Sweet 16: Day one at a glance
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7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
#5 North Carolina (25-6) vs. #1 South Carolina (31-2), ESPN, Greensboro Region
North Carolina leaders:
- Points: Deja Kelly, G, 16.3
- Rebounds: Alyssa Ustby, G, 8.7
- Assists: Carlie Littlefield, G, 2.6
- Steals: Alyssa Ustby, G, 1.7
- Blocks: Anya Poole, F, 1.2
Head coach Courtney Banghart:
“As much as we have to focus on ensuring that we make South Carolina’s job to score difficult, we also have to generate good looks for ourselves on offense. So, we’re really breaking the game down to both sides of the ball and putting ourselves in the best position versus a very good team.”
South Carolina leaders:
- Points: Aliyah Boston, F, 16.4
- Rebounds: Aliyah Boston, F, 12.1
- Assists: Destanni Henderson, 4.1
- Steals: Aliyah Boston, F,1.3
- Blocks: Aliyah Boston, F, 2.6
Head coach Dawn Staley:
“We’re getting a lot of shots up and we’re breaking some of our offenses down, so our players feel comfortable, I think. Then we’re just doing us. We’re working our offenses. Five on O, just creating a rhythm. But we’re also just letting our players know you just got to put the ball in the hole. We don’t want them gun shy. We want them to be able to shoot the shots that they naturally take and allow our rebounders to do their job.”
7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
#6 Ohio State (25-6) vs. #2 Texas (25-6), ESPN2, Spokane Region
Ohio State leaders:
- Points: Jacy Sheldon, G, 19.8
- Rebounds: Rebeka Mikulasikova, F, 5.0
- Assists: Jacy Sheldon, G, 4.2
- Steals: Jacy Sheldon, G, 1.9
- Blocks: Taylor Thierry, G, 0.9
Head coach Kevin McGuff:
“Like I said, they’re one of the best defensive teams in the country. What makes them unique, their ball pressure, their ability to deny passing lanes, disrupt offenses, makes them arguably the best defensive team in the country. The scary part about that is they’re as good as anyone in the country at taking live ball turnovers and turning them into layups. Two huge things that stand out to me is we’re going to have to take care of the ball, not turn the ball over. That will be a stat to look at the end of the game to see where we’re at with that. The other one is just our ability to keep them off the glass. They’re a very physical, athletic team that can really do some damage on the offensive boards.”
Texas leaders:
- Points: Aliyah Matharu, G, 12.4
- Rebounds: Lauren Ebo, C, 6.8
- Assists: Rori Harmon, G, 5.0
- Steals: Rori Harmon, G, 2.5
- Blocks: Lauren Ebo, C, 0.8
Head coach Vic Schaefer:
“When I watched the film of their team, I can tell quickness and speed. I think that’s what really jumps out at you, for me, when I’m watching Ohio State, is just how hard they play the game. Again, I think they’re not only well-balanced, obviously they, just like any team, have leading scorers. You take your eyes off a couple of them, they can go get you in a hurry. I just think they play the game extremely hard. I think Kevin has done an incredible job with them. They’re Big Ten champions. Just that in and of itself warrants your attention and respect. We’ll have to be on point.”
9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT
#10 Creighton (22-9) vs. #3 Iowa State (28-6), ESPN2, Greensboro Region
Creighton:
- Points: Emma Ronsiek, F, 14.7
- Rebounds: Emma Ronsiek, F, 5.2
- Assists: Tatum Rembao, G, 6.1
- Steals: Molly Mogensen, G, 1.5
- Blocks: Emma Ronsiek, F, 0.9
Head coach Jim Flanery:
“I think we’re not the easiest team to prepare for, and we are maybe a little bit different than a lot of teams because we don’t run a cookie cutter offense where you can just say, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re a little bit, like I said, more random, and a little bit more able to kind of morph during the course of a game into something a little different than what we maybe were the previous game.”
Iowa State leaders:
- Points: Ashley Joens, G, 20.5
- Rebounds: Ashley Joens, G, 9.6
- Assists: Emily Ryan, G, 7.1
- Steals: Emily Ryan, G, 1.8
- Blocks: Beatriz Jordao, C, 1.1
Head coach Bill Fennelly:
“Everyone is going to talk about Creighton is going to make all these threes. I’m more worried about how many layups they’re going to make, how many foul shots they’re going to make. They’re going to make some threes. Hopefully we make some too, but it is a difficult thing.”
9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT
#4 Maryland (23-8) vs. #1 Stanford (30-3), ESPN, Spokane Region
Maryland leaders:
- Points: Angel Reese, F, 17.5
- Rebounds: Angel Reese, F, 10.7
- Assists: Katie Benzan, G, 3.8
- Steals: Shyanne Sellers, G, 1.8
- Blocks: Angel Reese, F, 1.1
Head coach Brenda Frese:
“We love where we’re at. We love this group. They’re really locked in right now and focused. I love how they’ve attacked the tournament. Since the Big Ten tournament, we’ve really been able to put a lot of great practice time in the past two weeks. We’re a different team obviously when you look back when we played Stanford on November 27th, almost four months to the day. Angel Reese was in foul trouble, only played 15 minutes. No Katie Benzan, no Diamond Miller. It was a different team health-wise that we weren’t able to have. We’re clicking obviously right now, but we’re going to need to have that against an incredible team like Stanford, the defending national champions.”
Stanford leaders:
- Points: Cameron Brink, F, 13.5
- Rebounds: Cameron Brink, F, 8.2
- Assists: Haley Jones, G, 3.6
- Steals: Lexie Hull, G, 2.3
- Blocks: Cameron Brink, F, 2.4
Head coach Tara VanDerveer on the difference between beating Maryland back in November and now:
“I think we’ll see a better version of Maryland and I think Maryland will see a better of Stanford. November is November basketball. We’re talking March basketball, which at this point both teams are playing their best basketball. We were without two of our key players, without Ashten Prechtel, she was out, and Cameron Brink let me know two minutes before the game she was sick. She played a little bit, but she was out. I expect it to be both teams’ best games, bring out the best in each other. Again, Maryland is an exceptional program, exceptional talent. You have to really work hard to beat a Maryland team. They’re not going to beat themselves.”
