich's Texas Tech team. Are the Raiders for real?
Let's talk about that — and a couple of Southland teams — in this week's Stock Up, Stock Down.
Stock Up: Texas Tech
I wrote last week about how good Rhyle McKinney was playing, but the whole Tech team deserves some shine for how it's been playing.
Tech is undefeated, with each win coming over a Division I opponent. The team beat a pretty talented Texas State 83-57 on Monday despite not having Vivian Gray.
In fact, what's most impressive about this team is that Vivian Gray has missed three of the four games and the team is still undefeated.
Against the Bobcats, Khadija Faye had 22 points on a perfect 9-for-9 night. After barely playing against Lamar, Faye had her best game on Monday.
Meanwhile, Lexy Hightower's jump from Division II to the Big 12 is going well. She had 13 points against Texas State on 3-for-5 shooting from deep, making this the third time this season that Hightower has made three 3-pointers.
Per Her Hoop Stats, Texas Tech ranks 60th in Division I in three-point field goal percentage, up from 183rd last year. Bringing in McKinney and Hightower has really upped what this team can do out on the perimeter.
Not sure this means that Texas Tech is going to contend for anything in conference play, but I'm definitely starting to think this team is going to play some really close games against the top of the Big 12.
Stock Up: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Baptist
Let's go ahead and lump these two teams together, since both play in the Southland, a conference that lost four Texas members before this season.
But the ones left are going strong.
HBU was picked to finish second in the preseason poll, while TAMU-CC was picked fifth. Right now, both teams sit 3-1 on the season, tied for the best record among Southland teams with Northwestern State.
(Quick, non-Texas aside: Northwestern State has only beaten teams that aren't in Division I, and lost its only Division I game to Grambling. It's very unlikely the Demons actually contend for the conference title.)
HBU has two wins against non-DI teams, but it earns a stock-up spot because the team throttled Hartford out of the American East on Thursday, winning 81-56 in a game that really showed what the Huskies could do. Timia Jefferson led the team in scoring with 23 points on 5-for-12 shooting, while N'Denasija Collins added 13 points. The team shot 45.1 percent from the floor.
As for A&M Corpus, the Islanders entered the year with fewer expectations than the Huskies did, but have two wins over Division I schools, beating UTRGV 66-57 and then winning by 20 against Pacific, who admittedly weren't expected to do much in the WCC this year.
Makinna Serrata had 28 points in the win, her second game of the season with 20-plus points. Serrata averaged 8.9 points per game last year; her increase in scoring this season has been an intriguing development for this team, especially paired with Alecia Westbrook being such a skilled scorer too.
Stock Down: Baylor and Texas going undefeated
It's obviously too early to write anyone off in terms of national title contention — this isn't college football! — but Baylor and Texas both had chances to play ranked teams this week and both lost, with Baylor losing to No. 3 Maryland and Texas losing to No. 16 Tennessee. Coupled with how No. 1 South Carolina dismantled No. 2 UConn in the second half of yesterday's game between the two, the idea of a national championship coming to the Lone Star State this year took a bit of a hit. Baylor's inconsistency from three means that if NaLyssa Smith isn't posting a herculean effort, Baylor's going to struggle in big games. And for Texas, the defense can slow down anyone, but is the offense enough to keep up in March?
There's still plenty of time left in the season and it's not like Baylor or Texas were actually going to go undefeated, but we has to touch on the losses for the Bears and Longhorns.
