WVU women open NCAA tournament as 10 seed against 7 seed Arizona at noon Friday, Marcy 17.
From the Hartford Courant:
7. Arizona Wildcats (21-9, Pac-12) The Wildcats have had a very up and down year. They’ve had a lot of offensive talent to work with in fifth year Cate Reese, fifth year Shaina Pellington and Esmery Martinez, but have struggled to maintain consistency on both sides of the floor during the 2022-2023 campaign.
At times they’ve looked lost and out of synch offensively and other times they’ve played with less energy on the defensive end.
Arizona has been quite enigmatic in that they’ve had some high highs in their wins against Pac-12 rivals in Utah, UCLA and USC. But then their lows have been extremely low as they endured losses to Kansas and Oregon State, two teams that the Wildcats should beat.
10. West Virginia (19-11, Big 12)
West Virginia was one of the last at-large teams to get into the field of 68. The Mountaineers ended the regular season winning five of the last seven games with one of the losses coming by one point in double overtime to Texas Tech. A win over eventual Big 12 tournament champion Iowa State likely got West Virginia into the NCAA tournament for the 13th time since 2004.
The Mountaineers suffered another one-point loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 quarterfinals.
West Virginia is second in the Big 12 is scoring defense and is the conference leader with 9.7 steals per game. Five-year starter Madisen Smith and sophomore JJ Quinerly each average 14.3 points per game to lead the offense.
Stats to Know 24th- Steals Differential (3.0) 29th- 3-point Percentage Defense (27.5) 39th- Steals Per Game (9.7) Stats courtesy of ESPN and NCAA.
From the Hartford Courant:
7. Arizona Wildcats (21-9, Pac-12) The Wildcats have had a very up and down year. They’ve had a lot of offensive talent to work with in fifth year Cate Reese, fifth year Shaina Pellington and Esmery Martinez, but have struggled to maintain consistency on both sides of the floor during the 2022-2023 campaign.
At times they’ve looked lost and out of synch offensively and other times they’ve played with less energy on the defensive end.
Arizona has been quite enigmatic in that they’ve had some high highs in their wins against Pac-12 rivals in Utah, UCLA and USC. But then their lows have been extremely low as they endured losses to Kansas and Oregon State, two teams that the Wildcats should beat.
10. West Virginia (19-11, Big 12)
West Virginia was one of the last at-large teams to get into the field of 68. The Mountaineers ended the regular season winning five of the last seven games with one of the losses coming by one point in double overtime to Texas Tech. A win over eventual Big 12 tournament champion Iowa State likely got West Virginia into the NCAA tournament for the 13th time since 2004.
The Mountaineers suffered another one-point loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 quarterfinals.
West Virginia is second in the Big 12 is scoring defense and is the conference leader with 9.7 steals per game. Five-year starter Madisen Smith and sophomore JJ Quinerly each average 14.3 points per game to lead the offense.
Stats to Know 24th- Steals Differential (3.0) 29th- 3-point Percentage Defense (27.5) 39th- Steals Per Game (9.7) Stats courtesy of ESPN and NCAA.