After a series of blowouts to start the women’s NCAA Tournament, things got a lot tougher to start the Sweet 16.
Duke reached its 12th Elite Eight by grinding out a 47-38 win over rival North Carolina in the lowest-scoring game in the Sweet 16 or beyond in women’s March Madness history.
The Blue Devils move on to face top seed and reigning national champion South Carolina, which had a bit of a grind of its in own in beating Maryland 71-67.
LSU beat N.C. State 80-73, but didn’t hit the go-ahead basket until there was 1:07 left. The Tigers are in the Elite Eight for the third straight year, which included a national championship two years ago.
They’ll face top-seeded UCLA, which beat Mississippi 76-62 behind Lauren Betts’ 31 points.
The second half of the Sweet 16 is Saturday, with UConn, TCU and Southern California among the teams vying for a spot in the Elite Eight.
Games to watch
UConn (33-3) vs. Oklahoma (27-7), Spokane, Washington. All-American Paige Bueckers closed out her final home game at Gampel Pavilion in style, matching a career high with 34 points in a thumping of South Dakota State in the second round. The road to her first national championship gets a bit tougher against the Sooners. Oklahoma rolled through its first two games and has a 136-68 rebounding advantage so far in the bracket.
Southern California (30-3) vs. Kansas State (28-7), Spokane. The big storyline is how the top-seeded Trojans will play without JuJu Watkins. The All-American tore the ACL in her right knee in USC’s win over Mississippi State and is out for the season. The Wildcats reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002 with a 80-79 overtime victory over Kentucky.
TCU vs. Notre Dame (28-5), Birmingham, Alabama. The experienced Horned Frogs are in the Sweet 16 for the first time after beating Louisville 85-71 in the second round. TCU also has a win over Notre Dame already this season, rallying from 14 down to beat the Irish in the Cayman Islands. But that game came with a catch: Notre Dame was down to six healthy players due to injuries. The Irish now have their full complement of players to go against Sedona Prince, who had a monster game against them in the Thanksgiving tournament.
Texas vs. Tennessee, Birmingham. This all-Southeastern Conference Sweet 16 matchup will be a contrast in styles. The Longhorns like to play bully ball and have outrebounded opponents by nearly 10 per game this season. The Vols play a frenetic style and force 22.4 turnovers per game. Texas won the lone regular-season meeting 80-76 despite being outscored 27-3 from the 3-point arc.
How can I watch the tournament?
Every game of the women’s tournament will be aired — here is a schedule — on ESPN’s networks and streaming services with select games on ABC.
The top four betting favorites at the start Sweet 16 week are (in order): UConn, South Carolina, UCLA and Texas, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
There were 31 automatic bids that went to conference champions and they were combined with 37 at-large picks by the NCAA selection committee. Selection Sunday unveiled the bracket matchups.
First- and second-round games concluded Monday on campuses across the country. Sweet 16 weekend (March 28-31) put games at two sites once again: Birmingham, Alabama, and Spokane, Washington.
The Final Four is in Tampa, Florida, on Friday, April 4, with the championship game on Sunday, April 6. A year ago, the championship game drew a bigger television audience than the men’s title game for the first time, with an average of 18.9 million viewers watching undefeated South Carolina beat Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark.
