2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament: No. 6 seed Michigan Women’s Basketball (23-9) vs. No. 3 LSU Tigers (29-2)
Match: No. 6 Michigan (23-9, 11-7 Big Ten) vs. No. 3 LSU (29-2, 15-1 SEC), NCAA Tournament Greenville 2 Region Second Round.
Tip off: 7.30pm Sunday; Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
TV: ESPN.
At risk: The winner will face either 3-seed Utah or 10-seed Princeton on Friday in Greenville, South Carolina, for a spot in the Elite Eight.
• Box score
NCAA History
The Wolverines’ win improved to 11-10 all-time in 11 tournaments, with five second-round sweeps under head coach Kim Barnes Arico. (Although they did make it all the way to the Elite Eight last season.) LSU appears to be getting the desired results in its second season under longtime Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, starting with a 23-point win over 14-seeded Hawaii in the first season. round on Friday. After losing in the second round last season, the Tigers are 45-27 all-time in the tournament over 28 seasons, with five trips to the Final Four (albeit without a title game). All five Final Four appearances came over five seasons from 2003-08; The Tigers have made the Sweet 16 just twice (2013-14) since then.
FRIDAY’S FIRST ROUND:Michigan women roll over Rebels, 71-59, to advance to 2nd round of NCAA Tournament
TROPHECASE:Michigan women’s basketball has 3 players selected to the Big Ten all-conference team
Scouting the Tigers
It’s a simple formula for Mulkey’s Tigers: Shoot inside the arc often (LSU’s 50.2 2-pointers per game ranks sixth in the nation), make it well (50.6% on 2-pointers, good for 34th nationally ), and if you miss, rebound the ball (47.2 boards per game, third nationally, and 17.2 per game on offense, good for fourth) and start over. What about 3-pointers? We’re not saying LSU can’t hit them — their 35.9% success rate ranks 26th in the nation — but they’re not trying very hard either: Their 15 3s per game is only number 307 out of 350 teams.
Scout of the Wolverines
The Wolverines’ plan isn’t that different, especially as executed Friday afternoon against UNLV: UM attempted just 15 3s, hit six of them (and four of them, on six attempts, came from senior guard Maddie Nolan) and shot 45.5% (20-for-44) on 2-point attempts. Really, it wasn’t a good shooting day for the Wolverines, who hit nine of 13 shots in the third quarter and just 17 of 46 (36.9%) in the other three frames. Fifth-year guard Leigha Brown seemed to penetrate the Rebels’ defense with little trouble. Doing it against the Tigers will be another matter entirely, but we’ll get to that.
Four on the floor
There are plenty of talented players on both rosters, but here are four players — two Wolverines and two Tigers — who could come up big on Sunday:
UM’s star: G Laila Phelia
Despite having nearly two weeks off from games, the sophomore may not be fully recovered. In just her third game back after missing seven straight in February and March, she logged 32 minutes and scored eight points with 11 rebounds while wearing a bulky knee brace. Phelia, who hails from Cincinnati, entered the tournament averaging 16.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals a game. This scoring average is nearly double her freshman year (8.8), while only going from 22.9 minutes per game. game to 33. When Phelia’s scoring spree is on, so are the Wolverines; she scored at least 20 points 10 times this season, with UM going 8-2 in those games.
From the bench for UM: G/F Elise Stuck
Barnes Arico kept his bench short Friday in Baton Rouge, keeping four of his starters on the court for at least 32 minutes. The only exception was striker Cameron Williams, who played barely 16 minutes. Filling in for her was Stuck, who logged just over 22 minutes. It was a definite increase in minutes for the 6-foot-1 junior from Charlevoix, who averaged 9.7 minutes a game entering the NCAA Tournament. She scored just two points (one field goal attempt, one goal) but stuffed the stat sheet in other ways with seven rebounds, one assist, one steal and three blocks. The Wolverines won’t have the size advantage against LSU — the Tigers have five forwards listed at 6-2 or taller; The Wolverines have six such forwards, but only two (Williams and Emily Kiser) are logging serious minutes — as they had against UNLV, but they’ll need every skilled minute they can get in the paint.
LSU’s star: F Angel Reese
The reason for that, of course, is Reese, who made the AP’s All-America team for the second straight season. The 6-3 sophomore averaged a double-double (17.8 points, 10.6 rebounds) last season at Maryland, but didn’t do much damage in her first two seasons against the Wolverines, averaging seven points and 7, 3 rebounds in three games as a Terp. . This season, she posted a double-double in 29 of her 31 games, including the Tigers’ win over Hawaii on Friday (34 points, 15 rebounds). (The only opponents to keep her from a double-double: No. 1 South Carolina, who held her to 16 points and four rebounds on Feb. 12, and Georgia, who held her to 15 points and six rebounds on Feb. 3 . March. ) This season, Reese has averaged 23.7 points and 15.5 rebounds, all while shooting 54.5% on 2-pointers.
(Maybe Michigan can convince Reese to try some 3s; she’s just 1-for-6 from beyond the arc this season.) So what lured her to the Bayou? Seafood, apparently. (Remember, she’s from Maryland.) As she told WSLAM magazine, her official visit to Baton Rouge featured an intense seafood spread: “We went to coach’s house and we had seafood made. … I’m talking about crab legs, oysters, shrimp, crawfish,” Reese said. “I thought, ‘Oh, I could get used to this.’ “
Off the bench for LSU: F Sa’Myah Smith
Mulkey has run his upperclassmen hard, with Reese and three seniors all averaging better than 23 minutes per game. match. Likewise, Flau’jae Johnson, the SEC Freshman of the Year, averaged 26.7 minutes per game. match; it doesn’t leave much time for others. Only one other LSU player, junior Kateri Poole, averaged more than 16 minutes.
Smith managed to earn an SEC All-Freshman nod despite averaging just 15.8 minutes entering the tournament. Despite the limited time, the 6-2 Texan put up 5.1 points, 44 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game this season. Even when she’s not scoring, she can change the flow of the game: Just ask Texas A&M and Kentucky, which held her to a combined two points in back-to-back games, only to surrender seven combined blocks. Or South Carolina, which saw her paint presence in real time last month.
Ryan Ford’s prediction
The Wolverines have thrived against smaller and less talented teams this season, but against the cream of the crop, UM’s offense has often gone cold. Expect the same against the host Tigers, with Reese dominating inside. The choice: LSU 74, UM 52.
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